Santa Maria del Fiore
Overview
 
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 church of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. The Duomo
Duomo
Duomo is a term for a cathedral church. The formal word for a church that is presently a cathedral is cattedrale; a Duomo may be either a present or a former cathedral . Some, like the Duomo of Monza, have never been cathedrals, although old and important...

, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio
Arnolfo di Cambio
Arnolfo di Cambio was an Italian architect and sculptor.-Biography:Arnolfo was born in Colle Val d'Elsa, Tuscany....

 and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi
Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. He is perhaps most famous for inventing linear perspective and designing the dome of the Florence Cathedral, but his accomplishments also included bronze artwork, architecture , mathematics,...

. The exterior of the basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

 is faced with polychrome
Polychrome
Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...

 marble panel
Panel
- Art and comic books :*Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art, such as a triptych, a piece of sequential art such as a graphic novel or comic strip, or a wooden panel used to paint a picture on...

s in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris
Emilio De Fabris
Emilio De Fabris was born 1808 in Florence, Italy. Fabris was an architect most famous for his design of the west facade of the Santa Maria del Fiore. The original facade design by Giotto was found outdated for the cathedral and so a series of three competitions were held to modify Giotto's...

.

The cathedral complex, located in Piazza del Duomo
Piazza del Duomo, Florence
Piazza del Duomo is located in the heart of the historic center of Florence, .It is one of the most visited places in Europe and the world; here we can find the Florence Cathedral with the Cupola del Brunelleschi, the Giotto's Campanile, the Florence Baptistery, the Loggia del Bigallo, the Opera...

, includes the Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile.
 
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