The construction of the Florence Cathedral began in 1294 employing a gothic style. Architect Arnolfo di Cambionoted fashioned an enormous and revolutionary religious structure. The Cathedral is momentously innovative and radical for its time, with the compilation of new materials and technologies devised specifically for its edifice. Many issues have ascended in accordance to the Cathedrals construction, which have called for reconstructions. The construction was so impressive and advanced for the time, which brought great pride to the people of the city.
The complex, geometrically structured Florence Cathedral consists of a dome, a large central nave, chapels, Bell tower, Baptistery and features decorative artworks, sculptures and engravings. The floor plan depicts a Latin Cross, which was pivotal to the Cathedral’s religious connotations of the time. Two octagonal layers were erected, one on top of the other, in order to produce the Dome that could withstand a 42-meter diameter void. Brunelleschi’s construction of the dome finished with 24 ribs linking the two brick layers, eight exterior ribs and herringbone masonry, of a grand 91 meters in height. It was assembled with the absence of any supporting machines or scaffolding and is shaped to connect at a point as opposed to the traditional round dome that were a feature of the renaissance. A large nave comprises of four bays and aisles attached on both sides. The chancel and transepts are polygon in shape and are accompanied by two smaller polygon chapels. Huge pointed arches are present on either side of the naves and aisles, making the viewer follow the eye path up into divinity. Additionally, they created a spacious open area for the congregation the city. The exterior of the church was coated with red, green and white marbles, pivotal to the Tuscany style at the time, accompanied by six windows on the side, which were praised for their intricacy. On the top of the Dome is a lantern built in 1446 with dimensions of 22 meters in height. Additionally, the bell tower, 87.4m tall, was constructed in 1334 stands beside the cathedral. It is again made of marble employing hexagonal edges. The titanic dimensions of the Cathedral are 90 meters in width at the crossing, 114 in height and 153m in length with accentuates its horizontal shape.
The Florence Cathedral construction was admired for its novelty and enormous scale for the time, compiling a range of new techniques, building machines and materials. It was large enough to embrace everyone that lived in the city. The people were so enthralled by its size, evident as at the time Leon Battista accounts ‘A structure so immense, so steeply rising towards the sky, that is covers all Tuscans with its shadow.’ The Dome still remains the biggest brick dome ever to be constructed, underlining how revolutionary its design and construction was. At the Church’s entrance one of the architects, Filippo is honored for his ‘superb skill’ and ‘exceptional talents’ in his invention of the dome. An ‘ingenious ring and rib support from oak timbers’ was also invented for the base of the dome, exposing his advanced knowledge of forces and proportion. The inside was made to feel grand and spacious, which wasn't a previous feature of Cathedrals. The Dome in itself was a groundbreaking feature as it was unknown how to make such a vast dome to cover the open are without it collapsing. Brunschelli refused to use flying buttresses to make the dome as they were technologically backwards and were conspicuously used by enemy parts of Italy. With pioneering and extensive mathematical and technical planning, he formulated a dome which was self-supporting. It was so unconventional that he had to teach the workers how to read the blueprint. Brunellshchi even devised new machinery to which was large and durable enough to hoist the materials and fasten them into their respective positions. Recordings of such inventions including wooden templates, ‘The great hoist,’ ‘The great crane’ (1423), ‘The Lantern crane’ (1445) and the ‘Spire Crane’. The machines had the aptitude to move the objects horizontally and vertically awarding Brunshelli with ’10 Florins’ for his advanced designs. Moreover, the Baptistery is regarded as ‘unique in plan and elevation.’
However, many issues ascended with the Cathedrals construction, calling for essential repairs to be made. Part of the Cathedrals issues comes from its age, causing it to decay and crack. It warred down from the increasing population and large fluxion of tourists. For example, the lantern on top of the dome was made out of bronze, which acted as a ‘conductor of lightning bolts.’ Restorations were put in place and finished by 1603 with lightning rods which protect the rest of the cathedral from collapsing or being damaged. Although, the lantern was left in extremely weak condition due to its pretermit over the years. Moreover, the Dome faced many issues in the construction of its design. The architects were adamant in rejecting the Flying buttress as it was a gothic style pivotal to those in Italy’s North whom were enemies of the Florentines. Designers turned to the Pantheon in Rome for philosophies on the Dome’s construction although the concrete formula had since been forgotten.
The Florence Cathedral employs a grand and impressive construction, making it one of history’s greatest landmarks that still stands today. Its revolutionary structure and methods of construction made the Florentines patriotic to their city filling them with great pride. The Cathedral is a UNESCO world heritage site, making its reconstruction from damage essential and thought through.