Artisanal processes

While on one hand, wall structures have taken on a great variety of forms through the course of centuries, from the simplest architraves to the most complex domes, on the other hand, their functioning can be traced back to just a few principles. On the occasion of 600 years from when the Opera del Duomo announced a competition to determine whom it would entrust with the construction of the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the workshop proposes a practical and intuitive experiment in the concepts of statics that lie at the basis of this extraordinary undertaking. Utilising simple components assembled on each occasion following specific schemes, the participants will build architraves, arches, vaults, and cupolas, learning to recognise the principle features of each one. The workshop concludes with a visit to the Galleria della Cupola.

The workshop provides for a lecturethat will trace the history ofthe systems of measurement, from the first measurements to the Florentine braccio to the decimal metric system. Elements of metrology, geometry, and period instruments are used to recount the construction of the monuments of the Complex of Santa Maria del Fiore. Working directly on surveying the Cathedral, the participants will identify the harmonic and geometric relationships that characterise the architecture, and the metric relationships with the Florentine braccio will be rediscovered and converted. The workshop will end with a practical experiment in the Cathedral with the comparative measurement of the distance between two pilasters in the aisles of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, using the Florentine braccio and the linear metre.

The monumental complex of Santa Maria del Fiore houses a very rich collection of gold and silver jewellery. Many of these masterpieces were created following techniques that are still used today, including casting using cuttlebone. Used since time immemorial, this technique consists in impressing a shape in the soft but firm part of the cuttlebone in order to create a mould where the melted metal will then be poured.

The participants will make a mould of a small object in order to obtain a positive copy. The workshop also includes the observation of the Reliquary of the Libretto, held in the Sala delle Navate inside the Museum.

This workshop takes a close look at the ingenious inventions of Filippo Brunelleschi that were used to accomplish the greatest feat of engineering of the epoch: the construction of the Dome of the Cathedral of Florence. A brief historical introduction employing manuscript drawings by the engineers and artists of the times will illustrate the most important machines used at the construction site. A practical experiment will then make it possible to experiment some of the principles behind the functioning of these cranes. The workshop ends with the observation of several of the original tools used at the construction site.

The itinerary is suited for classes with blind or visually impaired students.

*special project on the occasion of 600 years since the beginning of the cupola’s construction

The workshop consists of six hours divided into two or three sessions in which the young participants can experiment several phases of this technique that has been known since antiquity and that Ghiberti used to make the panels of the Gate of Paradise. Following a brief theoretical introduction, the participants will get acquainted with the lost-wax casting technique, and reproduce a detail of the Gate of Paradise on a wax tablet. The workshop ends with a visit to Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of the Baptistery inside the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.

The workshop consists of a 2-hour session in which the participants first receive a brief introduction on the artistic technique of mosaics and intarsia and then realise a figurative composition inspired by a detail of the decoration of the Baptistery.

The workshop ends with a visit to the monument.

PRESCHOOL (ages 5 and over) – PRIMARY SCHOOL

Marble intarsia: The ancient technique that consists in arranging large fragments of modelled marble into a smooth and homogeneous surface to cover floors and wall surfaces. The participants will make a detail of the floor of the Baptistery, using tesserae of decorated cardboard.

Years 4 and 5 of PRIMARY SCHOOL – MIDDLE SCHOOL

Tesserae mosaic: This artistic technique involves attaching decorative elements of small dimensions onto a rigid support until it is completely covered. The participants will make a detail of the mosaics of the Baptistery, utilising tesserae of decorated wood.