Church of San Lorenzo in Florence.

Florence, like almost any Italian city, is literally flooded with sights, historical monuments, all kinds of priceless artifacts, which we mentioned a little in. Among all this abundance, there are places that simply cannot be missed, and one of these places is the Medici Chapel. She is part of memorial complex at the Church of San Lorenzo.

Strictly speaking, the chapel consists of three parts - a crypt with the burial of 49 not so famous Medicis; Chapels of the Princes, where the ashes of much more famous representatives of the family are buried; and the New Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova).

It was on the design of the latter that the great Michelangelo Buonarroti worked, and, despite the very dramatic story implementation of the project, it was here that the talent of the great Master reflected many of its facets. Actually, it is the New Sacristy that is most often meant when talking about the Medici Chapel.

How to get there, opening hours

The main landmark for tourists wishing to visit the Medici Chapel in Florence is the Church of San Lorenzo itself. It is located at Piazza di San Lorenzo, 9.

The Medici Chapel is part of the San Lorenzo complex

The attraction is very significant, it is present in all possible guidebooks, so finding it will not be a problem. The bus route C1 passes near the church. The stop is called “San Lorenzo”. You can also get off at the next stop - "Cappelle Medicee".

The Medici Chapel is open to the public every day from 8:15 to 18:00. Regular holidays are every even Sunday and every odd Monday of the month. Also, the chapel is closed on the biggest holidays - January 1 ( New Year), December 25 (Christmas) and May 1.

Tickets for the Medici Chapel and the Laurenzian Library (another project by Michelangelo on the territory of the San Lorenzo complex) are purchased separately. The box office is open until 16:20. Children under six years of age enter free.

The Medici Chapel in Florence is a very popular place, so it will be useful to book tickets in advance online.

Far from being the only picturesque tomb in Florence, the Medici Chapel is strikingly different from other similar objects. Michelangelo put all his talent into creating an atmosphere of deep tragedy and sorrow in the chapel - everything here is devoted to the theme of death.

Even the nature of natural light is very symbolic. At the very bottom, where the sarcophagi with the dead are located, it is darkest of all. The higher, the more light from outside gets inside the building. This symbolizes the immortality of the soul and its transition to the realm of light after the completion of a person's earthly life.

Above the tombs of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, you can see the work of Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child", sculptures of Saints Cosmas and Domian

The central object in the Medici Chapel is the altar. But it is by no means of greatest interest from an artistic and aesthetic point of view.

On the right and left sides of the altar are the tombs of the dukes Giuliano of Nemours and Lorenzo of Urbino. Directly opposite the altar, near the opposite wall in a protruding plinth, the ashes of two more Medicis lie - Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano.

These two representatives of a powerful family were in their time much more significant figures than their namesakes, buried "next door". But their sarcophagi are much more modestly decorated - three statues by Michelangelo are installed on the crypt - Saints Cosmas and Damian, and the Madonna and Child. The latter is perhaps the only sculpture in the chapel that is devoid of tragedy, but is filled with a lyrical reflection of the closeness of mother and child.

Lorenzo the Magnificent was prominent statesman Florentine Republic and its leader in the Renaissance. Many have a natural question why the tomb of him and his brother received such a minimalist design from Michelangelo.

The answer is actually very simple. Lorenzo of Urbino and Giuliano of Nemours were the first of the Medici family to receive ducal titles. In those feudal times this circumstance was much more important than the actual historical role one person or another.

Allegorical figures "Morning" (female) and "Evening" (male) adorn the gravestone of Lorenzo Urbinsky

The sarcophagi of the Dukes of Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici are decorated with sculptures that brought even more fame to the already famous Michelangelo at that time. These are the so-called "Days". The sculptures "Morning" and "Evening" are installed on the tomb of Lorenzo Urbinsky, and "Day" and "Night" - on the sarcophagus of Giuliano Nemours.

