ABSTRACT
The Basilica of St Anthony in Padua, Italy, is one of the major pilgrimage landmarks of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its silhouette is dominated by no less than eight imposing domes composed of inner masonry shells surmounted by timber structures. In the scope of an ongoing research project, it has been established that the domes formed an integral part of the building plan from the very beginning. This paper aims at understanding the successive configurations of the timber structures and at providing a set of hypotheses about the original construction process. As archival material on the early building periods has been lost, the study is mainly based on onsite analyses, including dendrochronological dating.
