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Construction site of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome

The dome was consecrated on March 25, completing one of the most ambitious and emblematic architectural projects of the Renaissance.

He worked on the renovation of the church of San Lorenzo in Florence, another important project that marked the transition from Gothic to Renaissance architecture.

Construction begins on the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence, one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture

He wins the competition to design the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, with an innovative construction method without centering.

Vince il concorso per la progettazione della cupola della Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, con un innovativo metodo di costruzione senza centine.

He went to Rome where he studied classical architecture and ancient ruins, an experience that would influence his future work.

He began his career as an artist by participating in the competition for the creation of the doors of the Baptistery, presenting a panel depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac.

He joined the goldsmiths and silversmiths' guild, beginning his training as a goldsmith and sculptor.

Filippo Brunelleschi was born in Florence, the son of a notary.

1446

1436

1434

1421

1420

1418

1402 -1404

1401

1398

He died in Florence on April 15 and was buried in the Florence Cathedral, a rare honor for a layman.

Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the most influential architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance

1377

Leonardo and Brunelleschi

For the construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, Brunelleschi devised innovative methods for the time, with the construction of ad hoc instruments. To complete his work he designed the lantern, a marble structure, 115 meters high, whose weight was the keystone for the thrust system of the double-shell dome. Leonardo da Vinci studied these mechanisms in use including a "revolving crane" for the construction of the lantern's roof. The large golden ball was commissioned in 1469 to Andrea del Verrocchio who placed it above the lantern on May 27, 1471. Leonardo witnessed this event and probably took part in it as an assistant in assembly. In other sheets of the Codex Atlanticus, Leonardo shows vivid memories of the construction of the cathedral and in particular of the dome, memories later transformed into sketches of domes and details of its construction, inspired by the technique of laying bricks in a "herringbone" pattern, an exquisitely Florentine technique and in particular adopted by Brunelleschi.

The current building of the Cathedral was begun in 1294-1295. However, at the beginning of the 15th century, no one had yet understood how to solve the problem of the roof. It was not in fact a simple undertaking to build and identify where to place the enormous wooden centering that would have to support it until its final closure with the keystone. In 1418, the Opera del Duomo announced a public competition for the construction of the dome. On August 7, 1420, after winning the competition, Brunelleschi began construction work. Since then, his construction site has always been considered one of the most innovative and modern of the entire Renaissance.

The story

FIND OUT ABOUT THE SELF-SUPPORTING SYSTEM

The project

The dome is 55 meters high from the base, with a diameter of about 54 meters. The entire structure, including the lantern, weighs 29 thousand tons. From a design point of view, the basic idea in the construction of a spherical vault, without the use of centering, lies in the fact of using, at each successive level of the raising process, a closed and continuous horizontal ring at the top. This ring acts as a stabilizing element of the system, on which the forces that would tend to rotate downwards, in the form of compression, and according to an axially symmetrical scheme, find equilibrium.

DISCOVER THE HERRINGBONE METHOD

Burnelleschi proposed to build two domes, one inside the other, without the help of scaffolding; the internal dome would serve as support while the external one would serve as a covering. Unable to use the method of centering, commonly used for hemispherical domes, Brunelleschi thought of building a self-supporting system, consisting of two domes held together by brick arches. Inside the segments there are horizontal stone and wooden rings, which prevent the dome from giving way to lateral thrust. To keep the structure standing even during the construction phase, Brunelleschi arranged the bricks in a herringbone pattern, which allowed the structure to be self-supporting.

Discover the machines

The construction site

In the construction site of Santa Maria del Fiore governed by Brunelleschi, in addition to approximately 300 workers and involving all the artisans present in the municipality of Florence, there were numerous machines, with different functions. Brunelleschi equipped the construction site of Santa Maria del Fiore with innovative machines that allowed heavy materials to be lifted in large quantities, at a good pace and to great heights. One of the fundamental problems was to transport the construction material and place it in position with great precision. For example, the sandstone blocks, weighing approximately 770 kg, had to be transported to a height of over 50 m.