Even during the life of Michelangelo, the sculpture "Night" made an indelible impression on the contemporaries of the creator with its deep tragedy. The figure creates exactly the same mood now, as evidenced by the numerous reviews of visitors to the Medici Chapel.

The figures "Day" (male) and "Night" (female) were installed by Michelangelo over the tomb of Giuliano Nemours

Everything described is only the most notable creations of Michelangelo, created in the course of work on the interior decoration of the chapel. Awareness of the real greatness of this work of art comes as you get acquainted with the very history of the creation of the Medici Chapel.

History of creation

Initially, the plans of Pope Leo X (Giovanni Medici) regarding the renovation of the Florentine church of San Lorenzo were completely different.

The Pope wanted to create a new facade for the Medici family temple and invited Michelangelo to complete this ambitious task. The goal was to embody in the new facade the full power of the talent of the best Italian artists and thus testify to the power of the Medici family.

Michelangelo arrived in Florence and began work in 1514. However, the first time that the sculptor spent in marble quarries turned out to be wasted. Pope Leo X was "famous" for extravagance, and there was simply not enough money to build a grandiose facade. After the death of the pope, the project was hopelessly frozen.

The facade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo has remained unfinished to this day.

However, the name of Michelangelo was already so famous at that time that the Medici family decided to resume cooperation with the ambitious sculptor at all costs. So, on the initiative of Cardinal Giulio Medici, the idea of ​​completing the construction of a new chapel on the territory of the church of San Lorenzo was born (the New Sacristy was erected to the height of the cornice at the end of the 15th century).

Idea and projects

The placement of the tombs of the Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano in the future Medici Chapel in Florence was originally conceived. Michelangelo planned to install them in the very center of the chapel, but later the artist nevertheless leaned towards a more traditional, side wall layout of the monuments. According to his plan, the tombstones were to be decorated with symbolic sculptures, and the lunettes above them were painted with frescoes.

The sculptures of Lorenzo and Giuliano were designed as symbolic - they did not reflect the appearance of their real prototypes. This was the condition of the artist, who was known for his inexplicably negative attitude towards portraits and other forms of embodiment in art of accurate images of real people.

Therefore, the faces of the figures were presented as an idealized generalization. Allegorical figures of the course of the day were supposed to be a hint of the transience of the life of the dukes.

Sculptures of the Dukes of the Medici do not convey the real appearance of their prototypes

The project also assumed the presence of figures of river gods on the floor near the tombstones, it was planned to place armor, garlands and four figures of crouched boys over the tombstones. But, due to a number of circumstances, far from all of what was planned was realized.

Conflict with the Medici

Michelangelo began work on the interior decoration of the Medici Chapel when he was 45 years old. The grandeur of the idea did not frighten him at all. Although the master was already, at that time, very old, he began to implement the project with all zeal. As if he knew that the time of his life had barely exceeded half (the artist died at a very advanced age - 88 years).

Work on the main design elements of the Medici Chapel lasted almost 15 years. During all this time, the original plan had to be repeatedly adjusted, which greatly annoyed Michelangelo, and, ultimately, he was not satisfied with the result.

At the same time, his relationship with the Medici family was rapidly deteriorating. In the end, in 1527, the republican-minded part of the Florentines rebelled against the Medici, and the latter had to flee. In this confrontation, Michelangelo was on the side of the rebels.

Florence did not remain long under the leadership of the provisional government. The combined armies of Emperor Charles and the Pope laid siege to the city. Michelangelo was put in charge of all the fortifications.

