|Values:||Art, Architecture, History|
|Address:||Europe, Italy, Tuscany, centre of Florence|
|Name in Italian:||Duomo di Firenze, Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore|
|UNESCO World Heritage status:||part of "Historic Centre of Florence", 1982, No.174|
|Architectural style:||Italian Gothic, Renaissance, Neo-Gothic|
|Architects:||several, including Arnolfo di Cambio (1294-1302), Giotto (1334-1337), Neri di Fioravante (1367) and Filippo Brunelleschi (1418-1446)|
|Year of construction:||1296 - 1469 (facade - 1887)|
|Branch of Christianity:||Catholics|
There are few buildings with such great importance for world architecture as Florence Cathedral. Many world-famed architects and artisans have built it but Filippo Brunelleschi - the true genius of structural engineering - should be mentioned first.
Cathedral is devoted to St. Mary the Flower. This is an allusion to the lily - symbol of the magnificent Florence.
Florence - former Roman military camp - today is seen as a miracle of medieval Italy, an incredibly prosperous city which provided work and fame to anyone who had skills, imagination and vigours. City and its vicinities increased their wealth and prosperity step by step, starting from the 7th - 9th century AD. Starting from the 11th century city was powerful and ambitious enough to develop its first major construction projects meant for show-off.
As the time went by, Florence became more influential and its oligarchic rulers were patronizing the arts. Public loved the show-off and the fact that Florence was outclassing other Italian cities. But artists in Florence created works which were a lot more than shallow pomp.
City of hungry artists
It is trendy to speak about creative cities today - about cities with huge creative potential, cities where people think, plan and act with imagination. Often such cities tend to be filled with hordes of artists, some successful but most - living in poverty and step by step nearing full disillusionment.
Florence did have all of this in medieval and Renaissance times. As Giorgio Vasari (first modern art historian - also Florentine innovation!) described it, artists in Florence were in constant hunger, always in fierce fights (frequently - real fights) for the next order. We know some hundreds of most successful artists, but we know nothing about the many thousands who did not achieve much.
Building of the cathedral
At the end of the 13th century the governors of Florence were increasingly dissatisfied with the fact that, contrary to its competitors (Pisa, Genoa, Lucca, Siena and others), city did not have a proper cathedral.
The old cathedral - Santa Reparata - was built in the early 5th century AD. This old building was crumbling and became too small for the fast growing city.
It was decided to build the new cathedral in the site of the old one. In fact, Santa Reparata was included in the new building, the new cathedral was built over it, and then - in 1375 - the old cathedral was demolished.
The build history of Florence Cathedral is as follows:
- 1294 - construction of the cathedral approved, design of the great Arnolfo di Cambio is selected. Cathedral was designed in Italian Gothic style, as a basilica with three naves and enormous, octagonal dome. Di Cambio planned to build a dome of unseen, gargantuan size - but even this was increased in the later times.
- September 9, 1296 - foundation stone is laid.
- 1296 - around 1310 - construction under the guidance of di Cambio.
- Around 1310 - 1331 - after the death of di Cambio works slow down.
- 1331 - remains of Saint Zenobius are found in the old cathedral. St. Zenobius was the first bishop of Florence (337 - 417). He reportedly resurrected several dead people, including a child overrun by a cart. This find is seen as miracle and serves as impetus to renew active construction of the cathedral.
- 1334 - 1337 - the great Giotto di Bondone is appointed to oversee the construction works. Works were continued according to the original design of di Cambio. Giotto designed and built the beautiful Campanile next to the cathedral.
- 1337 - 1348 - after the death of Giotto his assistant Andrea Pisano takes over the works. Giovanni di Lapo Ghini takes over the lead for a while in 1344.
- 1348 - Black Death comes to Florence, half of people in the city die. Pisano dies, presumably from plague. Works were stopped and death of many artists and their patrons slowed down the development of arts in Italy. Many works of art following the epidemy show apocalyptic themes, grotesque figures.
- 1349 (1351) - 1364 - construction is resumed, led by Francesco Talenti. He completed campanile, started redesign to make the cathedral larger - but finally was dismissed after much criticism and complaints. Lower part of the facade is built.
- 1364 - 1370 - Giovanni di Lapo Ghini takes over the works, expands the size of the planned dome from 36 to 41 m.
- 1367 - Neri di Fioravante proposes interesting structural innovations which mark the departure from Gothic style to a new thinking in architecture - the future Renaissance style. He proposes a design which allows to avoid the use of buttresses - traditional detail in Gothic architecture. Italian architects disliked buttresses and use of this architectural detail was forbidden in Florence. Fioravante and his collegues propose to build a dome of similar size to the dome of Pantheon in Rome. Knowledge about the technology for its construction is lost - but they are confident that sooner or later it will be found.
- 1380 - the nave of the cathedral is built after the removal of the old Santa Reparata cathedral.
