San Lorenzo
The ancient church was
consecrated in 393 by Ambrogio, bishop of Milan. It assumed its Romanesque
shape around the year 1000, was then rebuilt as it appears today by Brunelleschi
around the middle of the fifteenth century, and was finished by his student
Antonio Manetti.
Two pulpits by Donatello, an elegant marble tabernacle by
Desiderio da Settignano, plus works by Bronzino, Sogliano, Filippo Lippi and
Rosso Fiorentino make the basilica especially precious. Beside the church stands
the splendid Old Sacristy, designed by Brunelleschi in 1420 and decorated
by Donatello, and also the New Sacristy, built by Michelangelo in 1524 as a
funerary chapel for the Medici family.
The New Sacristy, together with the baroque Chapel of the Princes,
planned by Matteo Nigetti, constitute the Museum of the Medici Chapels. To the
left of the church one finds the Medici-Laurenziani Library, planned by
Michelangelo to conserve the copious collection of ancient manuscripts that
belonged to the Medici.
