Siena Cathedral, Ancient Town Center, Siena, Tuscany, Italy, Europe.
Image details
Contributor:
pictureproject / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
D8D4DTFile size:
46.8 MB (1.4 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4960 x 3300 px | 42 x 27.9 cm | 16.5 x 11 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
May 2013Location:
Siena Cathedral, Piazza del Duomo, 53100 Siena, Ancient Town Center, Tuscany, Italy, EuropeMore information:
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163, 000 international arrivals in 2008. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice a year. Siena, like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an advanced people who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land, and their custom of building their settlements in well-defended hill forts. A Roman town called Saena Julia was founded at the site in the time of the Emperor Augustus. The first document mentioning it dates from AD 70. Some archaeologists assert that Siena was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Senones. Siena Cathedral is a medieval church in Siena, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta. The cathedral itself was originally designed and completed 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 rises from a hexagonal base with supporting columns. The lantern atop the dome was added by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. 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 addition of red marble on the façade. Black and white are the symbolic colors of Siena, etiologically linked to black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius. The façade of Siena Cathedral is one of the most fascinating in all of Italy and certainly one of the most impressive features in Siena.