RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE:
• Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries
in different regions of Europe, in which there was a conscious revival and development of certain elements
of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed
Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture.
• The word "Renaissance" derived from the term "la rinascita" (meaning re-birth).
• The Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as
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they are demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity and in particular ancient Roman
architecture, of which many examples remained.
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• Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semi-circular arches,
hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules’ replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular
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profiles of medieval buildings.
• Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly
spread to other Italian cities and then to France, Germany, England, Russia and elsewhere.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE:
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The obvious distinguishing features of Classical Roman architecture were adopted by Renaissance architects.
However, the forms and purposes of buildings had changed over time, as had the structure of cities.
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• PLAN: The plans have a square, symmetrical appearance in which proportions are
usually based on a module. Within a church, the module is often the width of an
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aisle. The need to integrate the design of the plan with the facade was introduced
as an issue in the work of Filippo Brunelleschi.
• FACADES: Facades are symmetrical around their vertical axis. Church facades are
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generally surmounted by a pediment and organised by a system of pilasters, arches
and entablatures. The columns and windows show a progression towards the
centre. One of the first true Renaissance façades was the Cathedral of Pienza.
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Domestic buildings are often surmounted by a cornice. There is a regular repetition
of openings on each floor, and the centrally placed door is marked by a feature such
as a balcony, or rusticated surround
• COLUMNS & PILASTERS: The Roman orders of columns are used:- Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian and Composite. The orders can either be structural, supporting an
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arcade or architrave, or purely decorative. During the Renaissance, architects aimed
to use columns, pilasters, and entablatures as an integrated system.
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• ARCHES: Arches are semi-circular or (in the Mannerist style) segmental. Arches are
often used in arcades, supported on piers or columns with capitals. There may be a
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section of entablature between the capital and the springing of the arch.
• VAULTS: Vaults do not have ribs. They are semi-circular or segmental and on a
square plan, unlike the Gothic vault which is frequently rectangular
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• DOMES: The dome is used frequently, both as a very large structural feature that is
visible from the exterior, and also as a means of roofing smaller spaces where they
are only visible internally
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• CEILINGS: Roofs are fitted with flat or coffered ceilings. They are not left open as in
medieval architecture. They are frequently painted or decorated.
• DOORS: Doors usually have square lintels. They may be set within an arch or
surmounted by a triangular or segmental pediment. Openings that do not have
doors are usually arched and frequently have a large or decorative keystone.
• WINDOWS: Windows may be paired and set within a semi-circular arch. They may have square lintels and
triangular or segmental pediments, which are often used alternately
• WALLS: External walls are generally of highly finished ashlar masonry, laid in straight courses. The corners of
buildings are often emphasised by rusticated quoins. Basements and ground floors were often rusticated
• DETAILS: Courses, moldings and all decorative details are carved with great precision. Studying and
mastering the details of the ancient Romans was one of the important aspects of Renaissance theory.
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PHASES OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE:
Historians often divided the Renaissance in Italy into three phases. Whereas art historians might talk of an "Early
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Renaissance" period, in which they include developments in 14th century painting and sculpture, this is usually not
the case in architectural history. Historians often use the following designations:
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• Quattrocento or Early Renaissance (ca. 1400-1500):
o In the Quattrocento, concepts of architectural order were explored and rules were formulated. The
study of classical antiquity led in particular to the adoption of Classical detail and ornamentation.
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o Space, as an element of architecture, was utilised differently to the way it had been in the Middle
Ages.
o Space was organised by proportional logic, its form and rhythm subject to geometry, rather than
being created by intuition as in Medieval buildings.
• High Renaissance (ca.1500–1525):
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o During the High Renaissance, concepts derived from classical antiquity were developed and used
with greater surety.