The figure of St. Cosmas was finalized by Michelangelo's assistant Giovanni Montorsoli

Photos by: Sailko, Rufus46, Rabe!, Yannick Carer

There is a place in Florence that has been my fixed idea for 6 years: the Medici Chapels. On our first visit, they were still closed on Mondays, like all museums. In the second, they worked until 13:50 (as it sometimes happens now), and after the Uffizi we didn’t have time to go there. Well, as they say, God loves a trinity.
Actually, the Medici chapels (and not the chapel, as they sometimes say, Cappelle Medicee, website, wiki) are a decent-sized complex at the church of San Lorenzo, generally consisting of three rooms: a crypt, a "princes' chapel" and a new sacristy, and only the latter - A work of Michelangelo.
The crypt is not very interesting: there are exhibitions of all kinds of reliquaries, mostly late ones, when the amount of gold and pretentiousness of forms were valued, and not beauty or plot (I can’t help but recall the reliquary in Orvieto or in the cathedral in Genoa - what wonderful things). In the crypt are the tombs of the last Italian condottiere, the ancestor of the Dukes of the Medici, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (he is sitting in front of the church in an indecent pose) and his wife. (In fact, there is another crypt near the church of San Lorenzo where Cosimo the Elder Medici and Donatello are buried, but people from outside are not allowed in there.)
In the "Princes' Chapel", of course, there are no princes - there are dukes, and this, you see, is a slightly different calico. But from the point of view of decor, some princes can not only envy, but eat their hat (or a tie, whoever has something) with envy: the octagonal chapel with the second highest dome in the city (after Brunelleschi's dome, you know where) is lined with multi-colored marble, porphyry and granite ...

Sarcophagi, except for one, granite, also made of polychrome marble with inlay and ducal crowns (it's a pity there are only two statues in the niches - the work has not been completed) ...

At the base of the pilasters are the coats of arms of the "ward" cities...

The dome is inlaid and painted very richly...

Gorgeous floor...

In general, that rare case when Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Hermitage nervously smoke on the sidelines. There is reason to be proud.
I especially want to note the altar: if you have ever seen such inlay, then I have not.

To be honest, I was delighted with such "luxuries" last time at the age of 12 and since then I have felt a fierce hatred for them, but I do not have enough conscience not to appreciate the scope and skill. Really cool.
As for the new sacristy (wiki) - there is also the old one (wiki), the work of Brunelleschi, with decor by Donatello and Luca della Robbia - I imagined it completely different. I don’t know which one - maybe more like a church, and not like a storeroom of a museum? In any case, the gravestones of the Dukes of Urbino and Nemours, well known to me at least from casts in Pushkin Museum, and here they look somehow not real.

I remember what awe I experienced 2 years ago in Rome, when it turned out that the familiar Moses from childhood on the tomb of Pope Julius II is like this: yellowish, muscular, not even in shape, but in structure, when the veins of marble seem like living human skin. The hand of the master is also felt here, but the structure of the marble is not very good (it’s even a little strange that Michelangelo chose it for so long).

Separately, I would like to say about female figures. It is common for Italian (and, in general, European) Renaissance art to not be able to depict women and children in general. The feeling that the ban on the body in Catholicism manifested itself in this way: even when painting and sculpture moved away from Gothic disproportion and gained anatomical accuracy, this only affected male figure, since apprentices could always be undressed, put in the right position and draw for hours at least a face, even a body, achieving literacy in the location of muscles and reflexes.
Not so with women. There are wonderful examples: here it is necessary to say again about Filippo Lippi and Sandro Botticelli with their muses - and opposite examples among the Sienese, who, apparently, were categorically unlucky with their wives. But it's one thing to pose with your face, and quite another for your body. There is even a feeling that the artists did not see their wives naked under normal lighting, let alone models. This is how monsters were born with breasts on their shoulders or on their sides, according to the principle "she has something there somewhere." It’s even worse with children: if the baby Jesus simply looks like a reduced eight-ten-year-old, like Giotto, or a twenty-year-old boy, like in Greek icons, consider yourself lucky, maybe just a disproportionate freak. Even with Leonardo, with his aestheticism, the babies are not alive - it took Raphael (albeit standing on the shoulders of Perugino) for the babies to take on a natural look.
I must say that Michelangelo has order with babies - he always, even in early works, he did not save on babies: apparently, sadly, he came across the corpses of babies along with the corpses of adult men, whom he opened, carefully encrypted from the church. Either the corpses of women did not come across to him, or rumors about orientation are not fiction, but with naked women, unlike dressed ones, Michelangelo clearly did not have much.
Let's say the night is an obvious man with a clumsily attached chest (also such a configuration that you will not find in life).

