When I get Italy, the most interesting thing which fascinates me is a wide variety of Duomos(cathedrals). Can we categorize them? How can we categorize them are the questions that jump to my mind at that moment. Because the number of cathedrals is overwhelm, to classify them is easier for us to know them. So I started my research.
The Duomo is a Italian word stands for an Italian cathedral church. A duomo can be either a former or a present cathedral, even though some current cathedrals are used to in a town that no longer has bishops nor therefore a cathedral. Nowadays, people in Italy use cattedrale as the formal Italian word for a church that is now a cathedral. Many people refer to particular churches simply as “Il Duomo” or “the duomo”, without regard to the full proper name of the church.
It is simply to notice that Italian cathedrals are often highly decorated and contain notable artworks, such as sculptures and paintings. What is more, in many cases the buildings themselves are fantastic artworks. The well known duomos are Milan Cathedral, Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano, Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Cathedral of Pisa in where the leaning tower is the duomo`s bell-tower. There are many notable examples in different places Italy, such as Prato, Lucca, Naples and Venice, etc. Since the architecture style of cathedrals are so typical, I decided use it in my blog, I found that there are five main architecture styles in cathedral building history. They will be explained one by one by historical line.
Early Christian
The period of Early or Paleo-Christian in architecture lasted from the first Christian Church buildings of the early 4th century until the development of a distinctly Byzantine style which emerged in the reign of Justinian I in the 6th century. The large early christian churches generally took the form of aisled basilicas with an apse. There are many early large churches in Rome, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is the one which has retained most of its original internal arrangement, its vast basilical proportions, its simple apsidal end, its great colonnade supporting a straight cornice rather than arches and some very early mosaic decoration.
Some important early Christian Cathedrals:
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
Creator: Haomai Li Title: Basilica di S. Sabina Location: Rome Year: 2015 Date: December
Byzantine
Byzantine Architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, which is known as the Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire as well. Historians designated the medieval Roman Empire as it evolved as a distinct artistic and cultural entity centered on the new capital of Constantinople. It strongly influenced Medieval architecture throughout whole Europe and the Near East, and becoming the primary progenitor of the Renaissance and Ottoman architectural.
One of the world’s best known Byzantine-style churches in Venice San Marco square, which was designed from the 11th-century and decorated over many many centuries, however it is maintaining its centrally planned Byzantine form. It is called St Mark’s Basilica, the reason why is it called that is not the basilical shape, but because it has been awarded that title. It has a Greek Cross plan, a large dome being surrounded by four somewhat smaller ones. Both inside and out of its decoration is typical of the Byzantine period in its lavish use of mosaics and marble veneers.
Creator: Haomai Li Title: St Mark’s Basilica Location: Venice Year: 2015 Date: December
Romanesque
An architectural style of medieval Europe which characterized by semi-circular arches is Romanesque architecture. There is no consensus for the Romanesque style`s beginning, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the late 10th century, this later date being the most commonly held. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches.
The most important feature of Romanesque churches is the tower. A plenty of the towers are still standing. They have a variety of forms: square, circular and octagonal, etc. and are positioned differently in relation to the church building in different countries. There are a number of large free-standing towers that are circular in Italy, the most famous one of these is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The bell tower in Pisa is commonly known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is located behind the Pisa Duomo. Five years after the construction when the building had reached the third floor level, people found that the weak subsoil and poor foundation led to the building sinking on its south side. The tower has left for a century, the reason why it can still maintain stand is it allows the subsoil to stabilise itself and prevented the building from collapsing. In 1272, a team of architects wanted to adjust the lean of the building, the upper floors were built with one side taller than the other, when construction resumed. The final floor was added in 1319. By the time the building was completed, the lean was approximately 1 degree, or 80 cm (2.5 feet) from vertical. At its maximum, the lean measured approximately 5.5 degrees, measured by 1990. However, the lean was reduced to approximately 4 degrees in 2010. In 1589 the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei had dropped two balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their time of descent was independent of their mass.
