European architects. medieval architecture of europe

ESSAY

Architecture of Europe XIX-XX centuries

1. The birth of architecture

The origin of architecture dates back to the era of the primitive communal system in the late Paleolithic era (about 10 thousand years BC), when the first artificially built dwellings and settlements arose. The simplest methods of organizing space on the basis of a rectangle and a circle were mastered, and the development of structural systems with support-walls or posts, conical, gable or flat beam coverings began. Natural materials (wood, stone) were used, raw bricks were made. All this was mastered by man before writing appeared.

The end of the existence of primitive society was affected by the construction of fortresses with walls or earthen ramparts and ditches. In megalithic structures (menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs), the combination of vertical and horizontal blocks of stone testifies to the further development of the patterns of architectonics. For example, the cromlech at Stonehenge, UK. It is also worth mentioning the houses on stilts in France, the mud-plots and the houses of the Trypillian culture in Ukraine.

1.1 19th century architecture

The Empire style became the main architectural style of the first half of the 19th century. Developing the line of late classicism, this style was guided by samples and forms of classical art of antiquity, mainly imperial Rome. The style is distinguished by its monumental forms, the widespread use of massive porticos, triumphal arches, the use of military attributes and emblems in architectural elements and ornaments.

In Russia, classicism persisted until the end of the 18th - the first third of the 19th centuries. This period is characterized by a wide range of spatial compositions and a solemn splendor of artistic images that reflected the patriotic ideas of the time. Through the "exemplary projects", according to which it was prescribed to build, classicism spread to the ordinary building of cities.

In the 1830-50s. classicism everywhere is in decline. The influence of the tastes of the new customer - the bourgeoisie, the division of labor in the construction business, the separation of architectural creativity from engineering and technical solutions led to the fact that the tasks that were set for the architect were reduced to decorating buildings, innovative designs were hidden by props that imitated the forms of past eras. The forms of one of the historical styles (classicism, baroque, gothic, etc.) were used, adjusted to the system of proportions and rhythm that were set by the structure of the building that the engineer created, or forms borrowed from different styles were mixed in the decoration, this style was called Eclecticism.

The so-called Art Nouveau style, which arose in the 1890s, tried to resolve the contradictions between the old and new archaic forms and the new purpose of buildings. Art Nouveau architecture is distinguished, first of all, by the desire to create both aesthetically beautiful and functional buildings. Much attention was paid not only to the appearance of the buildings, but also to the interior, which was carefully designed. All structural elements: stairs, doors, pillars, balconies were artistically processed.

1.2 20th century architecture

At the beginning of the 20th century the search for new architectural forms was also carried out on the basis of a combination of technological achievements with classical principles. After 1917, the development of the architecture of Western European society became more and more contradictory, reflecting, on the one hand, the interests of the ruling class and its ideology, and, on the other hand, the continuing development of productive forces, the social nature of production and the growing strength of the working masses (the construction of cheap housing, which was supposed to soften the severity of housing crisis; cooperative construction; construction by municipalities in France); it also experiences the direct influence of Soviet architecture. Rationalism is emerging, putting forward the principle of maximum expediency, strict compliance of the structure of the building with the tasks of organizing the production and household processes occurring in it. Based on the achievements of technology, the rationalists were looking for means of expressiveness in laconism and contrast of forms, attaching primary importance to the structural and technical basis of the building and its function, organization - functionalism.

In the 1930s functionalism, which spread in the architecture of all Western countries, in many cases acquired a character indifferent to the specifics of local conditions, serving as an apology for pragmatism. In underdeveloped and colonial countries, functionalism was bizarrely combined with the deliberate exoticism of the colonial style.

Before World War II, neoclassicism was established in a number of countries; its exaggeratedly monumental forms, devoid of the humanistic principles inherent in the classics, were used to express reactionary ideology (the architecture of fascist Germany and Italy). The attempts of functionalism to develop an international language of forms based on modern technology were also opposed by organic architecture (founder - F.L. Wright, USA), which sought to take into account in its construction practice the characteristic features of a particular place and the individual needs of the people for whom the building is being created; the extra-social nature of the humanistic tendencies of "organic architecture" gave rise to its individualistic extremes.

