The Medici Chapels are part of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, though are visited by a separate entrance to the right side of the large church (they are a state-owned museum since 1869). The “chapels” refer to burial chapels of the Medici family spanning a few centuries and are namely two important spaces. The first is the “New Sacristy” which was designed and decorated by Michelangelo , the second is the Cappella dei Principi, a monumental mausoleum decorated in pietre dure stone intarsia technique from the 17th to 19th centuries. A third area, the Lorenese Crypt, houses, in addition to the remains of the members of the Lorena family, the funeral monument dedicated to Cosimo the Old, “Pater Patriae”. Moreover, the museum preserves part of the Treasury of the Basilica: sacred vestments and magnificent reliquaries.  

The New Sacristy (1520-33) is an architectural masterpiece by Michelangelo, built symmetrically to the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi on the opposite side of the church. It was commissioned by Pope Leo X through Cardinal Giulio de’Medici as a buriel chapel for recently deceased dukes and princes of the Medici family. Beyond the architecture, Michelangelo designed beautiful tombs for Giuliano and Lorenzo, which we now see arranged, unfinished, by Vasari since the project for the New Sacristy was left unfinished when Michelangelo was sent to Rome to work on the Sistine Chapel. Now, visitors can admire and study the famous statues by Michelangelo of Night and Day, Dusk and Dawn, as well as the Medici Madonna and the figures of Giuliano and Lorenzo.