The dome that crowns Florence’s great cathedral of Santa
Maria del Fiore—the Duomo—is a towering masterpiece of Renaissance ingenuity
and an enduring source of mystery. Still the largest masonry dome on earth
after more than six centuries, 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 secretive architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, managed to keep the
dome perfectly aligned and symmetrical as the sides rose and converged toward
the center, 40 stories above the cathedral floor. His laborers toiled without
safety nets, applying novel, untried methods. Over 4 million bricks might
collapse at any moment—and we still don’t understand how Brunelleschi prevented
it.
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