Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A1
Eating
13
Carabé
C2
14
Clubhouse
B2
15
Da Nerbone
B2
B1
B2
Entertainment
C2
Basilica di San Lorenzo
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
(
insignebasilicasanlorenzo.wordpress.com
; Piazza San Lorenzo; admission €4.50, with Biblioteca Medicea
Laurenziana €7; 10am-5.30pm Mon-Sat, 1.30-5pm Sun Mar-Oct)
In 1425 Cosimo the Elder, who
lived nearby, commissioned Brunelleschi to rebuild the basilica on this site, which dated
to the 4th century. The new building would become the Medici parish church and mauso-
leum - many members of the family are buried here.
Considered one of the most harmonious examples of Renaissance architecture, the ba-
silica has never been finished - Michelangelo was commissioned to design the facade in
1518 but his design in white Carrara marble was never executed, hence the building's
rough unfinished appearance.
In the austere interior, columns of
pietra serena
(soft grey stone) crowned with Cor-
inthian capitals separate the nave from the two aisles. Donatello, who was still sculpting
the two bronze pulpits (1460-67) adorned with panels of the Crucifixion when he died, is
buried in the chapel featuring Fra' Filippo Lippi's
Annunciation
(c 1450). Left of the altar
is the
Sagrestia Vecchia
(Old Sacristy), designed by Brunelleschi and decorated in the main
by Donatello.
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