In the postwar years, the principles of functionalism received an interpretation depending on local conditions and cultural traditions: innovation was combined with pronounced features of national identity. This trend opposed the claims for international leadership that were made by A. USA, where L. Mies van der Rohe put forward a cosmopolitan universal concept based on bringing architecture to the simplicity of elementary geometric bodies and undivided spaces. The idea of ​​the universality of the form, its independence from local conditions and the purpose of buildings underlies the American neoclassicism of the 1960s, which combines modern technical means with the symmetry of compositions and salon-like beauty of details (creativity of E. Stone). In contrast to it, brutalism developed, combining a clear functional organization of buildings with deliberate massiveness and a rough surface of exposed structures (works by L. Kahn, P. Rudolph). Many large design firms, without sticking to a particular direction, tend to follow the fashion.

In European architecture in the late 50s and 60s. irrational, subjective-arbitrary forms arose as a reflection of the conflict between the individual and society. Brutalism arose (architects A. and P. Smithson, Great Britain). Modern capabilities of construction equipment that creates complex spatial forms of reinforced concrete shells and cable-stayed coatings have received artistic interpretation of architectural structures

2. Architectural style

architecture art artistic

Architectural style can be defined as a set of main features and characteristics of architecture of a certain time and place, manifested in the features of its functional, constructive and artistic aspects (the purpose of buildings, building materials and structures, methods of architectural composition). The concept of architectural style is included in the general concept of style as an artistic worldview, covering all aspects of the art and culture of society in certain conditions of its social and economic development, as a combination of the main ideological and artistic features of the master's work.

Within the framework of the postmodern paradigm, many directions have taken shape that differ significantly in philosophy and linguistic means. While there are scientific disputes about the independence of one or another direction, there is not and cannot be unity in terminology.

2.1 Development of architectural styles

The development of architectural styles depends on climatic, technical, religious and cultural factors.

Although the development of architecture is directly dependent on time, styles do not always replace each other consistently, the simultaneous coexistence of styles as alternatives to each other is known (for example, baroque and classicism, modernity and eclecticism, functionalism, constructivism and art deco).

At the same time, style as a descriptive tool has a number of fundamental shortcomings.

Architectural style, like style in art in general, is a relative concept. It is convenient for understanding the history of European architecture. However, style as a descriptive tool is not suitable for comparing the history of architecture of several large regions. For example, it is difficult to match the periods in the history of Chinese architecture with the architectural styles of Europe.

Despite these shortcomings, the architectural style as a descriptive tool is part of the scientific method of the history of architecture, since it allows us to trace the global vector of development of architectural thought.

There are such styles (for example, modern), which are called differently in different countries.

2.2 Types of architectural style

Empire (from fr. empire - empire). The style in architecture and art (more decorative) of the first three decades of the 19th century, completing the evolution of classicism. Focusing, like classicism, on samples of ancient art, the Empire included in their circle the artistic heritage of archaic Greece and imperial Rome, drawing from it motives for the embodiment of majestic power and military strength.

The main features of the style:

Ø monumental forms of massive porticos (mainly Doric and Tuscan orders);

Ø military emblems in architectural details and decor (lictor bundles, military armor, laurel wreaths, eagles, etc.);

Ø ancient Egyptian architectural and plastic motifs (large undivided planes of walls and pylons, massive geometric volumes, Egyptian ornament, stylized sphinxes, etc.);

Amsterdam school (Netherlands Amsterdamse School). A style that arose and developed in the Netherlands in the first third of the 20th century. Inspired by socialist ideas, this style was used in the construction of buildings for various purposes, including mansions and apartment buildings. The architecture of the Amsterdam School was influenced both by neo-Gothic and Renaissance architecture, as well as by the work of the outstanding Dutch architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage.

The buildings of the Amsterdam School, which were influenced by expressionism, often had a rounded, "organic" shape of the facades and multiple decorative elements that did not carry a functional purpose: spiers, sculptural images and windows with a horizontal "deglazing" resembling a staircase.

The main features of the style:

Ø roof of complex shape;

Ø brick base;

Ø great use of ornaments;

Ø decorative wall masonry, art glass, forged fragments, sculptural decorations;

art deco (fr. art deco lit. "decorative art"). The trend in the decorative arts of the first half of the 20th century, which manifested itself in architecture, fashion and painting, was a synthesis of modern and neoclassicism. In the USA, the Netherlands, France and some other countries, Art Deco gradually evolved towards functionalism, while in countries with totalitarian regimes (Third Reich, USSR, etc.), Art Deco turns into a “new Empire style”. In Soviet architecture during the period of post-constructivism, many elements of Art Deco were borrowed (for example, the Moscow Hotel).

