Wooden model for the façade of San Lorenzo

What it is

This wooden model shows Michelangelo's design for the facade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, made around 1517-1518. The facade itself was never built, even though Pope Leo X had commissioned it; only this model survives, kept today at Casa Buonarroti in Florence, a museum dedicated to the artist.

Why it matters

The model is a rare physical record of one of Michelangelo's major architectural ambitions that was cancelled before construction began. It shows how much planning went into designs that never became real buildings, and gives historians a way to study his architectural thinking directly, through the object rather than through drawings or descriptions alone.

Look closer

• What does the model tell us about how Michelangelo planned a building's appearance before construction?
• Why might a pope cancel an expensive project after commissioning it?
• What might this facade have looked like if it had actually been built?