The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — CompleteLeonardo, da Vinci
Science
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete
Leonardo, da Vinci
Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519 -- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
Pl. XCVIII (P. V., 182._ No. d'ordre 2386). In the midst of a hilly
landscape rises an artificial mountain in the form of a gigantic
cone, crowned by an imposing temple. At two thirds of the height a
terrace is cut out with six doorways forming entrances to galleries,
each leading to three sepulchral halls, so constructed as to contain
about five hundred funeral urns, disposed in the customary antique
style. From two opposite sides steps ascend to the terrace in a
single flight and beyond it to the temple above. A large circular
opening, like that in the Pantheon, is in the dome above what may be
the altar, or perhaps the central monument on the level of the
terrace below.
The section of a gallery given in the sketch to the right below
shows the roof to be constructed on the principle of superimposed
horizontal layers, projecting one beyond the other, and each
furnished with a sort of heel, which appears to be undercut, so as
to give the appearance of a beam from within. Granite alone would be
adequate to the dimensions here given to the key stone, as the
thickness of the layers can hardly be considered to be less than a
foot. In taking this as the basis of our calculation for the
dimensions of the whole construction, the width of the chamber would
be about 25 feet but, judging from the number of urns it
contains--and there is no reason to suppose that these urns were
larger than usual--it would seem to be no more than about 8 or 10
feet.
The construction of the vaults resembles those in the galleries of
some etruscan tumuli, for instance the Regulini Galeassi tomb at
Cervetri (lately discovered) and also that of the chamber and
passages of the pyramid of Cheops and of the treasury of Atreus at
Mycenae.
The upper cone displays not only analogies with the monuments
mentioned in the note, but also with Etruscan tumuli, such as the
Cocumella tomb at Vulci, and the Regulini Galeassi tomb_[Footnote 1:
_See_ FERSGUSON, _Handbook of Architecture, I,_ 291.]. _The whole
scheme is one of the most magnificent in the history of
Architecture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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