Dome
From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.
A dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Domes do not have to be perfectly spherical in cross-section, however; it is sufficient that they simply be curved surfaces. A saucer dome is a dome section of large radius that caps a space with a low dome. A variant is the Onion dome that resembles more than half of a sphere, exemplified by Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.
The concave triangular sections of vaulting that provides the transition between a dome and the square base on which it is set and transfer the weight of the dome are called pendentives. A less sophisticated version of a pendentive is a squinch..
A dome can be considered as an arch which has been rotated around its vertical axis. As such, domes have a great deal of structural strength. They can be constructed of ordinary masonry, held together by friction and compressive forces.
A half-dome forms the head of an exedra or its smaller version, a niche. In Late Antiquity, the exedra developed into the apse, with separate developments in Romanesque and Byzantine practice.
Famous domes
Listed in order of their completion:
- the Pantheon in Rome;
- the domes and half-domes of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople;
- the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem;
- Filippo Brunelleschi's dome of the Duomo in Florence;
- Bramante's dome of the "Tempietto" in Rome;
- the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome;
- the Blue Mosque in Istanbul;
- the Taj Mahal in Agra;
- the dome of Les Invalides in Paris;
- Wren's dome of St Paul's Cathedral in London;
- James Gibb's dome at the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford;
- the steel-framed United States Capitol dome, Washington, DC;
- the Millennium Dome in London.
See also
de:Kuppel ja:ドーム
