August 7 – Renaissance Begins – in Architecture!

nPostednon August 7, 2014

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Thenancient civilizations of Greece and Rome were times of great art,ngreat science and mathematics, great learning. Many other times andnplaces are known for their flowering of art, invention, andnscience—the Egyptian pharaonic age in Africa, the Mayan and Incanncivilizations in Central and South America, the Islamic Golden Age innArabia and surroundings, the Indian and Chinese civilizations innAsia—but much of Europe struggled through centuries of what somencall the “Dark Ages.” More often called the Middle Ages ornmedieval times, there was more burning books and smiting than wenmight like, and a little less scientific collaboration and artisticnsharing than we might desire.

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nUntilnthe Renaissance!

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nThenRenaissance – a cultural rebirth, a flowering of exploration,ninnovation, and discovery that started in Italy in the late 1300s –nimpacted philosophy, science, music, and of course art, includingnpainting and sculpture.

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nAndnincluding architecture.

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Thenconstruction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Florence,nItaly, which began on this date in 1420, is considered the beginningnof the Renaissance in architecture. n

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nActually,nby 1400, the cathedral had been under construction for a century andnstill lacked a dome. The design for the dome had been completed longnbefore, and a scale model that was 15 feet high and 30 feet long (4.6nm by 9.2 m) had been standing in a side aisle and was considerednalmost sacred at that point. But the dome design was a tricky one –nit was an octagonal dome that was higher and wider than any evernbuilt before – but it had no external buttresses to keep in fromnspreading and falling under its own weight.

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nWhynno buttresses?

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nApparently,nbecause buttresses were used by Italy’s enemies to the north, theynwere considered ugly and undesirable.

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nArchitectnBrunelleschi was supposed to build the dome, even though the internalninvention needed to prevent spreading without buttresses had yet tonbe invented! He looked to the Ancient Roman dome called the Pantheonnfor a solution to the problem of building the impossible dome. Thendome of the Pantheon was a single shell of concrete; a wooden formnheld the dome aloft while the concrete set. But there was not enoughnwood in all of Tuscany to build all the scaffolding and a form bignenough to create the dome designed for this cathedral. n

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SonBrunelleschi innovated. He created four internal horizontal stone andniron chains that were rigid octagon shapes; they served as barrelnhoops, of sorts. The largest chain was placed at the bottom andnembedded within the inner dome, and the smallest was located at thentop; the other two were spaced at equal intervals within the body ofnthe dome. There are also vertical ribs set on the corners of thenoctagon, curving toward the center point; the visible ribs arensupported by 16 concealed ribs. The ribs had slits to support beams,nwhich in turn supported the platforms that workers stood on toncomplete the higher and higher portions of the dome.

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nBrunelleschinalso used a herringbone brick pattern to transfer the weight of thenfreshly laid bricks to the nearest of those vertical ribs, while thenmortar was drying.

There was also an outer dome that relied onnits attachment to the inner dome at its base to counteract hoopnstress. The hoops were nine masonry rings that can only be seen innthe finished cathedral from the space between the two domes.

nThendome is crowned with an octagonal lantern that features eightnhigh-arched windows. The cone-shaped roof of the lantern was toppednwith a gilt copper ball and cross – but in 1600 the ball was strucknby lightning and fell down. Two years later, an even larger ball wasnmade to replace the top piece.

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nAlsonon this date:

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