Pagina Rayna

Aesthetics of Domed Structures

many photos need re-formatting, excuse them for now please

As stated by Salvadori, domes are the closest materialization of the heavens, the only "man-made representation" of the sky not only because of their spatial purity, but because of the calmness they somehow press upon the viewer. In seeing a dome,in following the curvature with your eyes while you sit at the center of the oculus of the pantheon, or below low-hung lanterns suspended from the ceiling of a mosque, you feel like you are a part of something that forces you to feel its' tranquility.

  • Aya Sofya, Hagia Sofia.....Turkish, what an interesting language...
  • Other Structures of interest (Eastern and Western): Blue Mosque (Istanbul, Turkey), Taj Mahal (Agra, India), Maharaja's Cenotaph (Jaipur, India), Pantheon (Rome), St. Peter's (Rome)

From the outside the massiveness of the Aya Sophia is unavoidable, with dull red exteriors and the clumsy concrete buttresses that were put on the exterior after the initial construction collapsed, it is surprising that the internal part opens up into such a grand expanse of space. The small windows at the bottom of the dome, where reinforcement would be needed to maintain the dome's shape give the structure the appearance of a floating body of stone. The gravity of the massive walls counteracts the dome which appears to hover over the top as if some

  • Aya Sophia dome buttresses, exterior, Istanbul:
    turchia049.jpg

  • Aya Sophia dome, interior:
    turchia035.jpg

  • Aya Sophia dome, interior:
    turchia016.jpg

  • Aya Sophia dome, interior:
    turchia025.jpg

  • Blue Mosque, exterior, Istanbul:
    turchia013.jpg

  • Seville Cathedral buttresses:
    sevilla30.JPG

  • Taj Mahal, Agra:
    Thetajthecalltheanswer9.jpg

  • Women's Mosque, Agra Fort:
    AgraFort.jpg

  • St. Peter's, Roma:
    ROMA058.jpg

  • Pantheon, Roma:
    ROMA037.jpg
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