On this episode of five minutes in church history, we are going on quite the journey.

Let's explore five cathedrals in Europe.

Ready? Well, we'll start in Florence at the Santa Maria del Flora,

or the Duomo, D. Foreenza, as the

Italians would call it. This cathedral was started in 1296. It was finished in 1436

and one of the final structures that was put into place for this cathedral

was the famous dome. It was designed and built by Brunelesci who had study

geometry and physics but for much of it by his own

account he relied on his own intuition and well it worked the dome was

built and it still lasts it's made of. It has its white ribs and its terracotta

tiles and it serves as such a great backdrop for so many spy movies, so I'm sure you've seen it.

Well the site of that cathedral there in Florence goes all the way back to a church that was likely dedicated in

393 by none other than Ambrose of Milan and that's the cathedral at Florence. Well let's keep

moving we'll go to Paris and to Notre Dame. In 2019 it was all over the news of course because of that fire.

It will take millions to rebuild and it will take many years to it is restored.

It was first built back in 1163.

It epitomizes that ribbed vault and flying buttress style,

those cathedral structures that are so crucial. It was the site of a temple to Jupiter

in the early Roman days and then it was a church and then it was a cathedral.

In 1793, this is the time of the French Revolution,

it was rededicated, no longer as a church,

but as the cult of reason.

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