The Great Cathedral Mystery

The most imposing building in Florence is the city’s main cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore (Saint Mary of the Flower where the “flower” was Christ.) In a city of three, four, and five story buildings, the cathedral at 375 feet of height casts its shadow over the other buildings. The church dominates every painting and every photo of the Florence cityscape.

Work on the cathedral began in the late 1200s as Florence was gaining economic importance, first with the production and export of fabrics of wool and satin and later as a banking and financial service center for European merchants and princes. To make tangible the success of their city, the Florentines determined to erect a cathedral whose dome would be “vast enough to cover the entire Tuscan population with its shadow." (Source)

The walls of the church left an enormous area above the main altar to be covered by a dome. The designers of the Florence cathedral left the problem of constructing such a dome to future generations to solve. No city and no civilization had ever built a dome so large. The person who solved the problem and oversaw the building of the enormous dome over the course of 16 years was a goldsmith named Filippo Brunelleschi. He was a secretive genius who burned all his papers and left behind only the structure of the dome itself to suggest how he solved the problem of constructing the great dome.

We’re interested in the story because we visit Florence often. A few years ago NOVA, the PBS science show, did a show on Brunelleschi’s dome. The show is available on Youtube and we recommend that you view it at:  Great Cathedral Mystery • NatGeo TVG Special - YouTube. It’s a fascinating story.

Professor of Architecture Massimo Ricci of Florence has spent many years examining how Brunelleschi built the dome of the Florence cathedral. Ricci tested his theories for how the dome might have been erected in a park a few miles to the east of the center of Florence. Brunelleschi’s plan was to lay brick upon brick 300 feet in the air with nothing to support the accumulating weight of thousands and thousands of bricks! Ricci learned that Brunelleschi devised many innovations, things that had never been done before.

Yesterday we visited the park where Ricci constructed a miniature dome to test his thinking. It sits in a park with a small pond, a skate board installation, playground equipment for young children, and Ricci’s dome. We’ll share some of the photos we took on a sunny afternoon along the banks of the Arno River.

Professor Ricci's theories tested

The herringbone pattern of vertically laid bricks
continues though the arches

The park is called Parco dell’Anconella. Curiously there are no signs in the park explaining the nature of the brick structure is nor why it is there. When we asked for directions, a neighborhood person called it “il cupola minatura”, the miniature cupola, so some people must have a sense for what it is.

What is inside the partly finished model of the dome of the Florence cathedral? 

We looked through the metal grates and saw a soccer ball sitting alone inside the miniature dome. In a future year, when we visit again Ricci’s miniature dome again, it will probably still be there.

What's inside the "cupola miniatura?"

Again, the NOVA program is available on Youtube at this link:  Great Cathedral Mystery • NatGeo TVG Special - YouTube.