Medici's Secret Crypt Unearthed

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 7-8-2004 | John Hooper

[Romulus]

Here's a photo of the Medici Chapel of the Princes. Not to be confused with Michelangelo's far more famous New Sacristy:

[July 4th]

Of the first three things in the following picture:



#2 is the picture that I posted. It's the "New Sacristy." Since the article says this was the sacristy designed my Michelangelo, it's not #1, which is the "Old Sacristy" designed by Brunelleschi.

So it's either #2 or #3, which is the Chapel of the Princes. As you state, this is the larger one, but it wasn't built until after Michelangelo's death.

This article could have been way more clear, but normally when Michelangelo's famous sculptures are mentioned, the New Sacristy is what is being referred to. I think that's what the article clearly refers to. Whether they're right in that fact is another question.

[Romulus]

Thanks for the site plan. Perhaps the author of the article is confused. The New Sacristy by Michelangelo is a very compact space. It has a single small altar against one of the walls, but this can scarcely be described as a "main altar". Nor do I think there's room there to walk behind it. Finally, I think it's highly unlikely that several generations of Medici grandees would have opted for unmarked graves in the tiny sacristy, as opposed to something more befitting their dignity in the Chapel of the Princes, which was completed in 1601.

[Aquinasfan]

They should be left to rest in peace as they intended and not disturbed for the amusement of moderns...To think that our transitory desires override the dictates of tradition and decency if a fundametally liberal position. Just as marraige is no longer a sacred bond, the tomb too is apparently only a temporary resting place until some govt. agency decides they want to 'investigate'.

Has all decency fled our world?

Hear, hear!

[Docbarleypop]

there is a crypt tour ran by monks in florence where a artistic crypt keeper displayed the bones in artistic ways, making bats and geometrical designs. very interesting the way they perceived remains. in sicily there is another crypt where for over a hundred years monks put up bodies in a certain way that they were mummified and put on display, the wealthy could also be interned there.

[nicollo]

I trust you've read Machiavelli in Hell by Sebastian de Grazia?

Perhaps it's better to start with "Fortune is a River," as de Grazia assumes a good basis of Florentine history, and his narrative is scattered across Niccolò's life.

From there, you can really get into it and Niccolò's legacy in Pocock's "The Machiavellian Moment. Pocock reeks of the academy, but he serves Niccolò well by placing him before the American republican tradition. Other political scientists, such as (the leftward) Samuel Beer in "To Make a Nation," recognize Niccolò's place but severely limit it.

Niccolò was a magnificent conservative thinker who scares the modern historian.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Medici Family Cold Case Finally Solved
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/medici-mystery-cold-case.html

[SunkenCiv]

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