Building the Duomo in Rural Nebraska or Upstate New York

On an inflation adjusted basis, the Duomo—that physics defying masterpiece of the Renaissance—is estimated to have cost around $15 billion.¹ One might rightfully accuse me of vulgarity for assigning a monetary value to the sacred. How can one put a cost on Brunelleschi’s mastery? What of the incalculable impact it has had, and continues to have, in shapi…