The Capitoline Hill Cordonata in Rome

PD Photo: The Capitoline Hill Cordonata in Rome (at the centre of the photo) leading from Piazza di Ara Coeli to Piazza del Campidoglio

The Cordonata (Cordonata Capitolina), designed by Michaelangelo, leading from Via del Teatro Marcello up to Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy. The two Roman statues at the top of the steps are the mythological twins Castor and Pollux placed there in 1583. The Piazza was designed in the 1530s by Michaelangelo for Pope Paul III. The building opposite the top of the steps (with the tower) is Palazza Senatorio, Rome's City Hall. The massive flight of 134 steps on the left leads up to the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

Typically, a Cordonata is a sloping road composed of transversal stripes made of stone or bricks, similar to a flight of steps allowing the transit of horses and donkeys. Another famous Italian Cordonata also is in Rome, leading to the Piazza del Quirinale, and gives the name to a road, Via della Cordonata.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

Photo: The Creation of Adam (1508-1512), fresco painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo (1475-1564), it illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man.

Bronze sculpture of David at Fawick Park

Photo shot by Jerry Fisher at Fawick Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States on 22 May, 2005. This full-sized bronze reproduction of Michelangelo’s sculpture, David, was a gift from the inventor Thomas Fawick to the city of Sioux Falls.

The Replica of David in Buffalo, New York

Photo: The Replica of David in Buffalo, New York

In 1903, a replica of Michelangelo’s David made of bronze standing on granite base, was presented to the city of Buffalo, United States, and the Buffalo Historical Society by Andrew Langdon, a Buffalo businessman and scholar. Langdon had seen the statue of David as an exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900, and negotiated with the firm of bronze founders who had cast it (Angelus & Sons) and bought it. He also exacted an agreement with the bronze founders that they would not send another replica of David to the United States. The statue now stands in Delaware Park.

David by Michelangelo

The statue of David, a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created from 1501 to 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo, stands 5.17 meter (17 feet) tall. The marble statue portrays the Biblical hero David. The statue is said to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Florentine Republic, the independent city-state threatened on all sides by powerful enemies and by the hegemony of the Medici family. This interpretation was encouraged by the original setting of the sculpture outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence. The statue was moved from Piazza della Signoria in 1873 to the Accademia Gallery in Florence where it attracts many visitors now. In 1910 a replica of David was placed in the Piazza della Signoria, where David was originally installed.