Just last week, as I observed castles and architectural specters of Udaipur, I reflected upon how architecture dresses up an area to its economic and cultural lifestyle. It is no secret that old Indian town planning consists of various symbolic and practical ideas. Udaipur, famous as the Venice of the east, is a locus of beautiful lakes, but it is only known to few that these lakes were constructed as Ghats by its emperor for a better water supply and religious purposes. At the same time, the castle boundaries around these rivers that appear rich in decorations have exposed clever gaps to notice the attacker and repel while remaining hidden. Further, you may find several brackets where you will find temples, making it easier for the population to interact, a practice common in Italian architecture and praised even by Vitruvius. You can read my detailed read on architectural styles and a few others discussing the practices of the present age. Besides, somewhere between these executions of thoughts and observance of the city of Udaipur, I felt it is crucial to determine the architectural elements before stitching the information about any style. So, while I continue covering the different informational topics of architecture, I will make your learning a little more sophisticated and technical by introducing you to the elements of architecture, its history, and many more terms previously explained only in books. As we begin this journey, this article focuses on the Dome, the covering and hat of architecture that you need to know everything about.
Dome | Fast Knowledge
A dome is a curved roof structure, technically an arch rotated about its central vertical axis. These architectural structures are one of the most crucial elements in history, both for structural and symbolic purposes. Other than its unique engineering and equal thrust distribution, according to religious cultures, it represents the overarched heavens.
Understanding the Literature.
A shape that became one of the most important features of Byzantine and Islamic traditions, the Dome, is furnished by the Greek and Latin word “Domus”. In Middle and Late Latin, Doma meant “house,” “roof,” and sometimes “cupola,” but in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, all over Europe, Domus Dei meant a “revered house.” The respect of this architectural beauty dates back to the origin of the domical architecture, surviving since the Italian duomo, the German, Icelandic, Danish Dom, meaning Cathedral and by the mid of 1650s in English, Dome meant “townhouse, guild hall, state house, and meeting house in a city.” The term went on to have a similar effect until the seventeenth century when it started to stir as a poetic reference, and by 1660, French gave domus a specific meaning, cupola vault. Later, for architectural and scientific reasons, what started as a primitive term for a house became a singular character, a Dome.
Looking at the History of Domes.
The use of curved roofs dates back to the ancient times of India when Hindus installed Sikhara and directed weight directly downwards. However, the records elaborate on Romans as the intellect to devise a much more scientific method to design the roof and distribute its weight while making it appear even more spherical. To understand the history of the Dome and how the elements transformed with time, we need to look back at the different structures and their key characteristics. Additionally, I will try to stretch their origin in the next sections, explaining the symbolism.
Note: You should know that there are numerous theories on the origin of the Dome, but the lack of traces from history doesn’t give us a solid pact to learn about them as a whole.
1. The Pantheon (c. 118-26).
One of the most significant Roman structures, the Dome of the Pantheon was an advanced engineering effort undertaken by Apollodorus under the rule of Hadrian. Spanning about 44 meters, this dome was constructed to replace the original Pantheon, destroyed by fire in A.D. 80, and was aimed to be fireproof. In the area alone, the Dome of the Pantheon is larger than Brunelleschi’s Dome in Florence and the Dome of Saint Peters in Rome.
Along with the vastness, the Pantheon shows a subtle handling of Apollodorus’s hand at architecture. A quick analysis reveals that the engineers used a thicker base, knowing such a structure pushes itself outward at its springing and that the abutments need to prevent the overturning moment that is only possible by being thick at the base. It should be noted that there happened to be domes before- the first domes known to us are two 6-meter semi-domes in Pompeii, constructed more than 200 years before the Pantheon. Secondly, there was a 14-meter octagonal dome in the Domus Aurea. It is safe to say that the engineers of Pantheon had familiarized themselves with these structures and started with similar engineering to achieve this marvel.
