A dome (from Latin domus ) is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere . There is significant overlap with the term cupola , which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a matter of controversy and there are a wide variety of forms and specialized terms to describe them.
104-628: A dome can rest directly upon a rotunda wall, a drum , or a system of squinches or pendentives used to accommodate the transition in shape from a rectangular or square space to the round or polygonal base of the dome. The dome's apex may be closed or may be open in the form of an oculus , which may itself be covered with a roof lantern and cupola. Domes have a long architectural lineage that extends back into prehistory . Domes were built in ancient Mesopotamia , and they have been found in Persian , Hellenistic , Roman , and Chinese architecture in
208-506: A tholos is enclosed by a wall, while a monopteros is just a circular colonnade with a roof (like a modern bandstand or park pavilion). It is not clear that any Greek example was actually a Greek temple , but several were Roman temples , though mostly much smaller than the Pantheon, and with very different designs. The Temple of Hercules Victor and Temple of Vesta in Rome, along with
312-500: A " whispering gallery " at its base that at certain places transmits distinct sound to other distant places in the gallery. The half-domes over the apses of Byzantine churches helped to project the chants of the clergy. Although this can complement music, it may make speech less intelligible, leading Francesco Giorgi in 1535 to recommend vaulted ceilings for the choir areas of a church, but a flat ceiling filled with as many coffers as possible for where preaching would occur. Cavities in
416-877: A central stupa surrounded by a circular colonnade and an enclosing wall, built during the time of Emperor Ashoka and near which were found several Minor Rock Edicts . Ashoka also built the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya circa 250 BC, possibly also a circular structure, next to the Bodhi tree . Representations of this early temple structure are found on a 100 BCE relief from the stupa railing at Bhārhut , as well as in Sanchi . These circular-type temples were also found in later rock-hewn caves such as Tulja Caves or Guntupalli . Circularity in Buddhist architecture
520-477: A central point. The validity of this is unclear, as domes built underground with corbelled stone layers are in compression from the surrounding earth. The precise definition of "pendentive" has also been a source of academic contention, such as whether or not corbelling is permitted under the definition and whether or not the lower portions of a sail vault should be considered pendentives. Domes with pendentives can be divided into two kinds: simple and compound . In
624-662: A church and a mosque. The church of Santa Costanza in Rome is a circular funerary chapel of the 4th century, probably built for one or more of the daughters of Constantine the Great , originally placed next to a funerary hall that is now only a ruined wall. Some of the earliest free-standing temples in India are thought to have been of a circular type, as the Buddhist Bairat Temple in Bairat , Rajasthan , formed of
728-702: A circle . Because they reduce the portion of the dome in tension, these domes are strong but have increased radial thrust. Many of the largest existing domes are of this shape. Masonry saucer domes, because they exist entirely in compression, can be built much thinner than other dome shapes without becoming unstable. The trade-off between the proportionately increased horizontal thrust at their abutments and their decreased weight and quantity of materials may make them more economical, but they are more vulnerable to damage from movement in their supports. Also called gadrooned , fluted , organ-piped , pumpkin , melon , ribbed , parachute , scalloped , or lobed domes, these are
832-519: A circular base alone, circular or polygonal base, circular, elliptical, or polygonal base, or an undefined area. Definitions specifying vertical sections include: semicircular, pointed, or bulbous; semicircular, segmental or pointed; semicircular, segmental, pointed, or bulbous; semicircular, segmental, elliptical, or bulbous; and high profile, hemispherical, or flattened. Sometimes called "false" domes, corbel domes achieve their shape by extending each horizontal layer of stones inward slightly farther than
936-513: A circular base for a drum or compound dome, smoothly continue their curvature to form the dome itself. The dome gives the impression of a square sail pinned down at each corner and billowing upward. These can also be thought of as saucer domes upon pendentives. Sail domes are based upon the shape of a hemisphere and are not to be confused with elliptic parabolic vaults, which appear similar but have different characteristics. In addition to semicircular sail vaults there are variations in geometry such as
1040-509: A distinctive feature of certain pre-Columbian Mesoamerican constructions and historical/regional architectural styles , particularly in that of the Maya civilization . The prevalence of this spanning technique for entrances and vaults in Maya architecture is attested at a great many Maya archaeological sites , and is known from structures dating back to the Formative or Preclassic era. By
1144-424: A dome. The top of a dome is the "crown". The inner side of a dome is called the "intrados" and the outer side is called the "extrados". As with arches, the "springing" of a dome is the base level from which the dome rises and the "haunch" is the part that lies roughly halfway between the base and the top. Domes can be supported by an elliptical or circular wall called a "drum". If this structure extends to ground level,