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o The most representative architect is Bramante (1444–1514) who expanded the applicability of
classical architecture to contemporary buildings. He was, however, hardly a slave to the classical
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forms and it was his style that was to dominate Italian architecture in the 16th century
• Mannerism (ca. 1520–1600):
o Mannerism was marked by widely diverging tendencies in the work of Michelangelo, Giulio
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Romano, Peruzzi and Andrea Palladio, that led to the Baroque style in which the same architectural
vocabulary was used.
o During the Mannerist period, architects experimented with using architectural forms to emphasize
solid and spatial relationships.
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o The best known architect associated with the Mannerist style was Michelangelo (1475–1564), who
is credited with inventing the giant order, a large pilaster that stretches from the bottom to the top
of a facade.
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI: (1404-1472)
• Alberti was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer
• Alberti's life was described in Giorgio Vasari's Vite as one of the most excellent painters, sculptors and
architects'.
• He was born in 1404 in Genoa to a wealthy Florentine father who had been exiled from his own city but
later returned.
• He lived for a time in Florence, then travelled to Rome in 1431, where he took holy orders and entered the
service of the papal court.
• Alberti, having taken holy orders, remained unmarried all his life
• At this time he studied the ancient ruins which excited his interest in architecture and were to become a
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strong influence on the form of the buildings that he was to design
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• He was tall, strong and a fine athlete, who could ride the wildest horse and jump over a man's head
• In 1438 he began to take a serious interest in architecture, encouraged by the Marchese Leonello d'Este of
Ferrara, for whom he built a small triumphal arch to support an equestrian statue of Leonello's father
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• In 1447 he became the architectural advisor to Pope Nicholas V as was involved with a number of projects
at the Vatican
• His first major architectural commission was in 1446, the facade of the Rucellai Palace in Florence followed
by another commission which was to transform the Gothic church of San Francesco in Rimini into a
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memorial chapel
• At Mantua he designed the church of Sant'Andrea
• As an artist, Alberti distinguished himself from the ordinary craftsman, educated in workshops.
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• He was ahumanist, and part of the rapidly expanding entourage of intellectuals and artisans supported by
the courts of the princes and lords of the time.
• Alberti died in Rome on April 20, 1472 at the age of 68.
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ST. ANDREA BASILICA, MANTUA BY LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI:
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• The Basilica of St. Andrea is a Roman Catholic co-cathedral and minor basilica in Mantua, Lombard, Italy.
• It is one of the major works of 15th century Renaissance architecture in Northern Italy.
• The church was begun in 1462 according to designs by Leon Battista Alberti on a site occupied by
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a Benedictine monastery, of which the bell tower remains.
• It is an extremely dynamic building both outside and within.
• Its triumphal facade is marked by extreme contrasts. The projection of the order of pilasters that define the
architectural elements, but are essentially non-functional, is very shallow.
• This contrasts with the gaping deeply recessed arch which makes a huge portico before the main door. The
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size of this arch is in direct contrast to the two low square-topped openings that frame it.
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• The light and shade play dramatically over the surface of the building because of the shallowness of its
moldings and the depth of its porch.
• In the interior Alberti has dispensed with the traditional nave and aisles. Instead there is a slow and
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majestic progression of alternating tall arches and low square doorways, repeating the "triumphal arch"
motif of the façade.
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Fig: St. Andrea, Mantua Fig: Palazzo Rucellai, Florence
Palazzo Rucellai by Leon Battista Alberti :
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•
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Palazzo Rucellai was designed by renowned humanist an architect Alberti in his native city Florence.
It was erected between 1446 and 1451
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• It was the first domestic building articulated with Classical Orders- Doric for the ground and two varieties of
Corinthian for the upper two storeys creating an effect reminiscent of the Coliseum
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• This splendid work was the first to fully express the spirit of fifteenth century Humanism in residential
architecture.
• Flanking the two main doorways are long stone street benches that run the length of the building
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• The elegant design of this palace marked a turning point in the architecture of the patrician residence and
set it apart from the more fortress-like structures that had been previously built in Florence.