One of the tasks of the Pantheon’s Dome was to reduce its weight, made possible by several ideas. Starting with the material, the engineers used concrete with less dense caementae or aggregate as it rose up the building. The foundation consists of travertine chippings (sourced from the travertine blocks used in the structure) with the concrete. Lastly, the structure is divided into sections and so is the material; in the first level of the Pantheon the aggregate has alternate layers of travertine and tufa, the second layer has tufa and tile pieces, the upper story and lower part has aggregate with broken pieces of bricks while the thin bands of the dome have alternate layers of broken pieces and tufa, and the remaining area of the dome is lightweight tufa and pumice. The complete dome forms to leave the uppermost part empty, forming an oculus. The most interesting part of the dome is the lower part of the dome, whose weight is reduced by coffering from the inside.
2. The Baths of Caracalla (c. 211-16).
The Baths of Caracalla, built by the emperor of Caracalla, is a marvel of architecture and a great stadium to study old architecture. However, one of the reasons it is known for is its vast concrete dome, replicating Apollodorus’s Dome of the Pantheon, other than its smaller span (35 meters) but similar height (43 meters) to that of the Pantheon.
3. The Church of Saint Sophia (537).
The Church of Saint Sophia was designed in 532-33, and the construction ended in 537. A spectacle of beauty and wondrous in size that shadowed the complete city, this Church was taken over by Anthemius of Tralles and the younger Isidorus of Maxentius. Aside from this, this Church is important for its main structural component, i.e., the central dome covering the square plan.
The brick dome of the Church of Saint Sophia spans 30 meters and springs from four huge arches that also serve as buttress vauts. The thrust of the dome is carried in the longitudinal direction by two semidomes that act as buttresses and distribute the outward thrust to several smaller domes, arches, cross vaults, columns at lower levels, and ultimately to the foundation.
Lastly, this Church replicates the sheer vaults of the Pantheon but in a more fascinating manner.
Note: The present dome of Hagia Sophia is not the original and the earthquake of 537 made the eastern dome and main eastern arch collapse. In 989, the western half of the building collapsed, and in 1346, the eastern part collapsed again. These conditions forced the engineers to rework the structure again and make changes every time to avoid any difficulties in the future.
4. The Church of San Vitale (c. 526-47).
The Church of San Vitale is a landmark of the meeting of two cultures. At the time it was constructed, the Western Roman Empire was declining, and the architectural forms of the East interfered with the Roman building forms, soon forming an architectural style of the Middle Ages. Speaking of the Dome of San Vitale which spans 16.7 meters, it follows the Roman tradition of making hollow clay vessels in contrast to heavier concrete and bricks.
It is crucial to know that the poise and balance that Muslim builders had achieved and brought with them before invading the Romans were even better and excellent than the existing ones. As Bill Addis says in his book,
“The sense of poise and balance they achieved is often breathtaking,”
5. The Palatine Chapel (c. 786-805).
After ousting the Arabs, Charlemagne was crowned the first holy emperor in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He too believed in the idea of Monasticism to stabilize the new kingdom and the construction of the time showcases how the architecture of this time looked. There are many buildings, for instance, The Oratory of Theodulph, that showcase the restrained architecture under the restoring rule. However, The Palatin Chapel captures attention with its extensive decoration and a dome that looks unlike any we have seen so far. The interior of this dome represents that of an octagonal dome with Biblical tellings while the exterior has a newer style, almost suggesting the starting of medievalism.
6. The Baptistry Pisa (1153-1265).
A structural accomplishment and nothing less than a marvel, the Baptistry adjacent to the cathedral in Pisa is so magnificent that this device was adopted in the late 17th century in London for St. Paul’s Cathedral. The dome has a masonry cone on it that reduces the outward thrust. This achievement was only possible after the experimentation with newer styles and engineering took place in Europe up to about A.D. 1100.
7. The Brunelleschi’s Dome (1420-36).
Brunelleschi’s dome is a subject of great study, and it is undoubtedly the greatest structure of the dome after the Pantheon to exist and rival the architecture of the Romans. Designed and Constructed under the supervision of Brunelleschi, this dome was proposed alongside many others, and it was the most formal plan that was welcomed with skepticism, but still, the architect got the job.