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#17327657085251248-400: A hemispherical dome can be 2.5 times thinner than a semicircular arch, and a dome with the profile of an equilateral arch can be thinner still. The optimal shape for a masonry dome of equal thickness provides for perfect compression, with none of the tension or bending forces against which masonry is weak. For a particular material, the optimal dome geometry is called the funicular surface ,
1352-514: A limited number of simple elements and joints and efficiently resolve a dome's internal forces. Their efficiency is said to increase with size. Although not first invented by Buckminster Fuller , they are associated with him because he designed many geodesic domes and patented them in the United States. The hemispherical dome is a surface formed by the rotation around a vertical axis of a semicircle . Like other "rotational domes" formed by
1456-514: A low rise to span ratio or covering a rectangular plan. Sail vaults of all types have a variety of thrust conditions along their borders, which can cause problems, but have been widely used from at least the sixteenth century. The second floor of the Llotja de la Seda is covered by a series of nine meter wide sail vaults. Also called segmental domes (a term sometimes also used for cloister vaults), or calottes , these have profiles of less than half
1560-610: A most interesting form, are found at Karcsa , Kiszombor in Hungary, at Horjany in Ukraine and several places in Armenia (Aragatz, Bagaran, Bagnayr, Botshor, Kiagmis Alti). There is an interesting connection between Central European and Caucasian rotundas of the 9th to 11th centuries AD. Several Armenian built rotunda churches have sixfold arched central apsis, i.e. at Aragatz, Bagaran , Bagnayr, Botshor, Kiagmis Alti in Armenia . At
1664-625: A multitude of other structures, dating from the Mycenean and Minoan , the late Classical , and the Hellenistic periods. The ruins of ancient Mycenae feature many corbel arches and vaults, the Treasury of Atreus , built around 1250 BC, being a prominent example. The Arkadiko Bridge is one of four Mycenean corbel arch bridges, which are part of a former network of roads, designed to accommodate chariots, between Tiryns and Epidauros in
1768-577: A number of other round churches . The rotunda with columns was revived in one of the most influential buildings in Renaissance architecture , the Tempietto in a courtyard of the church of San Pietro in Montorio in Rome. This was designed by Donato Bramante around 1502 in strongly classicizing style. It is a small building whose innovation, as far as Western Europe was concerned, was to use
1872-509: A pointed and bulbous tradition inherited by some early Islamic mosques. Modern academic study of the topic has been controversial and confused by inconsistent definitions, such as those for cloister vaults and domical vaults. Dictionary definitions of the term "dome" are often general and imprecise. Generally-speaking, it "is non-specific, a blanket-word to describe an hemispherical or similar spanning element." Published definitions include: hemispherical roofs alone; revolved arches ; and vaults on
1976-532: A popular element of the baroque architecture of Central Europe. German bulbous domes were also influenced by Russian and Eastern European domes. The examples found in various European architectural styles are typically wooden. Examples include Kazan Church in Kolomenskoye and the Brighton Pavilion by John Nash . In Islamic architecture, they are typically made of masonry, rather than timber, with
2080-550: A powerful mortar. The aggregate transitioned over the centuries to pieces of fired clay, then to Roman bricks. By the sixth century, bricks with large amounts of mortar were the principle vaulting materials. Pozzolana appears to have only been used in central Italy. Brick domes were the favored choice for large-space monumental coverings until the Industrial Age , due to their convenience and dependability. Ties and chains of iron or wood could be used to resist stresses. In
2184-538: A round room within a building (a famous example being the one below the dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. ). The Pantheon in Rome is perhaps the most famous, and is the most influential rotunda. A band rotunda is a circular bandstand , usually with a dome. The terminology of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture distinguishes between two types of rotunda:
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#17327657085252288-532: A short drum, as can be seen at the Shah Cheragh (1852–1853), first appeared in the Qajar period . Domes have remained important in modern mausoleums, and domed cisterns and icehouses remain common sights in the countryside. Rotunda (architecture) A rotunda (from Latin rotundus ) is any roofed building with a circular ground plan, and sometimes covered by a dome . It may also refer to
2392-446: A single arch or a set of multiple projecting nested arches placed diagonally over an internal corner. Squinch forms also include trumpet arches, niche heads (or half-domes), trumpet arches with "anteposed" arches, and muqarnas arches. Squinches transfer the weight of a dome across the gaps created by the corners and into the walls. Pendentives are triangular sections of a sphere, like concave spandrels between arches, and transition from
2496-677: A single point of origin. Their appearance in northern Russian architecture predates the Tatar occupation of Russia and so is not easily explained as the result of that influence. They became popular in the second half of the 15th century in the Low Countries of Northern Europe, possibly inspired by the finials of minarets in Egypt and Syria, and developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Netherlands before spreading to Germany, becoming
2600-587: A smaller diameter dome immediately above them, as in the Hagia Sophia, or a drum and dome, as in many Renaissance and post-Renaissance domes, with both forms resulting in greater height. One of the earliest types of ribbed vault, the first known examples are found in the Great Mosque of Córdoba in the 10th century. Rather than meeting in the center of the dome, the ribs characteristically intersect one another off-center, forming an empty polygonal space in
