Brunelleschi's Dome Consecrated

March 25, 1436

After sixteen years of construction, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore finally had a roof. Four million bricks, laid in self-supporting herringbone courses, spanned a space no medieval mason had dared. Florence's skyline acquired the shape it still has, and Europe acquired proof that antiquity could be exceeded. Pope Eugenius IV presided over the consecration ceremony while Florentine citizens crowded every balcony and rooftop to watch.