How Filippo Brunelleschi Built the World's Largest Dome

In 1418 Filippo Brunelleschi, a master goldsmith who became one of the leading architects of the Italian Renaissance, won a competition to build a colossal dome for Florence’s Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, which had been under construction for well over a century. He constructed it with the aid of machines that he invented expressly for the project. Building it would occupy most of the remainder of his life. Brunelleschi died in Florence on April 15, 1446, and is entombed in the Duomo.

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