The chest of Aurora (Morning) is more like a woman's, but the figure is still masculine, although not as pronounced as in the case of Night.

Against this background, the Medici Madonna on the tombstone of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, who was killed during the Pacia conspiracy, looks like a standard of style and anatomical accuracy, albeit built according to classical Greco-Roman models (for example, Madonna’s face clearly resembles Athena, or even Hera, if you take into account the nose). Of course, it is clear that this is the same hand that Rachel made for the tomb of Pope Julius II in Rome, but the unity of authorship with the Vatican "Pieta" may raise questions: "Pieta" is delightfully modern, and here a deliberate message to antiquity (unlike surrounding Cosmas and Damian, made by students according to the sketches and models of the master - these do not look ancient at all).

In general, we completed the task, we visited the Medici chapels. Personally, this did not bring satisfaction to me - rather, disappointment. Although here everyone sees it in their own way, of course.

Closing another gestalt, we shopped at Mercato di San Lorenzo, buying a couple of bags and a couple of wallets promised to Mouse. Say what you like, but Florentine leather is beautiful, and you can always bargain. Truth. it seemed to me that the assortment of bags has slightly decreased, but maybe. it just seemed.
Thus raising our spirits, we went to favorite place- Convent of San Marco (wiki). If you suddenly have not been here or confuse the Florentine San Marco with the Venetian, be sure to visit: you will remember for a long time, I promise. (By the way, due to the fact that it was raining again, we were met at the entrance by a girl who, with deft and quick movements, pulled special polyethylene covers over our umbrellas so that it would not drip. We swallowed nervously.)
The monastery was built in the XIII century, but only in 1437 it passed into the hands of the Dominicans. Enlisting the support of Cosimo de' Medici, who attracted the great architect Michelozzo and paid the costs, the monastery quickly became one of the most important in Florence. In addition, Cosimo organized at the monastery the first in the history of the city public library and asked to give him a cell for meditation (unlike other monks, the window in Cosimo's cell faced north, where there is less sun, and was the size of a palm).
The monastery was painted by local monks - however, one must understand that they were Fra Giovanni (Angelico) and Fra Bartolomeo. With the advent of Savonarola in Florence (who, on his own head, was invited by the Medici), the monastery became his headquarters, and he himself became the abbot. The three-room (unlike all the others: even Cosimo has all two small rooms) Savonarola cell with an exhibition of tools for the humiliation of the flesh can be visited even now.

The museum exposition mainly consists of works by Fra Angelico: they are located on the first floor, at the entrance (the former hospice) and in the chapter hall, on the second in the cells and corridors (including one of the best "Annunciations" in history, wiki - only Look at Mary's face! Separately, it must be said about book miniatures in the library on the second floor: how much better, thinner, more interesting Fra Angelico is than his contemporary Zanobi Strozzi, how much more archaic Strozzi!
Taking pictures in the museum is not allowed - in the cells this is monitored quite strictly, although the "Annunciation" is still massively clicked from the stairs, where the guard is not visible. But below you can shoot a little, if you want. To be honest, we didn’t want much, we went and once again were amazed at how good Fra Angelico was. But one work was partially clicked: this is the "Crucifixion with Saints" from the chapter hall (wiki). I can’t believe that this is 1442: Verrocchio was 7 years old, and Lorenzo the Magnificent, Ghirlandaio, Botticelli, not to mention Leonardo and Michelangelo, had not yet been born. Look at these faces and tell me Fra Angelico is simple and primitive!

