Read aloud by your device's voice. It sounds different on each device.
The start
The first stone was laid in 1296, and the work ran 140 years
The city council approved Arnolfo di Cambio's design in 1294. Cardinal Valeriana laid the first stone on 9 September 1296. The building of this vast project was to last 140 years.
The contest
Two goldsmiths competed to build the dome, and Brunelleschi won
On 19 August 1418 the wool merchants' guild announced a design competition for the dome. The two main competitors were the goldsmiths Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi won, and Ghiberti was appointed coadjutor on an equal salary.
The dome
The dome rose without a wooden frame under it
Work on the dome began in 1420 and finished in 1436. It was the first octagonal dome in history built without a temporary wooden supporting frame. Brunelleschi invented hoisting machines to lift 37,000 tons of material, including over 4 million bricks.
4 millionbricks and more, within 37,000 tons of material lifted
“Remember the way we soldered the ball of Santa Maria del Fiore”
Leonardo da Vinci, in the G manuscript, about the ball on the lantern
The front
The front stayed bare for centuries, and the one you see dates from 1887
The first front was dismantled in 1587 and 1588. The competition for a new one turned into a huge corruption scandal, and the cathedral stayed bare until Emilio De Fabris' design was completed in 1887.
Day 1, morning
Next is Florence Baptistery.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Florence Cathedral, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.