The Basilica is one of Italy’s largest Churches, and, until the development of new structural materials in the modern era, the Dome was the largest in the World. It remains the largest Brick Dome ever constructed. It is the fifth tallest Dome in the World.
The ancient structure was crumbling with age, according to the 14th-Century Nuova Cronica of Giovanni Villani,[4] and was no longer large enough to serve the growing population of the City.[4] Other major Tuscan Cities had undertaken ambitious reconstructions of their Cathedrals during the Late-Mediæval period, such as Pisa and particularly Siena, where the enormous proposed extensions were never completed.
The City Council approved the design of Arnolfo di Cambio for the new Church in 1294.[5] Di Cambio was also Architect of the Church of Santa Croce and the Palazzo Vecchio.[6][7] He designed three wide Naves ending under the Octagonal Dome, with the middle Nave covering the area of Santa Reparata.
The first stone was laid on 9 September 1296, by Cardinal Valeriana, the first Papal Legate ever sent to Florence. The building of this vast project was to last 140 years; Arnolfo’s plan for the Eastern End, although maintained in concept, was greatly expanded in size.
After Arnolfo died in 1302, work on the Cathedral slowed for almost 50 years. When the Relics of Saint Zenobius were discovered in 1330 in Santa Reparata, the project gained a new impetus. In 1331, the Arte della Lana, the Guild of Wool Merchants, took over patronage for the construction of the Cathedral and in 1334 appointed Giotto to oversee the work.
Assisted by Andrea Pisano, Giotto continued di Cambio’s design. His major accomplishment was the building of the Campanile. When Giotto died on 8 January 1337, Andrea Pisano continued the building until work was halted due to The Black Death in 1348.
In 1349, work resumed on the Cathedral under a series of Architects, starting with Francesco Talenti, who finished the Campanile and enlarged the overall project to include the Apse and the Side Chapels. In 1359, Talenti was succeeded by Giovanni di Lapo Ghini (1360–1369) who divided the Centre Nave in four square bays. Other architects were Alberto Arnoldi, Giovanni d'Ambrogio, Neri di Fioravanti and Andrea Orcagna. By 1375, the old Church of Santa Reparata was pulled down. The Nave was finished by 1380, and only the Dome remained incomplete until 1418.
Florence Cathedral and the Baptistry of Saint John.
On 19 August 1418,[8] the Arte della Lana announced an architectural design competition for erecting Neri's Dome. The two main competitors were two Master Goldsmiths, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, the latter of whom was supported by Cosimo de Medici. Ghiberti had been the winner of a competition for a pair of Bronze Doors for The Baptistry in 1401 and lifelong competition between the two remained sharp. Brunelleschi won and received the commission.[9]
Ghiberti, appointed co-adjutor, drew a salary equal to Brunelleschi’s and, though neither was awarded the announced prize of 200 Florins, was promised equal credit, although he spent most of his time on other projects. When Brunelleschi became ill, or feigned illness, the project was briefly in the hands of Ghiberti. But Ghiberti soon had to admit that the whole project was beyond him. In 1423, Brunelleschi was back in charge and took over sole responsibility.[10]
Work on the Dome began in 1420 and finished in 1436. The Cathedral was Consecrated by Pope Eugene IV on 25 March 1436, (the first day of the year according to the Florentine Calendar). It was the first Octagonal Dome in history to be built without a temporary wooden supporting frame. It was one of the most impressive projects of The Renaissance. During the Consecration in 1436, Guillaume Dufay’s Motet “Nuper rosarum flores” was performed.
A Fibre Glass replica of Michaelangelo’s David statue.
This was the location original planned for the statue.
The decoration of the exterior of the Cathedral, begun in the 14th-Century, was not completed until 1887, when the polychrome Marble façade was completed with the design of Emilio De Fabris. The floor of the Church was relaid in Marble Tiles in the 16th-Century.
The exterior Walls are faced in alternate vertical and horizontal bands of polychrome Marble from Carrara (White), Prato (Green), Siena (Red), Lavenza, and a few other places. These Marble bands had to repeat the already existing bands on the Walls of the earlier adjacent Baptistry, the Battistero di San Giovanni, and Giotto's Bell Tower.
There are two Side Doors: The Door of the Canonici (South Side) and the Door of the Mandorla (North Side); with sculptures by Nanni di Banco, Donatello, and Jacopo della Quercia. The six Side Windows, notable for their delicate Tracery and Ornaments, are separated by Pilasters. Only the four Windows closest to The Transept admit light; the other two are merely ornamental. The Clerestory Windows are round, a common feature in Italian Gothic.
The Overseers of The Office of Works of Florence Cathedral, the Arte della Lana, had plans to commission a series of twelve large Old Testament sculptures for the Buttresses of the Cathedral.[12]
Donatello, then in his early twenties, was commissioned to carve a statue of David in 1408, to top one of the Buttresses of Florence Cathedral, though it was never placed there.
Nanni di Banco was commissioned to carve a Marble statue of Isaiah, at the same scale, in the same year. One of the statues was lifted into place in 1409, but was found to be too small to be easily visible from the ground and was taken down; both statues then languished in the workshop for several years.[13][14][15]
English: “The Last Judgement”
in the Dome of Florence Cathedral.
Italiano: Giudizio Universale-dettaglio centrale-Giorgio Vasari-Federico Zuccari-Cupola-Santa Maria del Fiore (Firenze).
In 1410, Donatello made the first of the statues, a figure of Joshua, in Terracotta. In 1409-1411, Donatello made a statue of Saint John the Evangelist, which, until 1588, was in a niche of the old Cathedral façade.
Between 1415 and 1426, Donatello created five statues for the Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, also known as the Duomo. These works are: The Beardless Prophet; Bearded Prophet (both from 1415); the Sacrifice of Isaac (1421); Habbakuk (1423–25); and Jeremiah (1423–26); which follow the classical models for orators and are characterised by strong portrait details.
A figure of Hercules, also in Terracotta, was commissioned from the Florentine sculptor Agostino di Duccio in 1463 and was made perhaps under Donatello’s direction.[16]
A statue of David, by Michelangelo, was completed 1501-1504, although it could not be placed on the Buttress because of its six-ton weight. In 2010, a Fibre Glass replica of David was placed for one day on Florence Cathedral.
The rest of the Article on this most beautiful Cathedral in Florence can be read HERE
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