Medici Chapels

The Medici Chapels are the burial chapels of the Medici family attached to the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence. They combine Renaissance sculpture and Baroque monumental architecture and serve as the family’s dynastic mausoleum.

Principal highlights are the New Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova), where Michelangelo executed architectural schemes and sculptural tombs, and the Cappella dei Principi, a large domed 17th-century mausoleum decorated with inlaid stone and marble. The New Sacristy contains the famous allegorical figures representing day, night, dawn and dusk.

The chapels were developed over the 16th and 17th centuries as both funerary monuments and statements of Medici power, with successive dukes commissioning grand works to house family tombs. Conservation and curatorial work have focused on preserving the sculptural program and the pietre dure decoration.

The complex sits adjacent to San Lorenzo in central Florence, within the historic city core and within easy walking distance of the Duomo and other major museums.

• Artistic importance: Contains Michelangelo's funerary sculptures and a monumental princely chapel, making it a key site for Renaissance art and Medici dynastic history.
• Location note: Located adjacent to the Basilica of San Lorenzo in central Florence, it is accessible from the historic centre and commonly visited together with other Medici sites.

What to See #

• New Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova): Michelangelo's funerary architecture and sculptural groupings executed in the early 16th century, including the allegorical figures commonly known as Dawn, Dusk, Night and Day.
• Cappella dei Principi: An ornate 17th-century octagonal mausoleum with a domed interior and richly decorated walls in pietre dure and marble, built as the grand dynastic chapel for the Medici family.