Brunelleschi's Dome

Brunelleschi’s Dome, the Santa Maria del Fiore Cupola, was an achievement inspired by cultural change. The task was to construct a dome atop the Florence Cathedral, the problem being that the patrons of the project wanted a design that was different from the Gothic architecture of cities such as Milan. A dome design of this size had never been accomplished before, but while many people asked, “can it be done?” Brunelleschi asked, “how can it be done?”. In order to overcome obstacles such as large expensive scaffolding, Brunelleschi invented cranes and hoists to accomplish the task of moving the heavy materials used to build the dome. His design actually was of one dome within another, with bands of stone that held it together like the bands