Dome

   Domes are hemispherical vaults, first introduced in large scale by the Romans. The architects of the Byzantine era pioneered an effective method of construction entailing the use of pendentives that transfer the weight of the dome to the piers below. This new method allowed for more extensive unobstructed interior expanses, as well as the enclosure of a square opening with a circular dome. In the Renaissance, dome construction achieved its greatest technical heights when Filippo Brunelleschi devised the doubleshelled dome at the Cathedral of Florence (1420-1436). The dome became a standard feature of religious architecture, with Donato Bramante's Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio, Rome (c. 1502-1512), and Michelangelo's final design for New St. Peter's (1564) providing some of the most exceptional examples. Domes provide a surface on which mosaics or frescoes that depict important religious narratives can be rendered. An example of a dome mosaic is the one attributed to Coppo di Marcovaldo in the Baptistery of Florence, which depicts the Last Judgment and the lives of Christ, St. John the Baptist, and the Patriarch Joseph (13th century). A frescoed dome is Giovanni Lanfranco's Virgin in Glory at Sant' Andrea della Valle, Rome (1625-1627).