Great PBS special about the Florence cathedral

This was produced about a year ago , and is absolutely a must for any student of art , architecture , or history ! http://youtu.be/3wx2YL9Fh8s

Thank you so much for pointing out this video. I will be in Florence next September and this video will make my trip so much more meaningful. I can't recommend it enough for anyone going to Florence.

Thanks for the YouTube link, Steven! And you're welcome, have a great trip, Yosemite1. I was there last June. The Dome is extremely awe-inspiring just to see, but the information in the video makes it ever so much more so.

Thank you SO much for posting this. I was in Florence in late 2007 and climbed to the top of the dome while sadly my wife and her mother sat in the piazza drinking wine. It was a difficult climb and several times I just had to stop and rest on the steps, but the view from the top, the pictures I took that are the envy of my friends and the feeling, the FEELING I had standing there looking out over Tuscany. Almost as spectacular was the climb down which takes you on the railing INSIDE the dome where if you're tall enough you can actually reach over the glass and touch it, and also take very close up pictures of the paintings on it that are impossible to get from the floor below. I did both. In all these years I have never found the words to properly explain that experience to anyone and the pictures don't do it justice. At the end of April I'm going back to Italy (Milan, Venice, Florence and the Cinque Terre), making my first solo trip go see and do things I didn't get to do when traveling with my family. I am now 69 and not sure a climb to the top is in the works, but I believe this video you shared will help me to better appreciate the Duomo when I'm there. Many thanks.

Jim

You're very welcome, Jim. Your description of climbing the Dome made my hair stand on end! One of my favorite parts of the video was when the master bricklayers were making that climb and pointing out the engineering features to each other. I also loved that they showed and compared the audition panels for the Baptistry doors - it makes me think: 'what if Brunelleschi had won?' I really preferred his. Anyway, have a wonderful trip!

If you watch the Nova special (see Utube video posted by Steven on top), you will note at about 22:00 min into the video, the American brick layers that meet the professor at a park where they will build that model of the Brunelleschi's dome to test that theory.
Well that park (Parco dell'Anconella) is right in front of my parents' home and that park is where I grew up playing soccer with my friends when I was growing up.
Zoom in here and you will see the location of that model of the dome. I could see it from the balcony:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2%B045'47.6%22N+11%C2%B017'52.8%22E/@43.7632216,11.298,202m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

Way cool, Roberto! I wonder, how have the neighbors been reacting to the project?

Roberto, you answered my question before I asked it! I was going to ask if anyone knew where the park is that the scale model dome is being built in.

This is one of the most interesting threads I've ever read here. Wow. Thanks all.

Thanks, Bets! And, to add another layer to our Florence Cathedral appreciation, here's the piece of music used to dedicate it: http://youtu.be/EOWHvIZzXPI

I sang this very softly to myself while touring the Duomo.

Archimedes, this is the way it looks now (hopefully it isn't full of graffiti anymore). http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Parco_dell'anconella,_ricostruzione_parziale_della_cupola_del_brunelleschi,_con_laterizi_a_spina_di_pesce_02.JPG
Actually it has been there for a while, because I've seen it for many years. They probably started building it in the 1990's.
If you go there, make sure you go in the evenings after July 1. The park will have open air bars and music every night, right next to the dome model. So you can admire the thing over a cold beer.

Let me add that I've seen the video, thanks to Steve who sent the link to me last year after I went to Florence (or maybe it was before I went). But adding Jim and Roberto's experience and your music makes this sensational.

Thank you for sharing. I recently watched the PBS/NOVA special for gothic cathedrals and was bummed they didn't talk about any of the churches in Italy. This is great and I will be sure to share with my family before our trip this fall!

Roberto, why go after July 1? I ask only because I will be in Florence in June.
Thank you, Rachel

Rebekah ,the omission of Cathedrals like Santa Maria Del Fiore in Florence is largely due to the focus of the PBS show , They concentrated on French High Gothic ( Amiens , Reims , etc ) . Santa Maria is generally considered Renaissance work , although there is no rigid dividing line between different styles ( Gothic , Romanesque , etc. ) .

You can go to see that scale model in June and it will be there. But if you want a pizza and beer, you might have to go after July. That's when they set up all the restaurants and bars in that neighborhood park for the summer. But maybe they still have another bar at the end of the park on the western side (nearer to the bridge). A friend of mine use to manage it, but not sure it's still there.