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The Medici Chapels

Two chapels behind San Lorenzo: the Medici grand dukes' marble mausoleum, and Michelangelo's New Sacristy.

Chapel of the Princes • Michelangelo's New Sacristy • the Medici tombs

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San Lorenzo Complex

Entrance on Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini, behind the basilica

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Mornings Best

Closed some Sundays and Mondays, so check ahead

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60 to 90 Minutes

Two chapels and the treasury reward an unhurried visit

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Timed Tickets

Book ahead. Capacity is limited

🧭 Why Visit

Two very different chapels share one entrance behind San Lorenzo. The Chapel of the Princes is the Medici at their most imperial, an octagon lined floor to dome in dark marble and inlaid stone. Next door, Michelangelo's New Sacristy is the opposite, pale and spare, with four of the most famous figures he ever carved. Seeing them back to back is the point.

🏛️ A Little History

The New Sacristy came first. Michelangelo began it in 1520 as the Medici answer to Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy across the church, and worked on it for fourteen interrupted years before leaving for Rome in 1534 with parts unfinished. The Chapel of the Princes was begun later, in 1604, for the grand dukes, and its craftsmen kept inlaying stone for generations. The painted dome was only finished in the 1800s.

💡 Did You Know?

The Chapel of the Princes was meant to hold the greatest relic in Christendom. The grand dukes spent years trying to buy the Holy Sepulchre itself and enshrine it here. The purchase never happened, the chapel kept rising anyway, and what fills it instead is the pietra dura, colored stone cut into pictures, that became Florence's signature craft.

THE CHAPEL OF THE PRINCES

The Grand-Ducal Mausoleum

The octagon the Medici grand dukes built for themselves, faced floor to dome in dark marble, porphyry, and inlaid stone. Begun in 1604 and worked for generations.

The octagonal Chapel of the Princes lined with colored marble and semiprecious stone, a grand-ducal tomb set into one wall — **The Chapel of the Princes**The octagon the Medici built as a grand-ducal mausoleum, every surface faced in dark marble and semiprecious stone.

View across the marble Chapel of the Princes toward the altar, daylight falling from the dome above — **Toward the altar**The axis of the chapel runs to the altar, daylight dropping from the dome above.

Gilded bronze statue of a Medici grand duke in a niche above his sarcophagus in the Chapel of the Princes — **A grand duke in gilt bronze**One of only two gilt-bronze grand-duke statues ever finished for the chapel, set above his sarcophagus.

Bronze statue of a Medici grand duke over an inlaid sarcophagus inscribed Magnus Dux Etruriae — **The ducal cenotaph**A grand duke in bronze over an inlaid sarcophagus, Magnus Dux Etruriae cut into the stone.

Marble and porphyry tomb niche of a Medici grand duke in the Chapel of the Princes — **A grand-ducal tomb**Each duke has his own niche of marble and porphyry around the octagon.

Corner of the Chapel of the Princes where pietra dura inlay of colored marble and stone climbs the walls — **Inlaid to the last inch**There is almost no plain surface. Colored stone climbs every wall.

THE DOME

The Painted Vault

The dome stood bare for two centuries. The frescoes that close it, scenes from Genesis and the Passion, were painted by Pietro Benvenuti in the early 1800s.

The frescoed dome of the Chapel of the Princes, eight scenes ringing a central lantern — **The painted dome**Eight scenes ring the lantern, Benvenuti's early-1800s frescoes closing a dome the Medici left bare.

Dome fresco of the Crucifixion in the Chapel of the Princes — **The Crucifixion**One of the dome's great panels.

Dome fresco of a scene from Genesis in the Chapel of the Princes — **Scenes from Genesis**The frescoes run from the Creation through the Passion.

Looking straight up into the frescoed dome and central lantern of the Chapel of the Princes — **Up to the lantern**Straight up into the vault and its central light.

PIETRA DURA

Pictures in Stone

The Medici craft of cutting colored stone into images. Sixteen towns of the grand duchy are set into the walls as inlaid coats of arms, with flowers and fruit along the base.

Pietra dura coat of arms of a Tuscan town inlaid in marble on the chapel wall, a red cross on white — **The arms of the towns**Sixteen towns of the grand duchy are set into the walls in inlaid stone. This one carries a red cross on white.

