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P. 77
ween the restoration project and the accomplished work with the aim to use the observations and discoveries made during the work
to verify his theoretical convictions.
3.c. The historical and scientific relevance of the Poleni’s Historic Memories about the Great Dome of the Vatican Church
The eighteenth century marks a crucial moment of transition from modernity to contemporaneity in the mechanical sciences.
In this regard, the scientific approach was applied to architecture, consequently defined as the science of construction, that based its
theory on the concept of resistance connected to the properties of materials, and no longer on the principle of equilibrium.
Therefore, the revolution consists in applying the concept of science to architecture and overcoming the concept of architecture as
an art. Accordingly, the great innovative merit of Poleni is related to the systematisation of knowledge for the reading and critical
interpretation of the structural characteristics of buildings, and the introduction of instruments to understand the structural problems
and the consequent identification of the best proposals for their retrofitting.
The contribution of Giovanni Poleni to the science of restoration is not only limited to the diagnostic tests of the materials of the Dome,
although these are an original contribution (Bianco, 2010), but above all he had the intuition to determine, using the scientific method,
the relationship between the materials and the construction techniques in the cracks of the Vatican Dome.
This intuition was the necessary condition to formulate a diagnosis and evaluate the effectiveness of different types of consolidation and
restoration. Poleni applied this principle to other cases, such as the narration of the construction and transformations of the Temple
of Diana in Ephesus (Poleni, 1742) and the archeological discoveries in Pozzuoli. In both cases Poleni proposed the reconstruction
of the history of these buildings, not only in terms of knowledge, but also as a ratio for their tangible and intangible transmission
to the future (Poleni, 1755).
Poleni’s relevant contribution to the organic application of the scientific method is related to the understanding of the structural
problems of buildings, and this is perceivable through the critical success of his writings among his contemporaries (Cossali, 1813),
who considered the process of diagnostic investigation of St. Peter’s and the method to define the interventions as an authoritative
methodological example for the scientific and technical community. Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1743-1829) in his writings related to
similar problems occurring in the pillars of the Pantheon in Paris, cited clearly the case of the Vatican Church as an example of
approach, investigative methodology and restoration proposals. In fact, in retrofitting the pillars of the Pantheon, Rondelet reported
Poleni’s technical model (Rondelet, 1797), which a large part of the scientific community still recognise as one of the most
relevant scientific approaches to this issue (Giuffré, 1988).
3.d. Other architectural treatises in the eighteenth century
The history of architectural treatises in Italy has a long tradition originated by Vitruvius’s treatise and characterized by very
large dissemination from the fifteenth century in the rest of Europe thanks to translations and reprints becoming very popular in a short
time (Leon Battista Alberto, De re edificatoria, 1452; Antonio Averlino Filarete, Il trattato di Architettura, 1464; Sebastiano Serlio, I sette
libri dell’Architettura, 1537; Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Regola delli cinque ordini d’Architettura, 1562; Andrea Palladio, I quattro
libri dell’architettura, 1570) and giving Italy cultural primacy (Philibert de L’Orme, L’Architecture, 1567; Hugues Sambin, Oeuvre de la
diversité des termes dont on use en architecture, 1572; Walther Hermann Ryff, Bawkunst Oder Architektur aller fürnemsten, 1582;
Cristóbal de Rojas, Teorica y practica de fortificacion, 1598). This Italian leadership was however lost two centuries later, just at the
time of Poleni (Neveu, 2005).
However, the contents of these very well known treatises differ profoundly from Poleni’s treatise since they address formal, design and
aesthetic issues of architecture (including for example the building types or architectural styles and orders) and they deal only
marginally with technical aspects, for example building materials and their general properties.
