In 1418, a contest was held to solve the problem of Florence. Part of the problem was that the cathedral didn’t have arches to support the dome. Also, the dome’s base was an octagon, so it was not possible to build the usual semicircle dome. Filippo Brunelleschi, a master goldsmith, had never trained an architect, but he won the contest and built the dome, using a design that few understand, even today.