Byzantine and Romanesque architecture . ifficulties. But a circleinscribed in a square only touchesit at four points and the problemwas how to fill the four triangularspaces left at the corners in sucha way as to carry the dome be-tween those points, or in otherwords how to bring the square planto a circle. M. Choisy says thatthe first instance of a dome ona base not round is to be foundin Persia, where the corners arefilled by what he calls tromps,that is conical squinches (Fig. 9) which brought the squareto an octagon\ This is the way adopted at Serbistan andFirouzabad, and still followed in
Byzantine and Romanesque architecture . ifficulties. But a circleinscribed in a square only touchesit at four points and the problemwas how to fill the four triangularspaces left at the corners in sucha way as to carry the dome be-tween those points, or in otherwords how to bring the square planto a circle. M. Choisy says thatthe first instance of a dome ona base not round is to be foundin Persia, where the corners arefilled by what he calls tromps,that is conical squinches (Fig. 9) which brought the squareto an octagon\ This is the way adopted at Serbistan andFirouzabad, and still followed in that country. On theoctagon it was not difficult to place a circular dome,which would be constructed without centering in themanner already described. In Syria another method was adopted. Large flatstones were laid across the angles, bringing the square toan octagon, and other stones across the angles of theoctagon bringing the plan to 16 sides, which might ifnecessary be again divided so as to approach to acircular plan very 9. ^ Choisy, I/tsi. dArchit. I. 125. CH. Ill] DOMES AND VAULTS 39 A far more scientific and beautiful way was by the Thespherical pendentive, the discovery of which constitutes p^ndentivethe triumph of Byzantine architecture. It is arrived atin this manner. A BCD (Fig. lo) is the square and theinscribed circle E the dome to be placed over it. Imagine
Size: 1218px × 2052px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorjacksont, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
