Medici - The Dome An... Info

Today, it remains the largest masonry dome ever built, a testament to what happens when ruthless political ambition meets uncompromising creative genius.

He designed two domes—a thick inner shell to support the weight and a lighter outer shell to protect it from the elements. Medici - The Dome an...

They put their weight behind Brunelleschi, a man whose ideas sounded like madness to his peers. He proposed building a massive dome without any internal wooden scaffolding (centering), claiming he could make the structure support itself as it rose. Brunelleschi’s Innovations Today, it remains the largest masonry dome ever

By the early 15th century, the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral was a source of civic embarrassment. It had sat roofless for decades because no one knew how to build a dome large enough to cover its 143-foot-wide opening without the walls collapsing. Traditional Gothic flying buttresses were forbidden in Florence—they were seen as "German" and ugly. The city needed a miracle. The Medici Gamble He proposed building a massive dome without any