Monday, March 21, 2011 (Part 3)The main sight that we saw today was the Siena Duomo. This Cathedral was built during the 13th and 14th centuries and took more than 100 years to complete. In fact, theoriginal building plan was never completed. A much larger section of the Cathedral was planned but the construction was abandoned due to a lack of funding. Some of the walls of this additional section are still standing and so it is possible to get a feel for how massive the second phase of construction would have been.
But the existing Duomo is still very large, and it is very beautiful. It is also quite
unique in appearance since it is built out of different layered shades of marble. The Cathedral complex is made up of the Cathedral, a Baptistry, a Crypt, a Bell Tower and two walls of the even larger cathedral whose construction was abandoned. Also, there is a wonderful museum on the grounds that houses much of the original stained glass, exterior paintings and exterior statues that were removed from the exterior of the church about 60 years ago to protect them from deterioration.
The Cathedral was a magnet for our attention so we went in there first. The highlights inside the Cathedral include (i) the marble tile floor, (ii) the Piccolomini Library, and (iii) the marble sculpted altar.
The marble floor is truly amazing. It took over 500 years to complete. The floor consists of dozens of sections depicting avariety of biblical, historical and allegorical scenes. The layered
process by which these scenic floor sections were created is beyond me. They are truly unique, and it is no wonder that it took so many hundreds of years to complete the entire floor. The floor is the pride and joy of this church -- so much so that most of the scenic sections are cordoned off to force visitors to walk around them. And other sections are kept completely under cover for 11 months of the year -- being uncovered only during September of each year to allow for viewing.
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