Among the other artists represented is the already mentioned Fra Bartolomeo (who, by the way, wrote the most famous lifetime portrait Savonarola), Paolo Uccello, a student of Fra Angelico Benozzo Gozzoli, Bartolomeo Caporali, Luca and Andrea della Robbia and many others. As an example - " The Last Supper" Ghirlandaio (wiki): it even seems that in the 40 years since the "Crucifixion with the Saints" painting has not stepped very far, although in fact a long way has been traveled.

In general, San Marco is a must-visit place.

And for us, in Florence, there is another must-see place: it just so happens that we do not change the tradition of going to eat "to fools" despite the unconditional interest in other places and regular criticism of connoisseurs who consider Borgo San Lorenzo a disgusting tourist area, and restaurants , where there is a Russian menu and chicken breast- not noteworthy. So - once again I Matti (website).
They took: ribolita, cacio e pepe (pichi with pecorino and black pepper - simple and amazingly tasty, no worse than the local delicious arrabiata), panacotta and delicious tiramisu (the local one is definitely one of the three most delicious of those I have eaten). In general, the "fools" did not let us down again. And that's good, because the day came only to the middle, and we were waiting for two more important places.

to be continued

If suddenly, while in Florence, you want to visit the resting place of the last of the Medici family, visit Church of Saint LawrenceBasilica di San Lorenzo). And even though this harsh building is not located in the most prestigious place in the city, and, in fact, is unfinished, it undoubtedly deserves your attention. Indeed, in the past, the Basilica of San Lorenzo was a small family church great family Medici. But from an architectural point of view it is one of the first churches belonging to the renaissance era.

Let's go back a little and try to find out the history of the appearance of this ambiguous building. So, back in 393 AD. Milanese archbishop Ambrogio ordered the laying of a church dedicated to St. Lawrence and the first archbishop of Florence, St. Zenobius. The relics of the latter were kept within the walls of the church from the 4th to the 7th centuries. It was at this time that the Basilica of St. Lawrence was considered the Cathedral. today chief Cathedral Florence is.

In the 11th century, the first global restructuring of the building took place, during which the Renaissance style was replaced by Romanesque. At the beginning of the 15th century, several influential Florentine townspeople banded together to finance the expansion of the Church of San Lorenzo. The most significant was the donation made by Giovanni Medici, who wished to enter the higher strata of society in this way and strengthen his status.

The main architect to work on the basilica was (Filippo Brunelleschi). The first thing the famous italian architect- this is an extension of the side chapel, which later received the name Old sacristy.

Since it was planned to arrange a tomb for the Medici in it, Giovanni never spared funds to finance the construction.

The construction of the Old Chapel lasted from 1421 to 1428. Its interior revived the system of a dome covering a square room. The interior space was characterized by simplicity and clarity.

After finishing work on the sacristy, Brunelleschi set about general work over the church. However, he did not have time to finish them. In 1429, Giovanni de' Medici passed away. And with his death, the financial flow also dries up. In the future, work on the reconstruction of San Lorenzo continued with the filing of Cosimo Medici the Old, who invited him to the post of architect Bartolomeo Michelozzo. Later, Cosimo the Elder became the first buried in the underground crypt, and the Basilica of San Lorenzo became the burial place of all members of the famous Florentine family.

In 1520, Pope Leo Medici hired an architect to build the New Sacristy (Sacristy). In it, one of the great Medici planned to bury those from the family who left the world at a young age (Giuliano Medici, Lorenzo di Pietra). This project is one of the most important creative life masters. For example, if previously the tombs themselves and tombstones It was customary to place a room in the center, then Michelangelo was not afraid to make an architectural revolution by placing tombs and statues around the perimeter along the walls.

Interestingly, the facade reconstruction work was never completed. According to historical documents, this was due to disagreements between Michelangelo and Pope Leo X of the Medici. Michelangelo insisted on facing the facade with Carrara marble, while the pope preferred to decorate the facade with stone from Pietrasanta.