CRANE REVOLVING PLATFORM

CRANE WITH SUSPENDED WIRE

BIG CRANE - THE CASTLE

THREE SPEED WINCH

CRANE TO LIFTING SPHERE

CRANE WITH CENTRAL WINCH

DISCOVER THE MACHINES DESIGNED BY BRUNELLESCHI

PLIERS AND TIE RODS

LIGHT WINCH

REVOLVING CRANE

BADALONE

Codex Atlanticus, f.808 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

CRANE REVOLVING PLATFORM

The crane was used to lift and precisely position the marble blocks used for the lower part of the lantern. The crane was placed at the centre of the dome's oculus, with the base circumference inside the octagonal perimeter on which the walls of the lantern rise.

Codex Atlanticus, f.138 r. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

CRANE WITH SUSPENDED WIRE

Leonardo's drawing shows a rotating and movable tip elevator. Very similar to modern cranes, this machine was designed to lift weights to great heights.

Codex Atlanticus, f.965 r. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

BIG CRANE - THE CASTLE

Used to close the eye of the dome, about twenty meters high, four teams of workers were needed to operate it. Two teams operated the screws to move the load and the counterweight, one rotated the crane, the other operated the vertical screw.

Codex Atlanticus, f.105 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

REVOLVING CRANE

Leonardo da Vinci's drawing shows slight differences with Brunelleschi's. This crane is also rotatable and it is possible to vary the length of the rope. It was mainly used on external and internal scaffolding of the masonry. A pin wheel operates a central winch capable of lifting light weights and moving them horizontally.

Codex Atlanticus, f.105 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

BADALONE

In order to function at full capacity, Brunelleschi's shipyard needed a large quantity of construction materials that came from outside Florence. Brunelleschi designed a vessel to navigate quickly on the Arno and transport a large amount of material in the shortest possible time. Despite the high cost of the vessel, after a few trips, it ran aground on the bottom of the Arno.

Codex Atlanticus, f.808 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

CRANE TO LIFTING THE SPHERE

The gilded bronze sphere was hoisted after Brunelleschi's death (1446). This crane was used in the 1460s to build the lantern roof, the marble temple on top of the dome. The modified crane was also used to position the gilded copper sphere, surmounted by the cross.

Codex Atlanticus, f.105 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

CRANE WITH CENTRAL WINCH

During his first stay in Florence, Leonardo saw this type of crane in the construction site of Santa Maria del Fiore used for moving and lifting objects of modest weight. This revolving crane with winch presents, compared to the Brunelleschi model, a small modification.

Codex Atlanticus, f.1083 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

THREE SPEED WINCH

Also called "big glue", it was an innovative machine that allowed heavy materials to be lifted in large quantities, at a good pace and to great heights.

Codex Madrid, f.22 a.- r. Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional

HOW IT WORKS

Pliers and tie rods

For the construction of the dome, Brunelleschi used tools that served to stretch and fix the tiles of the masonry. For example, the tensioner that serves to precisely position some structural elements, next to which there is the screw tensioner. The originals are preserved in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.

Codex Atlanticus, f.105 v. Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana

HOW IT WORKS

LIGHT WINCH

A Brunelleschi machine that was very popular among Florentine engineers of the period was the light winch, so called because it was intended to lift lighter loads. The mechanism is anti-friction thanks to Brunelleschi's invention of the "palei", cylinders that allowed the machine to move easily.

Burnelleschi proposed to build two domes, one inside the other, without the help of scaffolding; the internal dome would serve as support while the external one would serve as a covering. Unable to use the method of centering, commonly used for hemispherical domes, Brunelleschi thought of building a self-supporting system, consisting of two domes held together by brick arches. Inside the segments there are horizontal stone and wooden rings, which prevent the dome from giving way to lateral thrust.

To keep the structure standing during the construction phase, Brunelleschi arranged the bricks in a herringbone pattern, which allowed the structure to be self-supporting. The herringbone method is a method of positioning the bricks so that every 90 cm of bricks placed horizontally, one is placed vertically, thus up to the top, creating a spiral that gives strong stability to the entire structure. The workers laid out an average of one row per week to give the mortar time to dry and this significantly slowed down the construction times. In fact, about 30 cm per month were built this way, so it took 16 years to complete.