2704-540: A type of dome divided at the base into curved segments, which follow the curve of the elevation . "Fluted" may refer specifically to this pattern as an external feature, such as was common in Mamluk Egypt . The "ribs" of a dome are the radial lines of masonry that extend from the crown down to the springing. The central dome of the Hagia Sophia uses the ribbed method, which accommodates a ring of windows between
2808-538: A vertical axis of a semi-ellipse . Like other "rotational domes" formed by the rotation of a curve around a vertical axis, ellipsoidal domes have circular bases and horizontal sections and are a type of "circular dome" for that reason. Geodesic domes are the upper portion of geodesic spheres. They are composed of a framework of triangles in a polyhedron pattern. The structures are named for geodesics and are based upon geometric shapes such as icosahedrons , octahedrons or tetrahedrons . Such domes can be created using
2912-408: Is an arch -like construction method that uses the architectural technique of corbeling to span a space or void in a structure, such as an entranceway in a wall or as the span of a bridge. A corbel vault uses this technique to support the superstructure of a building's roof. A corbel arch is constructed by offsetting successive horizontal courses of stone (or brick) beginning at the springline of
3016-767: Is called a Melon dome. A paraboloid dome is a surface formed by the rotation around a vertical axis of a sector of a parabola. Like other "rotational domes" formed by the rotation of a curve around a vertical axis, paraboloid domes have circular bases and horizontal sections and are a type of "circular dome" for that reason. Because of their shape, paraboloid domes experience only compression, both radially and horizontally. Also called sail vaults , handkerchief vaults , domical vaults (a term sometimes also applied to cloister vaults), pendentive domes (a term that has also been applied to compound domes), Bohemian vaults , or Byzantine domes , this type can be thought of as pendentives that, rather than merely touching each other to form
3120-399: Is made a complete and self-supporting ring. The upper portion of a masonry dome is always in compression and is supported laterally, so it does not collapse except as a whole unit and a range of deviations from the ideal in this shallow upper cap are equally stable. Because voussoir domes have lateral support, they can be made much thinner than corresponding arches of the same span. For example,
3224-479: Is not well documented. That the dome was known to early Mesopotamia may explain the existence of domes in both China and the West in the first millennium BC. Another explanation, however, is that the use of the dome shape in construction did not have a single point of origin and was common in virtually all cultures long before domes were constructed with enduring materials. Corbelled stone domes have been found from
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3328-544: Is the igloo , a shelter built from blocks of compact snow and used by the Inuit , among others. The Himba people of Namibia construct "desert igloos" of wattle and daub for use as temporary shelters at seasonal cattle camps, and as permanent homes by the poor. Extraordinarily thin domes of sun-baked clay 20 feet in diameter, 30 feet high, and nearly parabolic in curve, are known from Cameroon . The historical development from structures like these to more sophisticated domes
3432-464: Is the biggest one in Central Europe, with diameter of 11 m. In many places the ancient foundations have been excavated and conserved. The village church of Sárospatak is complete with a simple circular nave and an eastern apse. The church of Alagimajor at Dunakeszi was enlarged toward the apse in the 14th century. More significant enlargement of the central rotunda is seen at Isaszeg where
3536-516: Is the first to have squinches create a regular octagon as a base for the dome, which then became the standard practice. Cylindrical or polygonal plan tower tombs with conical roofs over domes also exist beginning in the 11th century. The Seljuk Empire 's notables built tomb-towers, called "Turkish Triangles", as well as cube mausoleums covered with a variety of dome forms. Seljuk domes included conical, semi-circular, and pointed shapes in one or two shells. Shallow semi-circular domes are mainly found from
3640-789: The Fourth Dynasty reign of Pharaoh Sneferu (c. 2600 BC), the Ancient Egyptian pyramids used corbel vaults in some of their chambers. These monuments include the Meidum Pyramid (around 2600 BC), the Bent Pyramid (c. 2600 BC) and its satellite pyramid, and the Red Pyramid (c. 2590 BC). The Great Pyramid of Giza (c. 2580–2560 BC) uses corbel arches at the Grand Gallery. The Egyptians discovered
3744-683: The Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere around the Mediterranean, going back to 3000 BC, is also similar. The Hittites in ancient Anatolia were also building corbelled vaults. The earliest ones date to the 16th century BC. Some similarities are found between the Hittite and Mycenaean construction techniques. Yet the Hittite corbelled vaults are earlier by about 300 years. Greece has a long list of surviving or archaeologically studied corbelled arches and vaults used for bridges and
3848-489: The Middle East and Central Asia , domes and drums constructed from mud brick and baked brick were sometimes covered with brittle ceramic tiles on the exterior to protect against rain and snow. The new building materials of the 19th century and a better understanding of the forces within structures from the 20th century opened up new possibilities. Iron and steel beams, steel cables, and pre-stressed concrete eliminated
