Uffizi Palace

Timeline

1. 1560–1565Uffizi construction site between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Arno · FlorenceCosimo I ordered Vasari to build a two-winged colonnade along the narrow strip, moving the city's judicial magistrates and guild offices from scattered locations into a single "office" complex, using architecture to consolidate ducal control over Florentine administration.
2. 1565Vasari Corridor · FlorenceVasari built an enclosed corridor passing above the houses of the Ponte Vecchio within months, allowing the duke to travel from the Palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi directly to the Palazzo Pitti in Oltrarno, embedding the administrative gallery into the Medici's axis of urban power.
3. 1574–1581Top floor of the Uffizi Palace · FlorenceAfter Cosimo and Vasari died in succession, Francesco I converted the top gallery into a display of antiquities, arms, and paintings, while administrative offices remained on the lower floors; the offices began to take on the rudiments of a modern gallery.
4. 1584–1589Uffizi Tribuna · FlorenceBuontalenti built the octagonal Tribuna, concentrating the Medici's most treasured antiquities and paintings. The Uffizi was now simultaneously the ducal administrative gallery and the core of the court collection, preparing the spatial framework for its later transformation into a public museum.