Description
Brunelleschi's Dome is the great red dome that covers Florence Cathedral, the symbol of the city: 45.5 meters in inner diameter, 116 in height with the lantern, the largest masonry dome ever built.
You can climb all the way up, between the two shells, to see up close how it is made and then look out over the rooftops of Florence.
Its shape is octagonal, with eight segments and two shells, one inside the other, separated by a gap of about 1.20 meters. In there runs the climb, a stairway between brick walls laid in a herringbone pattern, all the way to the lantern. You walk inside the structure itself.
From inside, the great shell is painted with the Last Judgment, begun by Vasari in 1572 and finished by Federico Zuccari, who recalled with pride his Lucifer, thirteen Florentine braccia tall, about eight and a half meters. The cycle is divided into six registers and eight segments, from the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse around the false lantern downward.
At the top is the lantern, finished in 1461 by Antonio Manetti after Brunelleschi's death, and Verrocchio's bronze ball, from 1472. Below, the octagonal drum has a gallery finished on one side only: work stopped in 1515.
Florence Cathedral had a gigantic problem. Above the altar the drum was ready, 54 meters off the ground, but nobody knew how to cover it: there were no beams long enough for scaffolding, and a wooden structure might not even have borne the weight.
In 1418 the Opera del Duomo held a competition. Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti were named master builders, but from 1423 the site passed entirely to Filippo. Work began in 1420 and by 1436 the dome was closed, blessed by Pope Eugene IV.
Without centering: Brunelleschi built two shells with the bricks in a herringbone pattern, so that the dome would hold itself up as it grew. How he actually managed it, scholars still debate. A chain of twenty-four wooden beams girdles the base. To lift the materials Brunelleschi also designed special machines.
Brunelleschi was famous for his bad temper and his pranks: the best known was played on a woodworker, Manetto, whom he made believe he was someone else. With the dome, according to some, he played an even bigger joke: he left everyone wondering how it stands up.
Don't miss
• The climb between the two shells.
• The Last Judgment.
• The lantern.
• The drum.
Did you know?
• A young apprentice helped lift Verrocchio's ball in 1472: Leonardo da Vinci.
• The drum's gallery stopped after a remark by Michelangelo, who is said to have found it like “a cricket cage.”
• In 1601 lightning brought the ball down: a marble disc behind the Duomo marks the point of impact.
You can climb all the way up, between the two shells, to see up close how it is made and then look out over the rooftops of Florence.
Its shape is octagonal, with eight segments and two shells, one inside the other, separated by a gap of about 1.20 meters. In there runs the climb, a stairway between brick walls laid in a herringbone pattern, all the way to the lantern. You walk inside the structure itself.
From inside, the great shell is painted with the Last Judgment, begun by Vasari in 1572 and finished by Federico Zuccari, who recalled with pride his Lucifer, thirteen Florentine braccia tall, about eight and a half meters. The cycle is divided into six registers and eight segments, from the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse around the false lantern downward.
At the top is the lantern, finished in 1461 by Antonio Manetti after Brunelleschi's death, and Verrocchio's bronze ball, from 1472. Below, the octagonal drum has a gallery finished on one side only: work stopped in 1515.
Florence Cathedral had a gigantic problem. Above the altar the drum was ready, 54 meters off the ground, but nobody knew how to cover it: there were no beams long enough for scaffolding, and a wooden structure might not even have borne the weight.
In 1418 the Opera del Duomo held a competition. Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti were named master builders, but from 1423 the site passed entirely to Filippo. Work began in 1420 and by 1436 the dome was closed, blessed by Pope Eugene IV.
Without centering: Brunelleschi built two shells with the bricks in a herringbone pattern, so that the dome would hold itself up as it grew. How he actually managed it, scholars still debate. A chain of twenty-four wooden beams girdles the base. To lift the materials Brunelleschi also designed special machines.
Brunelleschi was famous for his bad temper and his pranks: the best known was played on a woodworker, Manetto, whom he made believe he was someone else. With the dome, according to some, he played an even bigger joke: he left everyone wondering how it stands up.
Don't miss
• The climb between the two shells.
• The Last Judgment.
• The lantern.
• The drum.
Did you know?
• A young apprentice helped lift Verrocchio's ball in 1472: Leonardo da Vinci.
• The drum's gallery stopped after a remark by Michelangelo, who is said to have found it like “a cricket cage.”
• In 1601 lightning brought the ball down: a marble disc behind the Duomo marks the point of impact.