Siena Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. Since its construction in the early 13th century, the cathedral has been central to Sienese identity. The cathedral complex was continuously expanded from its earliest days until the Black Death halted construction in 1348. The citizens of Siena continually advocated for the cathedral to become one of the largest churches in Europe. The cathedral was designed and built between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier structure. It has the form of a Latin cross with a slightly projecting transept, a dome and a bell tower. The dome, completed in 1264, rises from a hexagonal base with supporting columns. The lantern atop the dome was added by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The bell tower has six bells, with the oldest cast in 1149. The nave is separated from the two aisles by semicircular arches. The exterior and interior are constructed of white and greenish-black marble in alternating stripes, with the addition of red marble on the façade. Black and white are the symbolic colors of Siena, linked to the black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius. The Italian artists Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, Donatello, Pinturicchio, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and Bernini participated in the completion and decoration of the cathedral. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Siena, and from the 15th century that of the Archdiocese of Siena. It is now the seat of the Archdiocese of Siena-Colle di Val d'Elsa-Montalcino.
Early history The origins of the first structure are largely unknown. There was a 9th-century church with the bishop's palace at the present location. In December 1058 a synod was held in this church resulting in the election of pope Nicholas II and the deposition of the antipope Benedict X. There is a common myth that the cathedral was consecrated in 1179, but there is little evidence to support this idea. There is evidence that the consecration ceremony occurred on November 18, according to the Ordo Officiorum Ecclesiae senensis, but without reference to a specific year.
In 1196, the cathedral masons’ guild, the Opera di Santa Maria, was put in charge of the construction of a new cathedral. By 1215 there were already daily masses held in the new church. Beginning in 1226, city records show that black and white marble blocks were being transported to the cathedral, presumably to be used for the facade and bell tower. These records also note the payment of stone masons to work with the marble blocks. The vaults and the transept were constructed in 1259–1260 at the order of the committee composed of city citizens. In 1259 Manuello di Ranieri and his son Parri carved the wooden choir-stalls, which were replaced about 100 years later and have now disappeared. In 1264, Rosso Padellaio helped create the copper sphere on top of the dome. The pulpit, one of the few original works to survive today, was made between 1265–1268 by Nicola Pisano and his followers. This group was most likely also responsible for carving the main altar. The Opera di Santa Maria ordered stained glass for a large, round window in 1287. A second massive addition of the main body of the cathedral was planned in 1339. It would have more than doubled the size of the structure by means of an entirely new nave and two aisles ranged perpendicular to the existing nave and centered on the high altar in the crossing. The majority of construction was under the direction of Giovanni di Agostino, a well-known sculptor of the time. Construction was halted by the Black Death in 1348. The halt in construction revealed the failures already present in the new structure, such as a shallow foundation and weak building materials. The project was abandoned officially in 1355, and the work never resumed. The outer walls, remains of this extension, can now be seen to the south of the Duomo, while the floors of the uncompleted nave now serve as a parking lot and museum. One of the walls can be climbed by narrow stairs for a high view of the city. The bell tower is one of the only modern aspects dated before 1215, built between the nave and south transept.
Façade
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