In the vestibule there are two free-standing, flattened columns known as pilasters. Carved from Italian marble, they were acquired by Ferdinand de’ Medici and came to the Gallery in 1588. These pilasters with suits of armour and depicted weaponry were used on the 19th of October each year in the Flavian period (69-96 AD) in ceremonies devoted to Mars, the Roman god of war. During these ceremonies arms were consecrated and purified. More than 800 different weapons and over 100 different types of weapons are represented on their surfaces.
On the Vestibule…
The renovation of the grand entrance way to the Galleria degli Uffizi, comprising the staircase and the vestibule of the Lorraine as well as the restoration of the works of art – ancient and modern – contained within, is the concluding episode of a complex intervention that involved the prompt and generous collaboration of public and private institutions: the Galleria degli Uffizi, the Soprintendenza, the Amici and Friends of the Uffizi and the executors of the restoration. Careful documentary research and cautious preliminary investigation provided the necessary guidelines for the overall program of restoration, the most evident being the decision to revive the walls of pale green in alternation with the ivory-grey tonalities of the structural members. The effect, enhanced by the elegant refurbishment of the entrance way and the cleaning of the ancient marbles, re-establishes in the present the cultured magnificence so deeply part of the Gallery, once again the designated theater of the paragon between the Ancient and the Modern. Cristina Acidini, Soprintendente per il Polo Museale Fiorentino.
