This weekend, we visited beautiful Florence. Italy is world renown for it's art and houses a wealth of museums and historical buildings. One of the most awe-striking and gorgeous buildings in the city has to be the Florence Cathedral and its dome (duomo). The massive cathedral remained uncovered for nearly a century because none of the architects could figure out how to build a secure roof to cross the span. When they did solve the problem, the builders produced one of the most incredible works of art in the world.
Ideal art contains six elements: order, balance, proportion, precision, control, and clarity of communication and meaning. The Duomo definitely contains all of these ideals. The giant half sphere covers the front half of the Cathedral and is painted with fresco on the inside. The Duomo displays order because the decoration on the outside and inside is consistent and beautiful in design. The inside is painted with amazing fresco depicting Heaven and Hell. Balance and proportion are obviously present because it is a half sphere. The physics that had to go into the construction are incredible and fulfill the precision and control requirements. Lastly the clarity of communication and meaning is met, not only by the beautiful fresco, but also by the sheer size of dome. It conveys the power and greatness of the city of Florence.
I honestly cannot pitch a tent so I absolutely cannot imagine creating such a large structure to cover a building. The amount of physics and architectural engineering is incredible. They also don't have the modern tools that we have today, such as computers, programs, and construction equipment. I think, to me, that might be the most impressive part. They not only finally figured out a plan for a proper dome, but built it by hand and it is still standing centuries later. I can almost hear them saying, “Now, top that!”
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