The main features of the style:

Ø expensive modern materials (ivory, crocodile skin, aluminum, rare woods, silver);

Ø luxury, chic;

Ø ethnic geometric patterns;

Ø strict regularity;

Renaissance architecture . The period of development of architecture in European countries from the beginning of the 15th to the beginning of the 17th century, in the general course of the Renaissance and the development of the foundations of the spiritual and material culture of Ancient Greece and Rome. This period is a turning point in the History of Architecture, especially in relation to the preceding architectural style, the Gothic. Gothic, unlike Renaissance architecture, looked for inspiration in its own interpretation of Classical art.

The main features of the style:

Ø symmetry, proportions;

Ø semicircular arches, hemisphere domes, niches, aedicules;

Ø orderly arrangement of columns, pilasters and lintel;

Baroque (Italian barocco - “strange”, “bizarre”; port. perola barroca - “pearl of irregular shape.” The Baroque style appeared in the 16th-17th centuries in Italian cities: Rome, Mantua, Venice, Florence. It is the Baroque era that is considered to be the beginning triumphal procession of "Western civilization". Baroque architecture (L. Bernini, F. Borromini in Italy, B.F. Rastrelli in Russia) are characteristic. Often unfolded. Domes acquire complex forms, often they are multi-tiered, like in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.

The main features of the style:

Ø spatial scope, fusion, fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms;

Ø large-scale colonnades, an abundance of sculpture on the facades and in the interiors, volutes, a large number of rake-outs, arched facades with a rake-out in the middle, rusticated columns and pilasters;

Ø characteristic baroque details - telamon (atlas), caryatid, mascaron;

Bio-tech . An architectural movement that is still at the stage of writing manifestos. As opposed to high-tech, the architectural expressiveness of bio-tech building designs is achieved by borrowing natural forms. However, direct copying of natural forms does not bring positive results, since non-functional zones appear in the architectural structure. It should be noted that the concept of bio-tech involves not only indirect, but also direct use of forms of wildlife in architecture (in the form of natural landscape elements, living plants).

This movement is in the process of formation and its research component prevails over the practical one.

The main features of the style:

Ø conservative rectangular layout and constructive scheme of buildings;

Ø biomorphic curvilinear forms, shells, self-similar to fractal forms;

A worthy aesthetic and economically justified solution to this contradiction is one of the main tasks of bio-tech;

Brutalism . An architectural direction, the starting point for which was the post-war projects of Le Corbusier - the "residential unit" in Marseille (1947-52) and the secretariat building in Chandigarh (1953). The name of the style was formed by British architects Alison and Peter Smithson from the French term "beton brut" - "raw concrete".

Brutalist architects in every way emphasized the rough texture of concrete, which they did not consider it necessary to hide with plaster, cladding, or painting.

Brutalism was most widespread in Great Britain (especially in the 1960s) and in the USSR (especially in the 1980s). Many supporters of this style professed socialist views, singling out among its advantages not only the cheapness of construction (especially relevant in the first post-war years ), but also the uncompromising anti-bourgeoisness and "honesty" of this style.

The main features of the style:

Ø deliberately heavy, monotonous, rectilinear forms (“box houses”);

Ø heaviness of structures and roughness of monochrome surfaces;

Georgian architecture (English Georgian architecture). A widely used designation in English-speaking countries for architecture characteristic of the Georgian era, which covers almost the entire 18th century. This term exists as the most general designation of English architecture of the 18th century, just as they try to cover the whole variety of eclectic architecture of the 19th century with the term "Victorian architecture".

The main features of the style:

Ø symmetrical building layout;

Ø facades of houses in the Georgian style are made of flat red (in the UK) or multi-colored bricks (in the USA and Canada) and plastered white ornament;

Sharks and pilasters.

Ø entrance doors are painted in different colors and in their upper part are equipped with light-transmitting windows, opening windows;

Ø the buildings are surrounded on all sides by a plinth;

Deconstructivism . A direction in modern architecture that took shape as an independent trend in America and Europe in the late 1980s and then spread in one form or another around the world. Deconstructivism is inextricably linked with postmodern culture, but it is customary to distinguish between postmodern architecture and deconstructivist architecture.

Perhaps deconstructivist architecture is the most complex and remote from the mass consumer, it is the architecture of megacities and the "new generation", the material embodiment of existentialism. Often architects - deconstructivists do not distinguish between real objects and plans and drawings - all the same, which is also a revision of architecture, a rejection of hierarchy.

