| Florence
& Tuscany Guide / Museums
/ Medici Chapels |
The Medici Chapels.
A vast complex of chapels of great historical
and architectural interest. The large
crypt, which holds the tombs of the Medici
family, was designed Buontalenti.
 The
underground chambers of the Church of
San Lorenzo, restored after the flood,
hold the simple and suggestive Tomb of
Cosimo the Elder, inserted into the central
pillar, and the Tomb of Donatello, whose
plaque was placed there during a later
period (18th century).
Michelangelo began work
on it in 1521. One vault was completed
by 1524, but the expulsion of the Medici
family in 1527 and the siege of Florence
caused work to slow down.
In 1534 Michelangelo
left Florence for the last time causing
the project to be left incomplete; the
artist had only managed to finish two
of the tombs, the Tomb of Lorenzo, Duke
of Urbino, and the Tomb of Giuliano de'
Nemours.
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