San Lorenzo

On Tuesday we walked to the Church of San Lorenzo not far from us.  No pictures could be taken inside the church.  The massive paintings were exquisite and the works of  Donatello very much in evidence.  Almost every painting was from the Renaissance except one we especially liked from the 1900s.  It was the only modern one in the bunch and depicted St. Joseph teaching Jesus the child about carpentry.  In the background was the slight image of a cross.  It's by Pietro Annigoni.who was born in 1910.

 

No, we didn't break the rule of "NO PHOTOS!"  The picture above and the next two are post cards that we photographed.  

 

The altar in this church was all inlaid marble.  While the picture doesn't due it justice, you can still see some of the detail of this incredible piece of art.

Below is the aisle that goes down the center of San Lorenzo.  It's surprisingly bright inside,much moreso than the Duomo, and much more decorated with art.  This is because San Lorenzo was the home church of the Medici's and they wanted to be sure everyone knew it!  The church was rebuilt under the direction of Brunelleschi (more famous for the Duomo's dome) in the 1400's and Michelangelo did several projects here later.

 

 There are all sorts of works done by Donatello such as carvings above doorways and two large boxes that are now used as pulpits.  Since Donatello died before he told them what they were for, no one has a clue as to how he wanted them used.  They could have been tombs, choir stalls, who knows what.  The guard told us that it was Donatello's wish to sleep for the rest of eternity.  From the looks of it, he got his wish.  Cosmo di Medici, probably the most famous benefactor of Florentine art, is buried in an important looking gravesite in the transept of the church while Donatello is in the basement of what is now the Tesoro di San Lorenzo (Treasures of St. Laurence.) next door to the church in a very unassuming gravesite.  The Tesoro housed all sorts of supposed relics of saints.  If you've never seen one, they are usually large gilded and silver pieces often a foot or two high that  have a tiny piece of bone embedded in it.  If all the relics were real artifacts of the particular saint, the saint would have to be about 10 feet tall and made mostly of bone. 

The courtyard (cloisters) of the Tesoro had a lovely bitter orange tree with lots of fruit and a beautiful view of the Duomo and bell tower. 

Oddly, the outside of San Lorenzo never received a finished facade so it has a rather humble ragged stone exterior that conceals the beauty inside.  There is also the very famous Medici Chapel attached to San Lorenzo where many of the Medici are buried in elegant tombs, but it has a separate entrance fee (of course!) and we didn't have time to go there that day.