Saturday, September 1, 2007

Florence Duomo (Cathedral) & Campanile (bell tower)

Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral of Florence which was designed by an Italian architect, Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446). The cathedral was well known for its dome's polychrome design.



On the left is a partial view of the cathedral, the dome is hiding at the back, and on the right is the Giotto's bell tower :




Complete front view of the cathedral with the dome hiding behind :




Side view of the cathedral & the bell tower :




The cathedral was built to surpass its Tuscan rivals, Pisa and Siena. It was the largest in Europe when completed, with room for 30,000 people.




The dome. It has various shades of green and pink bordered by white but the green is not obvious probably due to old age :




Completed in 1436, it was the first 'octagonal' dome built in history without a wooden supporting frame. The picture below shows "The last Judgment" painted on the dome :




Don't remember how long it took us to climb to the top of the bell tower, only remember my legs were very tired :




It's extremely crowded looking down from the bell tower :




There are three huge bronze doors below built between 1899 to 1903 :




They are decorated with scenes from the life of the Madonna :




This is the first time I'm seeing such a cathedral that's so well decorated :




Have you visited any similar cathedral before ? Do you mind sharing it with me here ?

8 comments:

JamyTan said...

BEE,
Nice pics you got.
Italy has some very classic buildings.

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Bee Lee said...

Thanks Jamy :)
Welcome Alex :)

Anonymous said...

Oh we are in Italy now.

Since when we left USA?

Bee Lee said...

About 2 weeks ago, remember we were in Switzerland ?

Anonymous said...

Every time I read your blog I am surprised by how much you have travelled. Your European trip must have been really special.

I was compelled to read your blog and see how you were going. I was having Vietnamese iced coffee the other day and remembered when we used to go and get it during lunch when I visited the VOSJEC. Ahh, the good old days!

Anonymous said...

Quite true that we left US. I have been following and I read the posting on Switzerland. However, it was really this posting that I realised we are in Europe. Florence is just SooOoo European (and swiss just want to be left on its own).

Bee Lee said...

Hey Ben, glad to see you again :) There are many others out there who travelled more than me but just didn't mention it :)

Yeah, I miss the Vietnamese iced coffee in VOSJEC days too, although I have a few filters & a pack of Vietnamese coffee at home, I don't have the time to prepare it in the morning, just take instant coffee nowadays :)



Hello 达温, it's been so long I don't hear from you, glad to see you here again :)