The Medici Tombs

The Medici Tombs
After the Sistine Chapels, Michelangelo undertook the project of the the Medici Tombs of the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo. The tombs called for two large wall tombs facing each other across the high, domed room. One was intended for Lorenzo de Medici, duke of Urbino; the other for, Giuliano de Medici duke of Nemours.

The tombs of the Medici were of a completely new form. Michelangelo abandoned the traditional archicture style. Michelangelo renounced Christian traditions in order to portray Humanity to our eyes. He gave names to the statues of the sarcophagi: Dawn, Dusk, Day and Night. These smbols represent the suffering mankind.

Work on the Medici Tombs continued long after Michelangelo went back to Rome in 1534.