The Church of Saint Lorenzo in Florence
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Chiesa di San Lorenzo
Florence - Church of San Lorenzo
The
Church of San Lorenzo was consecrated in 393 by St Ambrose of Milan, and was reconsecrated in 1059 after being considerably enlarged. The presence during the Middle Ages of a Chapter of Canons gave a particular character to the complex, creating the need for a monumental cloister beside the church and favouring the establishment of the Laurentian Library, entrusted by its founder Cosimo il Vecchio to the clergy of San Lorenzo. Today, the Chapter is still housed at the church, which also carries out full parochial functions. Nothing remains visible of the original building and its medieval additions, as they were covered up by the new work ordered by the Chapter in the late 14th century.
While work was proceeding, Giovanni di Bicci de` Medici, who had already commissioned the sacristy and a chapel from Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), invited the architect to submit a project for the entire church. Giovanni was delighted by Brunelleschi`s plans, and work began on the transept in 1421. Brunelleschi supervised the first phase, centred on the transept and on the so-called Old Sacristy, completed in 1428. The construction of the nave was overseen by his assistant Antonio Manetti, with the support of Cosimo il Vecchio, son of Giovanni.
With Brunelleschi`s intervention, there began such a close connection between the Basilica and the Medici family as to make San Lorenzo into the family church. In sign of this, Cosimo il Vec-chio`s tomb was set up inside the underground pier, visible through a grating in front of the high altar, which tradition indicates as the grave of the martyr St Laurence, to whom the church is dedicated.
Other Medici projects completed the building history of San Lorenzo. Pope Leo X Medici commissioned the New Sacristy from Michelangelo in 1520. Another Medici pope, Clement VII, ordered the vestibule and the reading room of the celebrated Laurentian Library, as well as the counter-facade of the church (with its balcony for the exposition of relics), both by Michelangelo.
The secondary branch of the Medici family, the one headed by Cosimo I, was responsible for the grandiose Chapel of the Princes. Begun in the early 17th century, it was planned as a family mausoleum for the Medici, and as a celebration of Grand Ducal power.
With the suppression of the religious foundations in the later 19th century, the Laurentian Library was legally separated from the church of San Lorenzo, and the Museum of the Medici Chapels was instituted, comprising the New Sacristy, the Chapel of the Princes and the Medici-Lorraine burial area. In 1907 the Opera Medicea Laurenziana was set up, in order to `restore unity and seemliness to the Laurentian monuments`.
... from Basilica of San Lorenzo ( Opera Laurenziana - Associazione Ars et Fides - Florence )
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