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Third competition, 1836, principal design: the 'Tribune Library' design

Architectural drawings by C.R. Cockerell

Cockerell’s main entry to the competition was a direct development of the 1835 design, removing the towers and the dome and rearranging the plan along the same axes. The design is notable for what the drawings label as the ‘Tribune Library’, a double-height space behind the front portico with a gallery and lantern. The name is probably intended to convey that it is the centrepiece of the whole library on the upper storey, in reference to the Tribuna, the double-height room with a lantern that represents the heart of the Uffizi. Submitted 13 April 1836, Cockerell’s designs were selected with an overwhelming majority on 11 May.