San Lorenzo Church
San Lorenzo Church
art site
Piazza di San Lorenzo, 50123 Firenze, Italia
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This is one of the oldest churches in Florence (consecrated in 393 it was the city’s first cathedral). It was Brunelleschi, under the patronage of the Medici, who made it their church and their mausoleum, who created the splendid Renaissance interior that we admire today. Beyond the unfinished, rough stone façade (some of Michelangelo’s plans are still extant), is the large interior harmoniously divided by pietra serena columns in a magical play of proportional relationships and reinterpretations of classical architecture. The interior is embellished with works by Rosso Fiorentino (Marriage of the Virgin), Desiderio da Settignano (marble ciborium), Donatello and his workshop (the two large bronze pulpits, the extraordinary Deposition on the right pulpit is signed by the master). The left transept opens onto the Old Sacristy, a synthesis of Brunelleschian spatial concepts that was completed in 1429 and decorated by Donatello (polychrome stuccowork and bronze doors), and the tomb of Piero and Giovanni dei Medici by Verrocchio. Just beyond the sacristy is a remarkable Annunciation by Filippo Lippi. On the left side of the church is the cloister, inspired by Brunelleschi, from where we can admire the exterior of the Laurentian Library.
art site
Piazza di San Lorenzo, 50123 Firenze, Italia
Show on map
This is one of the oldest churches in Florence (consecrated in 393 it was the city’s first cathedral). It was Brunelleschi, under the patronage of the Medici, who made it their church and their mausoleum, who created the splendid Renaissance interior that we admire today. Beyond the unfinished, rough stone façade (some of Michelangelo’s plans are still extant), is the large interior harmoniously divided by pietra serena columns in a magical play of proportional relationships and reinterpretations of classical architecture. The interior is embellished with works by Rosso Fiorentino (Marriage of the Virgin), Desiderio da Settignano (marble ciborium), Donatello and his workshop (the two large bronze pulpits, the extraordinary Deposition on the right pulpit is signed by the master). The left transept opens onto the Old Sacristy, a synthesis of Brunelleschian spatial concepts that was completed in 1429 and decorated by Donatello (polychrome stuccowork and bronze doors), and the tomb of Piero and Giovanni dei Medici by Verrocchio. Just beyond the sacristy is a remarkable Annunciation by Filippo Lippi. On the left side of the church is the cloister, inspired by Brunelleschi, from where we can admire the exterior of the Laurentian Library.