num_pages: 192
description: Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance man bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder. Not a master mason or carpenter, Filippo Brunelleschi was a goldsmith and clock maker. Over twenty-eight years, he would dedicate himself to solving puzzles of the dome's construction. In the process, he did nothing less than reinvent the field of architecture. He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone (some among the most renowned machines of the Renaissance) to carry an estimated seventy million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers' platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction. This drama was played out amid plagues, wars, political feuds, and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence - events Ross King weaves into a story to great effect. An American Library Association Best Book of the Year Boston Globe: "An absorbing tale." Los Angeles Times: "Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing... Fascinating."
language: English
title: Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
titlecomplete: Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
characters: Filippo Brunelleschi, Lorenzo Ghiberti
genres: Architecture, Historical, History, Italy, European History, Art History, Biography, Science, Nonfiction, Art
ratings_count: 26336
places: Italy, Florence, Tuscany, Tuscany
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Book Sense Book of the Year Award
category: Adult Nonfiction
publisher: Penguin Books