THE CENTRALLY PLANNED BUILDING

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TEXT I. BRIGHTER, HIGHER, FURTHER:

THE FIRST CATHEDRALS

"The Gothic cathedrals were conceived on a huge scale - many of them were only completed centuries after building work began"

The twelfth century saw the growth of towns, which developed into cultural centers. Firstly this led to the development of new building requirements: for example town halls were now necessary, and hospitals and schools were built. And secondly mass­ive churches were also created in the towns of the late Middle Ages. Many of them were only completed centuries after building work began, as the Gothic cathedrals were conceived on a huge scale. Here architects developed Romanesque forms further and adapted them to the requirements of each plan. The transition between periods was fluid during this time. Gradually a new architectural language emerged, which became dominant from around the middle of the twelfth century. The development of Gothic forms began in the French crown land of Ile-de-France*, but the new architectural style soon spread throughout the whole of Europe. The Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris, burial place of the French kings, is one of the founding buildings of the Gothic style. The former abbey church was partially rebuilt in the twelfth century. In the process the choir* was enlarged to create more space for the many pilgrims who arrived to worship its relics. A glimpse into Saint-Denis' extended choir, which was built between 1140 and 1144, demonstrates the architectural achievements of the period.

The Gothic cathedrals, like the Romanesque churches before them, followed the basilica layout, but now the side aisles* led to an ambulatory*.

Even the choir of Saint-Denis has such a corridor, from which a

whole crescent of individual chapels radiates. In this part of the building the pointed* arches are immedi­ately noticeable, as they were used both for the arched entrances to the chapels, and also in the windows. The pointed arch allowed considerably more creative freedom than the round arch: according to the demands of each space the pointed arch could be built in a flatter or more upright shape. A new form of vault derived from the pointed arch also emerged, the rib vault*, as now spaces of different heights could contain arches of equal height.

Rib vaulting can be seen in the choir of Saint-Denis. Only the columns and diaphragm arches separate the ambulatory from the crescent of chapels. There are no dividing walls between the chapels. The overall impression is of an open interior space, illuminated by areas of fenestration.

Pointed arches and rib vaulting are fundamental characteristics of Gothic architecture, and their creative advantages were fully exploited during this period. Because of the lighter weight of rib vaulting, Gothic architects could use it to cover larger areas than the previously used barrel or groin vaulting. In rib vaulting slender columns bear the load. However, the thrust of the vault is not only downwards into the columns, but also sideways. In order to absorb this sideways thrust, Gothic architects developed the system of buttresses, a cen­tral element of construction in the great cathedrals. To this end, arches were attached to the outside of the nave, above the height of the side aisles. These flying* buttresses are supported by masonry piers, which are built outside against the side aisle at right angles to the church wall. The piers form a structural unit with the so-called engaged columns inside the church, the slender columns which support the ribs. As a result both flying buttresses and vaulting must be built at the same time, so that no one-sided loads are brought to bear on the walls of the nave. The piers and flying buttresses on the outside of the church are often decorated, as is the case in Amiens Cathedral.

And as Amiens Cathedral also demonstrates, flying buttresses can also be double. As naves increase in height two or even three flying buttresses one above the other are necessary to absorb the thrust of the vault. But­tressing was not only attached to the nave, but it also absorbed the thrust of the vaulting in the choir area. Over time the initially heavy and deep flying buttresses became thinner and thinner, as can be seen for example in the buttressing of the choir at Chartres Cathedral, which was built between 1210 and 1220. In this small town southwest of Paris, building on a large church began in 1194 after its predecessor had been destroyed by fire.

The west facade of Chartres Cathedral is surmounted by two spires of different heights, which mark the parameters of the building's architectural history: the lower south spire dates from an earlier period of building, while the north spire, complet­ed in 1506, displays the rich ornamentation of the Gothic period. The nave and transept were built in just 25 years: by 1220 the church was complete, apart from individual sections such as the north spire mentioned above. In light of the church's overall length of 130 meters, this short building schedule is all the more astonishing. In these few years, buttressing developed into a decorative element: piers and flying buttresses abutting the nave and choir are ornamented with small towers on the piers, and curved arcades are set into the lower part of the buttress.

