Laurentian Library

The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana), in Florence, is the library built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze under the patronage of the Medici pope, Clement VII. Aside from its value as a repository of nearly 11,000 manuscripts and of early printed books, the Library is renowned for the architecture planned, though not conducted, by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1525), lit by windows in bays that are articulated by pilasters corresponding with the beams of the ceiling, and especially the tall constricted vestibule (executed in 1559 by Bartolomeo Ammanati) filled with a stair that flows down like lava from the library itself, often instanced as a prototype of Mannerism in architecture http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo66.html.

Related Topics:
Florence - Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze - Medici - Clement VII - Manuscript - Michelangelo Buonarroti - 1525 - Bartolomeo Ammanati - Mannerism

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In 1571, Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, opened the still-incomplete Library to scholars. Great additions to the collection were made by its most famous librarian, Angelo Maria Bandini, who was appointed in 1757 and oversaw its printed catalogues.

Related Topics:
Cosimo I - Angelo Maria Bandini

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