The Dome in European Architecture
In the Paradiso, Dante’s (1265–1321) soaring journey up through the nine heavenly circles leads to his ultimate vision of beauty and light: the Empyrean heaven. At this highest point of transcendence the poet finally apprehends the mysteries of time and s
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the Paradiso, Dante’s (1265–1321) soaring journey up through the nine heavenly circles leads to his ultimate vision of beauty and light: the Empyrean heaven. At this highest point of transcendence the poet finally apprehends the mysteries of time and space, for in this still center all space is here and all time is now. In the mystical language of architecture this heavenly sphere is symbolized by the dome, and the point of infinity beyond by the oculus—the void ringed by the central aperture of the dome. Though Dante’s vision of heaven is medieval, its circular imagery is a timeless metaphor for the marriage of geometry and the sacred in the form of the dome. Since its beginnings the dome has been used for religious purposes, becoming architecture’s universal expression of heaven. David Stephenson’s photographs of domes span nearly two thousand years, offering a kaleidoscope of shifting visions of heaven ranging from the grand cosmology of imperial Rome, through richly embroidered Byzantine worlds and the mystical geometry of Islam, to the sublime serenity of the Renaissance and the gravity-defying transfigurations of the baroque, culminating in the ethereal lightness of the rococo and beyond. As a photographer, Stephenson is both an artist mesmerized by the beauty of these forms and a visual historian who over ten years has traveled to fifteen countries in Europe and the former U.S.S.R. to document hundreds of domes. His camera, set to a long exposure, illuminates these monumental structures as they were meant to be seen: glowing with rich materials, color, gilding, and light. Today, in reality, the great celestial vaults are swathed in gloom, their decoration and fine detail dimmed by time. Stephenson’s obsession also arises from his awareness of the history of the dome, which is at once the most sophisticated of architectural forms as well as the most primitive. The word’s derivation from the Latin domus, which means house, hints at the archetypal nature of the dome. In imitation of earth forms, the earliest architecture was curved, vaulted, domical; it was only later that it became rectilinear. Besides their great beauty as photographs, these images of the crowning architectural achievements of Europe’s most splendid cultures chart not only changing
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visions of heaven but also cosmological ideas, powerful rulers, genius architects, and the rise and collapse of civilizations. Just as the dome form itself represents the transcendent sphere, so its history transcends race and religion. Since its prehistoric origins as a hemispherical hut, this archetypal form has symbolized the celestial realm to the ancients, to the peoples of the classical world, to Jews, Christians, and the peoples of Islam alike. In his De architectura, the only surviving classical treatise on architecture, the Roman architect Vitruvius (active 40 b.c.) made the famous observation that the salient features of the Doric order were mutations of far earlier forms fashioned in wood. Similarly, the dome has its origins in primitive shelters s
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