Cattredale di Santa Maria del Fiore - Florence

IOne thing that was interesting in Florence that we didn't blog yet is the cathedral. It has been around for about 5 or 6 hundred years when it was built on the site of an earlier church. The outside is ornate and done in Italian marbles of white, green, and pink. ( No attachment to the colors of the Italian flag of green, white and red - the flag came much later - but there is some referencing to faith, hope, and charity which are symbolized by those colors.) The outside was similar to many of the large cathedrals we have seen. It took 140 years to complete, so most of the people who worked building it never saw the completed structure. 

But the inside was quite different than most. It was not ornate for the most part. It was rather open and plain (relatively). 

It had large paintings of two military leaders, a painting depicting Dante and his Divine Comedy, etc. it was explained to us that it was the main religious structure but was also a public building paid for public taxes, so depicted both religious and civil items.

The fresco covering the inside of the dome took about 15 years to complete. You can't tell the size from the picture but it covers just shy of 39,000 sq ft. One of the male characters on the center edge is actually about 19 feet tall. You can't tell that looking up at it. 

In the center of the floor is a mosaic. Denise is standing on one of four triangles which were the standard for the Medici family. 

A twenty four hour clock which is setup for the end and beginning of days to be at sunset. It has been working for about 400 years.