The main features of the style:

Ø very complex shapes, deep breaks, original lines;

Ø pronounced geometric shapes;

Indo-Saracenic style . One of the retrospective styles of the era of architectural eclecticism, which spread to British India during the reign of Queen Victoria. In fact, it played in India the same role of a national alternative to universal classicism and its continuations as the Neo-Gothic in Europe and the English colonies or the pseudo-Russian style in Russia.

On the example of such Bombay structures as Victoria Station and the Gateway to India, one can distinguish the main features of the Indo-Saracenic style.

International style - the leading direction of modernist architectural thought in the period of 1930-60s. The pioneers of the international style were Walter Gropius, Peter Behrens and Hans Hopp in Germany, the most prominent and consistent representatives were Le Corbusier (France), Mies van der Rohe (Germany-USA) and Jacobus Oud (Netherlands).

It was the architecture of an industrial society, which did not hide its utilitarian purpose and the ability to save on "architectural excesses". The unofficial motto of the movement was the paradox proposed by Mies van der Rohe: The less is more ("the less, the more").

The main features of the style:

Ø straight lines and other pure geometric shapes;

Ø light and smooth glass and metal surfaces;

Ø reinforced concrete, wide open spaces were valued in the interiors;

Classicism (fr. classicisme, from lat. classicus - exemplary). Artistic style and aesthetic trend in European art of the 17th-19th centuries. The main feature of the architecture of classicism was the appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as the standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by the regularity of planning and the clarity of volumetric form.

The main features of the style:

Ø proportions and forms close to antiquity;

Ø symmetrical-axial compositions;

Ø restraint of decorative decoration;

Metabolism (French metabolisme from Greek "transformation, change"). A trend in architecture and urban planning in the middle of the 20th century, which represented an alternative to the ideology of functionalism that dominated architecture at that time. Originated in Japan in the late 1950s. The theory of metabolism is based on the principle of individual development of a living organism (ontogenesis) and co-evolution.

The main features of the style:

Ø modularity, cellularity;

Ø focusing on emptiness, visual fixing of undeveloped and undeveloped spaces with the help of symbolic spatial structures;

neogothic ("New Gothic"). A widespread trend in the architecture of the era of eclecticism, or historicism, reviving the forms and (in some cases) design features of medieval Gothic. Originated in England in the 40s of the XVIII century. It developed in many respects in parallel with medieval studies and was supported by it. Unlike national eclectic trends (such as pseudo-Russian or neo-Moorish styles), neo-Gothic was in demand all over the world: it was in this style that Catholic cathedrals were built in New York and Melbourne, Sao Paulo and Calcutta, Manila and Guangzhou, Rybinsk and Kyiv. In the 19th century, the British, French and Germans challenged each other for the right to be considered the founders of the Gothic, but the palm in the revival of interest in medieval architecture was unanimously given to Great Britain. In the Victorian era, the British Empire, both in the mother country and in the colonies, carried out neo-Gothic construction of vast scope and functional diversity, the fruits of which were such well-known structures as Big Ben and Tower Bridge.

Neo-Greek . A style that originated in the 1820s based on a "return" to classical Greek patterns. It differs from classicism (and the Empire in particular) by an emphatically archaeological, detailed approach to the reproduction of Greek classics, cleared of the influence of ancient Roman architecture and the Italian Renaissance; ideologically, belongs to the era of eclecticism, not classicism. In Russia (primarily in Moscow) it came into fashion in the late 1860s and lasted until the advent of Art Nouveau at the end of the 19th century.

The main features of the style:

Ø Functionally, European neo-Greek architecture is limited to museums, parliaments and temples (where the appeal to Greek models was justified by the high purpose of the building). The Saint-Genevieve library by Labruste is undeniably neo-Greek on the outside, but its interiors, subordinated to a load-bearing iron frame, are quite eclectic - the iron arches turned out to be incompatible with the classical order.

Postconstructivism . Conventional designation of the "intermediate" style of Soviet architecture in the period 1932-1936, when, under the influence of political and ideological factors, there was a transition from avant-garde to neoclassical (to the so-called "Stalin's Empire style").

The main features of the style:

Ø moderate "enrichment" of the external appearance of buildings, overcoming the "excessive asceticism" of avant-garde architecture;

Ø preference for symmetrical compositions;

Ø cornices of the simplest profile, a timid appeal to the Doric order;

Ø elements of the classics;

Rococo (French rococo, from French rocaille - decorative shell, shell, rocaille). Less commonly, Rococo is a style in art (mainly in interior design), which arose in France in the first half of the 18th century (during the regency of Philip of Orleans) as a development of the Baroque style.

