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  • 3 days ago
From PBS - The dome that crowns Florence's great cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore -- the Duomo -- is a masterpiece of Renaissance ingenuity and an enduring source of mystery. Still the largest masonry dome on earth, it is taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighs as much as an average cruise ship. Historians and engineers have long debated how its architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, kept the dome perfectly aligned and symmetrical as the sides rose and converged toward the center. More than four million bricks could collapse at any moment -- and we still don't understand how Brunelleschi prevented it. To test the latest theories, a team of U.S. bricklayers will help build an experimental "mini-Duomo" using period tools and techniques.
Transcript
00:00In Florence, a dome so magnificent, no one could understand how it was constructed.
00:06Technologically, the means did not exist.
00:08In 3,000 years of engineering, no one had ever done that.
00:11Can modern builders decode its ingenious design?
00:14Basically, it's a series of four Catholic arches.
00:17This is freestanding. I've never ever worked on something like this.
00:21Solving the Great Cathedral Mystery, a NOVA National Geographic Special.
00:30So, let's go.
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