To start with, this massive structure uses thin shells that are joined by masonry ribs, 2 meters thick at the bottom and weighing half of what it would have weighed if it had been solid. Brunelleschi ensured the stability of the structure by having the line of thrust within the thickness itself. It is well understood that a dome spread outward without a rigid support system, and understanding the same, the architect used two systems for carrying hoop tension forces. To understand this in detail I recommend reading Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King.
Further, this structure uses a Herringbone pattern to keep the flat Roman bricks in place, a structural solution that is commonly ignored when reading about this dome.
Note: The idea of Brunelleschi’s Dome and its style of construction continued to inspire many architects during the Renaissance, including Michelangelo who redesigned St. Peter’s Basilica of Rome with a huge dome have double skin, later completed by engineer Domenico Fontana and architect Giacomo della Porta, following his designs after the sculptor-architect died.
8. Saint Paul’s Cathedral (1710).
At the time when the use of bricks, stone, and timber became widely acceptable, the architect of Saint Paul’s Cathedral experimented with newer materials for its construction. For instance, this building featured the use of cast iron for the first time in the architectural world, Wren used it to construct the tall railings around the building.
The dome of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London is composed of three elements. The first and the major structural element is a cone made of bricks that carry the weight of the lantern. Inside this, and only visible from the interior, is a lightweight hemispherical brick shell with an oculus, painted with frescoes. Lastly, from the outside, the hemispherical shell is a lead-covered timber structure, making it lightweight and is supported by a brick cone. It should be essentially noted that Wren used his friend Robert Hooke’s theorem for the design of the cone, making this the first design methodology to use the theorem of statics for such an important structure. The theorem states,
“As hangs the flexible line, so but inverted will stand the rigid arch.”
Refer to this paper to understand the complete theorem.
9. Cathedral of Saint Issac (c. 1818-58).
The dome of the Cathedral of Saint Issac in Saint Petersburg was designed in 1818 when the officials preferred the idea of copying Christopher Wren’s dome of Saint Paul’s Cathedral and using masonry for it. However, after further delays and considerations, in 1835, it was decided that an iron dome would be more suitable and cost-efficient than that of masonry. Seeing that it was finally constructed for the purpose. The dome is an example of how iron was making changes to structures and how engineers were choosing it over other materials for its fireproof nature, easy manufacturing, and behavior to allow the engineers to interchange and configure the component without delay.
Iron was becoming a widely acclaimed material of the time, and most of these structures were manufactured in Britain and France and exported from there to different regions.
10. Cable Dome (1988).
After the Olympics and sports arenas became opportunities for architects to showcase their talent and creativity, more and more structures were seen to reflect the growing collaboration of engineers and architects and unique structures. Among these was David Geiger’s Cable Dome, 120 meters in diameter, built for the Seoul Olympics in 1988. This dome uses Buckminster Fuller’s idea of “tensegrity.” To summarize, tensegrity structures have discontinuous compression members and several short compression members working together with cables in tension. These structures do not require special lifting gear as they can be erected by tightening the circumferential cable, one at a time, working out from the center. Lastly, the membrane of this dome is not part of the structural system.
I hope these points help you understand how the evolution of the dome happened and what history has seen throughout time. While there are many more structures in a century alone and before the Pantheon that contributed to the foundation of Domes (still an unanswered question), these are some of the most famous and important ones to know about. I recommend you read Building: 3000 Years of Design Engineering and Construction by Bill Addis for more knowledge on Dome and other architectural revolutions. Now, as you know a brief of the history of domes, let us understand the types of domes.
Types of Dome.
