Basilica · Italy · Restored

Basilica of San Lorenzo

Basilica di San Lorenzo

The Basilica di San Lorenzo is a major Florentine church and parish church of the Medici family, notable for its large basilican plan and association with Renaissance architects and sculptors. It sits in a central market district and is part of a larger monastic complex that includes the Old Sacristy, the New Sacristy, the Laurentian Library, and the Medici Chapels, which contain family tombs and richly decorated chapels.

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Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

1421

Its prime

1604

Today

Restored

As it stood in 1604

What Basilica of San Lorenzo looked like in its prime.

A broad, unfinished rusticated brick façade with a simple triangular gable and three tall wooden doors sits above a wide flight of stone steps facing a public piazza; long side aisles stretch back beneath low-pitched roofs, while red-tiled domes and a larger cupola rise behind the nave. The exterior stonework is rough ashlar/brick, the entrances framed by plain arches, and the church reads as a massive, horizontal basilica block with visible clerestory and attached chapels.

Step inside

12 places to explore in 1604.

The record describes 12 distinct spots at Basilica of San Lorenzo, including 11 interiors: nave, central aisle looking to the apse, interior façade (michelangelo) seen from nave, right-hand side aisle with chapel entrances and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

Piazza approach to main façadeNave, central aisle looking to the apseInterior façade (Michelangelo) seen from naveRight-hand side aisle with chapel entrancesSouth transept entrance to the Old SacristyOld Sacristy (Sagrestia Vecchia) interiorNorth transept entrance to the New SacristyNew Sacristy (Sagrestia Nuova) interiorCappelle Medicee (apse) interiorCappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes) interiorCrypt and burial chamberLaurentian Library entrance and vestibule

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