The round window in the apse, an outstanding masterpiece made between 1287 and 1289-90 on a drawing by Duccio di Buoninsegna and currently replaced by a copy, is the first element in the cathedral that captures the visitor’s eye. The three central panels illustrate the Dormition, Assumption, and Coronation of the Virgin, clearly showing the goal of every person’s journey, the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the first panel starting at the bottom, Our Lady is laid in a sarcophagus by two apostles while the others crowd around, accompanied by three angels. In their midst is the figure of Jesus Christ giving His blessing. The scene presents the end of Mary’s time on earth, an episode called the ‘Dormitio Virginis’ and not ‘the Death of the Virgin.’ This is because She, conceived without sin and thus preserved from the corruption of the flesh, does not have to wait for the end of the world, like all other creatures, in order to take part in the bodily redemption, but is taken up into Heaven body and soul. The central panel shows Her Assumption, the moment when She passes from the earthly condition to the heavenly, in other words when She becomes divine. In the case of the Virgin we use the term assumption because She rises to Heaven by virtue of Her Son, while for Jesus the correct term is ascension because He rises on His own. In the scene, Mary is set into a mandorla . . .