Located in Florence, Italy, The Cathedral church of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, is the fifth largest church in Europe with almost 153 meters long and 38 meters wide. It is also called as Duomo. The construction of this church was began in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio and completed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1436. The church was consecrated on 25th March 1436 and dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore.The cathedral complex consists of three parts i.e. the Church, the Campanile and the Baptistery. It is the historic center of Florence with major tourist attractions located in the region of Tuscany. It is the largest dome that is constructed out of bricks. This cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese Florence.

This cathedral was the third to be built in Florence and it was built on the previous cathedral of Santa Reparata.While laying down the first stone of the cathedral, Cambio designed it as the world’s largest Roman Catholic Church.The marbles covering the exterior decoration are green, pink and white in color and in contrast, the interior is plain and pretty stark. For the new design of the dome, a competition was held between Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti. Brunelleschi won the competition because of his genius ideas and started the construction of dome in 1420 and completed it in 1438. This was the largest dome ever built in the history (,) without the wooden supporting frame. It was made without any scaffolding and was egg-shaped. The dome can be best watched by climbing the 463 steps which takes you through the interior of it.

Artists like Tino Camaino, Michelangelo, Benedetto and many more contributed in decorating the dome. Many historic events took place in the cathedral including the Council of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola, etc.

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is a very famous cathedral church in Florence which is also very well known for its distinctive dome.