Italy audio travel guide. The Basilica of Santa Croce is a light and airy unique blend of styles and thought. The sun filters through the many stained glass windows
Enhance your holiday travel experience by downloading this audio tour of Basilica of Santa Croce in Forence, Italy.
Great Discoveries audio tour provides today's tourist with the best way to visit the Basilica of Santa Croce, perhaps the most beautiful Gothic church in all of Italy.
When one hears the word "Gothic," one often thinks of darkness and death with a vague sense of disdain for humanity. Things Gothic have carried that reputation since the Renaissance, when artists and architects actively sought to discredit the Gothic style inherited from their medieval past. Contrary to the heavy and dark reputation of Gothic architecture, the Basilica of Santa Croce is actually light and airy, a unique blend of styles and thought. The sun filters through the many stained glass windows, playing multi-hued rays along one of the greatest repositories of Renaissance art and sculpture. The effect inspires peace and spiritual tranquility and Instead of disdain for humanity an incredible awe for human accomplishment and dignity takes root. Indeed, the city of Florence Italy, sensing the perfect peace granted by the Basilica, has buried many of her most famous sons and daughters here.
The spectacular interior is most famous for its art and its tombs. As a burial place, the church, known as the 'Westminster Abbey of Florence, contains more skeletons of Renaissance celebrities than any other church in Italy. During your visit you will step over 276 tombali slabs (tombstones) of the less well-known Florentines, while the top quality berths for the rich and famous, line the walls. Here you will find the monumental tombs and mortal remains of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Gioacchino Rossini, and Ugo Foscolo, and many others. Although exiled from Florence and buried in Ravenna, Dante, the great poet and father of the Italian language, is honored with a cenotaph. The tombs are grand with some realistic carvings of the great and the good in final repose.
Local lore claims that St Francis himself founded Santa Croce, but historic records indicate that the current church was not begun until 1294, several years after Saint Frances' death. The church was built by the Franciscans, an order based on a vow of poverty, but paid for by some of the wealthiest families in Florence.
This carefully researched tour guides you through the Basilica while our professional narrator, accompanied by historically appropriate background music, points out and describes the most significant monumental tombs, the great works of art and other historic treasures. Shatter your idea of history, throw down your guidebook and venture off to see and hear the stories behind this resplendent church, the lives of the great Italians buried here, and the great Renaissance artists who crafted this unique edifice.
Guides are recorded in easy to follow segments that are readily located your iPod. This 2 hour 37 track, audio tour is designed to work with an easy to read building diagram, with clearly numbered locations, which coordinate with the track numbers and descriptions displayed on your iPod.
Author/Spoken: Bill Browne / Christopher Kent
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Enhance your holiday travel experience by downloading this audio tour of Basilica of Santa Croce in Forence, Italy.
Great Discoveries audio tour provides today's tourist with the best way to visit the Basilica of Santa Croce, perhaps the most beautiful Gothic church in all of Italy.
When one hears the word "Gothic," one often thinks of darkness and death with a vague sense of disdain for humanity. Things Gothic have carried that reputation since the Renaissance, when artists and architects actively sought to discredit the Gothic style inherited from their medieval past. Contrary to the heavy and dark reputation of Gothic architecture, the Basilica of Santa Croce is actually light and airy, a unique blend of styles and thought. The sun filters through the many stained glass windows, playing multi-hued rays along one of the greatest repositories of Renaissance art and sculpture. The effect inspires peace and spiritual tranquility and Instead of disdain for humanity an incredible awe for human accomplishment and dignity takes root. Indeed, the city of Florence Italy, sensing the perfect peace granted by the Basilica, has buried many of her most famous sons and daughters here.
The spectacular interior is most famous for its art and its tombs. As a burial place, the church, known as the 'Westminster Abbey of Florence, contains more skeletons of Renaissance celebrities than any other church in Italy. During your visit you will step over 276 tombali slabs (tombstones) of the less well-known Florentines, while the top quality berths for the rich and famous, line the walls. Here you will find the monumental tombs and mortal remains of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Gioacchino Rossini, and Ugo Foscolo, and many others. Although exiled from Florence and buried in Ravenna, Dante, the great poet and father of the Italian language, is honored with a cenotaph. The tombs are grand with some realistic carvings of the great and the good in final repose.
Local lore claims that St Francis himself founded Santa Croce, but historic records indicate that the current church was not begun until 1294, several years after Saint Frances' death. The church was built by the Franciscans, an order based on a vow of poverty, but paid for by some of the wealthiest families in Florence.
This carefully researched tour guides you through the Basilica while our professional narrator, accompanied by historically appropriate background music, points out and describes the most significant monumental tombs, the great works of art and other historic treasures. Shatter your idea of history, throw down your guidebook and venture off to see and hear the stories behind this resplendent church, the lives of the great Italians buried here, and the great Renaissance artists who crafted this unique edifice.
Guides are recorded in easy to follow segments that are readily located your iPod. This 2 hour 37 track, audio tour is designed to work with an easy to read building diagram, with clearly numbered locations, which coordinate with the track numbers and descriptions displayed on your iPod.
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