Florence Trip Overview
Don’t miss an opportunity to see Michelangelo’s sculptures and architectural design of the Medici Chapels in Florence. This homage to the great Medici leaders is decorated with the masterfully-sculpted allegories of Night, Day, Dawn, and Dusk.
Additional Info
Duration: 60 to 120 minutes
Starts: Florence, Italy
Trip Category: Sightseeing Tickets & Passes >> Museum Tickets & Passes
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What to Expect When Visiting Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Don’t miss an opportunity to see Michelangelo’s sculptures and architectural design of the Medici Chapels in Florence. This homage to the great Medici leaders is decorated with the masterfully-sculpted allegories of Night, Day, Dawn, and Dusk.
Visit: Cappelle Medicee, Piazza di Madonna Degli Aldobrandini 6, 50123, Florence Italy
The Medici Chapels were built as the personal sepulcher of the Medici family in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which was considered by the Medici as their private church.
In 1520, Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici (who would become Pope Clemente VII) together with Pope Leo X commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti with the building of the Sagrestia Nuova as the mausoleum for the Medici family. The chapel was to form a pendant to Filippo Brunelleschi’s Sagrestia Vecchia. Construction began in March 1520 and was finally completed by Giorgio Vasari in 1546, after Michelangelo had left Florence for Rome in 1534.
The chapel was to hold the tombs of the two ‘Magnifici’ and the two ‘Capitani’ of the Medici: Lorenzo il Magnifico, his brother Giuliano de’ Medici, Lorenzo Duke of Urbino, and Giuliano Duke of Nemours (the third son of the Magnifico).
