In 1431 the Opera del Duomo commissioned Luca della Robbia to erect a large marble Cantoria (singers' gallery) over the entrance to the north Sacristy in the Cathedral. Two years after Luca della Robbia began his work, Donatello was commissioned to design another Cantoria to be placed over the south Sacristy where it could form a counterpart to the one made by Robbia. Both were completed in 1439. On the occasion of the marriage of Ferdinando de' Medici in 1688 the two structures were found to be too small to accomodate all the singers, and they were replaced by wooden balconies. Later stone ones were substituted and are still in place today. Not until 1891 were the two cantorie reassembled in the museum, after having been kept dismantled at the Bargello.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Cantoria 1431-39 Marble, 348 x 570 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria 1431-39 Marble, 348 x 570 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria 1431-39 Marble, 348 x 570 cm Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
	Cantoria (detail) 1431-39 Marble Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence