The Dome of St. Peter's

The art historian George Hersey of Yale University points out fractal characteristics in Bramante's 1506 plan for the new St. Peter's.

"Handbooks usually describe this design as a Greek cross with domed crossing and symmetrically placed subsidiary domes. I will briefly quote myself:

`Symmetrically clustered within the inside corners formed by the cross's arms are four miniature Greek crosses, that, together, make up the basic cube of the church's body.

The arms of these smaller crosses consist of further miniatures.

And their corners, in turn, are filled in with smaller chapels and niches.' Hersey

In other words, Bramante's plan may be called fractal: it repeats like units at different scales."

Bramante's plan is on the left.

Click either picture to enlarge in a new window.

Giorgio made similar plans for St. Peter's, with four levels of iterated domes. On the left are Fra Giocondo's drawings of Giorgio's plans.

Also, da Vinci drew a plan for a domed cathedral with four levels of domes.