3952-643: The Neolithic period in the ancient Near East , and in the Middle East to Western Europe from antiquity. The kings of Achaemenid Persia held audiences and festivals in domical tents derived from the nomadic traditions of central Asia. Simple domical mausoleums existed in the Hellenistic period. The remains of a large domed circular hall in the Parthian capital city of Nyssa has been dated to perhaps
4056-586: The Peloponnese , in Greece . Dating to the Greek Bronze Age (13th century BC), it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence and use. The well-preserved Hellenistic Eleutherna Bridge on Crete has an unusually large span of nearly 4 metres. A second nearby bridge, which had survived until the late 19th century, is tentatively dated to the late Classical period. Corbeled arches are
4160-521: The Safavid dynasty (1501–1732) are characterized by a distinctive bulbous profile and are considered the last generation of Persian domes. They are generally thinner than earlier domes and are decorated with a variety of colored glazed tiles and complex vegetal patterns, and they were influential on those of other Islamic styles, such as the Mughal architecture of India. An exaggerated style of onion dome on
4264-572: The Temple of Vesta, Tivoli , are the best known and best preserved examples. The few large Greek tholoi had varied functions, not all of which are now clear. Several are at major religious sanctuaries, but seem not to have been conventional temples. At most only the foundations and a few columns remain in place. They include the Tholos of Delphi , the Philippeion at Olympia , a small memorial to
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4368-475: The University of Kassel in 1983. A masonry dome produces thrusts downward and outward. They are thought of in terms of two kinds of forces at right angles from one another: meridional forces (like the meridians , or lines of longitude, on a globe) are compressive only, and increase towards the base, while hoop forces (like the lines of latitude on a globe) are in compression at the top and tension at
4472-565: The ancient world , as well as among a number of indigenous building traditions throughout the world. Dome structures were common in both Byzantine architecture and Sasanian architecture , which influenced that of the rest of Europe and Islam , respectively, in the Middle Ages . The domes of European Renaissance architecture spread from Italy in the early modern period , while domes were frequently employed in Ottoman architecture at
4576-557: The ciborium , a domical canopy like the baldachin used as a ritual covering for relics or the church altar . The celestial symbolism of the dome, however, was the preeminent one by the Christian era . In the early centuries of Islam, domes were closely associated with royalty. A dome built in front of the mihrab of a mosque, for example, was at least initially meant to emphasize the place of a prince during royal ceremonies. Over time such domes became primarily focal points for decoration or
4680-407: The post and lintel design, corbeled arches are not entirely self-supporting structures, and the corbeled arch is sometimes termed a false arch for this reason. Different from "true" arches, "false" or corbelled arches are built of horizontally laid stones or bricks, not of wedge-shaped voussoirs converging towards, and being held together by a central keystone . Unlike "true" arches, not all of
4784-402: The 20th century have allowed for large dome-shaped structures that deviate from the traditional compressive structural behavior of masonry domes. Popular usage of the term has expanded to mean "almost any long-span roofing system". The word " cupola " is another word for "dome", and is usually used for a small dome upon a roof or turret . "Cupola" has also been used to describe the inner side of
4888-653: The 9th to 11th centuries CE in Central Europe . These round churches can be found in great number in Hungary , Poland , Slovakia , Croatia (particularly Dalmatia ), Austria , Bavaria , Germany , and the Czech Republic . It was thought of as a structure descending from the Roman Pantheon. However, it can be found mainly not on former Roman territories, but in Central Europe. Generally its size
4992-608: The Italian word duomo , the German/Icelandic/Danish word dom ("cathedral"), and the English word dome as late as 1656, when it meant a "Town-House, Guild-Hall, State-House, and Meeting-House in a city." The French word dosme came to acquire the meaning of a cupola vault, specifically, by 1660. This French definition gradually became the standard usage of the English dome in the eighteenth century as many of
5096-586: The Seljuk era. The double-shell domes were either discontinuous or continuous. The domed enclosure of the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan , built in 1086-7 by Nizam al-Mulk , was the largest masonry dome in the Islamic world at that time, had eight ribs, and introduced a new form of corner squinch with two quarter domes supporting a short barrel vault. In 1088 Tāj-al-Molk, a rival of Nizam al-Mulk, built another dome at
5200-429: The arch smooth edges, usually with a pointed shape. Corbelling is a technique first applied by the ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans . The Newgrange passage tomb, built sometime between 3200 and 2500 BC during the Neolithic period, has an intact corbel arch (vault) supporting the roof of the main chamber. The medieval buildings of the monastery at Skellig Michael are also constructed using this method. During
5304-421: The base, with the transition in a hemispherical dome occurring at an angle of 51.8 degrees from the top. The thrusts generated by a dome are directly proportional to the weight of its materials. Grounded hemispherical domes generate significant horizontal thrusts at their haunches. The outward thrusts in the lower portion of a hemispherical masonry dome can be counteracted with the use of chains incorporated around