Thus buttresses did not remain a purely functional form for long, but soon became a creative element that determined the visual impact of Gothic cathe­drals in a fundamental way. Alongside architectural sculpture and ornamentation, which were equally important and multiform components of Gothic churches, buttresses in their numerous variations made the external architecture less severe. The massiveness of Romanesque churches, and the impression they gave of having been assembled from different architectural elements, has been left far behind. Thanks to the innovations of Gothic architecture, churches shot skywards: the nave of Chartres, for example, boasts an impressive interior height of 37 meters.

It is precisely in the system of buttressing that the polished technical construction of Gothic cathedrals can be clearly discerned, construction which the architects undertook without the aid of structural calculations. This construction relied exclusively on general ideas about how structural forces operated. Particularly in light of the great heights which were being built it is scarcely credible that medieval architects could manage without exact knowledge of the effect of dead weight or wind load on the structure. But in fact medieval building plans were based on experiential values as they affected the load-bearing capacity of materials and construc­tions. Statics, which would be used to make exact calculations possible, only appeared in the eighteenth century. As a result, building collapses and repairs were an everyday occurrence: for example, the entire vaulting of Beauvais Cathedral, whose nave was said to have reached the remarkable height of 48 meters, collapsed in 1284.

And the sixteenth century saw the collapse of the crossing tower during the ongoing rebuilding of the church. Nevertheless the striving for height in Gothic cathedral building still did not cease. Interiors as well as exteriors with towers on their facades and crossings all emphasized increas­ingly the upward movement. To Gothic cathedrals the walls had largely handed over their load-bearing function to the buttresses. The architects knew how to exploit this structural development: large wall surfaces disappeared and light was declared to be the new center of attention in churches. In place of massive masonry, architec­tural frameworks appeared which incorporated progressively larger window openings, creating interiors flooded with light. This is particularly noticeable in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. King Louis IX* commissioned the building of the chapel in the mid-thirteenth century next to his palace on the Ile de la Cite*. The over 12-meter-high windows were divided by stone partitions between whose thin, masonry tracery the colored glass pieces were set. Thus entire glass tapestries composed of colorful, radiant windows form the walls of the church. Light falls through the glass onto the delicate, richly decorated and painted architecture of the interior.

Beyond France too, Gothic architectural forms be­came dominant in many places, and with them the idea of space filled with colored light as the epitome of Gothic architecture. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries cathedrals were built in England, Spain, and Germany on the model of the French churches. In Cologne, for example, work began in 1248 on a massive building which adopted Gothic architec­tural forms. The height of the space also increased: the nave of Cologne Cathedral reached over 43 meters in height.

Thus a new standard was set in the development of height, and certainly in the question of building schedule as well: Cologne Cathedral was only finally finished in the nine­teenth century after a long hiatus in building activity. At this time the Gothic style, and with it the entire Middle Ages, were undergoing a renaissance: country villas and garden features appeared in the neo-Gothic style, and at the same time the Gothic cathedrals were subjected to expert investigation and restoration. In the Romantic period in particular the enthusiasm for the Middle Ages reached its peak in Germany, supported by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The poet recorded his admiration for the Gothic Strasbourg Cathedral in an essay of 1773: Gothic architecture was now the only true form. The young Goethe enthusiastically praised "the builder who heaped up mountains into the clouds."

Notes:

Ile-de-France - Иль-де-Фра́нс или Парижский регион — историческая область Франции и регион в центральной части Парижского бассейна, между реками Сена, Марна, Уаза. Территория Иль-де-Франс — ядро французского государства.

Ile de la Cite -Остров Сите́ или Ситэ — один из двух сохранившихся островов реки Сены в центре Парижа и, вместе с тем, старейшая часть города.

