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The Baroque Roman Building Yard: Technology and Building Machines in the Reverenda Fabbrica of St

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The Baroque Roman Building Yard: Technology and Building Machines in the Reverenda Fabbrica of St Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History, Madrid, 20th-24th January 2003, ed. S. Huerta, Madrid: I. Juan de Herrera, SEdHC, ETSAM, A. E. Benvenuto, COAM, F. Dragados, 2003. The baroque Roman building yard: Technology and building machines in the reverenda fabbrica of St. Peter's (16th-18thcenturies) Nicoletta Marconi The triumphal raising of the Vatican obe]isk between technologica] and experimental workshop and a April and September 1586, commissioned by Sisto V qualified school for skilled workers, at the same time. Peretti (] 585-1590) to Domenico Fontana It is managed like a modern building enterprise, with (1543-] 607), starts a process of innovation and a rigid hierarchica] structure, and has at its disposal a improvement in the building technology, heir of the large amounts of materia]s, too]s and building Roman-imperial mechanics, which will reach a level machines, the so-called «munitioni», accumulated in of efficiency and functionality between the XVI and centuries of building activity and stored in at least XVII Century, for a long time unsurpassed. What is five stores inside the Basilica. These provisions have the main contribution of the experimentation of been accumu]ated from the period of Michelange]o' s Fontana to such techno]ogy, which persists at least up supervision up to the construction of the portico, and to the XIX Century') This experimentation is also later. The purchase, use and ]oss of tools and supported by the new impulse in the Roman building materia]s are recorded in many documents of the of the XV Century, as well as by the renewed interest Fabbrica of Sto Peter's. From the half of the XVI for the mechanics, intended to create more functiona] Century, the cardinal congregation supervising the and modern devices. In addition, it contributes to the Fabbrica develops a ingenious system for the hire and deve]opment of an extraordinary organizational and sale of these tooIs and materials, as well as for the technical system for building management, based «Ioan» of qualified manpower, the minor buiJding upon the ingenious mechanism of the Reverenda yards. In this way, they can face the economic ]oad Fabbrica of Sto Peter's and the entrepreneurial required by the use of the big bui]ding machines, the character of the masters of Lombardia, able to purchase of expensive lumber and meta] for conjugate the Gothic constructive ability to a wise construction, the provision of richer materials, like management of workers. From the first half of the freestones and ropes (Rice 1997). This system is XVI Century to the first half of the XIX Century, the structured as follows: initially, the materia] to rent is Fabbrica is the real propeller of the Roman building carefully estimated and measured, then de1ivered to a economy. It is the institution assigned to control of representative of the app1icant building yard, who the financial and technical administration of the becomes personally responsible for returning the Vatican building yard, similar to the «Opera de] materia] at the end of the works. Once returned, the Duomo» in Florence or the «Fabbrica di Sto Petronio» materia] is re-estimated, to assess the wearing caused in Bologna (Basso ] 987; Haines and Riccetti 1992, by use. In case of partia] damage or complete XI; Conforti 2001, ]6). The Fabbrica of Sto Peter's uselessness of the materia], a penaJty is applied to the can be considered a government institution, a initial price of the hire, corresponding to a percentage 1358 N. Marconi up to the complete value of the object, depending on stile prefer to improve the devices verified in the gravity of the situation. The difference between centuries of practice, in particular the building the initial and final estimation of the material machines developed by Filippo Brunelleschi represents the debt contracted by the minor building (1377-1446) for the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in yard with the Congregation of St. Peter's. Flarence, Mariano di Jacopo called the Taccola Furthermore, all the material s remaining from the (1381-1458), Bonaccarso Ghiberti, Giuliano da minar building yard, also those acquired from other Sangallo, and Leonardo da Vinci (Taccola [1427/1433] suppliers, are purchased by the Fabbrica of St. Peter' s 1969, l4v-14r). These machines, assembled with and added to its inventory. These exchanges gear wheels, endless screws, racks and winches, also sometimes enrich the Fabbrica considerably: between used far the hoisting and transpartation of columns, 1653 and 1654, the sale to the Sant' Agnese building obelisks and pyramids, reveal a considerable yard of \64 pieces of travertine, coming from the technical maturation. However, only Domenico demolition of the bell-tower of