Museum of the Medici Chapels

The Museum of the Medici Chapels, established in 1869, is the cumulation of several very prestigious art historical spaces. First, the mausoleum of inlaid precious stones, destined to house the mortal remains of the Medici princes, and which emerges as a building apart from the others, is best characterized in the fabric of the city by its grand dome designed by Ferdinando Ruggeri at the beginning of the 1800’s. Then there are the rooms of the treasure of San Lorenzo, and the New Sacristy, on the right side of the church’s transept, designed and conceived in its sculptural fittings by Michelangelo, almost a mirror-image of the Old Sacristy. Also part of the Museum of the Medici Chapels is the crypt, where members of the Medici family are buried, as well as the Lorraine crypt, at the moment closed to the public. Here is where the mortal remains of the family of Lorraine, the Medici successors after the extinction of the family following the death of Gian Gastone ( 1737), are located. Another important element of the museum complex is the tomb of Cosimo il Vecchio (also known as “Pater Patriae”), executed by Andre del Verrocchio (1467).

They are all components of the Laurentian Complex, whose property was divided at the moment of the transfer of the Church estate (1866-67). It is important to keep in mind just how indissolvably connected these separate spaces are to the Complex, in order to understand it completely.

History of the Complex

The idea of carrying out a third and more monumental family chapel after the two existing Sacristies, belonged to Cosimo I de’Medici, the first Tuscan Grand Duke. Between 1561 and 1568, he entrusted Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) with the responsibility. Vasari is to be credited with the idea of covering the chapel with marble and mosaics. Work, however, was begun not under the direction of Cosimo I, but that of his son, Ferdinando I. It was Ferdinando who founded in 1588 the Florentine Opificio delle Pietre Dure, calling to Florence many famous stone-cutters. Already in 1589, large polychrome coats-of arms, finished in precious stones, executed for the Tuscan towns which housed the bishop’s residences, were later placed in the lower perimeter of the new chapel. In 1602, a competition was announced regarding the design of the third chapel. Executed models were presented by Bernardo Buontalenti (1523-1608), Gherardo Silvani (1579-1675), and Matteo Nigetti (1560-1649). Nigetti’s project, inspired by Don Giovanni de’Medici’s previous designs for the same chapel, was chosen, rendering him responsible for its construction until 1650.

official site: www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english/cappellemedicee