Louis IX -Людо́вик IX Свято́й — король Франции (1226—1270) из династии Капетингов. Сын Людовика VIII и Бланки Кастильской. Руководитель 7-го и 8-го крестовых походов.

choir - хор — в раннехристианских храмах пространство перед главным престолом, где помещался хор певчих; позднее в западноевропейских странах хором стала называться вся восточная (алтарная) часть церковного здания, до апсиды.

ambulatory - крытая аркада, галерея

pointed arch - стрельчатая арка

rib vault - нервюрный свод

flying buttress - аркбутан

TEXT II. SYMMETRY FIRST:

THE CENTRALLY PLANNED BUILDING

Medieval churches were almost invariably based on longitudinal ground-plans, which usually took the form of a cross. In Romanesque and Gothic building in particular this directional structure was the usual form for sacred architecture. But it was by no means the only form: during all historical periods buildings were also created on the basis of a symmetrical ground-plan. In these centrally planned buildings all the elements are related to a central point, and unlike basilicas these buildings have no clear orientation. The central ground-plan can take the form of a circle, a polygon, or a square even a Greek cross with four arms of equal length can be the basic form of a centrally planned building.

More than any other period in history, it was the Renaissance which saw the greatest artistic flower­ing of the ideal of the centrally planned building. But the story of the centrally planned building also starts with a work of Roman architecture: its culmi­nation is ultimately represented by the Pantheon in Rome.

This circular building was built between 118 and 125 A.D. and surmounted with a massivedome.The Pantheon remained in use even after the Roman period as a Christian church, and today numbers among the best preserved monuments of ancient Rome.

In early Christian architecture it was mainly baptisteries and tombs which were built on a round or polygonal footprint. The commonly used octa­gonal ground-plan can be seen, for example, in the church of San Vitale in Ravenna, which was built in the sixth century. A similarly octagonal dome with a diameter of 16 meters covers the central space.

An ambulatory surrounds the octagon, which is lit by round-headed windows, and which leads into the interior through similarly high round arches. This ambulatory extends over two stories, and in the upper story there are galleries which in turn are enclosed by semi-domes. The floral and ornamental mosaics that cover the floor and the altar area of the church date from the sixth century. Occasionally the original central ground-plan of a building disappeared as a result of later modifica­tions and can no longer be recognized at first sight.

This is the case in the Palatine Chapel in Aachen, Germany,

which was built on an octagonal ground-plan. Since its creation in 790 the church has been restructured many times and today the octagon forms the center of Aachen Cathedral. Originally the small church was part of Charlemagne's* imperial palace. For the rulers of the early medieval period, who had no fixed residence but continually traveled around their empire, these palaces were places to live and conduct the business of government, serving to consolidate their power at the same time. Most imperial palaces are only known through archeological excavations, and of the building in Aachen too, only the chapel remains. The main room which is enclosed by a dome is a two-story octagon just 20 meters in diameter, attached to the choir in the east. The octagon opens up through arches leading to the vaulted, 16-sided ambulatory. Charlemagne's throne stood in the upper church: the emperor was crowned in Aachen and also chose the Palatine Chapel as his burial place. The centrally planned building remained a common architectural form as a tomb or baptistery. Up until the age of Classicism it offered an alternative to the cross-shaped church ground-plan. During the Renaissance interest in the culture of Antiquity inspired the rediscovery of Vitruvius's books on architecture from the first century B.C. The Roman architectural theorist had thoroughly researched ideal proportions and had found them in the forms of the circle and the square. Thus, he concluded, these fundamental forms should also be the original forms for temple buildings. Renaissance architects adopted the strictly geometrical ground-plans in the form of a circle or square, considering them to be the epitome of symmetry. For architectural theorist Leon Battista Alberti the centrally planned building was an image of divine order.

As a result centrally planned buildings played a major role in Renaissance church building. At the same time it did not go un­noticed that with the central ground-plan reference was being made to ancient and therefore pagan temples, such as the Pantheon for example, and thus was in competition to the basilica with its basic form of a cross composed of a nave and transept. One of the first people who put into practice the knowledge derived from the study of the centrally planned buildings of Antiquity was Donato Bramante. Originally his small round temple in Rome, the Tempietto of S. Pietro in Montorio, was intended to form the center of an equally circular courtyard. However this idea was not realized: it remained a round building located in a square cour­tyard, but the architect Sebastiano Serlio* preserved the idea as a drawing in his Seven Books of Architecture.

