Consisting of two ogival caps connected to each other, the octagonal Brunelleschi's dome was built from 1418 to 1434 according to the design of Filippo Brunelleschi, presented in a competition in 1418 and accepted after many complaints in 1420.
A masterpiece capable of withstanding lightning, earthquakes over the centuries, which today tends to impress anyone who observes it from afar, the dome has a diameter of 45.5 meters.
In 1418 the Opera Santa Maria del Fiore announced the competition where Brunelleschi won the main prize and only two years later did the works begin only to last until 1434. On March 25 in 1436, the Florentine Cathedral was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV.
Brunelleschi's admirable innovation was to construct the dome without armor, with the use of a double vault complete with hollow space, of which the interior (more than two meters in width) made with herringbone ashlars, had a structural function in its standalone position with external covering only. The lantern with a cone-shaped cover, designed by Brunelleschi, was built after the artist's death (in 1446) and the golden copper ball with the cross, containing sacred relics, by Andrea del Verrocchio, was placed there in 1466.
The fresco decoration of Brunelleschi's Dome was made between 1572 and 1579 by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari, and it presents the same iconographic theme of the Baptistery: the Last Judgment. The frescoes in the dome were the subject of a comprehensive restoration between 1978 and 1994.
Ticket price for the Brunelleschi's Dome
Visitors must buy the ticket online. There is no ticket office near at the entrance.
Ticket price for the cumulative ticket is € 18
(!) The Cumulative ticket includes one access to each of the following monuments: Museum dell’Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral Museum), Brunelleschi's Dome, Giotto's Bell Tower, Baptistery of San Giovanni and Archaeological site of Santa Reparata.
(!) Ticket is valid for 72h. Only one entrance per person.
(!) Presale fee of € 2.00 is required per person.
Official website where you can purchase your ticket:
https://grandemuseodelduomo.waf.it/en/cumulative-ticket-great-museum-of-the-cathedral-of-florence?idtour=8484
Working hours of Brunelleschi's Dome
Brunelleschi's Dome is open from 09:30am to 7:00pm
Every first Tuesday of every month the Dome is closed for visits.
