The Ospedale degli Innocenti ,Hospital of the Innocents, Spedale degli Innocenti Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi

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Children were sometimes abandoned in a basin which was located at the front portico. However, this basin was removed in 1660 and replaced by a wheel for secret refuge. There was a door with a special rotating horizontal wheel that brought the baby into the building without the parent being seen. This allowed people to leave their babies, anonymously, to be cared for by the orphanage. This system was in operation until the hospital's closure in 1875. Today the building houses a small museum of Renaissance art with works by Luca della Robbia, Sandro Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo and Adoration of the Magi by Domenico Ghirlandaio.

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Size: 3999px × 2189px
Location: Piazza SS. Annunziata Florence Italy
Photo credit: © David Collingwood / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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