In the Renaissance the centrally planned form was not only of renewed interest in church building, but it was also being debated beyond the realm of sacred architecture. Following the architecture of Antiquity, architects took inspiration from the central ground-plan in their designs for secular buildings as well. Andrea Palladio, the most sought-after villa architect in the Veneto*, took the country houses of the ancient world as his model. When the well-off Venetians in the sixteenth century discovered the advantages of country living beyond the lagoon, Palladio built suitable villas for them, drawing on models from the architecture of Antiquity. One of his clients was Paolo Almerico, who moved back to the mainland of the Veneto at the end of his professional career in Rome. Palladio built La Rotonda for him, thus creating a building that would continue to have great influence until the age of Classicism.

Almerico's country residence was begun in 1566 outside the city of Vicenza, and owes its name to the circular hall surmounted by a dome which is located in the exact center of the villa. With La Rotonda Palladio realized the idea of the perfect centrally planned building: further salons are arranged sym­metrically around the domed central hall according to the strictly square ground-plan. The entrance too follows ancient models: Palladio designed it as a temple frontage this was extremely daring for a secular building. Six Ionic columns support the triangular pediment, which is decorated with sculp­tures. Symmetry was the greatest requirement here, too, and as a result Palladio was not content with creating the entrance facade as a temple frontage, but he also placed similar porticos on all four sides of the building. By dispensing with a main view, and instead affording the same importance to all the building's axes, Palladio emphasized the symmetry of the architecture.

Notes:

Charlemagne - Карл I Вели́кий — король франков с 768 года, король лангобардов с 774 года, герцог Баварии c 788 года, император Запада с 800 года. Старший сын Пипина Короткого и Бертрады Лаонской. По имени Карла династия Пипинидов получила название Каролингов.

Sebastiano Serlio - Себастьяно Серлио (1475 — 1554) — итальянский архитектор-маньерист позднего Ренессанса из Школы Фонтенбло. Один из ведущих теоретиков архитектуры своей эпохи.

Veneto - Ве́нето — это один из двадцати регионов Италии с населением около пяти миллионов человек. Столицей и крупнейшим городом региона является Венеция. Венето, в рамках Венецианской республики, в течение тысячи лет был независимым государством.

TEXT III. BAROQUE BUILDINGS:

ARCHITECTURE IN MOTION

Symmetrical, clearly articulated buildings with harmoniously proportioned interiors and facades were the declared goal of the architects of the Renaissance. The architects of the Baroque, by contrast, no longer believed in the equal status of individual elements, but emphasized the effect of the whole. Art in the period between 1580 and 1770 was summed up in the word Baroque. At this time the Catholic Church was the most important patron, and as a result it was church building which advanced the Baroque style to the greatest extent. In the wake of the Reformation, which Martin Luther's Theses had initiated in 1517, the Catholic Church was called into question. Now the Church wanted to strengthen its role in society once again, in addition representing itself through architecture. As a result churches and monasteries arose in the Catholic countries of Europe whose aim was to convince the faithful of the importance of the Church.

The Baroque style began in Rome. It was there, towards the end of the sixteenth century, that modernizing urban planning reached its peak: whole streets were laid out and the Vatican was incorpor­ated architecturally into the city. The newly built St. Peter's Basilica, the most important church in Christendom, inaugurated a major project in Rome at the beginning of the century.

Over the long period of its construction this project went through many changes of plan and architect, finally becoming one of the most striking examples of Baroque architecture.

When the new building started under Pope Julius II in 1506, a building on a central plan was mapped out which architects carried out over the following decades. Forty years later, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) surmounted the church with a massive dome. Two elements determine its external impact: the repeating motif of paired columns and, set back from them, the straight-headed, pedimented win­dows. These forms alternate below the monumental dome, which seems to be put in motion through this variation. On the dome, too, Michelangelo created optical depth and relief: across its shell, ribs radiate forth like light rays from the dome's lantern. Be­tween them are set more windows, which pursue the pediment motif of the drum. By repeating individual elements, but varying them, Michelangelo played with the effect of nearness and distance, here too creating the impression of movement in spite of the heaviness of the dome.

