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Posted on 12/12/2006 6:52:44 PM PST by blam
Life-size sketch of giant dome uncovered
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 2:35am GMT 13/12/2006
Archaeologists digging to reach the tomb of St Paul have stumbled across a life-size "sketch" of the dome of St Peter's produced by one of its architects in the 16th century.
The excavation of St Paul's tomb at the church of St Paul's Outside-the-Walls in Rome is now complete, and the sarcophagus will be on view from the beginning of next year.
However, three feet below the floor of the enormous church, which is the second-largest in the city, the project's team came across a surprise from the Renaissance.
An architectural drawing of the arches and walls of the dome of St Peter's had been carved into 1,726 marble slabs by Giacomo Della Porta, who took over the design and construction work of the dome after the death of Michelangelo. The slabs had formed the floor of the church at the time.
"It was a complete surprise," said Carlo Visconti, one of the engineers. "It is a curious find, and perhaps we shall think about putting it on view to the pilgrims, tourists and students who will come to see St Paul's tomb."
He added that there was a simple explanation for the drawing. When Michelangelo died, he did not leave behind scale drawings of the dome. Consequently, Della Porta decided to sketch out the cupola in life-size and the only covered place large enough for him to work in was the church. "He needed to do the sketch to work out his calculations," said Giorgio Filippi, an architect at the Vatican.
Mr Filippi said the Pope is in the process of deciding whether or not to open the lid of St Paul's sarcophagus in order to examine the remains. The tomb has been locked inside a block of concrete since the 19th century.
Ping.
A full size drawing. What a concept.
They'd be too big to post, wouldn't they?
I hope they do some pics.
I have the world's largest seashell collection. I keep it scattered on thousands of beaches.
I don't want everything. I mean, if you had everything... where would you keep it?
/steven wright :-)
fire hazard too.
Open St. Paul's sarcophagus and see if he is incorrupt.
They opened Beethoven's tomb and found him sitting there erasing the notes on a sheet of music.
wow, so many people thought of the steven wright joke!
GROAN!
This was a very common architectural procedure of the time. I just saw something about this on TV recently (like National Geographic or History channel). European Cathedral building - very common to use a 1:1 scale drawing.
He lofted the design.
Table of offsets anyplace?
He was decomposing, right?
[rimshot!]
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When using stone for architecture 1:1 drawings are very useful. You can compare each stone cut for fit and finish and know that it will be set as it should.
The architect often used 100s of skilled stone cutters to make the parts for walls and domes. The architect would compare each piece with the drawing before approval to set.
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