There are hundreds and thousands of domes based on different types and using different structural properties. Though we know from the previous section that there is no precise answer for the origin of the Dome, when we look at the exploration of De Vogüé and Howard Butler, we find great knowledge about the Syro-Palestinian Churches and how they contributed widely to the idea of Domical shapes, unarguably as much as the Romans and Greek Architects did. I will explain in the later section the symbolism of the Dome in different religious backgrounds; for this section, we are limiting ourselves to learning the types of this architectonic beauty.
1. Beehive Dome.
The most primitive type of dome, Beehive or Conoid style domes, are derived from round huts made of pliable materials, tied together at the top and covered with leaves, thatch, or skins. These huts are slightly pointed and bulbous and have a greater presence in the backward communities of Nubia and Africa. The domes, however, are commonly used for Islamic Mosques and are preserved in the tholos tombs of the Mediterranean and the rock-cut tombs of Etruria and Sicily.
2. Onion Dome.
These domes are characterized by their presence in Russia, more specifically by the multi-dome Churches of the region. A technical detail to identify them is noting if they bulge out beyond the diameter of the springer and taper smoothly to house the lantern.
3. Hemispherical Vault.
The Hemispherical Vault, widely accepted as a Dome, acquired its geometric curve from the theoretical interest of Roman mechanics and Greek mathematicians. These later formed a necessary component, as we saw in some of the structures previously, to monumentally cover the baths, temple walls, and tombs.
Further, the architects of the time knew that they needed to conceal the exterior of these domes partially or completely to control the outward thrust. This is why you see most masonry domes of Roman times covered on the exterior.
Note: Though Romans became scientifically incorporated with the ideas of hemispherical domes, the structure was probably known to Assyrians as we can see in the pictures of Ashurnasirpal’s Palace at Nimrud.
4. Polygonal Dome.
A simple statement that Gregory of Nysa used to describe Polygonal Dome was,
“A circle with angles.”
Speaking of the ruins and history, in regions like Armenia, there was always a tradition to have wooden domical structures, and it is speculated that there have been climatic conditions for protecting a dome under polygonal and conical roofs. The studies of De Vogüé and Howard Butler share a detailed account of how octagonal roofs had their presence in Syria. There were arguments from other scholars claiming that there was never an octagonal dome. However, Krencker, another explorer, claimed that he had found the pieces of the stone cornice of the octagon with notches for the roofing timbers. Lastly, Etchmiadzin Cathedral is an important architectural monument of Armenia, as most domes of this region were made with stone after their exact wooden prototypes. One of the crucial facts about this cathedral is that the cupola may have been covered with a polygonal roof, as with many Roman domes and the Caucasus domical structures.
5. Melon Dome.
Apart from the hemispherical domes, melon domes were widely common in the Near East of the Early Christian period. These domes were inspired by their wooden prototypes and have corrugations for the same reason. Further, they have their symbolist roots in the Lotus Rosette of Egypt and the Lotus Domes in India.
While the present generation refers to domes with a much more technical reference, the earlier references mostly associate them with a shape they look alike. These were the five most common domes that you should know, and detailed information regarding the history, origin, and types of domes can be found in the texts of The Dome: A Study in the History of Ideas by Earl Baldwin Smith.
Understanding the Symbolism of Domes.
Domes are frequently associated with the Christian interest, and this shelter represents Heaven. A brief analysis of the traditions shows that when mankind attached the unknown with the known and valued them extensively, they associated a house, tomb, and sanctuary, considering them a replica or a symbol of the universe.
To understand, we can look at the blue ceiling with stars that became prevalent in Egyptian tombs and Babylonian palaces, while coffers decorated with stars continued to be a part of Greek and Roman temples. Although, there were structures that did not have domical shapes but contained values in different cultures, like ancient Mesopotamia, this cosmic thought was still the reason to promote Domes.
To understand the symbolism of domes, I will try to briefly share how the different religions and regions had domical structures, promoting domes through the centuries.
