Architectural Sublime: Dome Above Dome

Abstract

The European concept of the architecture of sky oscillates between the differences of the two worlds. In the period of classical antiquity, that was a leap forward from the perfect towards the unique, on a course set by the philosophy which began with the thought of nature (physics) and progressed towards the reflection of the essence of matter (metaphysics). The poiesis of the whole, as an architectural potential for the range of a higher scale, was born from the projection of cosmopolitan tendencies, but only after this perception of the world had included universality. For antique thought, whose boundaries and geometry were linked to the sphere, universality referred to the shape of the Universe, thus the geometric sky expressed the ideal One. Parthenon and Pantheon, unified through the thematisation of the geometric dome, uncovered possibilities for sublime architectural worlds. One world offers pure geometry, while the other one is ruled by the visual presentation. One projects the depth of the sky, while the other sees the sky only as its illusion. The sky is an absolute category for the architecture of both worlds, it is placed out of reach, and its symbolic sublimity is achieved through spatial opening, outwards. Sublimity is a constant metaphysical challenge in European architecture. It connects aesthetics with the spatial secret: the idea that it takes more than perfect technique to bring matter to life. In that sense, the connection between the antique ability to reduce the Universe to an object using weight, and the modernist antigravity which leaves the orbit of the Earth, may be interpreted today only if the limits of the visibility of architecture were expanded to reach the esthetic dimension of digital infinity, the same infinity which is stamped by pictures of Voyager on its journey of no return. That proves that only those who abandon their own position may come close to that which has remained sublime.