The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, one of the famous art museums in the world, housing priceless collections of ancient artworks, sculptures, and Italian Renaissance paintings, especially of the Florentine school, was officially opened to the public in 1765 and formally becoming a museum in 1865.

The museum is organized as a long labyrinth of rooms with amazing works of art displayed roughly in chronological order, entirely occupying the first and second floors of a massive U-shaped Renaissance building, the Uffizi Palace, which was never created to be a museum.

The Uffizi Palace, one of the most important examples of Italian Mannerist architecture, built between 1560 and 1580, is the brainchild of Cosimo I de’ Medici, the grand duke of Tuscany. In 1559 he engaged the painter-architect Giorgio Vasari to build a suitable building for the accommodation of the offices or Uffizi of the Florentine magistrates. After the death of Cosimo I in 1574, Francis I commissioned Bernardo Buontalenti to convert the top floor of the palace to accommodate the art treasures amassed by the Medici family. Buontalenti created the octagonal Tribune, hosting the treasure trove of the works of art and jewels, considered the precious heart of the Uffizi, and maintain its original shape since its construction in 1584.Later, the galleries were further expanded by the grand duke Ferdinand II and his brother Cardinal Leopold.

During those early days, apart from the family of the duke, the halls of the top floor of the Uffizi were accessible only to a few selected guests, who were welcomed to admire the magnificent collection of the Medici family. After the end of the Medici family, their art collection was inherited by Anna Maria Luisa, upon the death of her brother Gian Gastone in 1737. However, she gifted the property to the Lorraine family on the condition that no part of it could be removed from Florence. Finally, the grand duke Leopold I opened the Uffizi to the public, formally becoming a museum in 1865.

Visiting the spacious halls of the Uffizi Gallery is an experience of a lifetime. Adorn with classical sculptures, tapestries, furnishing, jewels, and the masterpieces of paintings from the 14th century to Renaissance Art, all the way to the 18th century, it is a constant source of wonder. Enriched year by year with masterpieces, it is the evidence of love and passion for art by the numerous representatives of basically the Medici family, whose members were passionate collectors of paintings, sculptures, and various objects.

As the gallery was not in a position to accommodate all of its huge collection, some of its artworks had been transferred to other museums in Florence in the past. Finally, to allow public viewing of more artworks that had been kept in storage, and at the same time to modernize all the halls with more place to display, new lighting, air conditioning, and security system, the Nuovi Uffizi project started in 1989. While new galleries exhibiting the Flemish, Dutch, Spanish and French artists were opened in 2011, a new series of rooms highlighting the works of the 16th century Tuscan artists were unveiled in the following year. By late 2016, the major modernization project had increased viewing capacity to 101 rooms by expanding into the areas that were previously used by the Florence State Archive.

The Uffizi Gallery is famous for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and Gothic paintings, which include Ognissanti Madonna and Badia Polyptych, by Giotto di Bondone, popularly known as Giotto, a prominent Italian painter and architect from Florence during the late Middle Ages. It also boasts the invaluable Santa Trinita Maesta, by Cimabue, an Italian painter, and designer of mosaics from Florence. Hall 8 and 9 contain the early Renaissance paintings like the Battle of San Romano, by Paolo Uccello, the Madonna and Child with St Anne, by Masaccio, along with the Duke and Duchess of Urbino, by Piero della Francesca. Hall 10 to 14 houses the most stunning and breathtaking paintings of Sandro Botticelli, which include his most celebrated The Birth of Venus, along with Adoration of the Magi (1475), Primavera, and others. While the Doni Tondo or the Holy Family, by Michelangelo and Madonna of the Goldfinch and Portrait of Leo X, by Raphael are exhibited in hall 35 and 66 respectively, Leonardo da Vinci is represented by the Annunciation and the unfinished Adoration of the Magi. Apart from that the Uffizi Gallery contains many more absolute masterpieces, including Madonna and Child, by Fra Filippi; Flora and Venus of Urbino , by Titian; Madonna with the Long Neck, by Parmigianino; Bacchus, Sacrifice of Isaac, and Medusa, by Caravaggio; Judith and Holofernes, by Artemisa Gentileschi; and three portraits of Rembrandt.

While constructing the Uffizi Palace, Giorgio Vasari also created a passageway, subsequently came to be known as Vasari Corridor, connecting Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti, passing through the Uffizi Gallery. The walls of the corridor are decorated with works by Guido Reni, Carracci, and Artemisia Gentileschi, and in addition to that, the corridor also boasts an invaluable collection of ancient statues and ancient Roman copies of lost Greek sculptures. The far end of the corridor offers a magnificent view of the San Miniato Church, the Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno, and the Bardini Gardens across the Arno.

Unfortunately, when the Sicilian Mafia exploded a car bomb in Via dei Georgofili on 27 May 1993 killing five innocent people on the spot, the blast damaged parts of the Uffizi Palace, destroying five pieces of art and damaging another 30. The Niobe room was badly damaged, along with its classical sculptures and the neoclassical interior. Although the damage has since been mostly restored, the frescoes were damaged irreparably. Apart from that the Gallery had to face a severe natural calamity when Florence experienced a heavy rainstorm in early August 2007, and consequently, the gallery was partially flooded by the constant water leaking through the ceiling, and the visitors had to be evacuated.

Famous for its outstanding collection of paintings and antique statues, the Uffizi Gallery is one of the most important and perhaps the most visited art gallery or art museum in Italy, which attracts more than a million visitors every year.