1. Indian Tradition.
India is one of the most significant civilizations to promote round structures in their architecture. As I previously mentioned, they don’t necessarily promote the domes in the West, but they are a marvel to study if we need to completely understand Domes and Circular roofs. The reason Indians created these domes was because of their association of circular roofs, or domelike shapes with the celestial beliefs. The complete analogy of Indian architecture and Symbolism can be learned from important texts of Mānasāra and further by the 19th-century author A. K. Coomaraswamy.
The presence of domes or circular roofs can be seen through a quick recap of history that shares the depiction of the relief of Bhārhūt, a turban relic of Buddha, from the first century, and the shape of venerated hut form preserved in the section of Sudāma cave from the twelfth year of Asoka empire. Additionally, a study of Dravidian culture and their structures shares how Domes became important and represented Heaven.
2. The Asiatic Tradition and the Imperial Baldachin.
The development of domes in the Classical and Middle Ages has a strong link with the Easy, more precisely, Central Asia. The explanation of Marco Polo, Clavijo, and other Medieval travelers preserves how the tent-dwellers of Central Asia, like today, had adored the domical shape of their cosmic tent. Two other Asiatic traditions, important to this structure, are the audience tent of Achaemenid kings and the Semitic qobba.
When we read about the Achaemenid kings, we gather that they lived in palaces built of brick and stone but hosted their audience and festivals in a cosmic tent. According to Hesychius, there “royal tents and courts of round awnings were called Heavens.” The royal tents of Persia, with a captivating appearance, attracted many Western Travellers in the Middle Ages.
When Alexander conquered Persia and took over the divine palace of the King of Kings, this tent continued to be an influence. in the words of Plutarch (Alexander, III),
“The Son of Heaven had a magnificent tent made with fifty gilded posts which carried a sky of rich workmanship”
It is safe to say that this appearance of Alexander’s world tent somehow influenced Byzantine and Roman emperors to adore their states with utmost decorations, jeweled and golden baldachin, and appear supreme. This explains that Nero had benefitted from the Persian conception of a deified and universal monarch enthroned under a domical cosmic tent and had himself built his Domus aurea, introducing a symbolism-rich dome into imperial palace architecture.
3. Pre-Islamic and Hebrew Tradition.
The mingling of traditions and the change in the domical structures have shaped Western traditions too closely, a trend that appears in the domical structures of Palestine. While there is a long controversy in this field, studies have held a strong pact to observe essential steps, including the significance of tents among the Semites, both Christians and Mohammedans.
To begin with, all pre-Islamic Arabs and perhaps all Semites had an ancient tradition of a sacred dome-like tent of leather, called qobba. It accompanied them in the battles and migration, became an emblem of clan authority, and was erected over the graves of ancestors and great men. The only well-preserved depiction of this tent sanctuary occurs in the second or third-century relief from the temple of Bel at Palmyra. Though it has survived to the modern times among the Bedouins as otfe of each tribe, this “tentlike shape with a domed top” has great significance in the history and symbolism of domes. Further, this qobba had also become “kubbe” in Islam which Mohammed and his immediate successors continued to carry with them in the battle, and it became “a sign of authority” and a revered symbol of Islam.
Before the exile, the Hebrews had tent sanctuaries, ephods, that closely resembled pre-Islamic qobba and were probably the ephod of Ephraim at Shiloh that became the ark of the federated tribes of Israel. After the release, when their original ark tradition was lost, they took ideas from the Babylonian concept of cosmic tents and the Persian ideas of a universal ruler enthroned in his audience tent. Through this, Jews prepared their idea of the Tabernacle as a cosmic replica of the universe from the Babylonian “Shepherd Tent of the World,” which probably was a round and ritualistic tent. Sohar explains,
“In the middle of the house of the primordial creation is a great tree with large branches bent under the weight of fruit,” which was supporting tree-of-life, uniting heaven and earth.
After the Babylonians destroyed their temple and the ark (586 B.C.), it was again founded but in a different pattern. After this, the qobba, or ephod was no longer following the previous form. However, the third scene of Aaron and Tabernacle showcases an ark carried on poles and has a round and domelike shape, nearly resembling the early qobba or ephod. Here, the wreath indicates the divine manifestation and heavenly form while the spot of decoration represents the stars.
