# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, Italian]() - Date: 1301-1350 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary Renovation of the old cathedral of Santa Reparata had been mooted back in 1294 because it no longer seemed large enough for the rapidly expanding commercial city. The foundation stone for the new cathedral was laid in 1296. The first plans were supplied by the famous sculptor and architect Arnolfo di Cambio. His design probably looked something like the present nave, though the cathedral was to have a wooden ceiling. Attached to an octagonal crossing, for which a dome was planned even then, there would have been a triconch. After Arnolfo's death activities were suspended until Giotto was appointed architect in 1334. Giotto devoted himself entirely to building the campanile, however, so that it was not until 1357 that work on the cathedral resumed, this time on the basis of a model by Francesco Talenti. The nave with its four bays was completed in 1378. The foundations of the choir followed in 1386, the crossing piers in 1398. In 1443, after the completion of the drum of the dome, there arose the difficult question of the engineering and the aesthetic aspects of further work on the dome. This problem was entrusted in 1420 to Filippo Brunelleschi, who solved it by constructing a dome within a dome. The strong and elegant dome must be considered one of the great engineering achievements not just of the early years of the Renaissance but of all time. The west front was completed by Emilio de Fabris in 1887. The photo shows part of the Romanesque Baptistery \(at left\), part of the 19th-century façade, and Giotto's Campanile. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/14c/3/1/duomo1.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan and section</a> of the Duomo, Florence. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Apse of a basilica]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Basilica di Sant'Antonio: Chiostro del Noviziato]() - [Basilica Santi Nereo e Achilleo]() - [Ca' Foscari: Façade]() - [Chamber of the millers]() - [Chiesa dell'Incoronata: Interior of the dome]() - [Cloister gallery]() - [Detail of the façade]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()