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| My Dutch version. |
In 1296 the
first beginnings were made for the new Cathedral in Florence. This had to be a
Cathedral that reflected the growing richness and power of the city.
According
to the plans the Cathedral would have a huge dome, the largest of all. There
was however a small problem, they did not know how to build it yet. They just
hoped, in touching faith, that God would provide the knowledge when the time
was there.
In 1418
they held a contest where architects and others could submit their plans for a
dome for the Cathedral.
Finally
they decided to go with the design plans by goldsmith Filippo Brunelleschi. He
had made a very daring design, without any of the usual elements used by
architects until then for such a structure. People did not know how and if it
would be possible, but they began nevertheless.
In the
forty years that followed Brunelleschi would be the main architect working on
such a huge project.
And the
project was huge, four million bricks would be used and all wooden poles and
bricks and other materials had to be made by hand. Building a Cathedral in
those days was building for eternity.
Filippo
Brunelleschi witnessed the dome being almost completed and the cathedral consecrated
in 1446. A few months later he died and he was the first to be buried inside
the cathedral. Never had an architect received so much honor, but Brunelleschi
managed to do something no architect before or after him managed.
He had
absolutely no examples and had to work out everything by himself. He had to
design new machines to transport the bricks and other materials to the top. He
had to invent new ways of measuring the right angles and had to come up with
solutions to prevent the dome from collapsing. He did not want to use a wooden
frame to support the dome as was the custom, but built it in another way. How
he managed to do that, we do not know. He was extremely secretive and never
wrote anything down.
But he is
the man who built the largest dome and the Santa Maria del Fiore still
dominates the city of Florence and its surroundings.
Everybody
who visits Florence will visit the dome and if you want to know more about it,
I can recommend Brunelleschi’s dome by Ross King. It is full of juicy anecdotes
about the workers, the practical jokes Brunelleschi liked, the competition
between the different architects and the way things worked in Florence.
And even
for the absolute technical-lay person (as I am) the information about how the
dome was built, the problems Brunelleschi faced and the genius solutions he
came up with, is very interesting.
Published
in 2000
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