A drawing and a 56-lire payment order. These are the documents testifying the involvement of Leonardo Da Vinci in the construction of the Cathedral of Milan. Better, in the design of the tiburio, i.e. the dome’s covering. A building that is anything but easy which saw the involvement of the best engineers and architects of the time (from Donato Bramante to Luca Fancelli), including Leonardo, called by the Sforza family.
The works are on display until February 23 at the Museum of the Duomo of Milan. In the foreground the drawings of the Atlantic Code, and precious manuscripts of the late 1400’s. Indeed, it is not proven if and how much the final choice for the construction of the tiburio was influenced by the proposal of Leonardo. But for sure the project of the genius from Vinci was rejected by the jury who considered it too complex. Leonardo did not take it well and rejected the request of changing his proposal.
Now that project is back in the cathedral of Milan. Five are the sections of the exhibition: The construction site of the Cathedral in the Fifteenth century, The harmonic shipyard by Franchino Gaffurio, Leonardo and the Duomo, The challenge of the Tiburio, The Major Spire. The exhibition is introduced by two angels sculpted in 1492 by Giovanni Amedeo and it’s closed by the nineteenth century’s planimetry of the tiburio. The same one that is still consulted by the engineers engaged in the restoration of the dome.
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