NOVA
Season 41 Episode 15 - Great Cathedral Mystery
The dome that crowns Florence’s great cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore—the Duomo—is a towering masterpiece of Renaissance ingenuity and an enduring source of mystery. Still the largest masonry dome on earth after more than six centuries, it is taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighs as much as an average cruise ship. Historians and engineers have long debated how its secretive architect, Filippo Brunelleschi, managed to keep the dome perfectly aligned and symmetrical as the sides rose and converged toward the center, 40 stories above the cathedral floor. His laborers toiled without safety nets, applying novel, untried methods. Over 4 million bricks might collapse at any moment—and we still don’t understand how Brunelleschi prevented it. To test the latest theories, a team of U.S. master bricklayers will help build a unique experimental model Duomo using period techniques. Will it stay intact during the final precarious stages of closing over the top of the dome?
Episodes in Season 41
Ground Zero Supertower
55 min
Megastorm Aftermath
55 min
Making Stuff Faster
55 min
Making Stuff Wilder
55 min
Making Stuff Colder
55 min
Making Stuff Safer
55 min
Cold Case JFK
55 min
At the Edge of Space
55 min
Asteroid: Doomsday or Payday?
55 min
Alien Planets Revealed
55 min
Zeppelin Terror Attack
55 min
Killer Typhoon
55 min
Ghosts of Murdered Kings
55 min
Roman Catacomb Mystery
55 min
Great Cathedral Mystery
55 min
Wild Predator Invasion
55 min
Inside Animal Minds: Bird Genius
55 min
Inside Animal Minds: Dogs & Super Senses
55 min
Inside Animal Minds: Who's the Smartest?
55 min
Why Sharks Attack
55 min
Escape From Nazi Alcatraz
55 min
D-Day's Sunken Secrets
55 min
