Medici Chapels

Two very different rooms behind the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence make up the Medici Chapels, and between them they show the family that ruled Florence and then Tuscany at two extremes of taste. One is Michelangelo's New Sacristy, a cool, grey-and-white space of stone and sculpture; the other is the Chapel of the Princes, an immense octagon sheathed from floor to dome in coloured marbles and inlaid semi-precious stones.

The New Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova) was begun in 1520 for Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later Pope Clement VII, and his cousin Pope Leo X as a family mausoleum. It was Michelangelo's first architectural work, conceived as a counterpart to Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy on the other side of the church: a cubic room under a dome, framed in grey pietra serena against white walls. Michelangelo also carved its tombs. Along the side walls sit the monuments of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, and Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, each with an idealised portrait of the duke above a sarcophagus on which recline two allegorical figures of the times of day: Night and Day for Giuliano, Dusk and Dawn for Lorenzo. Their twisting, partly unfinished bodies influenced sculpture for generations. The Medici Madonna was the first statue he completed for the room. When Michelangelo left for Rome in 1534 the work was unfinished; the statues were set in place in 1545 by Niccolò Tribolo, and Vasari and Ammannati completed the chapel by 1555. Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano lie beneath the altar wall, their planned tombs never begun. In 1976 a concealed corridor beneath the sacristy was found, its walls bearing drawings by Michelangelo.

The Chapel of the Princes (Cappella dei Principi) is the mausoleum of the Medici grand dukes. Planned under Ferdinando I and designed by Matteo Nigetti on the basis of ideas by Don Giovanni de' Medici, it was begun in the early seventeenth century; the octagonal hall is 28 metres across and its dome, 59 metres high, is second in the city only to Brunelleschi's cathedral dome. Its walls are covered in Florentine commesso, an inlay of marble, porphyry and hardstones, including the coats of arms of sixteen Tuscan cities, a work for which the grand ducal hardstone workshop, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, was established. Six porphyry sarcophagi of grand dukes line the walls, two with bronze statues by Pietro Tacca, though the remains of the dynasty lie in the crypt below. The dome was painted by Pietro Benvenuti in 1828–1837.

San Lorenzo, in the heart of Florence, was the Medici family's church, and they were its patrons for generations.

Getting there

The Medici Chapels are entered from Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini, behind San Lorenzo in the historic centre of Florence, about 0.7 km from the city centre. Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the main railway station, is a short walk away. Florence Airport, Peretola (FLR), is about 5.5 km away.