Florence Part 2

Next the Medici chapels is the San Lorenzo church.  Interestingly, they never got around to doing the facade, so the front looks like this:

Inside, it is more of the modest and severe Renaissance architecture (except for the painted dome):

But the altar doesn't stint on the decorative stones:

There are also a number of auxiliary chapels, with beautiful designs:

We also visited the Church of Santa Maria Novella.   This church has a more Italian Gothic style, with ornamentation inside and out:

Light from stained glass windows:

A side chapel with frescoes:

Part of the frescoes:

The ceiling of another part:

Frescoes on a part of the church off the cloisters:

There is something very moving about seeing all this art in the context for which it was actually created; it's very different than seeing art in a museum on gallery walls.