The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana) is a library in Florence, Italy. It is famous as a repository of nearly 11,000 manuscripts and early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze under the patronage of the Medici pope, Clement VII, 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 to the beams of the ceiling, with a tall constricted vestibule (executed in 1559 by Bartolomeo Ammanati) filled with a stair that flows down from the library itself, the Library is often instanced as a prototype of Mannerism in architecture ^*.

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

External links

• Official website (in English)
• Great Buildings on-line: Laurentian Library
• Photos of the Library and vestibule, with Giorgio Vasari's remarks
• Satellite image from Google Maps

Libraries in Italy | buildings and structures in Florence | Medici

Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana | Bibliothèque laurentienne | Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana