The Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, has unveiled plans for a €50 million ($51 million) landscaping project that aims to safeguard its beloved Boboli Gardens against the effects of climate change.
Dubbed “Boboli 2030” the redesign plan will be carried out across 40 separate projects, some of which will also upgrade the gardens’ energy efficiency.
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The sprawling garden park, a vast section of the Uffizi Galleries’s campus that is located behind the Pitti Palace, was installed by the Medici family in the 16th century. The grounds include fountains, frescoed grottos, and around 300 classical statues.
The museum has completed or partially carried out nearly half of the plan’s various projects around the gardens so far. The remaining half designated as part of the plan are new initiatives that have yet to be started.
Uffizi leadership announced the plans on Monday in a ceremony that took place at the park’s Kaffeehaus, an 18th-century domed pavilion that has recently been renovated. The museum said that ticket sales will fund the remaining portion of the funds needed to complete the expansive project, which is estimated to take place over the course of eight years.
“Our objective is not only to return the Boboli to the glories of the times of the Medici and the Lorena dynasties, but to go further, making it the best open museum in the world,” said Eike Schmidt, the museum’s director, in a statement.
Schimdt said the initiative is one of several “quick and strong measures” the museum has recently taken to address the “suffering and pressures” of the climate crisis. Others include updates to the fire prevention system in its Prato delle Colonne amphitheater, which is located in a wooded area vulnerable to wildfires.
Also designated under the plan is a move to upgrade the park’s sustainability features. The museum will carry out a €2.4 million project to fit the park with an energy-efficient lighting system.
The Uffizi is not the only art institution to recently launch a landscaping plan that seeks to address climate issues. The Storm King Art Center in Upstate New York, which has been considering threats posed by climate emergencies, announced this week that it is embarking on a $45 million redesign and upgrade of its 500-acre campus in a move to increase biodiversity.
Source: artnews.com