The New Sacristy
Michelangelo as architect and sculptor in one space, his alone.
No machine-readable author provided. Richardfabi~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). โ Public domain ยท Francesco Bini โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Francesco Bini โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท C1815 โ CC0
In 1530 the Medici Pope turned on rebel Florence, whose defences Michelangelo had helped lead โ so he hid for weeks in this chamber beneath his own patrons' tombs, drawing in charcoal on its walls. Found in 1975 and kept near-closed, entering it is among Florence's rarest experiences.
David is his triumphant youth; here is his brooding maturity โ tombs and bodies of time, not heroes โ in a space wholly his design, the complete artist rather than the sculptor alone. Those moved by David seeking the next depth come here.
Forty-five minutes: a third for the Princes' opulence, two for the Sacristy's silence. Crowds run far below the Accademia's โ Florence's quiet Michelangelo.
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The Medici Chapels are the mausoleum of the dynasty that made Florence: behind San Lorenzo lie some fifty Medici in two buildings utterly unlike each other โ each breathtaking in its own way. First the Chapel of the Princes: a colossal octagon sheathed entirely in hard coloured marble and semi-precious stone โ a dark, unsmiling opulence that consumed two centuries of family fortune, closer to a pharaoh's tomb than a church. Then Michelangelo's New Sacristy: architecture and sculpture from one hand, with his four immortal figures โ Dawn and Dusk, Night and Day โ reclining on two facing tombs, among the deepest things he ever made. And in a hidden room beneath, charcoal drawings cover the walls, most attributed to Michelangelo from his weeks hiding here from a Pope's anger โ visited by limited special booking.
Michelangelo as architect and sculptor in one space, his alone.
Four bodies of time itself โ his contemplative summit.
The hard-stone octagon โ a dynasty's whole opulence in one hall.
Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini 6, 50123 Florence