It appears that every city in Italy has a Duomo. The significance of the Duomo in Florence is the structure of the building. When people in "the old days" were first trying to construct the Duomo no one could figure out how to support the "dome" that they wanted to make. The man who figured out how to create the dome shape was able to control the construction of the building. In order to prove that they would be able to support their claim, they were asked how they would support the dome. The man cracked an egg in half and used on of the sides to represent the dome. That man was Filippo Bruneschelli. He is considered the architect of the Duomo. The Duomo took six centuries to complete and is considered the third largest cathedral in the world. It wasn't completed until 1887 because of various political issues.
The day we went we were lucky because there wasn't a line. Everyday I pass by the line stretches across the cathedral. The group started at the steps so we could climb to the top. As a person living in Florence you can tell several things about the people that lived during the time period when buildings such as the Duomo were constructed. Two of the main things that can be determined by the architecture in Florence is 1) people were in good shape 2) people were unable to function as cripples. The reason I say this is because of the amount of stairs that are at every single location that we have visited since we got here. I can not imagine how a person who broke their leg, or was extremely heavy would be able to get around at all. I bring this up because at the Duomo I was dying of exhaustion. There were sooooooooo many steps within this building that it truly felt neverending. There are several different levels that you stop at along the way. Each stairway is different some being a spiral staircase while other just being straight up and down. There is a lot of art that covers that walls, mainly biblical depictions of various things. Overall, the Duomo is very dimly lit, so I assume it was mainly worked on in broad daylight. It is truly a magnificant structure, and mind boggling because it seems impossible to have designed. When we got to the top we had an amazing view of the entire city. Fear of heights was not an option when being so high up. The climb was extremely strenuous, but completely worth the view received in the end. The Duomo is an architectural piece that shows how people lived centuries ago, along with their artistic interests.
The day we went we were lucky because there wasn't a line. Everyday I pass by the line stretches across the cathedral. The group started at the steps so we could climb to the top. As a person living in Florence you can tell several things about the people that lived during the time period when buildings such as the Duomo were constructed. Two of the main things that can be determined by the architecture in Florence is 1) people were in good shape 2) people were unable to function as cripples. The reason I say this is because of the amount of stairs that are at every single location that we have visited since we got here. I can not imagine how a person who broke their leg, or was extremely heavy would be able to get around at all. I bring this up because at the Duomo I was dying of exhaustion. There were sooooooooo many steps within this building that it truly felt neverending. There are several different levels that you stop at along the way. Each stairway is different some being a spiral staircase while other just being straight up and down. There is a lot of art that covers that walls, mainly biblical depictions of various things. Overall, the Duomo is very dimly lit, so I assume it was mainly worked on in broad daylight. It is truly a magnificant structure, and mind boggling because it seems impossible to have designed. When we got to the top we had an amazing view of the entire city. Fear of heights was not an option when being so high up. The climb was extremely strenuous, but completely worth the view received in the end. The Duomo is an architectural piece that shows how people lived centuries ago, along with their artistic interests.
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