Siena Cathedral, the Duomo di Siena

The great cathedral of Siena, the Duomo. The façade is crowded with sculptures and architectural details and boasts three large doors, the central one capped by a bronze sun. Work began on the lower part around the year 1284 using polychrome marble, with statues depicting prophets, philosophers, apostles and stories of the Virgin. The façade was then raised higher in the early 14th century to accommodate an expanded and higher nave, utilizing a more elaborate design scheme in the upper level heavily influenced by French Gothic architecture. And then the façade was finished sometime between 1360 and 1370. But don't just look at the outside. Pay that small admission fee to enter into paradise. It is one of the world's most beautiful and intriguing churches. It's a must-see on your visit, loaded with astonishing architecture, sculpture and paintings. This first sensation might be one of positive bewilderment of riches. Nothing quite prepares you for its unparalleled lavishness of decoration. You are surrounded by so many beautiful things that you don’t know which way to turn next. It is a vast, orderly confusion of beauty. One aspect you cannot miss is the huge dome that soars overhead. This is a mysterious and magical feature that appears to be coffered with square recesses, but this is an optical trick painted on in the 16th century. Slightly asymmetric, the blue dome with golden stars is a stunningly attractive sight representing the Kingdom of Heaven. The cupola was finished in 1264, and thus preceded Brunelleschi’s larger dome at Florence by 150 years. The great gothic pillars stretch down the long nave carrying round arches whose inner curves are elegantly coffered, and surmounted by a cornice containing a 172 plaster heads of popes looking down. One is dazzled again by the infinite multiplicity of beautiful detail wherever the eye can reach. Another masterpiece, that some consider the most significant individual work, is the elaborately carved 13th-century pulpit by Nicola Pisano, with help from others like Arnolfo De Cambio and his workshop. Pisano was one of the most important Gothic sculptors in Europe whose animated styles paved the way for the Renaissance, which he anticipated. He carved many great works, but the most important are the pulpit here and the one in Pisa. The naturalistic carving of the lions holding up the pulpit is a departure from earlier rigid Gothic carvings and could be considered the beginnings of Renaissance sculpture. As a platform for preaching, the pulpit was a focal point of great interest to the congregation during the sermon, and this one rises to the occasion with many elaborate, flowing scenes from the life of Christ. Dimensions of the church are 289 feet long by 80 feet and the transepts measure 173 feet wide. Michelangelo, a native of Tuscany, has a marble statue of St. Paul and three others here, not his best work -- but noteworthy because it was to be part of a larger series of 15 statues that he was paid for by Pope Pius III but never finished, resulting in a lawsuit that dogged him for much of his life. Adding further insult, one of the other statues in this Piccolomini altar was carved by a rival, Pietro Torrigiano, who had broken Michelangelo’s nose a dozen years earlier, permanently disfiguring him. On the right side enter through a magical doorway. Piccolomini Library. We are now in one of the world's most beautifully painted rooms. This is called a painted biography because it is about one person, Piccolomini, a person who became Pius II. these are the original colors, they are 500 years old. These frescoes have never been restored. Look at the fresh colors. This has some beautiful perspective, and so on. The Piccolomini Library, a gallery with a series of 10 large, brightly-colored frescoes painted in realistic Renaissance style by the Perugia master Pinturrichio, from 1502 through 1509.

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