Yesterday we shared with you an interactive Google Street View by Google Creative Labs and 72andSunny Amsterdam that took you on a night walk through the artist-filled coastal city of Marseille, France.
And last month we shared TIME's interactive at the top of One World Trade Center in New York City.
They are two of the better web interactives we've come across but this one by National Geographic is equally as stunning and the best functioning we've seen yet.
From a fixed point inside the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral — commonly refered to as Il Duomo — this interactive offers an unparalleled opportunity to view the famous landmark. Even if you were to visit the cathedral in person, you would need binocular vision to see the details of The Last Judgement scenes painted inside the dome.
The paintings, started by Giorgio Vasari and finished by Fredico Zuccaro, span more than 38,000 square feet and are more than 300 feet above the floor of the cathedral. They are very impressive in person but you can experience a new level of appreciation using the zoom feature of the interactive.
What you might not have known is the dome we've been referring to is actually two domes, one inside the other, and is considered to be the structure that kicked off the Renaissance. Construction on it began in 1296 and it was consecrated in 1436.
"Its creator, Filippo Brunelleschi, a homely, hot-tempered goldsmith with no serious architectural training, is a hero to his fellow Florentines-and to one modern architect in particular," wrote Tom Mueller at National Geographic.
Where Brunelleschi got his inspiration for the dome is still a mystery to this day. Many contemporaries thought the design would fail without flying buttresses or free-standing scaffolding, but it remains standing to this day nearly six centuries later. To learn more about the various theories behind the dome's construction, check out this article from National Geographic.
Check out the cathedral through the interactive here.
