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New Contributions on the Escuelas Pías Dome in Valencia

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Abstract

In the city of Valencia (Spain), domes covered by blue-glazed roofing tiles are common, but there is one that stands out above all others; the dome of the Escuelas Pías, one of the largest single-shell domes of Christianity. This dome is pending repair due to the appearance of large cracks. The present contribution aims to take us closer to the construction of the dome. By following a historical trajectory, we broaden its formal analysis providing a constructive approach that determines some factors on which some questions and controversies have been raised. Thus, we intend to solve these issues and others based on the results obtained from a high-precision graphic survey carried out by the authors. Based on the analysis of this graphic survey, new contributions regarding to its current morphology and the construction system used will be facilitated, revealing some unknowns that enable the understanding of its structural functioning and its constructive technology.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor Rafael Soler Verdú, conservation architect of the Escuelas Pías of Valencia, for all the information provided and the interesting discussions we had a chance to share with him. We would also like to thank architect Alba Soler Estrela, for entrusting us the dome surveys by means of laser scanning and photogrammetry. Likewise, we thank architects Luis Cortés Meseguer and Ricardo Perelló Roso for the information provided to prepare this article. And finally, our acknowledgment to the Escuelas Pías of Valencia for facilitating the access to its premises to carry out the graphic survey work.

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  1. Universitat Politècnica de València (ETSIE), Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Pablo Rodriguez-Navarro & Teresa Gil-Piqueras

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  1. Pablo Rodriguez-Navarro
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  2. Teresa Gil-Piqueras
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Correspondence to Pablo Rodriguez-Navarro.

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Rodriguez-Navarro, P., Gil-Piqueras, T. New Contributions on the Escuelas Pías Dome in Valencia. Nexus Netw J 22, 1081–1098 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-020-00500-5

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