The Cathedral and Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore

The Cathedral of Florence, and Brunelleschi's Dome in particular, were fundamental to Leonard's formation especially as regards knowledge of the principles of church architecture and the operation of construction site machines.
This interest clearly emerges in the numerous drawings of churches with central plan and of winches and cranes, in the memorandum on the gilded bronze sphere and the screws of Santa Reparata, and in the sketches of herringbone vaulted roofs and various structural and decorative elements.