Actually, the dispute itself arose due to the fact that the facade was supposed to reflect the skill of Italian artists and at the same time testify to the power of the Medici family. And for this, Leo X considered his choice of stone more acceptable. The stubbornness of the sides led to the unfinished façade. After the death of the pope, funding decreased, and the project itself came to naught.

To great artist not completely turned away from the family, Cardinal Giulio Medici decided to distract him from the facade and commissioned the creation of a new chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Work on the new building began in 1519. And until now, the tomb sculptures created by him attract tourists from all over the world. In addition to tourists in the chapel, you can often see students from art academies. Here they are trained in craftsmanship on the example of world masterpieces.

What to watch

Despite the external ugliness of the basilica, a tourist who gets inside San Lorenzo is unlikely to regret it. After all, he will have the opportunity to see the world's works of art. For example, it is worth noting the bronze pulpit by the great Donatello, which appeared in the second half of the 15th century. The interior is mesmerizing. A row of columns of various diameters, devoid of any decoration, is believed to be the work of the architect Vasalleto. It is impossible to ignore the magnificent floor pattern, reminiscent of a carpet with drawings on the church theme.

Old Sacristy

The interior of the Old Sacristy is filled with beautiful medallions, lunettes and bas-reliefs by Donatello. There is also the tomb of Giovanni and Pietro Medici. The inner surface of the dome is decorated with a unique fresco. It depicts the sky with day and night luminaries, as well as the stars known at that time.

New Sacristy

The walls of the New Sacristy contain the sarcophagi of two Dukes of the Medici. The tombs are decorated with various allegorical sculptures made by Michelangelo. In the center is the composition "Madonna and Child".

Chapel of the Princes (Cappella Dei Principi)

The octagonal room of the Chapel of the Princes has the second largest dome in Florence. The dome is decorated with frescoes, on which you can see images of the city coats of arms of the Duchy of Tuscany. The painting of the crypt in which the Medici are buried was made in 1826 by Pietro Benvenuti.

Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Laurenziana)

The authorship of Buonarotti also belongs to the Laurentian Library. The master was engaged in its construction from 1524 to 1534, by order of Pope Clement VII of the Medici.


He also designed an amazing staircase, in the form of a flow of molten lava, and interior decoration. reading room. The library contains many books and historical manuscripts. The original collection belonged to Cosimo the Old, and was later expanded by the rest of the extended Medici family. The library also owns some priceless items. For example, a Bible dated to the 8th century AD. or the most ancient Roman encyclopedia (Naturalis Historia).

Despite the fact that the Church of St. Lawrence is not the most majestic architectural structure, it attracts tourists from all over the world every year. And, of course, the Medici family parish deserves your attention.

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Michelangelo arrived in Florence in 1514 because Pope Leo X of the Medici suggested that he create a new façade for the local church of San Lorenzo, the family temple of the powerful Medici family. This facade was to become a "mirror of all Italy", the embodiment of best features the skill of Italian artists and a witness to the power of the Medici family. But long months of reflection, design decisions, Michelangelo's stay in marble quarries turned out to be in vain. There was not enough money for the implementation of the grand facade - and the project came to naught after the death of the pope.

In order not to alienate the ambitious artist from the family, Cardinal Giulio Medici instructed him not to complete the facade, but to create a chapel in the same church of San Lorenzo. Work on it began in 1519.

Idea and projects

The renaissance tombstone went through a significant development path, when Michelangelo was forced to turn to the topic of memorial plastics. The Medici Chapel is a monument to the formidable and powerful Medici family, and not the free will of a creative genius.

In the first drafts, it was proposed to create a tombstone for the early deceased members of the family - the Duke of Nemours Giuliano and the Duke of Urbino Lorenzo, whom Michelangelo wanted to place in the middle of the chapel. But the development of new options and the study of the experience of predecessors forced the artist to turn to traditional pattern side, wall monuments. Michelangelo developed wall versions in the last project, decorating the headstone with sculptures, and the lunettes above them with frescoes.