Creator: Haomai Li Title: Pisa Cathedral Location: Pisa Year: 2015 Date: December
Gothic
Gothic is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It is a stunning design which shows god that what human can do. It evolved from Romanesque architecture. By the mid 12th century many large cathedrals and abbey churches had been constructed and the engineering skills required to build high arches, stone vaults, tall towers and the like, were well established. The style evolved to one that was less heavy, had larger windows, lighter-weight vaulting supported on stone ribs and above all, the pointed arch which is the defining characteristic of the style now known as Gothic. With thinner walls, larger windows and high pointed arched vaults, the distinctive flying buttresses developed as a means of support. The huge windows were ornamented with stone tracery and filled with stained glass illustrating stories from the Bible and the lives of the Saints.
Milan cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Which is a typical Gothic architecture. The construction of the cathedral was commissioned by bishop Antonio da Saluzzo in 1385. He was supported by the first duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who envisioned the creation of the world’s largest church. He gave access to his marble quarries, granted tax exemptions and invited architects from across Europe. Construction commenced in 1386, but it would drag on for centuries. When the cathedral was consecrated in 1418, construction of the nave had only just started. Construction would continue until 1813, and final finishes were applied as late as in 1965. Over the years numerous master builders were involved and the initial design was continuously altered to become even more spectacular. The long construction period also led to a mash-up of a variety of styles but the final result is surprisingly homogenous, with a decidedly flamboyant Gothic design.
The Duomo has a cruciform plan in the form of a Latin cross that covers nearly 12,000 square meters, is 157 meters long, its widest part measures 93 meters in transept and can accommodate 40,000 people inside. Highlight its 135 needles and statues around about 3400, including 96 giant gargoyles. The needle is highest with the statue of the Virgin, measures 108 meters. Its interior has a particular light. The rays of colored light that filters through the Gothic windows, true works of art, created a solemn and mystical atmosphere
Creator: Haomai Li Title: Milan Cathedral Location: Milan Year: 2015 Date: December
Renaissance
Renaissance style as its name, which emerged during Renaissance period in Florence. In the early 15th century, some architects wanted to design a kind of cathedral which can roof the central crossing of the huge, unfinished Gothic Cathedral. It became a opportunity to the artist Brunelleschi, who was inspired by domes that he had seen on his travels, such as that of San Vitale in Ravenna and the enormous dome of the Roman period which roofed the Pantheon, he designed a huge dome which is regarded as the first building of the Renaissance period. Its style, visually however, is ribbed and pointed and purely Gothic. It was Renaissance (a rebirth) in its audacity and the fact that it looked back to Roman structural techniques. Brunelleschi, and others like him, developed a passion for the highly refined style of Roman architecture, in which the forms and decorations followed rules of placement and proportion that had long been neglected. They sought to rediscover and apply these rules. It was a time of architectural theorising and experimentation. Brunelleschi built two large churches in Florence demonstrating how the new style could be applied, San Lorenzo’s and Santo Spirito. They are essays in the Classical, with rows of cylindrical columns, Corinthian capitals, entablatures, semi-circular arches and apsidal chapels.
The greatest cathedral building of the age was the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the combined work of the architects Bramante, Raphael, Sangallo, Maderno and surmounted by Michelangelo’s glorious dome, taller but just one foot narrower than the one that Brunelleschi had built a hundred years earlier in Florence. The dome is both an external and an internal focus. The chancel and transept arms are identical in shape, thus recalling the Greek Cross plan of Byzantine churches.
Another important cathedral building is the main church of Florence, Italy. Il Duomo di Firenze, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style with the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.
The cathedral has many components, all located in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile. These three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major attraction to tourists visiting Tuscany. The basilica is one of Italy’s largest churches, and until development of new structural materials in the modern era, the dome was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.
Creator: Haomai Li Title: Florence Cathedral Location: Florence Year: 2015 Date: December
The five styles are the main Duomo(cathedral) styles in Italy, apart from these five, there are Rococo, Revivals(St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia is a representation of Revivals style.) and modern styles, which have not been discussed in this blog. Due to the better demonstration and explanation. Each architecture style has a individual post. In a post, I would show more photos and background introduction about a duomo. It would help you to know more. Thanks for reading.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_cathedrals_and_great_churches#cite_note-Pinto-4
http://www.aviewoncities.com/milan/duomo.htm
http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Duomo_di_Milano
Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art
Pio V. Pinto, The Pilgrim’s Guide to Rome.
Sir Banister Fletcher, History of Architecture on the Comparative Method.
Italy cathedrals 