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#17327657085255408-593: The beginning of the Classic era (ca. 250 CE ) corbeled vaults are a near-universal feature of building construction in the central Petén Basin region of the central Maya lowlands. Before the true arch was introduced in Indo-Islamic architecture , almost all the arches in Indian buildings were either trabeated or corbelled. In North India in the state of Orissa , "the later temples at Bhubaneswar were built on
5512-720: The building probably played some role in these. The oldest, the Tholos of Athens, was a large and plain rotunda used as a dining hall, and perhaps more, by the city's ruling council. Later, very large, Roman rotundas include the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, built in the 130s as a mausoleum for the emperor Hadrian , and in the Middle Ages turned into a castle, and the 4th-century Rotunda in Thessaloniki , probably also intended as an imperial mausoleum, but later used as
5616-563: The case of the simple dome , the pendentives are part of the same sphere as the dome itself; however, such domes are rare. In the case of the more common compound dome , the pendentives are part of the surface of a larger sphere below that of the dome itself and form a circular base for either the dome or a drum section. The fields of engineering and architecture have lacked common language for domes, with engineering focused on structural behavior and architecture focused on form and symbolism. Additionally, new materials and structural systems in
5720-466: The center. Geometry is a key element of the designs, with the octagon being perhaps the most popular shape used. Whether the arches are structural or purely decorative remains a matter of debate. The type may have an eastern origin, although the issue is also unsettled. Examples are found in Spain, North Africa, Armenia, Iran, France, and Italy. The ellipsoidal dome is a surface formed by the rotation around
5824-458: The church of Santo Tomás de las Ollas in Spain has an oval dome over its oval plan. Other examples of medieval oval domes can be found covering rectangular bays in churches. Oval plan churches became a type in the Renaissance and popular in the Baroque style. The dome built for the basilica of Vicoforte by Francesco Gallo was one of the largest and most complex ever made. Although the ellipse
5928-504: The circle being considered the most perfect of forms. According to E. Baldwin Smith, from the late Stone Age the dome-shaped tomb was used as a reproduction of the ancestral, god-given shelter made permanent as a venerated home of the dead. The instinctive desire to do this resulted in widespread domical mortuary traditions across the ancient world, from the stupas of India to the tholos tombs of Iberia . By Hellenistic and Roman times,
6032-457: The circumference or with external buttressing, although cracking along the meridians is natural. For small or tall domes with less horizontal thrust, the thickness of the supporting arches or walls can be enough to resist deformation, which is why drums tend to be much thicker than the domes they support. Unlike voussoir arches, which require support for each element until the keystone is in place, domes are stable during construction as each level
6136-454: The comparable shape in three dimensions to a catenary curve for a two-dimensional arch. Adding a weight to the top of a pointed dome, such as the heavy cupola at the top of Florence Cathedral , changes the optimal shape to more closely match the actual pointed shape of the dome. The pointed profiles of many Gothic domes more closely approximate the optimal dome shape than do hemispheres, which were favored by Roman and Byzantine architects due to
6240-442: The corners of a square bay to the circular base of a dome. The curvature of the pendentives is that of a sphere with a diameter equal to the diagonal of the square bay. Pendentives concentrate the weight of a dome into the corners of the bay. The earliest domes in the Middle East were built with mud-brick and, eventually, with baked brick and stone. Domes of wood allowed for wide spans due to the relatively light and flexible nature of
6344-462: The direction of prayer. The use of domes in mausoleums can likewise reflect royal patronage or be seen as representing the honor and prestige that domes symbolized, rather than having any specific funerary meaning. The wide variety of dome forms in medieval Islam reflected dynastic, religious, and social differences as much as practical building considerations. Because domes are concave from below, they can reflect sound and create echoes. A dome may have
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#17327657085256448-443: The dome's surface of revolution, or be straight lengths with the connecting points or nodes lying upon the surface of revolution. Single-layer structures are called frame or skeleton types and double-layer structures are truss types, which are used for large spans. When the covering also forms part of the structural system, it is called a stressed skin type. The formed surface type consists of sheets joined at bent edges to form
6552-551: The domical tholos had become the customary cemetery symbol. Domes and tent-canopies were also associated with the heavens in Ancient Persia and the Hellenistic-Roman world. A dome over a square base reflected the geometric symbolism of those shapes. The circle represented perfection, eternity, and the heavens. The square represented the earth. An octagon was intermediate between the two. The distinct symbolism of
6656-479: The effect they have: reinforcing certain frequencies or absorbing them. Also called a corbelled dome , cribbed dome , or false dome , these are different from a 'true dome' in that they consist of purely horizontal layers. As the layers get higher, each is slightly cantilevered , or corbeled , toward the center until meeting at the top. A monumental example is the Mycenaean Treasury of Atreus from
