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The Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross) is the
principal Franciscan church of Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica
of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza Santa
Croce, to the east of the Duomo.
Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. The
current church was probably begun in 1294, possibly by Arnolfo di
Cambio, and paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families. In
1439, the Council of Florence, designed to heal the schism between
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, was held at Santa Croce.
The church is vast. Its most notable features are its sixteen
chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his
pupils, and its funerary monuments. In 1560, the choir screen was
removed and the interior rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari, who damaged the
church's decoration in the process. The neo-Gothic facade only dates
from 1857-1863. The campanile was built in 1842.
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In the Primo Chiostro, the main cloister, is the Cappella dei Pazzi,
built as the chapter house by Filippo Brunelleschi between 1442 and
1446 and finally completed in the 1470s. The Museo dell'Opera di
Santa Croce is housed mainly in the refectory, also off the
cloister. A monument to Florence Nightingale stands in the cloister,
in the city in which she was born and after which she was named.
Brunelleschi also built the inner cloister, completed in 1453.
Italy
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