• Palazzo Rucellai is one of the oldest and most prestigious historical residences in Florence and holds an
important place in the city's patrimony.
• It has been home to the Rucellai family for over 500 years and the family continues to occupy portions of
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the building.
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ANDREA PALLADIO (1508 –1580):
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• Palladio was an Italian architect active in the Republic of Venice.
• Influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, Palladio is widely considered the most
influential individual in the history of Western architecture.
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• He published “The Four Books of Architecture” in Venice. This book was widely printed and responsible to a
great degree of spreading the ideas of the Renaissance through Europe.
• Palladio’s name today is identified with an architectural movement named after him known as Palladian
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architecture.
• His architectural works have "been valued for centuries as the quintessence of High Renaissance calm and
harmony"
• He designed many palaces, villas, and churches, but Palladio's reputation, initially, and after his death, has
been founded on his skill as a designer of villas. The Palladian villas are located mainly in the province of
Vicenza, while the Palazzo are concentrated in the city of Vicenza and the churches in Venice.
• A number of his works are now protected as part of the World Heritage Site City of Vicenza and the
Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
• Palladio always designed his villas with reference to their setting. If on a hill, such as Villa Capra, facades
were frequently designed to be of equal value so that occupants could have fine views in all directions.
• Palladio would often model his villa elevations on Roman temple facades. The temple influence, often in a
cruciform design, later became a trademark of his work.
• During the second half of his life, Palladio published many books.
• The Four Books of Architecture by Palladio provided systematic rules and plans for buildings which were
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creative and unique at that time.
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• Palladio’s nine rules sets:
o Walls - parametric formula
o Ceilings - parametric formula
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o Stairs - parametric formula
o Columns - parametric object
o Doors - parametric formula
o Windows - parametric formula
o Frames - parametric object
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o Roof - parametric formula
o Details - parametric object and formula
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VILLA CAPRA, LA ROTUNDA, IN VICENZA:
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• Villa Capra is a Renaissance villa in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio
• The name "Capra" derives from the Capra brothers, who completed the building after it was ceded to them
in 1591
• Like other work by Palladio in Vicenza, it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.
• This villa was not a villa-farm but a palatial retreat from the city, the site of which was selected on a hilltop
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just outside the city of Vicenza
• Unlike others, this sophisticated building was designed for a site which was, in modern terminology,
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"suburban". Palladio classed the building as a "palazzo" rather than a villa.
• The design is for a completely symmetrical building having a square plan with four facades, each of which
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has a projecting portico.
• The whole is contained within an imaginary circle which touches each corner of the building and centres of
the porticos
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• The round form of the central domed salone gives the villa its name.
• Each portico has steps leading up, and opens via a small cabinet or corridor to the circular domed central
hall.
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• The design reflected the humanist values of Renaissance architecture.
• In order for each room to have some sun, the design was rotated 45 degrees from each cardinal point of
the compass
• Building began in 1567. Neither Palladio nor the owner, Paolo Almerico, were to see the completion of the
villa.
• Palladio died in 1580 and a second architect was employed by the new owners to oversee the completion.
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MICHELANGELO (1475-1564):
• Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of the creative giants whose achievements mark the High Renaissance.
• He excelled in each of the fields of painting, sculpture and architecture and his achievements brought
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about significant changes in each area.
• Michelangelo was considered the greatest living artist in his lifetime, and ever since then he has been held to
be one of the greatest artists of all time
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• A number of his works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence
• His architectural fame lies chiefly in two buildings:- the interiors of the Laurentian Library and its lobby at
the monastery of San Lorenzo in Florence , for which Michelangelo had a wooden model constructed, but
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which remains to this day unfinished rough brick and later the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.
• St Peter's was "the greatest creation of the Renaissance", and a great number of architects contributed
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their skills to it. But at its completion, there was more of Michelangelo’s design than of any other architect,
before or after him.