The artist flatly refused to make portraits. He made no exception for the Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano. He presented them as the embodiment of generalized, idealized faces - active and contemplative. A hint of the transience of their lives were also allegorical figures of the course of the day - Night, Morning, Day and Evening. The triangular composition of the tombstone was complemented by recumbent figures of the river gods already on the floor. The latter are a hint of the continuous flow of time. The background was a wall, compositionally beaten with niches and pilasters, complemented by decorative figures. It was planned to place garlands, armor and four decorative figurines of crouching boys over Lorenzo's tombstone (the only one created of them would later be sold to England. From the Lyde Brown collection in 1785, the Russian Empress Catherine II would acquire it for her own palace collections).

Large shells were held over the tombstone of Giuliano Putti in the project, and a fresco was planned in the lunette. In addition to the tombstones, there was also an altar and sculptures of the Madonna and Child and two holy doctors - Cosmas and Damian, the heavenly patrons of the family.

Incomplete embodiment

The Medici Chapel is a small room, square in plan, the side wall length of which is twelve meters. The architecture of the building was influenced by the Pantheon in Rome, a famous example of the domed construction of ancient Roman masters. Michelangelo created his small version in his hometown. Outwardly ordinary and high, the building makes an unpleasant impression with the rough surface of undecorated walls, the monotonous surface of which is broken by rare windows and a dome. Overhead lighting is practically the only lighting of the building, as in the Roman Pantheon.

A huge idea with a large number of sculptures did not frighten the artist, who began working on the project at the age of 45. He will also have time to create the figures of both dukes, allegorical figures of the course of the day, a boy on his knees, the Madonna and Child, and Saints Cosmas and Damian. Only the sculptures of Lorenzo and Giuliano and the allegorical figure of Night were really completed. The master even managed to polish their surface. The surface of the Madonna, the boy on his knees, the allegories of Day, Evening and Morning are much less worked out. In a strange way, the imperfection of the figures gave them a new expressiveness, threatening strength and anxiety. The contrasting combination of light walls with dark colors of pilasters, cornices, window frames and lunette arches contributed to the impression of melancholy. The disturbing mood was also supported by the terrible, teratological ornaments of the friezes and the masks on the capitals.

The figures of the river gods were only developed in drawings and sketches. In the finished version, they were abandoned altogether. The niches along the figures of Lorenzo and Giuliano and the lunettes also remained empty. The background of the wall with the figures of the Madonna and Child and Saints Cosmas and Damian has not been developed at all. On one of the options, they also planned to create pilasters and niches here. In the lunette there could be a fresco on the theme of "The Resurrection of Christ" as an allusion to eternal life dead in afterlife and which is in the sketch.

Break with the Medici

Work on the figures of the chapel stretched out for almost fifteen years and did not bring the artist satisfaction with the final result, because it did not correspond to the plan. His relationship with the Medici family also deteriorated. In 1527, the republican-minded Florentines revolted and expelled all the Medici from the city. Work on the chapel stopped. Michelangelo took the side of the rebels, which gave rise to an accusation of ingratitude towards longtime patrons and patrons.

Florence was besieged by the soldiers of the combined armies of the Pope and Emperor Charles. The provisional government of the rebels appointed Michelangelo the head of all fortifications. The city was taken in 1531 and Medici power in Florence was restored. Michelangelo was forced to continue work in the chapel.

Michelangelo, having completed the sketches of the sculptures, left Florence, moved to Rome, where he worked until his death. The chapel was built according to his design solutions and unfinished sculptures were installed in the appropriate places. The figures of Saints Cosmas and Damian were made by assistant sculptors Montorsoli and Raffaello da Montelupo.

