Renaissance: The Florence Cathedral

 The focus of this week's blog post will be covering the text The Early Renaissance.  As stated, the text will be about the renaissance but the blog itself will be focused on Brunelleschi and his work on the Florence cathedral specifically the dome.  The Dome itself is a marvel of architecture from the Renaissance era as he "The technical brilliance of the dome cannot be overpraised, but his real architectural achievements lie in the building design"(Cunnigham,272).  He use of mathematics and artistry combined together to create a marvel of a Dome that sits upon the Florence Cathedral.

Filippo Brunelleschi
(1337-1446)
The cathedral itself was not constructed by Filippo but instead by the architect Arnolfo di Cambio but after its construction the domes design was handed over to Flippo to design a dome that could work for the Cathedral.  He incorporated designs such as "combine the buttressing method of the gothic church and classical vaulting techniques. . .  putting a smaller dome within the larger dome to support the greater weight"(Cummingham, 272).  These combined and new architecture methods allowed him to create a truly unique Dome during the Renaissance.  He devised this new method/marvel of engineering due to the previous designs and flaws of the building.  Because the building was constructed bit a different man the section for the dome was made incorrectly forcing Filippo to devise a plan and design in order to create a unique dome that can hold itself up whilst not using to many resources. 
Florence Cathedral
Filippo Brunelleschi/Arnolfo di Cambio
1436















  Overall, the construction of the dome was a slow but momentous project to achieve as Filippo had to create a mixed construction style incorporating architectural designs together all the while creating his own in order to construct the dome properly.  The most unique thing about the dome has to be the style in which he laid the brick in order to create a support system for the bricks themselves. " Vertical bricks acting as book ends to all the others in place.  They laid about one row a week"(National geographic, 2:04-2:12).  This precise detail over his work on the dome took much time to create the dome but it is an absolute architectural marvel leaving experts still theorizing how he did some of the work on the dome.  The use of mixed design and his own incorporation of his designs and ideas created a truly unique dome compared to others during the Renaissance and modern day leaving many curious and others in awe over its beauty and structure.


How an amateur built the world's biggest dome
A short guide to how Filippo built the Florence Cathedral Dome


Bibliography

Cunningham, Lawrence S. Culture and Values. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982.

NationalGeographic, director. YouTube, YouTube, 24 Jan. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IOPlGPQPuM. Accessed 12 Feb. 2022.



Comments

  1. I like how direct your introduce is and how well it explains the objective of the article as it helps with the structure of the post. Do you believe architects now still study his works or have we advanced to the point that we look past his era? I like the details of the post, but it felt a bit congested and could definitely have been broken up as it would become easier to read. Great job with the post though!

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