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ST. PETER’S ROME BY MICHELANGELO:
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• The church is built on Vatican Hill, across the Tiber river from the historic center of Rome
• The location is highly symbolic: this was the site where Saint Peter, the chief apostle, died a martyr and
where he was buried
• Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini
• In the middle of the fifteenth century, the basilica was falling into ruin and pope Nicolas V ordered the
restoration and enlargement of the church
• In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
• Successive architects had worked on it, but little progress had been made. Michelangelo was persuaded to
take over the project.
• Michelangelo took over a building site at which four piers, enormous beyond any constructed since ancient
Roman times, were rising behind the remaining nave of the old basilica
• Even though the work had progressed only a little in 40 years, Michelangelo did not simply dismiss the
ideas of the previous architects.
• He returned to the concepts of Bramante, and developed his ideas for a centrally planned church,
strengthening the structure both physically and visually.
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• As it stands today, St. Peter's has been extended with a nave by Carlo Maderno. It is the chancel end (the
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ecclesiastical "Eastern end") with its huge centrally placed dome that is the work of Michelangelo.
• The interior extends 615 feet, with 11 chapels and 45 altars.
• At the center of the church a canopy of gilded bronze, resting atop 66-foot-high spiraling columns, shelters
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the high altar where only the Pope may celebrate mass. Bernini designed the canopy -- a curlicued Baroque
extravaganza.
• A highlight among the basilica's artistic treasures, Michelangelo's Pietà is a heartbreakingly expressive
portrayal of Mary with the lifeless body of Jesus draped across her lap. Michelangelo sculpted the marble
statue when he was just 25 years old, and it was the only piece he ever signed.
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• Because of its location within the Vatican State and because the projection of the nave screens the dome
from sight when the building is approached from the square in front of it, the work of Michelangelo is best
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appreciated from a distance
• The dome, not completed until after his death, has been called by Banister Fletcher, "the greatest creation
of the Renaissance" and remains one of the largest churches of the world.
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GIAN LORENZO BERNINI (1598-1680):
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• He was an Italian artist and a prominent architect who worked principally in Rome.
• He was the leading sculptor of his age, credited with creating the Baroque style of sculpture
• Bernini's architectural works include sacred and secular buildings and sometimes their urban settings and
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interiors
• He made adjustments to existing buildings and designed new constructions. Amongst his most well-known
works are the Piazza San Pietro (1656–67), the piazza and colonnades in front of St. Peter's Basilica and the
interior decoration of the Basilica.
• Amongst his secular works are a number of Roman palaces: following the death of Carlo Maderno, he took
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over the supervision of the building works at the Palazzo Barberini.
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• Bernini did not build many churches from scratch; rather his efforts were concentrated on pre-existing
structures, and in particular St. Peter's.
• In 1639, Bernini bought property on the corner of the via Mercede and the via del Collegio di Propaganda
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Fide in Rome. On this site he built himself a palace, the Palazzo Bernini.
BASILICA OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE:
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• The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy,
situated at the centre of the city’s main market district.
• It is the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family.
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• It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence; when it was consecrated in 1393. It
stood outside the city walls.
• For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to
Santa Reparata.
• San Lorenzo was also the parish church of the Medici family.
• Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance architect of the first half of the fifteenth century, was
commissioned to design it, but the building, with alterations, was not completed until after his death.
• The church is part of a larger monastic complex that contains other important architectural works: the Old
Sacristy by Brunelleschi; the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo; the New Sacristy based on Michelangelo's
designs; and the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti.
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ST. PETER’S PIAZZA, ROME BY BERNINI:
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• To the east of the basilica is the Piazza di San Pietro, (St. Peter's Square).
• The present arrangement, constructed between 1656 and 1667, is the Baroque inspiration of Bernini who
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inherited a location already occupied by an Egyptian obelisk of the 13th century BC, which was centrally
placed, to Maderna's facade.
