The Church of San Lorenzo is the oldest church in the city, as it was consecrated by St Ambrose in 393. In 1060 it was rebuilt in Romanesque style. style. The church owes its modern appearance to Brunelleschi (1423). The facade, expressive and noble in its antiquity, is devoid of marble panelling. (Michelangelo's project to clad the church in marble was never realised).
The interior of the church attracts attention with two bronze pulpits by Donatello. Donatello, Filippo Lippi's "Annunciation" in the Martelli Chapel, and two sacristies in the transepts. The Medici Chapel, a kind of Medici family crypt. rises behind the Church of San Lorenzo. The entrance leads into a spacious hall with a low low-ceilinged hall decorated by Buontalenti. Here is the tomb of Cosimo the Elder, the tomb of Donatello, the tombs of the Lorraine and other great dukes. A modest stone slab is placed on the tomb of the founder of the Medici dynasty, Cosimo Senior.
From here it is possible to ascend to the great Chapel of the Princes, which was conceived and realised in a large part by the architect Nigetti (with the participation of Buontalenti). Its construction began in 1602 and was not completed until the XVIII century. The chapel, which is octagonal in plan, is entirely in marble and hard stone. marble and hard stone in the Baroque style. Above the plinth, decorated with the coats of arms of the sixteen cities of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, are six arched sarcophagi sarcophagi of the great dukes: Cosimo III, Francesco I, Cosimo I, Ferdinand I, Cosimo II and Ferdinand II; two of the sarcophagi bear statues of the deceased, by the sculptor Tacca. A corridor connects the Chapel of the Princes with the New Sacristy. Sacristy.
The Old Sacristy was designed by Brunelleschi and decorated by Donatello. The New Sacristy was created in 1520 by Michelangelo, who is also the author of the Medici tombs located here. of the Medici tombs here - Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, and Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. The sarcophagus of the former is guarded by nude figures-allegories of Day and Night, and the sarcophagus of the latter, Evening and Morning.
