Churches: The Cathedral of Florence Revisited (Part 1 of 4)

Florence's cathedral, the Duomo, is worth visiting again and again.  During Sally's recent visit to Florence, we returned to the cathedral to share the experience with her. 

We started our visit down in the crypt of the cathedral and worked our way up from there. 

The cathedral's crypt is less of a burial place and more of an archaeological site.  You might remember from an earlier post that smaller buildings once occupied the location where the cathedral sits today.  The first building on the site was probably a large house of a Roman general or other wealthy inhabitant of the Roman era town of Fluentia.  Remants of the ancient house are visible in the crypt.

On top of the Roman house a church dedicated to Saint Reparata was constructed in the 400's.  The church became Florence's cathedral and was renovated and expanded several times over the next 800 years.  The remnants of each phase of the earlier cathedral can be seen in in the crypt. 

When Florence decided to build a new cathedral worthy of a flourishing city, then one of the largest cities in Europe, the new cathedral was built around and over Saint Reparata.  As the new cathedral rose, it literally engulfed the existing cathedral.  New walls went up while old walls came down.   What remains of Saint Reparata are an altar, mosaic floors, empty tombs of bishops and nobles and ancient foundations.

Below are some photos from our visit to the crypt.

A statue of Santa Reparata

Relics of Santa Reparata

Below is a digram showing the outlines of the earlier cathedral.  The green sections were destroyed when the new cathedral was built.

The 3-D model pictured below (two photos) shows the old and the new.  The old cathedral is depicted is clear plastic.  It is dwarfed by the new cathedral's length, width and height. 

Another 3-D model of the old cathedral shows what remains.  The color coding marks the different phases of the building over the centuries.  Even the foundation of the Roman house has been located and marked. 

There are many tombs in the crypt, including the one pictured below.

When the new cathedral was built, it was not dedicated to Saint Reparata.  Instead, with the long and pervasive rise of the cult of Mary, the new cathedral was dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore. Saint Reparata, however, was not forgotten.  She was remembered in the new cathedral in many statues and other works of art.   

Next Up:  Up from the crypt and into the baptistery.