While the forms continued to change and so did their purpose, it is clear that by the first century A.D., the Jews considered their tabernacle as the cosmic house. As Philo in The Special Laws writes,
“The highest, and in the truest sense, the holy temple of God is, as we must believe, the whole universe.”
The account of the Tabernacle of Moses doesn’t explain if there was a domical covering for the holy of holies, like that of qobba or the heavenly hemisphere. Josephus, on the other hand, says that the ark was made of “stout timber” and had a golden cover “united to it by golden pivots.” His statement regarding the shape of this cover says,
“so even was the surface at every point, with no protuberances anywhere to mar the perfect adjustment,”
This explains that Palestine had a domelike sanctuary, cosmic tent, and domical shape in ancient times for the manifestations of God.
4. Early Christian and Byzantine Tradition.
At the time when Hebrew writers were continuing to think of both the universe and the sanctuary of God in terms of a cosmic and ancient dwelling, there was a population in Syria and Asia Minor who worshipped their God in ancestral shelters with similar cosmic implications. The commonness of these people and their worship can be seen in the coins of around the second century after Christ.
Christianity had recognized the domical heritage and the traditional ancestral shelters as a replica of God’s dwelling. By between fourth and seventh centuries when the Churchmen were laying the mystical conception of the architectural House of God as a symbol and manifestation of divine presence and cultivating domical Churches in the Near East, the imagery of cosmic house in the Hebrew Tradition and that of the Old Testament was of great significance. However, propagating these ideas in the minds of people had become difficult, given the lack of scriptures. A complete account of this and how people who started following Hebrew belief of considering the world as a tent, unspecific to its shape, and some who pictured the universe as a two or three-storied house with a lofty roof that is Heaven, having a semicylindrical or domical structure, converted to accept Church as the structure to represent heaven on earth and dome as a great imaginative significance to the man can be found in Earl Baldwin Smith’s book on the history of domes. Along with this, it is a rich text to learn the complete history and understand the evidence.
Early in the eighth century, S. Germanos, the Patriarch of Constantinople, wrote,
“The church is heaven upon earth, the place where the God of heaven dwells and moves. It represents the crucifixions, the sepulcher and the resurrection of Christ.”
In the fifteenth century, Symeon of Thessalonica, in his treatise On the Holy Temple, wrote,
“The temple, as the House of God, is the image of the whole world, for God is everywhere and above all. It is to point to this that it is divided into three parts; for God is a Trinity. This was represented also by the Tabernacle, divided into three parts, and likewise by Solomon’s temple, in which, as S. Paul says, there was the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place and the Atrium. Here the sanctuary is the symbol of the higher and supra-celestial spheres, where it is said, is the throne of the immortal God, and the place of his rest. It is likewise this that the altar represents. The heavenly hierarchies are to be found hither and thither, but they have with them priests who take their place. The pontiff represents Christ; the temple, this visible world; the vault, the visible heaven; the ground, the things which are on the earth, and the (earthly) paradise itself; the exterior, the lower regions and the earth in respect of beings which live according to reason and have no higher life….”
This explains that the Renaissance masters admired Roman architecture and therefore designed Domes. They were also aware of domical ideas, representing cosmic houses, which were part of the Christian heritage. Vasari uses “universal church” to refer to the original Duomo at Florence which Arnolfo di Cambio planned to build with a domical crossing. Palladio too, admired the circular plan and domical temple because,
“it is, therefore, the most proper figure to shew the Unity, infinite Essence, the Uniformity and Justice of God,”
He further explains the shape of the Pantheon,
“either because, after Jupiter, it was consecrated to all the Gods; or, as others would have it, because it bears the figure of the world.”