6760-579: The extension extended toward the East and West; the rotunda foundations can also be seen in the central portion of the nave of the Gothic church. In many cases the rotunda was used as the apse of the village's new and larger church (Bagod-Szentpál, Hidegség , Vágkeresztur, Ipolykiskeszi, Herencsény , Szalonna ). Such semi-circle apses are preserved all over the Carpathian Basin. Rotundas of six apses,
6864-657: The family of Philip of Macedon , and a large building at the Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus . The largest Greek tholos, of uncertain function, was built in the Samothrace temple complex in the 260s BC. It is often called the Arsinoeum, as a dedication tablet for the Ptolomeic Queen Arsinoe II of Egypt has survived. The sanctuary was a great Hellenistic centre of Greco-Roman mysteries and
6968-469: The first century AD, showing "...the existence of a monumental domical tradition in Central Asia that had hitherto been unknown and which seems to have preceded Roman Imperial monuments or at least to have grown independently from them." It likely had a wooden dome. Persian architecture likely inherited an architectural tradition of dome-building dating back to the earliest Mesopotamian domes. Due to
7072-590: The first century BC, such as the Tabularium of Rome from 78 BC. Others include the Baths of Antoninus in Carthage (145–160) and the Palatine Chapel at Aachen (13th – 14th century). The most famous example is the Renaissance octagonal dome of Filippo Brunelleschi over the Florence Cathedral. Thomas Jefferson , the third president of the United States, installed an octagonal dome above the West front of his plantation house, Monticello . Also called domes on pendentives or pendentive domes (a term also applied to sail vaults), compound domes have pendentives that support
7176-405: The first examples in Asia Minor date to around 4000 B.C. The geometry was eventually defined using combinations of circular arcs, transitioning at points of tangency. If the Romans created oval domes, it was only in exceptional circumstances. The Roman foundations of the oval plan Church of St. Gereon in Cologne point to a possible example. Domes in the Middle Ages also tended to be circular, though
7280-400: The floor are found in Middle Bronze II-III Ebla in Syria, and in Tell el-Ajjul , Hazor , Megiddo and Ta'anach in Canaan (today's Israel and Palestine ). Ugarit , an ancient port city in northern Syria , also has corbelled structures. Nuraghe constructions in ancient Sardinia , dating back to the 18th century BC, use similar corbel techniques. The use of beehive tombs on
7384-459: The forefront of Persian architecture as a result. Pre-Islamic domes in Persia are commonly semi-elliptical, with pointed domes and those with conical outer shells being the majority of the domes in the Islamic periods. The area of north-eastern Iran was, along with Egypt, one of two areas notable for early developments in Islamic domed mausoleums, which appear in the tenth century. The Samanid Mausoleum in Transoxiana dates to no later than 943 and
7488-442: The form of jars built into the inner surface of a dome may serve to compensate for this interference by diffusing sound in all directions, eliminating echoes while creating a "divine effect in the atmosphere of worship." This technique was written about by Vitruvius in his Ten Books on Architecture , which describes bronze and earthenware resonators. The material, shape, contents, and placement of these cavity resonators determine
7592-438: The heavenly or cosmic tent stemming from the royal audience tents of Achaemenid and Indian rulers was adopted by Roman rulers in imitation of Alexander the Great , becoming the imperial baldachin . This probably began with Nero , whose " Golden House " also made the dome a feature of palace architecture. The dual sepulchral and heavenly symbolism was adopted by early Christians in both the use of domes in architecture and in
7696-473: The late Bronze Age . A single or double layer space frame in the form of a dome, a braced dome is a generic term that includes ribbed , Schwedler , three-way grid , lamella or Kiewitt , lattice , and geodesic domes . The different terms reflect different arrangements in the surface members. Braced domes often have a very low weight and are usually used to cover spans of up to 150 meters. Often prefabricated, their component members can either lie on
7800-408: The lower one until they meet at the top. A "false" dome may also refer to a wooden dome. The Italian use of the term finto , meaning "false", can be traced back to the 17th century in the use of vaulting made of reed mats and gypsum mortar. "True" domes are said to be those whose structure is in a state of compression, with constituent elements of wedge-shaped voussoirs , the joints of which align with
7904-412: The material and were the normal method for domed churches by the 7th century, although most domes were built with the other less flexible materials. Wooden domes were protected from the weather by roofing, such as copper or lead sheeting. Domes of cut stone were more expensive and never as large, and timber was used for large spans where brick was unavailable. Roman concrete used an aggregate of stone with
8008-463: The modern world can be found over religious buildings, legislative chambers, sports stadiums, and a variety of functional structures. The English word "dome" ultimately derives from the ancient Greek and Latin domus ("house"), which, up through the Renaissance, labeled a revered house, such as a Domus Dei , or "House of God", regardless of the shape of its roof. This is reflected in the uses of
8112-653: The most impressive Houses of God were built with monumental domes, and in response to the scientific need for more technical terms. Across the ancient world, curved-roof structures that would today be called domes had a number of different names reflecting a variety of shapes, traditions, and symbolic associations. The shapes were derived from traditions of pre-historic shelters made from various impermanent pliable materials and were only later reproduced as vaulting in more durable materials. The hemispherical shape often associated with domes today derives from Greek geometry and Roman standardization, but other shapes persisted, including
