1995
Florence
City View
Santa Croce is on the left.
Santa Croce
The Gothic church of Santa Croce (1294) contains the tombs of
many famous Florentines including
Michelangelo
and Galileo.
The Neo-Gothic campanile on the right was added in 1842.
The Duomo
Santa Maria del Fiore - the Duomo,
or cathedral of Florence - was begun in 1296, with the dome being completed in
1436 and the long-delayed façade finished in 1887. The Campanile, on the
right, is 276 feet-high (20 feet shorter
than the dome), and was designed by Giotto
in 1334, but not completed until 1359, 22 years after his death.
The Duomo: Main Entrance
The Neo-Gothic marble façade echoes the style of Giotto's
Campanile, but was only
added in 1871-1887. Brunelleschi's
revolutionary achievement was to build the largest
dome of its time without
scaffolding. The dome's frescoes were painted by Vasari.
East Doors of the Baptistery
The
Baptistery
is one of Florence's oldest buildings, dating perhaps to the 4th
century. Lorenzo
Ghiberti's celebrated doors were commissioned
in 1401 to mark Florence's deliverance from the plague. Having spent 21
years on the North Doors, Ghiberti worked on the East Doors
from 1424 to 1452. Clockwise from the top left, the panels depict: Adam
and Eve are Expelled from Eden; Cain Murders his Brother, Abel;
Abraham and the Sacrifice of Isaac; The Drunkenness of Noah and his
Sacrifice. There are ten panels in all.
The Rape of the Sabine Women
The writhing figures of Giambologna's
statue of The
Rape of the Sabine Women were carved from a single block of flawed
marble. The statue
is situated in the Loggia dei Lanzi (1382), by Orcagna,
which is named after Cosimo
I's bodyguards, the Lancers.
Orsanmichele
The name Orsanmichele is a corruption of Orto di San
Michele, a monastic garden long since vanished. Built in 1337 as a
grain market, the building was immediately converted into a church The carvings
on the walls of this Gothic church depict
the activities and patron saints of the city's Arti (trade guilds), such
as the Masons and Carpenters.
Ponte Vecchio
Giotto's pupil Taddeo Gaddi designed this medieval bridge in 1345.
Orvieto
The Duomo
Begun by Lorenzo
Maitani in the year 1300, it took more than 100 years to complete. No
one knows who designed it,
but the horizontal stripes of black and white marble, the bifore
(mullioned) windows
and the external niches all suggest that the
Florentine architect Arnolfo
di Cambio drew up the original plans. Note: the cathedral served as
inspiration for
Charles Barry Jr.'s design of the Centre
Block at Dulwich
College, where I went to school.
Clock Tower
