The Tomb of Pope Julius II is a sculptural and architectural ensemble by Michelangelo and his assistants. Originally intended for St. Peter's Basilica, the structure was instead placed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli on the Esquiline in Rome after the pope's death. This church was patronized by the Della Rovere family from which Julius came, and he had been titular cardinal there. Julius II, however, is buried next to his uncle Sixtus IV in St. Peter's Basilica, so the final structure does not actually function as a tomb.

Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to design and execute a monumental sepulchral monument in 1505, but work on the project was repeatedly postponed and did not begin in earnest until 1542. Over the nearly four decades between the initial commission and the completion of the reduced version in 1545, the project underwent numerous revisions and interruptions. As originally conceived, the tomb would have been a colossal structure that would have given Michelangelo the room he needed for his superhuman, tragic beings. This project became one of the great disappointments of Michelangelo's life when the pope, for unexplained reasons, interrupted the commission, possibly because funds had to be diverted for Bramante's rebuilding of St. Peter's. The original project called for a freestanding, three-level structure with some 40 statues. Among the statues, only the Moses is regarded as fully representative of his artistic achievement. Michelangelo's official biographer, Ascanio Condivi, records that the artist considered this single statue sufficient to confer distinction upon the monument, stating that it alone was enough to bring honor to the tomb of Pope Julius II. Michelangelo felt that this was his most lifelike creation. Legend has it that upon its completion he struck the right knee commanding, "now speak!" as he felt that life was the only thing left inside the marble. There is a scar on the knee thought to be the mark of Michelangelo's hammer.

The protracted history of the project was marked by significant difficulties, including repeated delays, contractual disputes, and reductions in scale. Michelangelo himself referred to the endeavor as the "tragedy of the tomb", and Condivi described it as having brought the artist "infinite difficulties, displeasures, and troubles and, what is worse, infamy due to the malice of certain men, from which he was barely exonerated after many years".

It was probably Giuliano da Sangallo who informed Pope Julius II, who had been elected two years earlier, of Michelangelo's achievements in Florence, particularly the sculpture of the colossal David. The pope subsequently summoned the artist to Rome. Michelangelo's departure required him to suspend several projects then in progress in Florence, including a series of twelve marble apostles intended for the Duomo and a large-scale cartoon for the fresco of the Battle of Cascina, commissioned for the Palazzo Vecchio.

Pope Julius II pursued an ambitious program of government that closely linked political objectives with artistic patronage. He assembled a circle of leading artists (including Bramante and, subsequently, Raphael) with the explicit aim of restoring to Rome and the papal authority the grandeur associated with the ancient imperial past.

Michelangelo was commissioned to design and execute a monumental tomb for the pope, intended for installation in the tribune, then under construction, of St. Peter's Basilica. An agreement regarding the design and compensation of 10,000 ducats was reached within approximately two months. Following the formal approval of the project and the receipt of a substantial advance payment, Michelangelo proceeded to select marble blocks from the quarries.

The first design is known primarily through the written accounts of Ascanio Condivi and Giorgio Vasari, which, despite certain discrepancies in their descriptions, provide a general understanding of its scope and configuration. The proposed structure was a freestanding architectural complex with a rectangular base measuring approximately 10.8 by 7.2 meters and rising to a height of about 8 meters in its lowest register. It consisted of three progressively narrower orders, creating the effect of an architectural and sculptural pyramid. Approximately forty larger-than-life-size statues (some freestanding and others positioned within niches or against pilasters) were to surround the pope's elevated catafalque, with sculptural elements distributed across all four faces of the monument.

The lower register was to incorporate between two and four niches, each containing a statue of a winged Victory flanked by chained male nude figures, referred to in the sources as the "Prisoners" and modeled on Roman representations of captivi, positioned against pilasters and surmounted by busts. The upper register was to feature four large seated figures, including a Moses, a Saint Paul, and personifications of the Active Life and the Contemplative Life. These figures, whether placed at the corners or along the shorter sides, were intended to draw the viewer's attention upward to the summit, where a semi-reclining statue of the pope on a catafalque was to be accompanied by bronze reliefs and two allegorical figures, identified by Condivi as angels and by Vasari as Heaven and Earth. The actual sarcophagus was to be housed within an internal oval sacellum, accessible through a portal or portals on one or both of the shorter sides. The positioning of the papal statue, guided from the tomb by two angels, was intended to evoke the resurrection of the deceased at the Last Judgment, a motif comparable to that employed in the Monument to Margaret of Luxembourg [it] by Giovanni Pisano.