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Jul 21, 2020 17 tweets 17 min read Read on X
#Florence’s most famous cathedral, Saint Mary of the Flower, is featured prominently in Netflix’s #Medici, #Hannibal and other movies and shows. Here’s the history of that beautiful building and its amazing dome!
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton ImageImage
The cathedral’s first stone was laid on September 8, 1296 and construction continued for about a century and a half. The plans for the cathedral evolved as different builders took over the project. When completed in the 1400s, it was the largest church in Europe.
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
Today, it is the third largest church in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London). It is 153 metres long, 90 metres wide at the crossing, and 90 metres high from the floor to the bottom of the lantern.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
The marble-clad cathedral was built around the smaller cathedral that it replaced. The Church of Santa Reparata was left in place for 60 years so there could be services during the building of the new church. After the new cathedral was built, the old church was torn down. Image
The space for the dome was left open to the elements for decades for the simple reason that there was no known way to build such a large dome. Florence was determined to outdo its rival cities, like Milan, and build something grander than what those cities had...
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
...for their cathedrals. Florence officials took on faith that a solution would one day be found and the dome would be completed.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
Florence was also determined to build the dome without flying buttresses, a common feature on many other medieval churches that supported the weight of stone walls, (i.e. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris).
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
How to build a dome with such a huge octagonal (not round) shape baffled engineers and architects for years. While domes existed in Italy – i.e. the Pantheon in Rome - those domes were constructed with concrete and the recipe for concrete had been lost in the Dark Ages...
#nspoli Image
...along with other vital knowledge of Roman building techniques.
Filippo Brunelleschi, a goldsmith, won a competition in 1418 for his innovative design for the dome - even though he had no training as an architect and had never built anything.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia Image
The dome is actually 2 domes that were built without any scaffolding or supports. The inner shell (with a thickness of more than 2 metres) is made of light bricks set in a herringbone pattern that allowed the bricks to self-reinforce as they were being laid so...
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
...they wouldn't fall off the wall as it became more inclined. The outer dome simply serves as a heavier, wind-resistant covering.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
The inner dome was built with five horizontal stone, wood and chain hoops – like the hoops around a barrel – that held the dome together and eliminated the need for supports like flying buttresses. This technique had never been used in dome construction and...
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
...it is still considered a remarkable engineering innovation.
Brunelleschi was very secretive and he didn’t leave any documents behind that explained his amazing design. Even today, we do not know all the details of how he built the dome.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
The dome was completed in 1434 after 16 years of planning and construction. It is still the largest masonry dome in the world. It has over 4 million bricks, weighing over 40,000 tons. It is 10 stories high and almost the size of half a football field across at the base.
#nspoli Image
The challenges of building the dome required Brunelleschi to also invent new machines to make the dome’s construction possible. For example, he invented an ox-driven hoist that lifted heavy stones hundreds of feet into the air.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
The hoist was gear-driven with a clutch that allowed it to be reversed without reversing the direction of the oxen.
Brunelleschi noticed that marble for the project was being damaged as it was unloaded from boats so he invented an amphibious boat that could also be used... Image
...on land to transport the large pieces of marble to the cathedral.
The building of Florence’s iconic dome kicked off the architectural Renaissance and it is still considered an extraordinary achievement centuries later.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton ImageImage

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More from @MiningNS

Feb 25, 2021
@nsgov announced new rebates for electric vehicles yesterday. Mining makes #greentech like electric cars possible because they are mostly made of minerals and metals.
#nspoli @KeithIrvingNS @IainTRankin @NS_Energy_Mines @ns_environment @ChenderMLA @AllanMacMaster @MLAChuckPorter Image
For example, an e-car has 183 pounds of copper wiring in it because copper is used in every major component from the motor to the inverter and the electrical wiring. There is about four times more copper in an e-car than in a car with an internal combustion engine.
There are about 400 electric cars on Nova Scotia roads - a total of over 73,000 pounds of copper!
An electric car uses 25-50 grams of silver, so Nova Scotia’s 400 e-cars contain about 15,000 grams of it.
Read 9 tweets
Sep 23, 2020
The Morris Street Engine House has been declared a municipal heritage property!
#Halifax’s Fire Station #2, as it is also called, was built 1907-08 of reinforced concrete.
Here's the story!
#nspoli @HFXFireHistory @HRMFireNews @hfxfire @HFXFirefighters @hfxgov @MikeSavageHFX
Concrete is a mixture of aggregates and paste. The aggregates are sand and gravel or crushed stone; the paste is water and portland cement. (The terms cement and concrete are often used interchangeably, but cement is actually an ingredient of concrete...
#nspoli
...Cement is the glue that holds concrete together.)
Reinforced concrete means the concrete is poured over a frame, usually steel bars, that give the structure greater strength.
#nspoli
Read 12 tweets
Sep 21, 2020
We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology! We were asked about sinkholes and whether they are a risk when walking in the woods.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton @oxfordsinkhole ImageImage
The short answer is yes, sinkholes are real but no, they are not a major risk and should not prevent you from enjoying outdoor activities.
Most natural sinkholes are caused by groundwater naturally eroding rocks like gypsum, salt and limestone which are water-soluble.
#nspoli Image
The water erodes the rock, leaving an underground cavern. Eventually, the weight of the rock and earth above the cavern causes the sinkhole to form. Sinkholes can form either gradually (i.e. a small depression appears and perhaps grows larger over time) or by sudden collapse. Image
Read 18 tweets
Sep 20, 2020
We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology! We were asked about the historic #NewCampbellton coal mine in #VictoriaCounty.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton #nshistory
@JaimeBattiste ImageImage
The New Campbellton coal mine was opened in 1862 by Charles J. Campbell, a former Member of Parliament, Member of the Legislative Assembly and executive council member. The community had been named Kelly’s Cove but was changed to New Campbellton in 1862 in honour of Mr. Campbell. Image
A sample of New Campbellton’s coal was sent to the 1865 Dublin Exhibition and “was very favorably noticed by the Judges,” according to a report.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton #nshistory Image
Read 18 tweets
Sep 19, 2020
Mining built #NovaScotia!
#Halifax was founded in 1749 and its first court house is reported to have been built by 1754 on the northeastern corner of Buckingham + Argyle streets. After the building burned in 1789, the courts were temporarily housed in various buildings.
#nspoli ImageImage
In April 1851 a bill to provide Halifax with a county court house was passed. Mr. H.G. Hill, a prominent #Halifax architect, prepared a plan for a wooden building.
However, since the records of the county, wills, deeds and other papers of public office were...
#nspoli #novascotia Image
...to be stored in the court house, it was important that the building be fire-proof. Also, a number of serious fires in #Halifax in 1857 led to the passage of a bylaw that required large buildings be made of stone or brick, so Hill's plans for a wooden building were abandoned. Image
Read 10 tweets
Sep 18, 2020
The Sullivan Creek #coal mine, before and after!
It's one of several mines reclaimed around #AlderPoint #CapeBreton in the late 1900s/early 2000s - examples of how mining makes temporary use of land and then land can be used other ways.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia @JaimeBattiste ImageImage
The first mine in the area was the Scotia Mine, or #NovaScotia Steel & Coal Company No. 4 Colliery, on Toronto Road, which operated on the Sydney Main (Harbour) Seam from 1915 to 1921.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia @JaimeBattiste ImageImage
Coal quality and structural issues (including water inflow) plague the Harbour Seam west of Florence so upon closure of the colliery, production on the Harbour Seam was limited to the Company’s No. 3 Colliery in Florence, which had opened in 1902...
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia ImageImage
Read 19 tweets

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