Pietra dura civic coat of arms inlaid in colored marble and mother of pearl — **Pictures in stone**Each shield is cut from colored marble, mother of pearl, and semiprecious stone.

Pietra dura coat of arms of a Tuscan town inlaid in stone on the chapel wall — **A town's device**The pietra dura workshops kept at the chapel for generations.

Pietra dura frieze of flowers and fruit inlaid in colored stone along the chapel dado — **Flowers cut in stone**Flowers and fruit run along the dado in inlaid stone.

THE TREASURY

Silver and Gilt

The grand-ducal reliquary collection, displayed in the lower chapel.

MICHELANGELO'S NEW SACRISTY

Architect and Sculptor at Once

The room Michelangelo designed as well as filled. Grey pietra serena drawn against white walls, rising to a coffered dome he modeled on the Pantheon.

The New Sacristy in white plaster and grey pietra serena, Michelangelo's architecture of pilasters and niches — **Michelangelo the architect**He designed the room as well as its tombs, grey pietra serena drawn taut against white walls.

The coffered dome of the New Sacristy rising to a lantern, modeled on the Pantheon — **The coffered dome**Modeled on the Pantheon, rising to a lantern.

The altar of the New Sacristy with candlesticks and crucifix below the coffered dome — **The altar**The sacristy altar below the dome.

THE MEDICI TOMBS

The Four Times of Day

Facing each other across the sacristy, the tombs of two Medici dukes. Below each, a pair of Michelangelo's reclining allegories: Dawn and Dusk, Night and Day.

Michelangelo's tomb of Lorenzo de Medici, the allegories of Dawn and Dusk reclining below the pensive seated duke — **Dawn and Dusk**The tomb of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, the pensive Pensieroso above his reclining Dawn and Dusk.

Michelangelo's seated statue of Giuliano de Medici in Roman armor on his Medici Chapel tomb — **Giuliano**Michelangelo's Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, seated in Roman armor.

One of Michelangelo's reclining marble allegories of the times of day on a Medici tomb — **One of the four**One of the reclining times of day, carved for the Medici tombs.

THE MEDICI MADONNA

Mother and Child

On the entrance wall, Michelangelo's unfinished Madonna and Child, set between the Medici patron saints Cosmas and Damian.

The Medici Madonna by Michelangelo flanked by the seated Saints Cosmas and Damian on the entrance wall of the New Sacristy — **The Medici Madonna**Michelangelo's Madonna between the Medici patron saints Cosmas and Damian.

Michelangelo's Medici Madonna, the Christ Child turning across the Virgin's lap, left partly unfinished — **Madonna and Child**The Christ Child turns across the Virgin's lap, the group left partly unfinished.

Marble statue of one of the Medici patron saints, Cosmas or Damian, in the New Sacristy — **A patron saint**One of the Medici patrons, Cosmas or Damian, carved to Michelangelo's design.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Medici Chapels?

The funerary chapels of the Medici at the church of San Lorenzo. They take in the grand marble Chapel of the Princes and Michelangelo's New Sacristy, with the family's tombs in both.

Is this the same as the Sagrestia Nuova?

The New Sacristy, or Sagrestia Nuova, is one half of the Medici Chapels. Michelangelo designed and sculpted it, and it holds his allegories of Dawn, Dusk, Night and Day. The Chapel of the Princes is the other half.

Is it part of San Lorenzo?

The same complex, with a separate ticket and its own entrance behind the basilica on Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini.

What should I not miss?

Michelangelo's four times of day on the Medici tombs, the Medici Madonna, and the sheer scale of the pietra dura in the Chapel of the Princes.

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The Medici Chapels

San Lorenzo Complex

Mornings Best

60 to 90 Minutes

Timed Tickets

🧭 Why Visit

🏛️ A Little History

💡 Did You Know?

The Grand-Ducal Mausoleum

The Painted Vault

Pictures in Stone

Silver and Gilt

Architect and Sculptor at Once

The Four Times of Day

Mother and Child

Live Prices & Availability

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Oltrarno

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Santa Croce

Santo Spirito

Orsanmichele

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