- 1419 - a competition is announced to build the dome of Florence Cathedral. Two engineers enter the competition - Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, long time rivals. Brunelleschi wins. Giorgio Vasari wrote that one of the tasks for competing architects was - to make and egg stand vertically on a marble plate. Brunelleschi simply hit one end of the egg - and left it standing on the marble plate.
- 1420 - 1436 - construction of the dome by Brunelleschi. He uses a multitude of brilliant innovations, overcoming diverse problems and achieving new heights in structural engineering, which were not surpassed for centuries to come.
- March 25, 1436 - cathedral is consecrated.
- 1436 - 1469 - large lantern with copper ball on the top of dome is built, already after the death of Brunelleschi in 1446. It is possible that the young Leonardo da Vinci is working at it as an apprentice. Da Vinci is much impressed by the machine drawings of Brunelleschi and makes some outlines to remember these designs.
- 1568 - 1579 - interior of the dome is covered with one of the largest frescoes in the world.
- 1587 - 1588 - the unfinished facade of the cathedral is removed as totally outmoded. Competitions for new design fail and cathedral stands bare until the 19th century.
- 1864 - 1887 - new competition for the construction of facade is held. Neo-Gothic design of Emilio de Fabris wins and works are finished after his death by Luigi del Moro.
Design of cathedral
Cathedral in the plan has a form of Latin cross. It is 153 m long and 90 m wide at the crossing.
Florence Cathedral is the largest building in medieval Europe, it can contain up to 30 000 people. It pushed the limits of the construction technologies and for several centuries it was unsurpassed in many aspects.
This building was that ambitious that a new approach in architecture had to be invented - it marked the departure from the Gothic style and beginnings of the Renaissance architecture.
Structurally it belongs to Gothic style except for the dome which is forerunner of Renaissance style.
The most surprising part of the cathedral is its dome. It looks oversized if compared to the rest of the cathedral and it was the largest dome in the world until 1881, with a diameter 45.52 m and height - 90 m. It remains the largest masonry dome of the world up to this day.
Arnolfo di Cambio already in 1294 planned that the cathedral will have a giant dome - but, as the time went and the ambitions increased, the dome became larger and larger - at least in plans.
It was clear that the dome should not have buttresses - a forbidden architectural detail in Florence. It was also not possible to build a scaffolding for the structure - vicinities of Florence did not have that much wood. Such scaffolding would be very complex to build and it would need to stand for a long time - e.g. it would be almost like another giant building.
Pantheon in Rome (43.4 m diameter) was built in 128 AD from concrete - but the knowledge to build such structures was lost.
It seems, people in Florence knew that a genius will come and invent solutions - and it happened. They had to wait for more than one century until Filippo Brunelleschi invented daring and very innovative technologies which enabled this construction.
Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446) worked mostly in Florence, learned as goldsmith, but was very skilled at mechanics, engineering - and became one of the most renowned structural engineers and architects of all times.
Brunelleschi used bricks for the dome - comparatively light material which allows creation of different forms. Dome is octagonal, thus adding more complexity to the design - also the chains (hoops) around the dome needed to have octagonal form in order not to squeeze the corners of octagon. No support structures were used - dome held itself, workers and devices for the construction.
More than 4 million bricks were used with a total weight of some 37,000 tons. Brunelleschi invented a hoist to rise heavy weights - and patented his invention. This was the first patent of modern times.
Dome was built with an opening in the centre for lighting. A lantern was built over the opening.
Frescoe in the dome
Brunelleschi proposed to cover the interior of the dome with gold - to make the most of the light coming in through the lantern.
This was not implemented, and the dome now is covered with the 3,600 m ² large representation of the Last Judgement. This frescoe was started by Giorgio Vasari (making true fresco on wet plaster) and Frederico Zuccari (working on dry plaster) in 1568 and works lasted until 1579. The artistic quality of this giant frescoe is uneven - different artists were working at different parts of it.
It is possible that this is one of the largest frescoes in the world, possibly surpassed by the frescoes in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.
The polychrome exterior of Florence Cathedral is unusual for such giant buildings. Many sorts of marble have been used for it, mainly white marble from Carrara, green - from Prato and red - from Siena.
Facade decoration was designed to create a uniform ensemble with the existing facades of Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile - two outstanding buildings next to the cathedral, forming a single ensemble.
If compared to the exterior, interior of the cathedral seems almost austere. Nevertheless here are located important works of art.
Very valuable are 44 stained glass windows from the 14th and 15th century, made by such masters as Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Paolo Uccello and Andrea del Castagno.
Interesting artworks are the almost monochrome frescoes "Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood" (Paolo Uccello, 1436) and "Equestrian statue of Niccolò da Tolentino" (Andrea del Castagno, 1456) - both resemble the colors of marble stone.
Should be mentioned also the clock which shows Italian time - 24 hours, with the day ending at the sunset. Few such clocks have been preserved.