Whether backed by classical or Christian sources, it should be known that it was the tradition of the domical cosmic house that Michelangelo insisted on having a Domical memorial for the Medici Chapel, even when it blocked the whole arm of San Lorenzo. An interpretation of this chapel mortuary chapel says,
“The whole Chapel was intended to be an abbreviated image of the universe, with its spheres hierarchically ranged one above the other. The lowest zone, with the tombs, is the dwelling place of the departed souls, the realm of Hades. The intermediate zone, with its rational architecture, was intended to incarnate the terrestrial sphere. The zone of lunettes and the cupola was intended to represent the celestial sphere.”
Material.
To understand the construction of a dome, it is necessary to have the essential knowledge regarding the materials that make them. It is now known to you that Romans were the experts of Dome Making, and to elaborate this section in a much more useful manner, I will be taking a page out of their book and explaining what material they use.
Without a say, Concrete was a material that Romans developed and exploited far too greatly. It is safe to say that without the use of concrete, the buildings that we see from this civilization’s era could not have existed. Concrete is an artificial stone that begins as a viscous mixture of water and caementa (Latin) combined with cement to work as a great bonding agent. To develop the Pantheon, Roman architects, and engineers changed the caementa aggregate at the top of the dome by using light volcanic pumice filled with gas bubbles and reducing the weight up top. At the same time, the base foundation or the springer region had to carry the highest weight and to serve this, the aggregate is densest and heaviest compared to the whole structure.
Differentiating the Roman concrete and the one used today is also important. In Roman times, the binding agent was pozzuolana, a volcanic ash that undergoes chemical reactions when ground or mixed with water to form an artificial stone. Other than the binding agent, chalk, and clay (carefully roasted and fired) in present times, the basic composition is similar. This cement powder, developed by Joseph Aspdin in 1824 in England, is mixed with water, sand, and gravel aggregate, which as a result forms an artificial stone that resembles the fine-grain natural limestone found in the region of Portland.
One more difference is that the Romans incorporated considerable volumes of fired tile and brick, similar to relieving or discharging arches, and also used it as a large-scale aggregate. A quick comparison tells us that the Roman concrete mixture was thick with a consistency like a ‘dense oatmeal,’ while the modern concrete is more of a ‘liquid slurry.’
Lastly, as we know, concrete is weak in resisting tensile or stretching forces, and to prevent any damage, Romans used relieving arches and in some instances, added iron bars to the concrete. In modern times, iron and steel rods are used wherever there is a requirement to reinforce concrete.
Final Words.
A dome is essentially an element that brings harmony to a space and makes it different from the crude blocks we frequently come across. I aimed this article as an introduction to the structure, and emphasizing it enough, I recommend continuing your reading with the following resources. In the meantime, let me know what I missed and if this article was worth your time.
Resources.
- The Dome: A Study in the History of Ideas by Earl Baldwin Smith.
- Building: 3,000 Years of Design, Engineering, and Construction by Bill Addis.
- Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning by Leland M. Roth.
- Featured Image by Étienne Dupérac, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Frequently Asked Questions.
There is no clarity or historical background to specify the inventor of a dome in architecture. We can only say that this type of roof has derived from the practices of different civilizations, for both homes and tombs, across the world.
Domes in Ancient Rome were used as an architectural element for the houses of the emperors, Churches, and public palaces. Other than their symbolic nature, they were also a substance for Roman mechanics.
The most common types of domes are Hemispherical, Onion, and Polygonal dome. Note that these are only three among many other types that differ from each other through their structural style or shape.
Many examples, including Brunelleschi’s Dome and The Pantheon, prove that a dome can be strong, given the attention towards construction and the materials that an architect had advised for the stability of the structure.
Dome is used as a word to describe the structure of the house with a specific character. Looking back, dome is derived from the Latin word ‘Domus.’ This changed to ‘Doma’ in Middle and Late Latin and ‘Domus Dei’ in Renaissance, and later to ‘Domus’ by 1660 when the French used a specific word for cupola vault.
While Domes were widely popular in Ancient Rome, they are not Roman. The structure has a long history associated with some of the oldest civilizations, including India and pre-Islamic regions in the East.
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