Galleria dell'Accademia

Good ol' David. 500 years old and with 1.2 million visitors a year, he's still standing, pensive waiting for Golliath. The cleaning he had last year has left him a bit pale (with the removal of a bit too much of his original bees wax applied to buff the marble in 1504), and despite the corrosion through the microscopic holes in the marble, he's not looking too bad.
He has weak ankles now, and has a computer attached to him to measure movement in the horizontal and vertical threshold of his base.
David was one of 12 statues commissioned by the Operai to be placed in the buttress of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Michelangelo received this commission in 1501. He was given a piece of marble that had already been worked on by two other artists (Agostino di Duccio and Antonio Rossellino), and was under contract to finish the work they had started. He was 26 years old at the time.
In January of 1504 a committee of Florentine artists (including Leonardo daVinci and Sandro Botticelli) decided that Michelangelos sculpture was so impressive that it should be displayed in the public square instead; and so in September 1504, with 40 men, and taking 5 days, David was placed infront of Plazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria, replacing Donatellos Judith and Holofernes bronze cast.
In 1527 his arm was broken in three places during an uprising against the Medici family. It was Vasario, at 15, that saved the pieces of marble that are now re-attached (he would later become Michelangelos biographer).
1843 -he recieved his forst major cleaning (causing damage).
1873 -he was moved to the Accademia for protection from the elements.
1991 -a vandal attacked the statue with a hammer damaging the toes on his left foot.

David was created based on the artistic discipline of Disegno, which is built on the "knowledge of the male human form, mimicing divine creation."

Height- 17' / 5.17m
Carrara marble