Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore rises in the heart of the ancient city. The carved marble building of the cathedral is crowned with a huge dome of a rusty-red color. In Italy, the size of the Florentine Cathedral is second only to the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome.
By the end of the 13th century, thanks to the activities of the Florentine wool merchants and bankers, the city had grown rich and the small cathedral of Santa Reparata no longer reflected the city's new status. The influential merchants of Florence decided to build a new cathedral and invited the architect Arnolfo di Cambio to draw up the project in 1296. Di Cambio used elements of both Norman and Gothic architecture in his project.
The first to be built were a wide central nave, side naves and an octagonal drum in the east of the cathedral. But in 1310, work was suspended due to the death of di Cambio. Construction resumed only in the 1330s, when Giotto di Bondone was invited to build the bell tower. He died in 1337 without completing the construction of the bell tower, which went down in history as Campanila Giotto. 84 meters high, it has a square shape and is decorated on all sides with hexagonal and diamond-shaped medallions by Andrea Pisano, Luca della Robbia, Alberto Arnoldi and other masters of this school, as well as niches with statues and blind niches. Campanilla was completed only in 1359.
Construction of the rest of the building was resumed somewhat later. The finishing touches to the nave and altarpiece date back to 1420, when the upper tier of a huge octahedron drum of green and white marble was finally completed.
A technical problem arose when designing the dome topping the octahedron, as the authorities did not want to pay for the construction of tall scaffolding. After heated discussions, the great sculptor, architect and goldsmith of the Renaissance Filippo Brunelleschi was invited, who promised to do without expensive scaffolding when erecting the dome. The master did not reveal the details of his plan until it was fully realized.
Work on the construction of the dome began in 1420. Brunelleschi designed a dome (made of bricks laid in a Christmas tree) with an arched frame consisting of eight angular arcs with an inclination of 60 degrees and horizontal lintels connecting them. The dome is tiled with brick-red tiles contrasting with the green, red and white of the marble-tiled walls. This entire bulky dome structure, about 43 meters in diameter, was completed with a tiny white marble lantern rotunda with a spire and a copper ball (after 1446).
Upon the completion of the magnificent dome, Brunelleschi was persuaded to stay and lead the construction work until it was completed, and by the time of his death in 1446, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was nearly completed.
In 1587, the facade of the cathedral was destroyed, the construction of which was started according to the project of Arnolfo di Cambio, but was never completed. From that moment on, for almost three centuries, various projects were proposed and competitions were held for the implementation of the new facade of the cathedral. And finally, in 1871, the project was approved by the architect Emilio de Fabrice, who completed the work in 1887. The facade that we see today is strikingly different from all previous options. It is made using the same type of marble, but in different colors: white from the Carrara quarries, green from Prato and pink from Maremma.
Plots from the life of the Virgin Mary are presented in tympanes above the portals. The pediment of the central portal represents the Madonna in glory. The connecting link between the side and central rosette windows is a frieze with statues of the Apostles and the Virgin Mary. Above a series of busts of artists, there is a tympanum with a bas-relief depicting the Heavenly Father.
The interior of the cathedral, made in accordance with the architectural canons of the Italian Gothic, amazes with the length of the vertical and horizontal space. In terms of its dimensions (length - 153 meters; width in the nave area - 38 meters and in the transept area - 90 meters), the cathedral ranks fourth in the world. Pylons decorated with pilasters support huge arches and crisscrossing pointed vaults of the naves. Above is a gallery supported by consoles. In the depths opens the main altar, by Baccio Bandinelli, surrounded by three apses, or pulpits, divided, in turn, into five compartments. The floor was made in 1526-1660 of colored marble by architects Baccio and Giuliano d'Agnolo, Francesco da Sangallo and other craftsmen.
In the left nave, two fresco paintings of the equestrian statues of the condottieri Giovanni Acuto and Niccolò da Tolentino should be emphasized. The first was written in 1436 by Paolo Uccello, and the second in 1456 by Andrea del Castagno.