8216-448: The need for external buttressing and enabled much thinner domes. Whereas earlier masonry domes may have had a radius to thickness ratio of 50, the ratio for modern domes can be in excess of 800. The lighter weight of these domes not only permitted far greater spans, but also allowed for the creation of large movable domes over modern sports stadiums. Experimental rammed earth domes were made as part of work on sustainable architecture at
8320-690: The opposite end of the same mosque with interlacing ribs forming five-pointed stars and pentagons. This is considered the landmark Seljuk dome, and may have inspired subsequent patterning and the domes of the Il-Khanate period. The use of tile and of plain or painted plaster to decorate dome interiors, rather than brick, increased under the Seljuks. Beginning in the Ilkhanate , Persian domes achieved their final configuration of structural supports, zone of transition, drum, and shells, and subsequent evolution
8424-607: The patrons were used to Central Asian styles that used true arches heavily. Corbel arches, the largest of exceptional size, were used in the massive screens in front of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in Delhi , begun in 1193, and the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra mosque, Ajmer , Rajasthan , c. 1229. These are examples of Islamic architecture drawing on Persia and Central Asia, where builders were well used to
8528-521: The principle of corbelled vaulting, which is seen first in the porch of the Mukteswar [a temple said to epitomize North Indian architecture, circa AD 950] and, technically speaking, no fundamental change occurred from this time onwards." The earliest large buildings of the Delhi Sultanate established in 1206 after a Muslim invasion used Indian workers used to Hindu temple architecture , but
8632-437: The principle of the true arch early on, but continued to use the corbel arch in many buildings, sometimes mixing the two in the same building. In particular they avoided the true arch in temples as long as these were constructed, preferring rectangular openings with a straight lintel . Corbel arches and vaults are found in various places around the ancient Mediterranean. In particular, corbelled burial vaults constructed below
8736-850: The research and radiocarbon dating of plaster, Rotunda of st. George in Nitrianska Blatnica was built sometimes around the year 830, what makes it one of the oldest still standing buildings in the area of Central Europe. Similar rotunda was standing in hillfort Kostolec in Ducové (only foundations remained). The role and form of rotundas developed from gradual enlargements of ancient small village churches. Many of them still stand today, e.g. in Nagytótlak, Kallósd and Kissikátor in Hungary or in Bíňa and Šivetice in Slovakia . Rotunda in Šivetice
8840-417: The ribs at the base of the dome. The central dome of St. Peter's Basilica also uses this method. Cultures from pre-history to modern times constructed domed dwellings using local materials. Although it is not known when the first dome was created, sporadic examples of early domed structures have been discovered. The earliest discovered may be four small dwellings made of Mammoth tusks and bones. The first
8944-470: The rotation of a curve around a vertical axis, hemispherical domes have circular bases and horizontal sections and are a type of "circular dome" for that reason. They experience vertical compression along their meridians, but horizontally experience compression only in the portion above 51.8 degrees from the top. Below this point, hemispherical domes experience tension horizontally, and usually require buttressing to counteract it. According to E. Baldwin Smith, it
9048-400: The round building may be called a " rotunda ". Drums are also called " tholobates " and may or may not contain windows. A " tambour " or " lantern " is the equivalent structure over a dome's oculus, supporting a cupola. When the base of the dome does not match the plan of the supporting walls beneath it (for example, a dome's circular base over a square bay ), techniques are employed to bridge
9152-540: The same time eightfold arched central buildings (rotunda) are also frequently occurring in Armenia: Ani , Irind, Varzhahan. It was a suggestion (Csemegi J.) that there was not only western European but Eastern Caucasian relation for architects of Hungary in this age of King Stephen I of Hungary . Good example of Georgian rotunda church is Bana cathedral which is now located on territory of Turkey. Corbel arch A corbel arch (or corbeled / corbelled arch )
9256-456: The same time. Baroque and Neoclassical architecture took inspiration from Roman domes. Advancements in mathematics, materials, and production techniques resulted in new dome types. Domes have been constructed over the centuries from mud, snow, stone, wood, brick, concrete, metal, glass, and plastic. The symbolism associated with domes includes mortuary , celestial , and governmental traditions that have likewise altered over time. The domes of
9360-494: The scarcity of wood in many areas of the Iranian plateau and Greater Iran , domes were an important part of vernacular architecture throughout Persian history. The Persian invention of the squinch , a series of concentric arches forming a half-cone over the corner of a room, enabled the transition from the walls of a square chamber to an octagonal base for a dome in a way reliable enough for large constructions and domes moved to
9464-456: The structure's tensile stresses caused by the weight of the superstructure are transformed into compressive stresses . Corbel arches and vaults require significantly thickened walls and an abutment of other stone or fill to counteract the effects of gravity , which otherwise would tend to collapse each side of the archway inwards. Some arches use a stepped style, keeping the block faces rectangular, while other form or select them to give
