The cross ties and rails were notched together and then covered with the bricks and mortar of the inner dome.
This one-handed liturgical clock shows the 24 hours of the The beautiful funeral monument of Antonio d'Orso (1323), bishop of Florence, was made by The monumental crucifix, behind the Bishop's Chair at the high altar, is by In the back of the middle of the three apses is the altar of Many decorations date from the 16th-century patronage of the Grand Dukes, such as the pavement in colored marble, attributed to Baccio d'Agnolo and Francesco da Sangallo (1520–26). Brunelleschi also included vertical "ribs" set on the corners of the octagon, curving towards the center point. Some pieces of marble from the façade were used, topside down, in the flooring (as was shown by the restoration of the floor after the 1966 flooding).It was suggested that the interior of the 45 metre (147 ft) wide dome should be covered with a mosaic decoration to make the most of the available light coming through the circular windows of the drum and through the lantern. Santa Maria del Fiore was built on the site of Florence's second cathedral dedicated to After Arnolfo died in 1302, work on the cathedral slowed for almost 50 years. it would be almost like another giant building.Pantheon in Rome (43.4 m diameter) was built in 128 AD from concrete – but the knowledge to build such structures was lost.It seems, people in Florence knew that a genius will come and invent solutions – and it happened. The spreading problem was solved by a set of four internal horizontal stone and iron chains, serving as barrel hoops, embedded within the inner dome: one at the top, one at the bottom, with the remaining two evenly spaced between them. It is still the largest masonry dome in the world.The building of the cathedral had started in 1296 with the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was completed in 1469 with the placing of Verrochio's copper ball atop the lantern.
Since the dome was octagonal rather than round, a simple chain, squeezing the dome like a barrel hoop, would have put all its pressure on the eight corners of the dome. This old building was crumbling and became too small for the fast growing city.It was decided to build the new cathedral in the site of the old one. When it was designed, it was the largest dome in the world. In fact, Santa Reparata was included in the new building, the new Florence Cathedral was built over it, and then – in 1375 – the old cathedral was demolished.The build history of Florence Cathedral is as follows:Cathedral in the plan has a form of Latin cross. It is 153 m long and 90 m wide at the crossing.Florence Cathedral is the largest building in medieval Europe, it can contain up to 30 000 people. When Brunelleschi became ill, or feigned illness, the project was briefly in the hands of Ghiberti. They had to wait for more than one century until Filippo Brunelleschi invented daring and very innovative technologies which enabled this construction.Brunelleschi (1377 – 1446) worked mostly in Florence, learned as goldsmith, but was very skilled at mechanics, engineering – and became one of the most renowned structural engineers and architects of all times.Brunelleschi used bricks for the dome – comparatively light material which allows creation of different forms. This is an allusion to the lily – symbol of the magnificent Florence.Florence – former Roman military camp – today is seen as a miracle of medieval Italy, an incredibly prosperous city which provided work and fame to anyone who had skills, imagination and vigors. Florence – former Roman military camp – today is seen as a miracle of medieval Italy, an incredibly prosperous city which provided work and fame to anyone who had skills, imagination and vigors. The rails were connected end-to-end with lead-glazed iron splices. The chains needed to be rigid octagons, stiff enough to hold their shape, so as not to deform the dome as they held it together.Each of Brunelleschi's stone chains was built like an octagonal railroad track with parallel rails and cross ties, all made of sandstone beams 43 centimetres (17 in) in diameter and no more than 2.3 metres (7.5 ft) long. Brunelleschi had proposed the vault to glimmer with resplendent gold, but his death in 1446 put an end to this project, and the walls of the dome were whitewashed.