NOVA - Season 41 Episode 15
The dome that crowns Florence’s great cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore—the Duomo—is a towering masterpiece of Renaissance ingenuity and an enduring source of mystery. Still the largest masonry dome on earth after more than six centuries, it is taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighs as much as an average cruise ship. Historians and engineers have long debated how its secretive architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, managed to keep the dome perfectly aligned and symmetrical as the sides rose and converged toward the center, 40 stories above the cathedral floor. His laborers toiled without safety nets, applying novel, untried methods. Over 4 million bricks might collapse at any moment—and we still don’t understand how Brunelleschi prevented it. To test the latest theories, a team of U.S. master bricklayers will help build a unique experimental model Duomo using period techniques. Will it stay intact during the final precarious stages of closing over the top of the dome?
First Air Date : 1974-03-03
Last Air date : 2024-10-09
Runtime : 57 minutes
Genre : Documentary
Cast :
Crew :
Quality : 
Subtitles :
- Season 41 : Episode 12013-09-11
- Season 41 : Episode 22013-10-09
- Season 41 : Episode 32013-10-16
- Season 41 : Episode 42013-10-23
- Season 41 : Episode 52013-10-30
- Season 41 : Episode 62013-11-06
- Season 41 : Episode 72013-11-13
- Season 41 : Episode 82013-11-20
- Season 41 : Episode 92013-11-20
- Season 41 : Episode 102014-01-08
- Season 41 : Episode 112014-01-15
- Season 41 : Episode 122014-01-22
- Season 41 : Episode 132014-01-29
- Season 41 : Episode 142014-02-05
- Season 41 : Episode 152014-02-12
- Season 41 : Episode 162014-04-02
- Season 41 : Episode 172014-04-09
- Season 41 : Episode 182014-04-16
- Season 41 : Episode 192014-04-23
- Season 41 : Episode 202014-05-07
- Season 41 : Episode 212014-05-14
- Season 41 : Episode 222014-05-28
