Monday, October 23, 2017
Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy has been close indefinitely after a 52 years old tourist’s death.
A section of stone fell from one of the church walls and hit the Barcelona tourist, Daniel Testor Schnell, who was travelling with his wife. He was reportedly killed immediately on impact.
The stone of Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence was 15cm by 15cm in size and dropped from 60 feet high from an area near the supporting beams of the ceiling.
Irene Sanesi, the president of the governing body of Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, which operates the church, Opera di Santa Croce, said she was distraught’ after learning about the tourist’s death.
Irene Sanesi added that the restoration and repair of the Irene Sanesi, had been carried out constantly.
Italy’s minister of culture, Dario Fraceschini, said that an extensive investigation would be conducted to determine whether the faulty maintenance of the church was to blame.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first case of a historic building causing harm. In 1989 a 14th century bell tower collapsed in Pavia and killed 4 people, while in July plaster fell from the ceiling at the Acireale Cathedral in Sicily, injuring a man and one child.
Notably, the construction of Basilica di Santa Croce began in 1294 and is now the burial place to many Italian dignitaries and people of note including Michelangelo and Galileo Galilei.
It’s not clear if and when the basilica will reopen.
Monday, March 20, 2023
