Nowhere is Medici conceit expressed so explicitly as in the Medici Chapels. Adorned with granite, marble, semiprecious stones and some of Michelangelo's most beautiful sculptures, it is the burial place of 49 dynasty members. Francesco I and Cosimo I, among others, lie in the enormous Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of Princes) with intricate marble floor and gold-gilt-painted dome. Lorenzo Il Magnifico is buried in the intimate Sagrestia Nuova (New Sacristy) – Michelangelo's first architectural work. Closed Tuesday.
It is also in the sacristy that you can swoon over three of Michelangelo's most haunting sculptures: Dawn and Dusk on the sarcophagus of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino; Night and Day on the sarcophagus of Lorenzo's son Giuliano (note the unfinished face of "Day" and the youth of the sleeping woman drenched in light aka "Night"); and Madonna and Child, which adorns Lorenzo's tomb. Since early 2019 clever new lighting recreates the soft, indirect sunlight Michelangelo originally intended to illuminate his work.
