Overview
The highest point of the Cathedral of Florence
Part of the monumental complex of the Duomo of Florence, Brunelleschi's Dome is considered an architectural masterpiece, at the time the largest dome in the world and still the largest masonry dome ever built.
Built without the use of scaffolding, it towers over Florence, and with its 45.5-meter diameter and 116-meter height. It was built with a self-supporting double shell technique, that is, with two separate domes, one inside the other, connected by twenty-four pillars (linked by horizontal stiffening arches). The dome was built in stone in the lower part, until the curve of the walls allowed it; then bricks were used, arranged not in a parallel concentric pattern, as was usual, but with an interlocking system known as the "herringbone". It has a characteristic "egg" shape that allows it to rise in a gradual curve in order to guarantee stability and it was the result of many mathematical and geometric calculations that made it a cutting-edge project.
A narrow stairway with 463 steps leads to the base of the tholobate, where you can better admire the frescoes representing the theme of the Last Judgment, painted by Giorgio Vasari and completed by Federico Zuccari.