St. Peter's (1647), Fontana will be able to create a really efficient yields to the Fabbrica around 4,000 scudi. A similar apparatus, thanks to his extraordinary technical talent amount is obtained in July 1662 by the sale of the and to the resources made avai]able to him by the columns of same bell-tower, which are used far the churches of Piazza del Popolo. The meticulous estimation of the material also allows to understand the technical and constructive difficulties encountered by architects and workers during the works. The history of the objects concerns some of the most famous building yards of the Baroque Rome, like the Fabbrica of Santa Maria della Pace. For the frescoes of its dome, all the purlins, the boards of ilex, chestnut and elm wood, and the iron stirrups necessary to build the scaffoldings far the painters are taken on loan from the Fabbrica of St. Peter's on 20th November 1650 and returned on 13td March 1665.1 In this system, the building technology, and particularly the building machines, have the most important role; in some cases they represent the only subject of the agreements between the Vatican Fabbrica and the minar building yards. What is the status of the building technology at the end of the XVI Century? The building machines, as shown by the treatises and the architectural iconography of this period, are quite similar to the ancient ones, Jike levers and chutes used by the Egyptians during the third millennium before Christ, or the building machines in use at the time of the Imperial Rome (Cupelloni 1996, 54).2 Nevertheless, a new interest far the applied mechanics appears in the XV Century, noticeable through the study of the X book of the De Architectura of Vitruvio and in the invention of spectacular and bizarre machines. A very famous example are the «alzacolonne» of Francesco di Figure 1 Giorgio (1439-1501), to whom Vasari attributes the The scenographic scaffold designed from Domenico revaluation of the machinatio, an integral part of Fontana for the raising of the Vatican Obelisk (Zabaglia Architecture (Fiare 1978). However, the technicians 1743. fig. XLII) The baroque Roman building yard 1359 Fabbrica of St. Peter's. The scaffolds and building nails and rivets, partly come from the stores of the machines developed by Domenico Fontana for the Basilica, partly are fused either in the papal foundry removaI, transportation and raising of the granite of the Fabbrica, or in the foundries of Ronciglione obelisks, either monolithic or «Íracti», are conceived and Subiaco (Fontana C. 1694,475-476).' The papa! in a way that they can be applied also to the common foundry, located near Santa Marta in Vaticano, is practice. This is particularly true for the machines and used 10 make the «traglioni», big tackles in iron with tools used for the erection of the Vatican obelisk six or four swivel joints, requested by Fontana. For (Figure 1). Although initially acquired by the their fusion, around 10,000 pounds of metal are used Fabbrica of St. Peter's with a big economical effort, in addition to a large quantity of firewood (D'Onofrio then will represent for the Fabbrica a very precious 1992,475-476). Most ofthe lumber used for scatfolds, property for the following three centuries. Either used «curli»4 and other machines comes from the woods of for the raising of other Sixtine obelisks (1587-1589) Nettuno, Terracina and Santa Severa, property of the or rented to other building yards, they are a real Camera Apostolica (Fontana D. 1590,6-7). source of gain. To raise the Vatican obelisk, having a Due to the poor quantity of lumber available in the weight of 400 tons, forty winches, five 15 meters long Roman country, the supplies must be optimized, the levers and 139,000 pounds of ropes are used (Figure quantities must be exactly assessed, the process 2). The iron tools, like pulleys, hammers, tackles, wastes must be strictly controlled, and the lumber re- used where possible. To have an idea of the compIexity of the scaffoldings, the one supporting the Vatican obelisk can be considered. It is composed of eight big masts (<<candele»), each one consisting of four wooden beams, joint together and tied up with ropes and metaIlic belts. There are tour masts each side of the steeple. This structure is strenghtened by a complex frame of braces, struts and trusses, and smaIler beams placed either normally or parallel to the masts, in order to stabilize the structure and prevent the osciIlations and the bending when the tackles are in use. The structure is also stabilized by eight ropes of big diameter, caIled «ventole», fixed to the top of the structure and anchored to stakes on the ground. However, most of the building yards of Renaissance and Baroque have no need for such a complex technology, and use more traditional devices. This technology remains substantiaIly unchanged up to the half of the XIX Century, when major modifications will be caused by the introduction of new material s, like cast-iron, or the use of electrical power.
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