Il Duomo di Firenze

While on our Italian adventure we travelled to Florence for the night. Florence is a lively city full of people, shops, restaurants, and beautiful architecture. Il Duomo di Firenze (The Florence Cathedral) is a central point in Florence. People gather around the church to take a look inside and to observe the thousands of details of the huge cathedral.

The cathedral was created in the late 13th century in the Gothic style but was left unfinished for over a century because the architects were unsure of how to make domes large enough for the grand cathedral. There was a competition to engineer a dome for the Duomo announced in 1418. The two final competitors were Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi won the competition and work was begun on the dome in his design. The large dome was completed in 1436 and is pictured below:

As for the outside design of the building, the facade was started but left unfinished. The original design was for a wooden facade but seemed out of style by the Medici court. It was dismantled in 1588 under order of the Grand Duke Francesco de Medici. The outside of the building was left unfinished until the 1800s. A competition to design the facade was held and won by Emilio de Fabris. The design was created in the neo-gothic style in red, green, and white marble. The facade is said to honor Mary, the mother of Christ and the picture of Mary holding a flower sceptor can be seen above the central portal. The interior of the cathedral was kept fairly simple. It was created in the Gothic style and is very bare when compared to the detailed facade of the building.