Symbolism of domes
[1] According to E. Baldwin Smith, from the late Stone Age the dome-shaped tomb was used as a reproduction of the ancestral, god-given shelter made permanent as a venerated home of the dead.
This cosmological thinking was not limited to domed ceilings, being part of a symbolic association between any house, tomb, or sanctuary and the universe as a whole, but it popularized the use of the domical shape.
[5] Michele Melaragno writes that the nomadic tribes of central Asia are the origin of a symbolic tradition of round domed-tents being associated with the sky and heavens that eventually spread to the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
[9] According to Michael Walter, a tradition of the "golden dome" identifying the ruler with the cosmos, sun, and astrological values originated in Persia and spread to later Roman and Turkic courts.
[10] Michele Melaragno writes that Persian kings used domed tents in their official audiences to symbolize their divinity, and this practice was adopted by Alexander the Great.
[15] Colum Hourihane writes that the semi-domed apse became a symbol of Roman imperial authority under Domitian and depictions into the Byzantine period used overhead domes or semidomes to identify emperors.
[19][20] According to Gillian MacKie, early Christian domes were often decorated at the base with imagery of the Four Evangelists, symbolizing "the idea that the microcosmic vision of heaven was supported by the word of God as revealed in the Gospels.
[23] Robert Stalley writes that mausolea, martyria, and baptisteries shared similar forms in the Roman architectural tradition as domed centralized plans due to representing the linked ideas of "death, burial, resurrection, and salvation".
[24] Smith writes that the dual sepulchral and heavenly symbolism was adopted by early Christians in both the use of domes in architecture and in the ciborium, a domical canopy like the baldachin used as a ritual covering for relics or the church altar.
The traditional mortuary symbolism led the dome to be used in Christian central-type martyria in the Syrian area, the growing popularity of which spread the form.
[26] Richard Krautheimer notes that the octagonal pattern of Roman mausolea corresponded to the Christian idea of the number eight symbolizing spiritual regeneration.
[30] Theresa Grupico states that the octagon, which is transitional between the circle and the square, came to represent Jesus' resurrection in early Christianity and was used in the ground plans of martyria and baptisteries for that reason.
[33] Michele Melaragno writes that the concept of "Christ the King" was the Christian counterpoint to the Roman tradition of emperor deification and so absorbed the dome symbolism associated with it.
[34] E. Baldwin Smith writes that "[i]n the West during the Carolingian period the churchmen and rulers revived, or took over from the Byzantine East, the use of cupolas as a mark of royal and divine presence.
[37][g] According to Herbert Schutz, the symbolism of the octagon at Aachen related to the emperor's role as God's representative on Earth in achieving a universal "Imperium Christianum" and the geometry of objects and architecture acted as a "wordless text" to suggest ideas, such as the "renovatio imperii".
[39] Literary evidence exists that the idea of the cosmic temple had been applied to the Christian basilica by the end of the 4th century, in the form of a speech by Eusebius on a church in Tyre.
[44] Maria Evangelatou writes that Mary became the most commonly depicted figure in the apse semi-dome during the growth of her cult after the end of Iconoclasm in the ninth century for a number of reasons, including that her power as intercessor for the faithful lent itself to depictions on such a focal point for the congregation, and that her role in the Incarnation and role as a bridge between heaven and earth were reinforced by the location of the apse just below the dome.
"[51] Nathaniel Curtis writes that the large domes of the Renaissance implied "ideas of power, dominance or centralization – as the capitol of a nation or of a state."
"[52] According to Linda Koch, it has been recognized that Renaissance humanism inspired a general revival of antiquity and attempted to reconcile Christianity with Roman paganism.
[59] According to Michael Earls, the oval dome reconciled the "long axis, favored by the liturgy of the counter-reformation and the central plan so beloved by the spatial idealists.
"[60] Victoria Hammond writes that, in addition to the oval form's inherent appeal, its use in domes may have been influenced by the European Age of Exploration, as well as by the theory of the elliptical orbits of planets.
[61] Sylvie Duvernoy notes that, while Johannes Kepler was too young to have influenced the initial popularity of oval churches, the 1609 publication of his discovery of the elliptical motion of planets could have contributed to their persistence.
[73] Jonathan M. Bloom states that the term qubbat al-khaḍrā' was used by medieval sources to describe features found in several early Muslim palaces and is conventionally translated to mean "green dome".
[76] According to Andrew Peterson, the wide variety of dome forms in medieval Islam reflected dynastic, religious, and social differences as much as practical building considerations.
"[80] Camilla Edwards writes that "the dome, and its decorative elements are fundamental to Islamic belief" and are often found in three structures that can serve as places of worship: mosques, madrasas, and mausolea.
Tabbaa explains the development and spread of muqarnas domes throughout the Islamic world beginning in the early 11th century as expressing a theological idea of the universe propounded by the Ash'arites (a modification of the Atomism of Aristotle with Occasionalism), which rose to prominence in Baghdad at this time.
[83] Rina Avner writes that the Dome of the Rock was designed to express the Muslim rejection of the Christian tenets of the divinity of Christ and the role of Mary as "God-bearer".
[85] The use of Koranic text to decorate the pendentives of domes in the Islamic world replaced the human depictions of Christian iconography, such as the Four Evangelists, but similarly represented the way to the Word of God.
[90] Richard Overy writes that both Hitler and Stalin planned, but never completed, enormous domed assembly halls as part of their efforts to establish global capital cities.
The foundations were begun for the Palace of the Soviets on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, but technical problems postponed the project and it was abandoned after Stalin's death in the 1950s.
