Description
Book Synopsis''Compelling... fascinating'' Spectator
''Abounding with excellent little stories'' Financial Times
This is the story of one of the most magnificent achievements of the Italian Renaissance, and the architect behind it.
Even in an age of soaring skyscrapers and cavernous sports stadiums, the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence still retains a rare power to astonish. Yet the elegance of the building belies the tremendous labour, technical ingenuity and bitter personal strife involved in its creation. For over a century after work on the cathedral began, the proposed dome was regarded as all but impossible to build. The greatest architectural puzzle of its age, when finally completed it was hailed as one of the great wonders of the world.
This book tells the extraordinary story of how the cupola was raised and of the dome''s architect, the brilliant and volatile Filippo Brunelleschi. Denounced as a madman at the
Trade Review
Compelling... professional jealousy, committee intrigue, feats of bluff and fascinating scraps of obsolete lore... Where Longitude had ocean wastes, Brunelleschi's Dome has vertigo * Spectator *
As each novel feat of genius engineering flowers high above the ground, details of scandals and pranks blow up from the city streets to create an altogether enchanting tale -- Dava Sobel, author of Longitude
An adventure yarn set on the wild frontiers of human knowledge... abounding with excellent stories * Financial Times *
A wonderfully vivid little book * Daily Telegraph *
