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Situated near the Medici Palace, this was the family's traditional
parish church. In the 1420's Giovanni di Bicci and Cosimo ordered
extensive renovations and Brunelleschi transformed it into the
first church since Roman times to use the classical style. The
church houses the tombs of Giovanni di Bicci, Cosimo il Vecchio,
Piero il Gottoso, Cosimo I, and the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.
The most famous tombs were built for Lorenzo the Magnificent
and his murdered brother, Giuliano. Lorenzo's protégé
Michelangelo designed them on the orders of Pope Leo X. Attached
to the church is the Laurentian Library, home to a vast collection
of Ancient and Renaissance texts accumulated by the Medici family.
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