# Interior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, Italian]() - Date: 1301-1350 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The foundation stone of the Florentine Cathedral \(Santa Maria del Fiore\) was laid on 8 September, 1296. The original design was by Arnolfo di Cambio, who is referred to as capomaestro \(architect-in-chief\) in 1300. The existing building was completed long after his death with many intervening changes in plan. It has been accepted that his design was a smaller version of the present structure. Nicola Pisano, Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, Alberto Arnoldi, Benci di Cione are mentioned as later architects. Brunelleschi completed the building with the famous dome. The façade designed by Arnolfo was much altered by Talenti and numerous schemes for rebuilding it were begun and abandoned at various dates until finally, between 1876 and 1886, the present Neo-Gothic façade was designed and built by Emilio de Fabris. It is clear, however, from the surviving fragments of Arnolfo's original coloured marble decoration on the side walls that the present façade is in some respects not too far from the original designer's intention. The plan of the church in the present form consists of four very large bays, which are themselves wider than square. The Cathedral has a stone vault which is carried on very solid piers. The east end expands into an octagon on three sides of which are great tribunes of triconch shape. Thus the total effect of the interior is that of a centrally planned octagonal building with spaces opening out from the octagon, and the nave is only one among the others. The photo shows a vew of the interior toward the High Altar. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/14c/3/1/duomo.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan</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]()