• The obelisk, at 25.5 metre (83.6 ft) and a total height, including base and the cross on top, of 40 metres
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(131 ft), is the second largest standing obelisk, and the only one to remain standing since it removal from
Egypt and re-erection at the Circus of Nero, where it had stood since AD 37.
• Two fountains form the axis of the piazza.
• The other object in the old square with which Bernini had to contend was a large fountain designed by
Maderna in 1613 and set to one side of the obelisk, making a line parallel with the facade. Bernini's plan
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uses this horizontal axis as a major feature of his unique, spacially dynamic and highly symbolic design.
• The most obvious solutions were either a rectangular piazza of vast proportions so that the obelisk stood
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centrally and the fountain (and a matching companion) could be included, or a trapezoid piazza which
fanned out from the facade of the basilica
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• Bernini's ingenius solution was to create a piazza in two sections. That part which is nearest the basilica is
trapezoid, but rather than fanning out from the facade, it narrows. This gives the effect of countering the
visual perspective. It means that from the second part of the piazza, the building looks nearer than it is, the
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breadth of the facade is minimised and its height appears greater in proportion to its width. The second
section of the piazza is a huge eliptical circus which gently slopes downwards to the obelisk at its centre.
The two distinct areas are framed by a colonnade formed by doubled pairs of columns supporting an
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entabulature of the simple Tuscan Order.
• The part of the colonnade that is around the elipse does not entirely encircle it, but reaches out in two arcs,
symbolic of the arms of "the Roman Catholic Church reaching out to welcome its communicants.
• The obelisk and Maderna's fountain make the widest axis of the elipse. Bernini balanced the scheme with
another fountain in 1675.
• Bernini's transformation of the site is entirely Baroque in concept. Where Bramante and Michelangelo
concieved a building that stood in "self-sufficient isolation", Bernini made the whole complex "expansively
relate to its environment".
• Banister Fletcher says "No other city has afforded such a wide-swept approach to its cathedral church, no
other architect could have concieved a design of greater nobility...(it is) the greatest of all atriums before
the greatest of all churches of Christendom”.
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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE:
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• Long, narrow naves are replaced by broader, occasionally circular forms
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• dramatic use of light, either strong light-and-shade contrasts,
• uniform lighting by means of several windows
• opulent use of ornaments (puttos made of wood (often gilded), plaster or stucco, marble or faux finishing)
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• large-scale ceiling frescos
• the external façade is often characterized by a dramatic central projection
• the interior is often no more than a shell for painting and sculpture (especially in the late Baroque)
• illusory effects like trompe l'oeil (an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion)
and the blending of painting and architecture
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• in the Bavarian, Czech, Polish, and Ukrainian Baroque, pear domes are ubiquitous
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• Marian and Holy Trinity columns are erected in Catholic countries, often in thanksgiving for ending a plague
• Though the tendency has been to see Baroque architecture as a European phenomenon, one must not
forget that it coincided with -- and is integrally enmeshed with -- the rise of European colonialism.
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• Michelangelo's late Roman buildings, particularly St. Peter's Basilica, may be considered precursors to
Baroque architecture.
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CHRISTOPHER WREN (1623-1723):
• He is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.
• Wren was born in Wiltshire England in 1632.
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• He attended Wadham College, in Oxford, starting in 1649.
• He was made the Gresham Professor of Astronomy in 1657.
• He became an architect around 1661.
• London's Great Fire of 1666 gave Wren a chance to plan a new, perfect, London; this plan was only partially
completed.
• Wren was appointed Surveyor General of the King's Works 1669 by Charles II, which meant he did all the
repair and maintenance work on all the royal palaces.
• In 1673 Wren resigned his Oxford professorship because of the king’s work load; this earned him a
knighthood for loyalty to the king (the “Sir”)
• Wren was the only architect to design a Cathedral and see it through to completion in his lifetime
• He died London, England, in 1723.
ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL (LONDON):
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• S. Paul’s Cathedral, London occupying the site of the Medieval cathedral destroyed in the Great Fire, is
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Wren’s masterpiece.
• The first design, of which there is a model in the north triforium, was a Greek cross in plan, with projecting
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vestibule, but the influence of the clergy, who desired a long nave and choir suitable for ritual, finally
caused the selection of a Latin cross or Mediaeval type of plan.
• The interior has a length of 141m including apse, a breadth including aisles of 30.8 m and an area of about
64,000 square ft.
• This plan, in which Wren wisely so spread the weight of the structure that in the crypt solids and voids are
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approximately equal, consists of a great central space at the crossing suitable for vast congregations, choir
and nave in three bays, north and south transepts with semicircular porticoes, and projecting western
portico of coupled columns.
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• The western bay of the nave is, unlike the other bays, square on plan, and is flanked by chapels, which
project externally.
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• This bay has coupled columns supporting lateral arches through the northern of which is visible the Chapel
of S. Dunstan, with its fine columnar screen of carved woodwork.
• The Corinthian pilasters of the nave support an attic concealing the aisle roofs over the triforium, and the
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nave is crowned by ingeniously designed saucer-like domes, 27.7 in high, beneath which the clear-storey
windows have lunette vaults.
• The choir is enriched with fine stalls and organ case by Grinling Gibbons, and beautiful hammered iron
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gates by Tijou, while it terminates in the modern reredos, the vaulting being decorated by Sir William
Richmond with coloured glass mosaics.
• The dome and its support presented a complicated structural problem . The dome is carried on eight piers,
and is 34 m in diameter at the base of the high drum, at the level of the Whispering Gallery, diminishing to
30.8 in at the top of the drum, and is of triple construction.
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• The inner dome of brick, 457 mm thick, has its eye 65.3 m above the floor, while the intermediate conical
dome, of brick 457 mm thick, strengthened by a double chain of iron, supports the stone lantern, ball and
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cross; besides which the outer dome also rests on this intermediate cone and is formed of timber covered
with lead . Eight openings are formed in the summit of the outer dome to admit light to the inner dome .
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• The vaulted crypt, extending under the whole church, is the last resting place of many famous men,
including Nelson, Wellington and Wren himself.
• The exterior is exceedingly effective and groups well with the central dome. The facades have two Orders,
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the lower Corinthian and the upper Composite, totaling 6 in height .The aisles are only one storey high, so
the part above them is a screen-wall introduced to give dignity and to act as a counter weight to the flying
buttresses concealed behind it, which receive the thrust of the nave vault.
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• The western facade, 54 ft wide, approached by a broad flight of steps which give scale to the building, has a
central storied portico of coupled Corinthian and Composite columns superimposed, surmounted by a
pediment sculptured with the Conversion of S. Paul.
• The portico is flanked by two beautifully proportioned campanile, 64.7 m high above the nave floor, that on
the north containing bells and that on the south the clock, while the fine semicircular porticoes to the
transepts are also notable.
• The external dome is probably the finest in Europe, for the projecting masses of masonry at the meeting of
nave and transepts, forming the vestries and stairs to dome, express support from the ground upwards.
• The peristyle round the drum, with an external diameter of about 42.5 ft , is particularly effective with
three quarter columns attached to radiating buttress- walls, every fourth intercolumniation being filled
with masonry.
• Above the colonnade is the Stone Gallery and attic supporting the dome, which is crowned with lantern,
ball and cross, weighing 850 tons, rising to a height of 111.5 m above the pavement
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• Though the tendency has been to see Baroque architecture as a European phenomenon, one must not
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forget that it coincided with -- and is integrally enmeshed with -- the rise of European colonialism.
• Michelangelo's late Roman buildings, particularly St. Peter's Basilica, may be considered precursors to
Baroque architecture.
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