These treatises were in fact addressed to scholars, intellectuals and savants and their dissemination was due to their intellectual
connotation (Bury, 1988). Conversely, Poleni’s treatise is an essay that addresses purely technical and technological issues, for
instance drawing techniques compared to principles of optical physics, or debated issues on structural performance, seismic and
technological architecture. For these reasons Poleni’s treatise seems to have more connections with nineteenth-century treatises
than sixteenth-century treatises described above. The need to investigate technical issues using different criteria in comparison to
those traditionally used for examination of the aesthetic aspects of architecture highlights the introduction of other experimental
sciences also in architecture and the passage from the “Art of Construction” to the “Building Science”.
The proliferation of these technical treatises took place thanks to a new category of scholars interested in the experimental sciences,
such as chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering, which in fact rapidly developed from the end of the eighteenth century (Kruft,
1994). This highlights how Poleni’s treatise was anticipatory and innovative. For this reason this treatise quickly became an authoritative
reference on the national scene of technical treatises (Francesco Algarotti, Saggio sopra l’architettura, 1756; Girolamo Masi, Teoria e
pratica di Architettura civile, 1788; Daniele Danieletti, Elementi di Architettura Civile, 1791) and also in the international context (Marc-
Antoine Laugier, Essai sur l’architecture, 1753; Thomas Skaife, A key to civil architecture or The universal British builder, 1774;
Tobias Gruber, Briefe hydrographischen und physikalischen Inhalts aus Krain an Ignaz Edlen von Born, 1781), unlike treatises about
architectural orders that continued to proliferate in Italy thanks to the Vitruvian tradition (Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, Li Cinque Ordini di
Architettura,1749; Girolamo Fonda, Elementi di architettura civile e militare ad uso del Collegio Nazareno, 1764; Francesco Milizia,
Principi d’Architettura Civile, 1781), however, finding less continuity in Europe (Pierre Bullet, Architecture pratique, édition nouvelle revue
et augmentée, 1768; James Basire, The rudiments of ancient architecture, in two parts, containing an historical account of the five
orders, 1789; Leopold Peucker, Landschaften aus Architektur-Stücken und Alterthümern, 1793). However, considering specifically the
technical treatises, there are some interesting precedents also in Italy, such as the Manuale dell’Architetto by Giovanni Branca, which
Translation Journal - July 2015 | 77
to verify his theoretical convictions.
3.c. The historical and scientific relevance of the Poleni’s Historic Memories about the Great Dome of the Vatican Church
The eighteenth century marks a crucial moment of transition from modernity to contemporaneity in the mechanical sciences.
In this regard, the scientific approach was applied to architecture, consequently defined as the science of construction, that based its
theory on the concept of resistance connected to the properties of materials, and no longer on the principle of equilibrium.
Therefore, the revolution consists in applying the concept of science to architecture and overcoming the concept of architecture as
an art. Accordingly, the great innovative merit of Poleni is related to the systematisation of knowledge for the reading and critical
interpretation of the structural characteristics of buildings, and the introduction of instruments to understand the structural problems
and the consequent identification of the best proposals for their retrofitting.
The contribution of Giovanni Poleni to the science of restoration is not only limited to the diagnostic tests of the materials of the Dome,
although these are an original contribution (Bianco, 2010), but above all he had the intuition to determine, using the scientific method,
the relationship between the materials and the construction techniques in the cracks of the Vatican Dome.
This intuition was the necessary condition to formulate a diagnosis and evaluate the effectiveness of different types of consolidation and
restoration. Poleni applied this principle to other cases, such as the narration of the construction and transformations of the Temple
of Diana in Ephesus (Poleni, 1742) and the archeological discoveries in Pozzuoli. In both cases Poleni proposed the reconstruction
of the history of these buildings, not only in terms of knowledge, but also as a ratio for their tangible and intangible transmission
to the future (Poleni, 1755).
Poleni’s relevant contribution to the organic application of the scientific method is related to the understanding of the structural
problems of buildings, and this is perceivable through the critical success of his writings among his contemporaries (Cossali, 1813),
who considered the process of diagnostic investigation of St. Peter’s and the method to define the interventions as an authoritative
methodological example for the scientific and technical community. Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1743-1829) in his writings related to
similar problems occurring in the pillars of the Pantheon in Paris, cited clearly the case of the Vatican Church as an example of
approach, investigative methodology and restoration proposals. In fact, in retrofitting the pillars of the Pantheon, Rondelet reported
Poleni’s technical model (Rondelet, 1797), which a large part of the scientific community still recognise as one of the most
relevant scientific approaches to this issue (Giuffré, 1988).
