San Lorenzo Complex in Florence
Today surrounded by a lively market, San Lorenzo was the church of the Medicis who commissioned Brunelleschi to carry out the work. Building, begun in 1419 on a pre-existing basilica consacrated by Saint Ambrose, continued intermittently and the façade was never completed. The plant is a Latin cross with three naves divided by Corinthian columns. The complex includes the Cappelle Medicee and the Medicea Laurenziana Library, commissioned by the Pope Clement VII to Michelangelo who also carried out the work on the internal façade. The left wing of the transept leads to the Old Sacresty created by Brunelleschi as a simple space under the hemispheric dome. The decorations at the base of the dome and the lunettes are by Donatello. The atmosphere inside the basilica is one of harmony, a perfect union between antiquity and Florentine-Romanic architecture. Brunelleschi achieved this harmony by making use of precise proportional ratios.
