The Dome of the Duomo
I collect books, my shelves are bending under the weight of them, there's always a big pile on my bed side table, there's quite a few actually in my bed too, and since my idea of moving to Florence; I have a new topic of books to buy.
So using my new books, I plan to write a series of posts about certain subjects I find interesting and want to learn about before I move over there. From buildings, museums, certain parts in history, churches, shops, events, food, drinks, anything I fancy really. I hope you find at least some of the posts interesting!
First off, I will start with the impressive dome of the Duomo, probably the most famous object in Florence, and something everyone visiting Florence will at least take a glance at, and appreciate the breathtaking beauty of this magnificent structure.
Most of Florence was rebuilt during the Renaissance, but the area around the Duomo has a real Medieval feel to it, as though your stepping back in time. The Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo (cathedral) reflects how Florence wanted to be - at the forefront of everything, throughout Tuscany, Italy and even Europe. And still to this day, it remains the tallest building in the city - all thanks to Filippo Brunelleschi: A goldsmith, with no background in architecture, and yet somehow he managed to achieve something which should have been impossible. And on top of that, it's also said the dome was inspiration for the start of the Renaissance period.
Reading up on how this unbelievable structure, is really quite bizarre; building began of the Gothic style Cathedral in 1296, but it only gets interesting when you fast forward to the 1400's, when a competition was announced to encourage the construction of the Dome. After many backs and fourths, the Cathedral was complete in 1436, with Fillipo Brunelleschis' ingenious and futurtisic ideas on how the Dome would be built.
The Dome was the largest in the world, and still today remains the largest brick work ever constructed, it's mind boggling to even begin to imagine how they went about building it back then. By 1418 the Cathedral was complete, the only thing missing was the Dome. On the 18th of August 1418, a competition was announced for the already designed Dome to be put into reality, and it was up to the competitors to come forward with their ideas on how to construct it. The Dome in question was higher and wider than any that had been built previously; without using a wooden supporting frame, and no external buttresses to keep it from falling under its own weight.
Brunelleschi initiatively looked to the Pantheon in Rome for his inspiration - which is just as confusing; there's a great video on it, heres the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305niNDG8c4
How the Dome was completed still remains quite a mystery, Brunelleschi was apparently a very secretative man, thus leaving nothing behind of how he managed to build this great work of art.
How could men work that high? How did they know the faces will all join, and why wouldn't they fall down under their own weight?
His final plan was indigenous, deciding on a two domes; one of sandstone and marble, and one of bricks. By a series of stone, iron and wooden chains/hoops inside the inner dome, acting like the act of squeezing together a hoop, pressure was put on the 8 corners of the dome, keeping the dome together. There's a few youtube videos to explain this visually, one of the best by National Geographic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IOPlGPQPuM . It's amazing, it really adds to the confusion!!
By 1436 the dome was finished. Today, a huge statue of Brunelleschi is found outside the Palazzo dei Canonici in the Piazza del Duomo, looking thoughtfully towards his greatest ever achievement, the dome which would forever dominate Florences' skyline.
Just go and visit the Duomo, you don't need to understand it, just marvel it.
So using my new books, I plan to write a series of posts about certain subjects I find interesting and want to learn about before I move over there. From buildings, museums, certain parts in history, churches, shops, events, food, drinks, anything I fancy really. I hope you find at least some of the posts interesting!
First off, I will start with the impressive dome of the Duomo, probably the most famous object in Florence, and something everyone visiting Florence will at least take a glance at, and appreciate the breathtaking beauty of this magnificent structure.
Most of Florence was rebuilt during the Renaissance, but the area around the Duomo has a real Medieval feel to it, as though your stepping back in time. The Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo (cathedral) reflects how Florence wanted to be - at the forefront of everything, throughout Tuscany, Italy and even Europe. And still to this day, it remains the tallest building in the city - all thanks to Filippo Brunelleschi: A goldsmith, with no background in architecture, and yet somehow he managed to achieve something which should have been impossible. And on top of that, it's also said the dome was inspiration for the start of the Renaissance period.
Reading up on how this unbelievable structure, is really quite bizarre; building began of the Gothic style Cathedral in 1296, but it only gets interesting when you fast forward to the 1400's, when a competition was announced to encourage the construction of the Dome. After many backs and fourths, the Cathedral was complete in 1436, with Fillipo Brunelleschis' ingenious and futurtisic ideas on how the Dome would be built.
The Dome was the largest in the world, and still today remains the largest brick work ever constructed, it's mind boggling to even begin to imagine how they went about building it back then. By 1418 the Cathedral was complete, the only thing missing was the Dome. On the 18th of August 1418, a competition was announced for the already designed Dome to be put into reality, and it was up to the competitors to come forward with their ideas on how to construct it. The Dome in question was higher and wider than any that had been built previously; without using a wooden supporting frame, and no external buttresses to keep it from falling under its own weight.
Brunelleschi initiatively looked to the Pantheon in Rome for his inspiration - which is just as confusing; there's a great video on it, heres the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=305niNDG8c4
How the Dome was completed still remains quite a mystery, Brunelleschi was apparently a very secretative man, thus leaving nothing behind of how he managed to build this great work of art.
How could men work that high? How did they know the faces will all join, and why wouldn't they fall down under their own weight?
His final plan was indigenous, deciding on a two domes; one of sandstone and marble, and one of bricks. By a series of stone, iron and wooden chains/hoops inside the inner dome, acting like the act of squeezing together a hoop, pressure was put on the 8 corners of the dome, keeping the dome together. There's a few youtube videos to explain this visually, one of the best by National Geographic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IOPlGPQPuM . It's amazing, it really adds to the confusion!!
By 1436 the dome was finished. Today, a huge statue of Brunelleschi is found outside the Palazzo dei Canonici in the Piazza del Duomo, looking thoughtfully towards his greatest ever achievement, the dome which would forever dominate Florences' skyline.
Just go and visit the Duomo, you don't need to understand it, just marvel it.
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