Tribune of Galileo

It contains a large statue of Galileo and a series of lunettes and frescoes depicting events in scientific history relating to Florence.

The surrounding niches have busts of famous pupils of Galileo: Benedetto Castelli, Bonaventura Cavalieri, Evangelista Torricelli, and Vincenzo Viviani.

The layout has a distant resemblance to a church dome and nave; however, if so, this is a temple granting hagiographical attention to a secular scientist.

The arrangement suggests a tardy apology to Galileo by an aristocracy which had been slow to freely embrace his pioneering spirit of Enlightenment.

After his death in 1642, his interment in the main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce, next to the tombs of his father and other ancestors, was abandoned when papal authorities protested.

A room with a domed roof supported by round arches. The room beyond the facing arch has frescoes on the wall and a white marble statue of Galileo, also facing the viewer.
Tribune of Galileo interior: view across the anteroom toward the statue under the dome