The Sagrestia Vecchia, or Old Sacristy

Sacristy

A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...

, is a Christian building in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, one of the most important monuments of the early Italian Renaissance architecture

Renaissance architecture

Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...

. It is accessed from the inside of San Lorenzo

Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze

The Basilica di San Lorenzo is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III...

 off the left transept. Designed by Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...

 and paid for by the Medici

Medici

The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...

 family, who also used it for their tombs, it set the tone for the development of a new style of architecture that was built around proportion, the unity of elements, and the use of the classical orders. The space came to be called the “Old Sacristy” after a new one was begun in 1510 on the other side of S. Lorenzo’s transept.

History

The structure was begun 1421 and largely complete in 1440. When finished, it was, however, quite isolated, the reason being that construction for the new building for San Lorenzo

Saint Lawrence

Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.- Holy Chalice :...

, the design for which Brunelleschi was also responsible, was not far along. It was only in the years after 1459 that the Old Sacristy was unified with San Lorenzo.

Design

The plan is a perfect square with a smaller square scarsella or altar

Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

 on the south side. The scarsella is axially positioned in the wall, and connected to the main space by an arched opening. The interior of the main space is articulated by a rhythmic system of pilaster

Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

s, arche

Arche

Arche is a Greek word with primary senses 'beginning', 'origin' or 'first cause' and 'power', 'sovereignty', 'domination' as extended meanings. This list is extended to 'ultimate underlying substance' and 'ultimate undemonstrable principle'...

s that emphasize the space’s geometric unity. The pilasters are for purely visual purposes, and it was this break between real structure and the appearance of structure that constituted one of the important novelties of Brunelleschi’s work. The pilasters support an entablature

Entablature

An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...

, the only purpose of which is to divide the space into two equal horizontal zones. The upper zone features pendentives under the dome, another relative novelty, more typical of Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 architecture. The dome

Dome

A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....

 is actually an umbrella dome, composed of twelve vaults

Vault (architecture)

A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...

 joined together at the center. It was not an uncommon design and Brunelleschi may have learned the technique from a visit to Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 or other places where such domes existed. What was new was the way in which the dome was integrated into the proportion of the space below. The use of color is restricted to grey for the stone and white for the wall. The correct use of the Corinthian order

Corinthian order

The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...

 for the capitals was also new and a testament to Brunelleschi’s studies of ancient Roman architecture.

The decorative details are by Donatello

Donatello

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...

, who designed the tondo

Tondo (art)

A tondo is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian rotondo, "round." The term is usually not used in English for small round paintings, but only those over about 60 cm in diameter, thus excluding many round portrait...

es in the pendentive

Pendentive

A pendentive is a constructive device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points at the bottom and spread at the top to establish the continuous circular or...

s, the lunette

Lunette

In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...

s, the relief

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

s above the doors and the doors themselves.

Tombs

In the center is the sarcophagus of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici

Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici was an Italian banker, the first historically relevant member of Medici family of Florence, and the founder of the Medici bank...

 and Piccarda Bueri

Piccarda Bueri

Piccarda Bueri was an Italian noblewoman of the Renaissance.-Life:She was the daughter of Edward Bueri, a member of a family of ancient lineage from Florence with economic interests in other cities; the family was in fact in Verona in the first half of the fourteenth century when she was born...

, by Buggiano

Buggiano

Buggiano is a comune in the Province of Pistoia in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 45 km northwest of Florence and about 15 km southwest of Pistoia.-Main sights:*Sanctuary of the Holy Crucifix...

. Set along one of the walls is the porphyry and bronze sarcophagus of Giovanni

Giovanni de' Medici

Giovanni de' Medici may refer to:*Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici *Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici *Pope Leo X, Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici,...

 and Piero de' Medici

Piero de' Medici

Piero de' Medici may refer to:*Piero di Cosimo de' Medici , father of Lorenzo the Magnificent...

 by Verrocchio.

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