page_title: Magi Chapel
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Magi Chapel / Overview
context_page_description: The Magi Chapel is a chapel in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi of Florence, Italy. Its walls are almost entirely covered by a famous cycle of frescoes by the Renaissance master Benozzo Gozzoli, painted around 1459 for the Medici family, the effective rulers of Florence.
context_section_description: The chapel is on the piano nobile of the palace and was one of the first rooms to be decorated after the completion of the building, designed by Michelozzo. In its original appearance the chapel was perfectly symmetrical and had its entrance through the central door, which today is closed. Inside, the chapel is divided into two juxtaposed squares: a large hall and a raised rectangular apse with an altar and two small lateral sacristies. Begun around 1449-50, the chapel was probably completed around 1459 with the precious ceiling of inlaid wood, painted and generously gilded by Pagno di Lapo Portigiano, according to Michelozzo's design. The latter also designed the flooring of marble mosaic work divided by elaborate geometric design, which due to the extraordinary value of the materials (porphyries, granites, etc.) affirmed the Medicis' desire to emulate the magnificence of the Roman basilicas and the Florentine Baptistry.  
  
  The first pictorial element in the chapel was the altar panel bearing Filippo Lippi's Adoration in the Forest. This painting is now in Berlin after being sold in the 19th century, while a copy by a follower of Lippi remains in the chapel. 
  The chapel is famous for the series of wall paintings by Benozzo Gozzoli, with the Angels in Adoration in the rectangular apse and the Journey of the Magi in the large hall. The latter is covered in three large frescos, each showing the procession of one of the Three Magi on their way to Bethlehem to see the Nativity of Jesus. The religious theme was combined with a depiction of several members of the Medici family, their allies and some of the important figures who arrived in Florence for the Council of Florence (1438-1439) several decades earlier. On that occasion the Medici could boast to have facilitated the (abortive, as it turned out) reconciliation between the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. The luxury of the Byzantine dignitaries is manifest, and shows the impression they would have at the time on the Florentine population.
  In the apse, the side walls are painted with saints and angels in adoration, where Gozzoli followed the style of his master, Fra Angelico. There are also three thin vertical fresco sections showing the shepherds of the nativity.
caption: Apse, Detail of the choir of angels.
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