SOARING
MASTERPIECES
Through the ages, the engineering of one great
dome has influenced that of the next. The
Pantheon’s lightweight honeycomb dome and
the Hagia Sophia dome, which is supported on
pendentives, have influenced the architecture
of very different places and styles. The dome of
Florence’s cathedral mixes elements of both these
designs and innovates with the double-shell and
stone-chain solution, reaching dimensions never
seen before. Not even the dome of St. Peter’s,
which Michelangelo designed about a century
later, was able to match it. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
The enormous dome, built in
the sixth century a.d., rises
over the central nave and
is supported by four huge
pendentives that rest on four
large pillars.Pantheon, Rome
The rotunda is formed of five
rows of coffers that decrease in
size and is topped with an oculus
almost 30 feet across. It was built
in the second century a.d.FERNANDO BAPTISTA/NGS