Siena's cathedral

On our last full day in Siena, we visited Siena's massive cathedral, located just around the corner from our B&B. The morning presented itself similarly to the previous days: cold and cloudy. However, as the day progressed, the weather pleasantly cleared up, and I was finally able to enjoy the Siena sights in the sun. The cathedral itself was beautiful and ornate. It's exterior remained mostly black and white striped, except for the pale blue dome. Once inside, the floors were covered in stone mosaics depicting various religious narratives, and the black and white palette was echoed on the walls and pillars. The murals that covered a large part of the walls, as well as the stained glass windows, added so much vibrant color and contrasted with the monochromatic facade of the building. In many ways, I wish I would've paid more attention to the unit on Gothic cathedrals from the art history class I took last semester so that I could've had a better interpretation of the architecture. As a whole, the whole interior of the cathedral presented so many different art styles and designs that I found it to be pretty overwhelming. We were also able to climb a circular, narrow flight of stairs that led up to the top of the building, which allowed us to gain a different perspective of both the inside and outside of the cathedral and of Siena below. Overall I found it to be a great experience, and it added greater meaning to the drawing I had completed of it from a distance.