Duomo

Details:

Constructed by Filippo Brunelleschi from 1418-34 the Duomo is 45.5 meters in diameter and adorns Santa Maria del Fiore in the Piazza della Duomo.

Information:

The Duomo was formed using two shells, where the space in between would have been used to work avoiding the need for scaffolding. The inner shell is over two meters thick and is constructed using bricks in a herringbone pattern. The inner dome serves as a self-supporting feature over which the outer shell lies. Brunelleschi had to invent devices in order to construct such a large scale dome, such as hoisting apparatus. This dome was the largest since antiquity and consists of roughly 37,000 tonnes of material including over 4 million bricks. It is a magnificent site to behold. For two exquisite vantage points climb Giotto’s Campanile and the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio (as shown in the accompanying photograph). 

Did you know?:

Michelangelo’s David was originally meant to be positioned on one of the buttresses of the Duomo, which would have been 40 feet above the ground. This accounts for the perspective used in the sculpture’s proportioning, where the upper half of the body is bigger than the lower half, as it was meant to be seen from below.