Santa Maria del Fiore was built on the site of Florence's second cathedral dedicated to Saint Reparata; the first was the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze, the first building of which was consecrated as a church in 393 by St. Ambrose of Milan

The three huge bronze doors date from 1899 to 1903. They are adorned with scenes from the life of the Madonna. The mosaics in the

The cathedral underwent difficult excavations between 1965 and 1974. The archaeological history of this huge area was reconstructed

The unreinforced masonry that Brunelleschi used to construct the dome is weak in tension which leads to cracking when tensile stresses exceed the limited masonry tensile strength.

Plan and structure
The cathedral of Florence is built as a basilica, having a wide central nave of four square bays, with an aisle

The Gothic interior is vast and gives an empty impression. The relative bareness of the church corresponds with the austerity of religious life, as preached by Girolamo Savonarola.
Many decorations in the church have been lost in the course of time,

• Zenobius of Florence
• Conrad II of Italy
• Giovanni Benelli
• Filippo Brunelleschi
• Giotto di Bondone