By 1590 the centrally planned building was finally finished according to plan, but the project of St. Peter's was nonetheless a long way from completion. Baroque architect Carlo Maderno* was given the task of continuing the work. At the beginning of the seventeenth century he was required to add a nave to the central ground-plan. In the Baroque period the directional nave structure was once again acquiring more supporters: not only did it offer more space, but with its basic form of a cross it also came closer to the architectural task of a Christian church. When St. Peter's nave was finished in 1626, however, the building was no longer convinc­ing in its effect: the dome had lost its monumentality, and by contrast the facade looked too wide for its height. In order to return once again to the originally planned effect, it was decided to redesign the entire square in front of the church. Gian Lorenzo Bernini* created an oval square that demonstrates the whole sense of movement of the Italian Baroque. Wide colonnades embrace the square like two arms and emphasize the momentum of the site created by open and closed forms. In addition Bernini lent the architecture an upward movement optically by increasing the height of the colonnades around the square as they approach the church. Dynamism, momentum, animation: these central characteristics of Baroque architecture are not only employed in the project of St. Peter's Basilica. The dynamic formal language typical of the Baroque can also be seen in many other of the numerous new churches and church rebuildings of the period. One of them is the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome, also designed by Bernini.

The form of its ground-plan is new and would be used again and again during the Baroque period. The church is based on a transverse oval and this form recurs many times in the body of the building.

Thus the dome too has a basic oval form and as a result the drum leading to itis also oval in shape. The curved forms continue on the outside of the building: curved steps lead up to the entrance, which is enclosed by a round roof. Even the walls adjoining the portal take part in the movement, as they are curved and jut out some distance. And it was not only the facades of Baroque buildings that seemed to move and pulsate in concave and convex curves. The ground-plans too occasionally contribute to the dynamic effect: the footprint of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, the church of the University of Rome, is a six-pointed star whose differently shaped points create an optical interplay.

Francesco Borromini* began work on the new building in 1642 and the project was to continue for over 20 years. The resulting interior is a space which seems to curve forwards and back. This impression iscreated in Sant'Ivo by the ends of the star-shaped ground-plan: they are extended alter­nately either into niches which are rounded on the outside or into enclosures which curve inwards on the inside.

Decoration, in the interior as well as on the facade, was thus an important component of Baroque architecture. On the facades of Baroque buildings, architectural ornamentation provided effects of light and shadow and thus contributed to the impression of movement. In the interiors too in churches as in secular buildings decoration knew no limits. Ceilings and walls disappeared behind stucco orna­ment and painting, and magnificent marble fittings, columns with richly ornamented capitals, or lavishly designed floors completed the splendid overall effect. Even the fittings of Baroque churches were designed for effect: the interior with its marble, gold, and rich figurative decoration became more and more complex, as illusionistic wall and ceiling paintings contributed further to lending the spaces volume and depth. Frequently this was more appearance than reality: marble was frequently used merely as a veneer and columns were in reality made of brick; mirrors gave a false sense of size which a small room could certainly not compete with; or domes which looked magnificent on the outside were constructed with a simple wooden framework on the inside. Sometimes theperspectivally correct painted architecture looked like a continuation of what had actually been built. This is shown in the ceiling fresco of the church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome, which was painted in the 1690s.

The painter Andrea Pozzo* fused architecture and painting together on the ceiling of the church. His columns and arches painted in the vault of the ceiling look real at first sight and form a continuation of the actual architecture one story higher. The illusionistic architecture fulfills its purpose and provides the illu­sion of a wide space filled with movement. Painting and architecture come together to trick the viewer's perception through stylized illusionism. This trend was not limited to sacred architecture any more than the wealth of forms or opulence: secular buildings from the Baroque period, such as palaces or city resi­dences, were no less magnificent in their appearance.

Notes:

Carlo Maderno - Карло Мадерна (1556-1629 года) Итальянский архитектор, работал в Риме, считается основателем стиля раннего барокко в архитектуре.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini -Джан Лоренцо Бернини (1598 —1680) — великий итальянский архитектор и скульптор, крупнейший представитель римского и всего итальянского барокко.

Francesco Borromini -Франческо Борромини (1599 —1667) — великий итальянский архитектор, работавший в Риме. Наиболее радикальный представитель раннего барокко.

Andrea Pozzo -Андреа дель Поццо (1642 —1709) — итальянский живописец и архитектор. Представитель барокко. Виртуозный мастер иллюзионистической росписи (фрески в церкви Сант-Иньяцио в Риме, 1685-99 гг.). Автор трактата по теории перспективы.

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