Cathedral Domes #2of3

St. Mark’s Basilica, in Venice, Italy, is built (1000s) in the shape of a Greek Cross, 250 by 202 feet, with a bulbous dome in the center, flanked by four smaller domes. An unexpected item of trivia: Our photos and video, taken from the top of the 325-feet-high Campanile in front of St. Mark’s, confirm what we have read — each of the domes appear to be a different size.

We parked along the River Isle in Périgueux, France, below the St. Front Cathedral. It was built in the Byzantine style (1100s), much like St. Mark’s with five domes, but without all the gold, and artwork at Venice. This cathedral was restored in the early 20th century by Abadie, the architect who designed the Sacré-Coeur in Paris. A few blocks away, the construction of St.-Etienne-de-la-Cité, (St. Stephen) was started with a similar architectural style. Only four domes were completed, but after pillage, mutilation, and restoration, only two remain. But why two churches so nearly alike, just a few blocks apart?

Started in 27 BC by Agrippa, and rebuilt in 117 AD by Hadrian, the Pantheon in Rome, Italy, is a splendid building. The vast concrete dome was built so a ball 142 feet in diameter would fit inside the building. To lessen the weight of the huge dome, they created decorative sunken panels, called a “coffer.” With no windows in the very thick walls, the 27 feet diameter hole, or oculus, at the very top of the Pantheon's dome provides the only light source, and of course is open to rainfall. The Pantheon never floods as the floor slops ever so slightly towards a number of small holes for the rain water to drain away. As a bumblebee can’t fly, the experts say the dome of the Pantheon can’t be built, and won’t last if somehow it happened to be built. And for nearly 2,000 years, the “experts” have waited for the crash.

In Vienna, Austria, Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles), was built in the Baroque architectural style the early 1700’s. The church, located a few blocks from the Vienna Opera, is oval shaped, has a huge oval dome, little side chapels, and large pillars at the front door.

We had parked the RV in Warsaw, Poland, near a very distinctive building with a dome, with a cluster of pillars at the entrance. We wandered around the city, then walked back to the RV from a different direction. We thought we were still a block or so away when we saw the dome and the cluster of pillars, but no RV in the parking lot. Either that building shouldn’t be there, or we should be somewhere else. Turns out it's a round building with an identical entrance with parking, columns, and pillars, on two sides. Thought we had a big “problem” for a minute.