I am done with my cathedral series.
These are the ones I have posted on:
Showing posts with label Old building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old building. Show all posts
Florence Cathedral
This is Florence Cathedral, located in Florence, Italy completed in 1436. Over time, the cathedral has had many additions added to it over hundreds of years, the most famous being the dome built by Filippo Brunelleschi. Here is a diagram of the major additions:
When the people of Florence voted to build a dome, none of the artisans in the city were skilled enough to build such a large dome. Half a century later, the city brought together a group of artisans and held a competition for the design of the dome. Brunelleschi won the contract to build the dome. His design was a thick brick inner dome, with a light shell of a dome on top for protection against the elements. He was up against a monumental task. Why? For a number a reasons. The first was that the dome was taller than it was wide. This created more "hoop stress" (the tendency to buckle in a dome). The second reason was there wasn't enough wood in all of Tuscany to build centering for the huge dome. (centering being wooden arches used to support the dome during construction.) He remained undaunted by the task. The first of his solutions was to use brick as opposed to stone, thus lightening the load. This also made it easier to lift the building material up to the construction level. He built the dome as the dome of the Hagia Sophia was built: by have concentric circles of bricks in successive layers that were held together by compression. The problem with this was that the bricks slid of before the mortar dried. He solved this problem by using the "herringbone" brick pattern which looked something like this:
The zig-zag pattern left bricks from one layer sticking up into the next layer. These bricks sticking up gave the next layer some thing to brace against. He then undertook solving the problem of the height of the dome. He did this by placing 5 chains inside the dome. The top four were stone, and the bottom one wood. They were arranged like railing road ties and held the dome together. Since the dome was octagonal, the chains were octagonal so that corners of the dome wouldn't buckle. Also, the chains were wider than the inner dome which they were strengthening, so the protruded into the space between the inner and outer dome. The cross-ties of the lowest chain can be seen protruding out from the masonry:
(the cross-ties are the squarish things sticking out between the red dome, and the white marble)
Brunelleschi even added a heavy stone lantern on top of the dome.
The dome is considered to be Filippo Brunelleschi's masterpiece because of the genius it took to build it.
In this blog post, you saw why. I really enjoyed posting on this cathedral, having watched a lecture on it by Prof. Ressler.
Piazza dei Miracoli
This is the Piazza dei Miracoli, (which means "Square of Miracles"), located in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. It is most famously known for it's bell tower called "The Leaning Tower of Pisa". It consists of four different structures: the Duomo (cathedral), the Campanile (bell tower), the Baptistry, and the Camposanto. This overhead view shows the different components:
The cathedral is obviously in the middle. The bell tower is to the right of it, the Baptistry is the the left, and the Camposanto is above it.
Here is a picture of the inside courtyard of the Camposanto:
Here is a picture of the bell tower, (The Leaning Tower of Pisa) showing how far it was tipping over:
Engineers have done work to straighten the tower, by different methods:
(1) Removing earth from under the raised end
(2) Securing it with ropes (temporarily)
(3) Putting lead weights on the highest side:
The tower is now open to the public, and is said to be safe for at least another 200 years before it will need construction to right it.
(1) Removing earth from under the raised end
(2) Securing it with ropes (temporarily)
(3) Putting lead weights on the highest side:
The tower is now open to the public, and is said to be safe for at least another 200 years before it will need construction to right it.
Saint Basil's Cathedral
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This is the well known Saint Basil's Cathedral, part of the Kremlin in Russia. It was built for Ivan the Terrible in 1561, to commemorate one of his conquests, and is the geometric center of the Kremlin. Everybody agrees that it is certainly not a Russian building, but instead looks more Spanish or Oriental. What ever style it is, it is famous for the many colorful, patterned "onion" domes of which there are nine. There is one central tower, around which are grouped 8 smaller chapels capped with domes. These "chapels" were originally eight separate churches that were meant to be grouped around the central 9th church. All of them were later joined into one big church. Inside, the cathedral, there are corridors and rooms, as additions have been made later one. As you can see in the mosaic above, the church is as beautiful inside as out. The main building material for this cathedral is red brick. This is, I would say, the most famous old cathedral outside of Europe. This is the fourth cathedral I have posted on.
Salisbury Cathedral
This is Salisbury Cathedral located in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. It is another of famous cathedrals of the many in England. It has the largest cloister in England, and also the largest cathedral close: 80 acres, or 320,000 meters squared. This cathedral is 753 years old. I just watched part the DVD series I mentioned that was about Gothic cathedrals. Again, I REALLY recommend the DVD series by Professor Stephen Ressler.
Lincoln Cathedral
This is Lincoln Cathedral. It is another famous, and extremely beautiful cathedral located in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. For 249 years it was the tallest building in the world with a height of 520 ft. Construction was started on it in 1185 and was completely finished in 1311, 126 years later! The long construction period is typical, because as new bishops or other rulers become elected, they each want to contribute to the cathedral. As a result, many cathedrals will have drastically different styles, since styles certainly change in a hundred years! This is a more massive cathedral. It has two huge rose windows. They are some of the largest examples of this type of window in medieval architecture. This is one of the most famous cathedrals in England. The Victorian writer John Ruskin said: "I have always held...that the cathedral in Lincoln is out in out the most precious piece of architecture the British Isles, and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have". This is the second cathedral I have posted on in my Cathedral Series.
Canterbury Cathedral
(I decided to change from only cathedrals in England to cathedrals worldwide)
All the buildings I have posted on
- Commerzbank Tower
- The Swiss Re Building
- Beth Shalom Congregation
- The Johnson Wax Research Center
- The Emil Bach House
- The Imperial Hotel
- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Burj Khalifa
- Taipei 101
- Burj Al Arab
- Hagia Sophia
- The Minnesota Capitol
- John Hancock Building
- Turning Torso
- Westminster Abbey
- Walter Chrysler Building
- Notre Dame
In all, 17 buildings.
Westminster Abbey
This is Westminster Abbey.
It is where English royalty are crowned and buried. Just posted this because I thought it is a great looking building. I think that it looks very clean, being white, and I think less decorated than other churches or cathedrals.
The style is of course Gothic.
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