Orsanmichele (pronounced [orsammiˈkɛːle]; "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the Tuscan contraction of the Italian word orto) is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele which no longer exists.
Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market[1] in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404, it was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds. On the ground floor of the square building the 13th-century arches that had originally been open, forming the loggia-style grain market, were walled up. The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege.[1]
As early as 1339 the main guilds had each been assigned a space between the arches to make a framed niche, with a statue of their patron saint in it. At this time, only the Arte de Lana (wool guild) seems to have done so; this figure was later replaced.[2]
Towards the end of the 14th century, the guilds were again charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church.[1] The majority of the statues date from 1400 to 1428, with two of the earliest from that period later replaced, in the 16th century. The sculptures seen in the exterior niches today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums, mostly the one on the upper floor of the building (see below).