What are these black things called? Somehow they are satisfying to look at, even though this one is a bit run down. I have seen them on some French buildings, but I don’t remember which buildings. What are some buildings that have these? : architecture

Cupola. They an be on their very own, somewhat than on high of a bigger dome.

They advanced out of the Oculus – an earlier model the place there was only a gap to confess mild on the high of the dome – like within the Pantheon. It would not work so effectively in areas the place it rains typically, therefore the necessity for a greater answer.

I as soon as went proper inside this one.
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My father was the chaplain there and so they had been doing restoration work to mosaics in the primary dome. They’d created a scaffold platform throughout the bottom of the primary dome after which had a wheeled scaffold tower inside it. From the highest of the tower I may attain a metallic bar that ran throughout the opening on the base of the cupola and pull myself up on this bar with my arms to get excessive sufficient to see out of the tiny home windows. It was an attention-grabbing expertise – not least as a result of in all probability only a few folks had managed to get to that a part of the constructing after its unique building.