Florence Cathedral Essays - Domes, Florence Cathedral,

The Florence Cathedral In Florence, Italy, there is a cathedral church whose octagonal dome, was considered the greatest engineering feat of the early Renaissance. Known as the Florence Cathedral, it is also known as the Duomo. It was created by many early modern artists, this piece of architecture is a perfect example of the Renaissance style. The Republic of Florence began to plan this cathedral in the late 1200's AD, when Dante was growing up, to replace the old cathedral that was too small and old. The government of Florence raised money to pay for their new cathedral with a tax on people's wills. The new church was very big - it is the fourth biggest church in the world - and so it was very hard to build. Arnolfo di Cambio, the first architect to work on the Duomo (Duomo means Cathedral in Italian), designed the Duomo in the Gothic style, with a main nave and two side aisles, and an apse in the back. But after di Cambio died in 1302, and a new group of men took over the government of Florence, work stopped for a long time. In 1334, the artist Giotto agreed to work on the Duomo, but he only had time to build the campanile (bell-tower) before he died three years later in 1337. Then Pisano took over as the architect, but when a terrible plague killed thousands of people in Florence in 1348, work stopped again. Twenty-seven years later, in 1375, workmen actually tore down the old cathedral and began building the new one, somewhat modernized from the original plan which was now almost a hundred years old. In 1418, with most of the cathedral built, Brunelleschi designed a great dome to go over the high altar at the crossing (where the transept crossed the nave), and worked out how to build it. The cathedral was basically finished in 1436, even though the red, white, and green marble on the outside wasn't finished until four hundred years later. Its main feature was the massive dome. Brunelleschi?s dome was the most aspiring architectural and engineering projects of its time. Before Brunelleschi submitted his design proposal, the construction of the cathedral?s dome had been stalled because it was determined that building a dome of its size was impossible without the use of flying buttresses, an arched masonry support. Brunelleschi?s understanding of some of the key concept of physics and geometry helped him solve the problem and win the design competition. The cathedral's architectural style, although greatly influenced by French Gothic elements remained distinctively Florentine, especially the geometric patterns of red, green, and white marble on the building's exterior. The cathedral's exterior is ornamented with sculpture and mosaics by Italian artists Donatello, Nanni di Banco, and Domenico Ghirlandaio, among others. The building's stained-glass windows are the work of the Italian architect and artist Lorenzo Ghiberti, and the interior is decorated with sculpture and fresco paintings by several Renaissance masters. Construction of the campanile (bell tower), situated to the right of the entrance to the Duomo, was begun by Giotto and completed according to his plans in 1359, after his death. Nearly 278 ft high, the campanile is embellished with red, green, and white marble panels of relief sculpture by Italian artists Andrea Pisano and Luca Della Robbia. The fa?ade, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and usually attributed to Giotto, was actually begun twenty years after Giotto's death. This fa?ade was the collective work of several artists, among them Andrea Orcagna and Taddeo Gaddi. This original fa?ade was only completed in its lower portion and then left unfinished. It was dismantled in 1587-1588 by the Medici court architect Bernardo Buontalenti, ordered by Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici, as it appeared totally outmoded in Renaissance times. A few new designs had been proposed in later years but the models were not accepted. The fa?ade was then left bare until the 19th century. In 1864, a competition was held to design a new fa?ade and was won by Emilio De Fabris in 1871. Work began in 1876 and completed in 1887. This neo-gothic fa?ade in white, green and red marble forms a harmonious entity with the cathedral, Giotto's bell tower and the Baptistery, but some think it is excessively