Galleria dell'Accademia

The block of marble that became David had been sitting around for 35 years, and nobody wanted it. Two previous sculptors had started working on it and given up. The stone was tall, thin, and full of imperfections — the Opera del Duomo had basically written it off. Then in 1501, a 26-year-old Michelangelo Buonarroti said he could make something of it. He spent the next three years carving in secret, behind a wooden screen, and when the statue was unveiled in September 1504, Florence went silent, then erupted.

The David stands 5.17 meters tall and weighs over six tons. Michelangelo chose to depict the moment before the fight — David sizing up Goliath, his brow furrowed, veins bulging in his right hand. It was a political statement as much as an artwork: Florence as the small republic standing defiant against larger, more powerful enemies. Originally, parts of the statue were gilded — a garland on his head, the tree trunk, and the sling all had gold leaf that's since worn away.

The statue stood in Piazza della Signoria for 369 years before being moved to the Accademia in 1873 to protect it from weather damage. Architect Emilio De Fabris designed the tribune specifically for the David — a vaulted exedra bathed in natural light from a skylight above, making the marble almost glow. A replica was placed in the original outdoor spot.

Nearly 1.5 million visitors come through these doors every year — about 4,000 per day — almost exclusively to see one thing. The Accademia also houses Michelangelo's unfinished Prisoners, four figures that look like they're struggling to free themselves from the raw stone, which Michelangelo believed was their natural state.