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Cappella Medici

The Medici Chapel is part of the monumental complex of San Lorenzo. was the official church of the Medici family, who lived in the palace on Via Larga (now Via Cavour). The chapel itself became their mausoleum. Giovanni de' Bicci de' Medici (Giovanni de' Bicci de' Medici, died in 1429) was the first of the Medici family, who bequeathed to bury himself and his wife Piccard in Bruneleschi's small sacristy. Later, his son, Cosimo the Elder, was buried in the church. The project for a Medici family mausoleum was conceived in 1520 when Michelangelo began work on the New Sacristy, located opposite Bruneleschi's Old Sacristy on the other side of the church. Eventually Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future Pope Clement VII, conceived the idea of ​​building a mausoleum for some members of his family, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brothers, Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino (1492-1519) and Giuliano, Duke of Nemours (1479-1516).

The construction of the Medici Chapel was completed in 1524, with its white walls and pietra serena interior based on Brunneleschi's design. The entrance to the chapel is located at the back. The Medici Chapel is divided into three parts:

• crypt
• princely chapel
• new treasury

Visit the Medici Chapel

• Medici Chapel
• Capelle Medicee
• Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, 6, near
• entrance to the Medici Chapel from the piazza. S. Lorenzo

Working hours:

• daily from 8:15 to 13:50
• from March 19 to November 3 and from December 26 to January 5 from 8:15 to 17:00.
• Closed: second and fourth Sunday of the month; first, third, fifth Monday of the month; New Year, May 1, December 25.

Entrance ticket:

• Full price: 6.00 €
• Reduced: €3.00 (children aged 18 to 25, school teachers)

What to see in the Medici Chapel

In the first hall Medici chapels- the Medici family tomb, designed by Buontalenti, contains the tombs of Cosimo the Old, Donatello, the Grand Dukes from the family of the Dukes of Lorraine that ruled after the Medici. From this hall you can go up to the Chapel dei Principi ( Cappella dei Principi), or Prince's Chapel, the design of which continued until the 18th century and where the great dukes of Tuscany are buried: Cosimo III, Francesco I, Cosimo I, Ferdinand I, Cosimo II and Ferdinand II.

From the Prince's Chapel, a corridor leads to New Treasury(Sagrestia Nuova), which is located symmetrically to the Old Treasury of the Church of San Lorenzo. on behalf of Pope Leo X, from the Medici family, who wanted to create a crypt for the younger members of the house, Michelangelo built on the treasury. The resulting square in plan room (11 x 11 m) is called the Medici Chapel.

In the design of the interior, the sculptor was guided by the decoration of the Old Sacristy, built according to the project of Brunelleschi. He divided the walls with vertical fluted Corinthian pilasters and cut them with horizontal cornices. At the same time, Michelangelo resorted to Brunelleschi's favorite decorating technique - juxtaposing a white wall with divisions of dark gray stone. Michelangelo seeks to stretch this "frame" system in height, for which he narrows the window framing in the lunettes of the upper tier and gives the caissons of the dome in a perspective reduction. The lower pilasters and cornice are perceived as frames of sculpted tombs.

In such a solution, the new, no longer renaissance, principle of interior design, based on a combination of contrasts, is most clearly visible. With the simplest methods, Michelangelo achieves unprecedented dynamism, giving rise to a different artistic language. And from the Renaissance, we suddenly find ourselves in the Baroque era.



Tombs of the Medici Chapel

In the design of the tombs, Michelangelo decisively violates the harmony and lightness of the Renaissance architectural frame. Visually heavy sculptures seem to want to get out of their architectural "frames", with difficulty holding on to the sloping covers of the sarcophagi. It is impossible to accurately convey the feeling of tightness of the crypts, the heaviness of the tombstones and the intense desire to live. Michelangelo completed only two of the planned tombs. The great-grandchildren of Cosimo the Old are buried in them. The helmet depicts Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino Allegorical figures on the tomb of the first are called "Evening" and "Morning", the second - "Night" and "Day".