500 rooms and thousands of daily visitors: the Medici’s treasure chamber containing icons from antiquity to the late Baroque period is a place full of (art) history. It survived two world wars but must now reinvent itself in order to remain an enduring audience magnet.
Backstage of the Uffizi Gallery built in 1561, one of the oldest museums in the world every task becomes a ritual. We meet the passionate staff of German director Eike Schmidt, his assistants, architects, custodians and the concierge. We witness sensitive negotiations with British artist Antony Gormley over the placement of one of his sculptures. Different mentalities and viewpoints collide - European cooperation “en miniature”. Meanwhile the film invites us to immerse ourselves into the works of Botticelli and Artemisia Gentileschi, discovers the 17th century painting ‘Fall of the Rebel Angels’ that confront us with our contemporary vulnerability and hubris. Wartime scenes and a Mafia bomb attack show the history of threats and the endless efforts to protect and maintain this unique collection for future generations.