Famed Chapel Closes After Marble Falls

One of Florence’s premier tourist sites, a chapel housing some of Michelangelo’s finest sculpture, was closed after a piece of marble crashed to the floor. The New Sacristy houses the tombs of members of the Medici family and is adorned with the famed sculptures Night, Day, Dawn, and Dusk. Michelangelo began building the Italian chapel in 1520 but left it unfinished when he left Florence in 1534. A watchman found a brick-sized piece of white marble on the floor. Fearing more marble might fall, the city’s cultural authorities closed the chapel and plan to call in experts to examine the damage.