The church of San Lorenzo and the Medici’s Chapels

Author: Serena

The Romanesque church of San Lorenzo was built in the year 1000, then Giovanni Bicci de’ Medici commissioned Brunelleschi to renovated this construction that was finally completed by Antonio Manetti. For this church Michelangelo created the inner façade, the sacristy and the library.

The church of San Lorenzo, external view

This monument’s interior space represents a pure and rigorous example of the Renaissance style of Brunelleschi: here you can admire, in fact, unique parallel trabeations and round arches supported by Corinthian columns and pinstripe pillars.

The church of San Lorenzo, inner view

In the Old Sacristy you can even admire the decorative sculptures by Donatello who also created the two bronze pulpits placed in the main nave of the church.

The Old Sacristy

From the left aisle you can arrive to the Biblioteca Medicea or Laurenziana (the Medici’s Library) that was firstly created by Cosimo il Vecchio and then enlarged by Lorenzo il Magnifico. You can arrive there through the extraordinary staircase planned by Michelangelo and completed by Ammannati in 1539.

The staircase by Michelangelo

Here you can even visit the Medici’s Chapels (Cappelle Medicee): the Princes Chapel (the Cappella dei Principi), that hedges in the funeral monuments of the Medici family, and the New Sacristy that is the first architectonical work by Michelangelo. In this second chapel there are the funeral monuments of Giuliano and Lorenzo dei Medici. These monuments are ornamented with four very famous allegorical statues: the Day, the Night, the Twilight and the Aurora.