Italy (Florence)

The Dome and Lantern of Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore / Italian Early Renaissance)

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Built during the early Italian Renaissance period, with the monumental masonry dome constructed between 1420 and 1436 under the master architect Filippo Brunelleschi, and the crowning marble lantern completed between 1446 and 1461.

Architecturally, it serves as the monumental structural crown and waterproof covering for the cathedral's massive crossing, designed to solve an unbridgeable engineering void, shelter the interior sacred space, and project the civic prestige, wealth, and technological supremacy of Renaissance Florence.