In addition to the many magnificent works in this city, this church stands out for its beauty and significance. Architecturally, it is one of the most important Gothic churches in Tuscany. Impressed us the wealth of works of art that adorn the church. The church, the adjoining cloister, and chapter house contain a multiplicity of art treasures and funerary monuments. Especially famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance. They were financed by the most important Florentine families, who ensured themselves funerary chapels on consecrated ground. It is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The basilica and adjoining cloister were built by the Dominican Order in the 13th century, starting with the small Church of Santa Maria delle Vigne, called this because of the countryside which surrounded it at the time. The church was designed by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi. The lower part of the marble facade, which is Romanesque in style, is believed to have been executed by a Dominican architect, Fra Iacopo Talenti da Nipozzano, while the upper part was completed only 100 years later in 1470 by Leon Battista Alberti. He was already famous as the architect of the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini. The interesting thing is that the facade is not only the oldest of all the churches in Florence but it is also the only church with its original, planned facade still in place today. Inside, the church is vast and looks even longer than it is thanks to the clever coloring of the central arches. The layout is supposed to be work of Brunelleschi, the same architect of the Duomo's cupola. The inside of the church, the first example of Gothic architecture in Florence, is a treasure trove of artwork. Starting with Masaccio’s 1424 Holy Trinity, the fresco in which he experimented with perspective for the first time, thus becoming the pinnacle of Renaissance art, followed by, at the end of the nave, Giotto’s great Crucifix from 1290 stands at a striking height of 4.5 metres and is one of the spectacular pieces from the artist’s earlier works. In the Strozzi Chapel, there are Filippino Lippi’s frescoes which depict the life of Saint John the Evangelist, while the Tornabuoni Chapel is decorated with a fresco depicting moments from the life of the Virgin Mary and Saint John by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Also noteworthy are a nativity scene, painted by Sandro Botticelli near the start of his career, and Filippo Brunelleschi’s Crucifix in the Gondi Chapel, the only of his sculptures to be made of wood.