Dome

Close side view of the portico; Wagner's late projects from 1903 radically continued the transformation of the work of Schinkel, Van der Nüll and Semper, as seen in his two master buildings: the sanatorium church [part of the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital] of St Leopold (1903-1907), Steinhof, and the Postsparkasse (1903-1912), both in Vienna. The church is built on a Greek-cross plan and is surmounted by a steel-framed semicircular dome with a tall drum on an octagon. The domed ceiling within is carried on a gilded steel mesh. A modified Roman Doric order is expressed in four giant columns that pierce the projected transom of the entrance arch, to be crowned by bronze statuary below a deep, coffered cornice outlining the shallow narthex, transepts and sanctuary. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 1/26/2008)