Uffizi Medici heiress. The Uffizi is one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public, formally becoming a museum in 1865. Today, the Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Florence and one of the most visited art museums in the world. The building of Uffizi complex was begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de' Medici so as to accommodate the offices of the Florentine magistrates, hence the name , "offices". The construction was later
Friends of the Uffizi Gallery priority by the Uffizi Gallery have been completed with funds raised by both Friends of the Uffizi Gallery and Amici degli Uffizi. The Michelangelo Room, which opened to the public on January 29, 2013, is an example of a completed project by this organization. The Friends of the Uffizi Gallery and the Amici degli Uffizi funded the re-construction of this room on the second floor and the re-installation of the paintings. The re-construction involved restoring the original marble floor and re-plastering the walls and painting them red. The re-installation included Michelangelo’s "Tondo Doni" (ca. 1507 oil and tempera on panel)