3.d. Other architectural treatises in the eighteenth century
The history of architectural treatises in Italy has a long tradition originated by Vitruvius’s treatise and characterized by very
large dissemination from the fifteenth century in the rest of Europe thanks to translations and reprints becoming very popular in a short
time (Leon Battista Alberto, De re edificatoria, 1452; Antonio Averlino Filarete, Il trattato di Architettura, 1464; Sebastiano Serlio, I sette
libri dell’Architettura, 1537; Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Regola delli cinque ordini d’Architettura, 1562; Andrea Palladio, I quattro
libri dell’architettura, 1570) and giving Italy cultural primacy (Philibert de L’Orme, L’Architecture, 1567; Hugues Sambin, Oeuvre de la
diversité des termes dont on use en architecture, 1572; Walther Hermann Ryff, Bawkunst Oder Architektur aller fürnemsten, 1582;
Cristóbal de Rojas, Teorica y practica de fortificacion, 1598). This Italian leadership was however lost two centuries later, just at the
time of Poleni (Neveu, 2005).
However, the contents of these very well known treatises differ profoundly from Poleni’s treatise since they address formal, design and
aesthetic issues of architecture (including for example the building types or architectural styles and orders) and they deal only
marginally with technical aspects, for example building materials and their general properties.
These treatises were in fact addressed to scholars, intellectuals and savants and their dissemination was due to their intellectual
connotation (Bury, 1988). Conversely, Poleni’s treatise is an essay that addresses purely technical and technological issues, for
instance drawing techniques compared to principles of optical physics, or debated issues on structural performance, seismic and
technological architecture. For these reasons Poleni’s treatise seems to have more connections with nineteenth-century treatises
than sixteenth-century treatises described above. The need to investigate technical issues using different criteria in comparison to
those traditionally used for examination of the aesthetic aspects of architecture highlights the introduction of other experimental
sciences also in architecture and the passage from the “Art of Construction” to the “Building Science”.
The proliferation of these technical treatises took place thanks to a new category of scholars interested in the experimental sciences,
such as chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering, which in fact rapidly developed from the end of the eighteenth century (Kruft,
1994). This highlights how Poleni’s treatise was anticipatory and innovative. For this reason this treatise quickly became an authoritative
reference on the national scene of technical treatises (Francesco Algarotti, Saggio sopra l’architettura, 1756; Girolamo Masi, Teoria e
pratica di Architettura civile, 1788; Daniele Danieletti, Elementi di Architettura Civile, 1791) and also in the international context (Marc-
Antoine Laugier, Essai sur l’architecture, 1753; Thomas Skaife, A key to civil architecture or The universal British builder, 1774;
Tobias Gruber, Briefe hydrographischen und physikalischen Inhalts aus Krain an Ignaz Edlen von Born, 1781), unlike treatises about
architectural orders that continued to proliferate in Italy thanks to the Vitruvian tradition (Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, Li Cinque Ordini di
Architettura,1749; Girolamo Fonda, Elementi di architettura civile e militare ad uso del Collegio Nazareno, 1764; Francesco Milizia,
Principi d’Architettura Civile, 1781), however, finding less continuity in Europe (Pierre Bullet, Architecture pratique, édition nouvelle revue
et augmentée, 1768; James Basire, The rudiments of ancient architecture, in two parts, containing an historical account of the five
orders, 1789; Leopold Peucker, Landschaften aus Architektur-Stücken und Alterthümern, 1793). However, considering specifically the
technical treatises, there are some interesting precedents also in Italy, such as the Manuale dell’Architetto by Giovanni Branca, which
Translation Journal - July 2015 | 77
