Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

You're standing at Florence Cathedral, the Duomo, officially Santa Maria del Fiore and one of the largest churches in the world. Start with the façade. White, green and pink marble in stripes and panels, as if the whole church were an inlaid jewellery box. The white marble comes from Carrara, the green from Prato and the red from Siena. Yet this front is much younger than it looks. For centuries the cathedral had a bare brick wall here. Only between 1876 and 1887 did Emilio De Fabris add this Gothic Revival façade, and critics immediately found it far too showy.