On Aug. 19, 1418, in Florence, Italy, the wealthy Arte della Lana trade guild announced a design competition for architects. The winner would get to build a dome to complete the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo. The guild ended up choosing Filippo Brunelleschi. His dome, completed in 1436, was the first major work of Renaissance architecture.
By the time of Brunelleschi’s selection, the cathedral had been under construction for more than 120 years. Its core had been designed by leading 13th-century architect Arnolfo di Cambio, and in the 1330s, early Renaissance artist Giotto di Bondoni had built a small square bell tower near the church.
In the 1360s, Florentines planned extensive additions to make the cathedral one of the world’s largest churches. They wanted the dome to be bigger than any previously built in Europe.
The problem was how to support the dome and make it structurally sound. Pillars would have had to be so large that they'd block the view from the nave to the sanctuary. Buttresses would have worked, but they were a product of northern European style, and were rejected by Florentines committed to Italian aesthetic purism. Master mason Neri di Fioravanti believed the dome’s weight could be directed to the walls, but had only rudimentary ideas about how to do this.
Brunelleschi’s task was to work out the details of Fioravanti’s concept. Fortunately, Brunelleschi was the first man in centuries to thoroughly study ancient Roman architecture. The Pantheon’s dome provided the answer to his engineering problem. His broader aesthetic education allowed him to design the dome in the authentically classicist style that launched Renaissance architecture.
Years later, in the 19th century, Augusto Passaglia made renovations to the cathedral in the Italian Gothic style of Arnolfo di Cambio and Giotto. His additions completed the Duomo we know today.
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