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Sagrestia Nuova

Michelangelo as architect and sculptor at once: the Medici Chapels' New Sacristy, where Dawn, Dusk, Night and Day mourn in marble.

Medici Tombs • Night & Day • Michelangelo's Architecture

See the Sacristy Get Early Access
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San Lorenzo Complex

Entrance behind the basilica, Piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandini

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Mornings Best

Closed some Sundays and Mondays, so check ahead

⏱️

45–60 Minutes

Small space, unhurried viewing

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Timed Tickets

Book ahead. Capacity is limited

🧭 Why Visit

Michelangelo's total artwork. Architecture, tombs, and the reclining allegories of Dawn, Dusk, Night and Day in one Medici chapel. It's the rare room where every element is one mind, and it reads like sculpture you can stand inside.

🏛️ A Little History

Commissioned in 1520 as the Medici's funerary answer to Brunelleschi's Old Sacristy, worked on for fourteen interrupted years while Michelangelo juggled popes, sieges, and exile. He left for Rome in 1534 with parts forever unfinished.

💡 Did You Know?

During the 1530 siege Michelangelo, who had sided against the Medici, hid from their vengeance in a tiny room beneath this very chapel, covering the walls with charcoal sketches. The secret room was found in 1975 and now admits a few visitors a day.

THE ROOM HE DESIGNED

Architect and Sculptor at Once

Michelangelo drew the room as well as filling it. Grey pietra serena against white plaster, pilasters running the full height, and a coffered dome he took from the Pantheon.

The corner of Michelangelo's New Sacristy, grey pietra serena pilasters drawn against white plaster
Stone drawn on whitePietra serena, the grey sandstone of Florence, used as line rather than mass. Michelangelo treats the wall like a drawing.
The coffered dome of the New Sacristy rising to its lantern, modelled on the Pantheon
The domeCoffers diminishing to a lantern, lifted from the Pantheon and made to feel taller than it is.
The altar of the New Sacristy with its candlesticks and crucifix below the carved frieze
The altarThe working end of the room, and the only part of it that is unambiguously a chapel.
THE TOMB OF LORENZO

Il Pensieroso, Dusk and Dawn

Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, sits above his own sarcophagus with his chin on his hand. Dusk and Dawn lie on the curved lid below him, and neither of them can get comfortable.

The tomb of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, the seated duke above the reclining figures of Dusk and Dawn
The whole wallDuke above, allegories below, and an architecture designed to hold exactly this and nothing else.
Michelangelo's seated Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, chin resting on his hand, known as Il Pensieroso
Il PensierosoThe thinker. Michelangelo made no attempt at a likeness of either duke, and said so.
Michelangelo's Dawn, a female figure waking on the curve of the tomb of Lorenzo
DawnWaking, and not glad about it. She is the most finished of the four and the most unhappy.
THE TOMB OF GIULIANO

Night and Day

Facing him across the room, Giuliano, Duke of Nemours. Night sleeps below with her owl and her mask, and Day turns a face Michelangelo never finished cutting.

The tomb of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, the seated duke above the reclining figures of Night and Day
The facing wallThe same composition mirrored, which is why standing between them works the way it does.
Michelangelo's Day, turning his roughed and unfinished face back over his shoulder
DayThe face is barely cut, roughed out of the block and turned away. Michelangelo left for Rome in 1534 and never came back to it.
THE ALTAR WALL

The Madonna and the Magnificent

On the entrance wall, the Medici Madonna between the family's patron saints, above the slab that holds Lorenzo the Magnificent and his murdered brother Giuliano. Neither of them got a monument.

The Medici Madonna between Saints Cosmas and Damian, above the tomb slab of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano
The Magnificent's wallThe plaque names Lorenzo il Magnifico and Giuliano de' Medici. The two most famous men in the room are under the plainest stone in it.
Michelangelo's Medici Madonna, the Christ Child twisting across the Virgin's lap, left unfinished
The Medici MadonnaThe Child twists across her lap to feed. Michelangelo left the group unfinished, and the surface still carries the tooth marks.
One of the Medici patron saints, Cosmas or Damian, carved to Michelangelo's design
A patron saintCosmas and Damian, the doctor saints the Medici took their name from. Carved to Michelangelo's design by his workshop.
A carved marble military trophy by Silvio Cosini, made for the New Sacristy and left in place unfinished
A military trophyCarved by Silvio Cosini, a pupil of Michelangelo, for a decorative scheme abandoned when the master left for Rome.
The second of Silvio Cosini's two military trophies for the New Sacristy
The second trophyThere are two. They were meant to be part of a much richer decoration that never happened.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly is the Sagrestia Nuova?
Michelangelo's New Sacristy in the Medici Chapels. It is the funerary chapel he designed and sculpted for the Medici family, home to the famous allegories of Dawn, Dusk, Night and Day.
Is it part of San Lorenzo?
Same complex, separate ticket and entrance. The Medici Chapels (Cappelle Medicee) entrance is behind the basilica, and includes the octagonal Chapel of the Princes.
Why is it a must-see?
It's the rare place where Michelangelo controlled everything. Architecture, tombs, and sculpture read as one composition. Many consider Night his most technically astonishing figure.

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