He oversaw the production of bricks of various dimensions and attended to the supply of choice stone and marble from the quarries. Throughout the years of construction Brunelleschi spent more and more time on the work site. Brunelleschi wove regular courses of herringbone brickwork, little known before his time, into the texture of the cupola, giving the entire structure additional solidity.
In fact, from an octagonal drum of the dome stand eight segments, the sails, arranged on two shells separated by a space. The whole structure of the dome is designed to be light and slim in both form and substance. The octagonal shape of the dome is definitely inspired by that of the Baptistry.
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He invented a three-speed hoist with an intricate system of gears, pulleys, screws, and driveshafts powered by a single yoke of oxen turning a wooden tiller and the castello, a 65-foot-tall crane with a series of counterweights and hand screws to move loads laterally once they’d been raised to the right height. The first problem to be solved was purely technical: no known lifting mechanisms at the time were capable of raising and maneuvering the enormously heavy materials he had to work with, including sandstone beams, so far off the ground. The usual way to build an arch or dome was to support it with scaffolding called “centring.” However, the open space in the cathedral was 42 metres wide, and the Florentines wanted a tall, soaring dome.Īll the timber in Tuscany would not have sufficed to make the centring.īrunelleschi ended up building the dome without scaffolding in such a way that it supported itself as the work progressed.īrunelleschi’s solutions for the dome were ingenious, innovative, and expensive. The construction of the Dome began on 7 August 1420.įree cancellation up to 24 hours in advance The Brunelleschi’s project Now Brunelleschi, whose design for the cupola had been accepted outright, was forced to work side by side with his gallingly successful rival.
The two men had been rivals since 1401, when they had vied for another illustrious commission, the new bronze doors for the Florentine Baptistery. Leading architects of the time flocked to Florence to present their ideas.Īfter many uncertainty the Opera del Duomo agreed to make Filippo Brunelleschi the superintendent of the cupola project and appointed Lorenzo Ghiberti, Brunelleschi’s fellow goldsmith, as a co-superintendent. In 1418 the Opera del Duomo announced a public competition for the construction of the dome with a handsome prize of 200 gold florins-and a shot at eternal fame-for the winner. When was the dome of the Florence cathedral built? Could a dome weighing tens of thousands of tons stay up without them? Was there enough timber in Tuscany for the scaffolding and templates that would be needed to shape the dome’s masonry? And could a dome be built at all on the octagonal floor plan dictated by the existing walls-eight pie-shaped wedges-without collapsing inward as the masonry arched toward the apex? No one knew. Yet these were the only architectural solutions known to work in such a vast structure. Their building plans eschewed the flying buttresses and pointed arches of the traditional Gothic style then favored by rival northern cities like Milan, Florence’s arch enemy. Other questions plagued the cathedral overseers.
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But there was one problem: no one knew how to erect a dome that would be nearly 150 feet wide and that would begin 180 feet above the ground, atop the existing walls.
Proud of their city, the Florentines began to build a glorious cathedral, reserving enough space in its design for a huge dome. Imagine the thriving city of Florence in the year 1296. 5 How Brunelleschi built the dome (video).2 When was the dome of the Florence cathedral built?.