9568-455: The structure. Also called domical vaults (a term sometimes also applied to sail vaults), polygonal domes , coved domes , gored domes , segmental domes (a term sometimes also used for saucer domes), paneled vaults , or pavilion vaults , these are domes that maintain a polygonal shape in their horizontal cross section. The component curved surfaces of these vaults are called severies , webs , or cells . The earliest known examples date to
9672-456: The thick and heavy bulging portion serving to buttress against the tendency of masonry domes to spread at their bases. The Taj Mahal is a famous example. An oval dome is a dome of oval shape in plan, profile, or both. The term comes from the Latin ovum , meaning "egg". The earliest oval domes were used by convenience in corbelled stone huts as rounded but geometrically undefined coverings, and
9776-561: The tholos form as the base for a dome above; this may have reflected a Byzantine structure in Jerusalem over the tomb of Christ. The Roman Temple of Vesta (which has no dome) was probably also an influence. This pairing of tholos, now called a drum or tholobate , and dome became extremely popular raised high above main structures which were often based on the Roman temple . A great number of parochial churches were built in this form in
9880-601: The true arch, that stick with the corbelled arch that Indian builders were used to. It took almost a century from the start of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 for the true arch to appear. By around 1300 true domes and arches with voussoirs were being built; the ruined Tomb of Balban (d. 1287) in the Qutb complex in Delhi may be the earliest survival. The candi or temples of Indonesia which were constructed between 8th to 15th century, made use of corbel arch technique to create
9984-553: The two shells of the dome have significantly different profiles, which spread rapidly throughout the region. The development of taller drums also continued into the Timurid period. The large, bulbous, fluted domes on tall drums that are characteristic of 15th century Timurid architecture were the culmination of the Central Asian and Iranian tradition of tall domes with glazed tile coverings in blue and other colors. The domes of
10088-501: The two. One technique is to use corbelling, progressively projecting horizontal layers from the top of the supporting wall to the base of the dome, such as the corbelled triangles often used in Seljuk and Ottoman architecture. The simplest technique is to use diagonal lintels across the corners of the walls to create an octagonal base. Another is to use arches to span the corners, which can support more weight. A variety of these techniques use what are called " squinches ". A squinch can be
10192-476: The walls (the point at which the walls break off from verticality to form an arc toward the apex at the archway's center) so that they project towards the archway's center from each supporting side, until the courses meet at the apex of the archway (often the last gap is bridged with a flat stone). For a corbeled vault covering, the technique is extended in three dimensions along the lengths of two opposing walls. Although an improvement in load-bearing efficiency over
10296-658: Was 6–9 meters inner diameter and the apse was directed toward the east. Sometimes three or four apses were attached to the central circle and this type has relatives even in the Caucasus . Several types of rotundas are found in the Carpathian Basin , within the former boundaries of Kingdom of Hungary . Building of rotundas in Carpathian basin started already in 9th century in Great Moravia . According to
10400-522: Was a shape likely known to the Assyrians, defined by Greek theoretical mathematicians, and standardized by Roman builders. Bulbous domes bulge out beyond their base diameters, offering a profile greater than a hemisphere. An onion dome is a greater than hemispherical dome with a pointed top in an ogee profile. They are found in the Near East , Middle East , Persia, and India and may not have had
10504-581: Was found by a farmer in Mezhirich , Ukraine, in 1965 while he was digging in his cellar and archaeologists unearthed three more. They date from 19,280 – 11,700 BC. In modern times , the creation of relatively simple dome-like structures has been documented among various indigenous peoples around the world. The wigwam was made by Native Americans using arched branches or poles covered with grass or hides. The Efé people of central Africa construct similar structures , using leaves as shingles. Another example
10608-590: Was generally to allow a path for pradakshina or devotional circling of a round and solid stupa . It has been suggested that these circular structures with colonnades may have originated with the Greek circular tholos temple, as in the Tholos of Delphi , but circular wooden huts in India are a more likely source of inspiration. The Pisa Baptistery is the outstanding late medieval rotunda, taking from 1152 to 1363 to build, and including Romanesque , Gothic and classicizing or Proto-Renaissance elements. There are
10712-521: Was known, in practice, domes of this shape were created by combining segments of circles. Popular in the 16th and 17th centuries, oval and elliptical plan domes can vary their dimensions in three axes or two axes. A sub-type with the long axis having a semicircular section is called a Murcia dome, as in the Chapel of the Junterones at Murcia Cathedral . When the short axis has a semicircular section, it
10816-404: Was restricted to variations in form and shell geometry. Characteristic of these domes are the use of high drums and several types of discontinuous double-shells, and the development of triple-shells and internal stiffeners occurred at this time. The construction of tomb towers decreased. The 7.5 meter wide double dome of Soltan Bakht Agha Mausoleum (1351–1352) is the earliest known example in which
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