The main features of the style:

Ø sophistication, great decorative loading of interiors and compositions;

Ø graceful ornamental rhythm;

Ø great attention to mythology, erotic situations, personal comfort;

Roman style (from lat. romanus - Roman). Developed in Western European art of the X-XII centuries. Romanesque style, an artistic style that dominated Western Europe (and also affected some countries of Eastern Europe) in the X-XII centuries. (in a number of places - in the XIII century), one of the most important stages in the development of medieval European art.

The term "Romanesque style" appeared at the beginning of the 19th century, when the connection between the architecture of the 11th-12th centuries and ancient Roman architecture was established (in particular, the use of semicircular arches, vaults). In general, the term is conditional and reflects only one, not the main, side of art. However, it has come into general use. Pseudo-Gothic, false Gothic or Russian Gothic is a pre-romantic trend in Russian architecture of the Catherine era, based on a free combination of elements of European Gothic and Moscow Baroque with grotesque additions by architects who worked in this style, often saturated with Masonic symbols. After the death of Catherine II, the development of Russian Gothic went in parallel with the formation of the Neo-Gothic trend in the architecture of Western Europe, but, unlike Neo-Gothic, Russian Gothic has little in common with genuine medieval architecture.

The main features of the style:

Ø architecture, predominantly church (stone temple, monastic complexes);

Romanticism (French romanticisme). The phenomenon of European culture in the XVIII-XIX centuries, which is a reaction to the Enlightenment and the scientific and technological progress stimulated by it; ideological and artistic direction in European and American culture of the late 18th century - the first half of the 19th century.

The main features of the style:

Ø the style is characterized by the assertion of the inherent value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature;

Eclecticism (eclecticism, historicism). The direction dominated in Europe and Russia in the 1830s-1890s. In foreign art history, the terms romanticism (for the second quarter of the 19th century) and beaux-arts (for the second half of the 19th century) are used that do not carry a negative connotation. Eclecticism retains an architectural order (unlike Art Nouveau, which does not use an order), but in it it has lost its exclusivity. So, in Russian practice, the Russian style of K.A. Tona became the official style of temple building, but was practically not used in private buildings. Eclecticism is “multi-style” in the sense that buildings of the same period are based on different style schools, depending on the purpose of the buildings (temples, public buildings, factories, private houses) and on the customer’s funds (rich decor coexists, filling all surfaces of the building, and economical “ red-brick architecture). This is the fundamental difference between eclecticism and the Empire style, which dictated a single style for buildings of any type.

High tech (English hi-tech, from high technology - high technology). A style of architecture and design that originated in the 1970s and became widespread in the 1980s. The main theorists and practitioners of hi-tech are mostly English - Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Grimshaw, at some stage of his work James Stirling and Italian Renzo Piano.

The Pompidou Center in Paris (1977), built by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, is considered to be one of the first important high-tech structures to be implemented. The first high-tech buildings in London were built only in the 1980s and 1990s (Lloyds building, 1986. Since the 1990s, bio-tech and eco-tech have developed - styles, as opposed to high-tech, trying to merge with nature, not to argue with it, but to enter into a dialogue (this is especially noticeable in the works of the architects of the homeland of high-tech - England and the Italian R. Piano).

The main features of the style:

Ø the use of high technologies in the design, construction and engineering of buildings and structures;

Ø use of straight lines and simple shapes;

Ø wide use of glass, plastic, metal;

Ø tubular metal structures and stairs leading outside the building;

Ø decentralized lighting, creating the effect of a spacious, well-lit room;

Ø extensive use of silver metallic color;

Ø high pragmatism in space planning;

Ø frequent reference to elements of constructivism and cubism (as opposed to bio-tech),

as an exception, sacrificing functionality for the sake of high-tech design and style;

3. Factors of architecture

As a branch of social production, the art of architecture depends on the achievements of scientific and technological progress, the nature of industrial relations, natural and climatic conditions, artistic tastes, etc. In recent decades, qualitative changes in construction equipment, the creation of new structures and materials have significantly influenced modern architecture. The versatility of the practical needs of mankind has led to the creation and construction of various types and types of structures, from which ensembles, complexes and entire cities are formed. Urban planning arises and develops - the design and construction of cities. In the process of development of the architecture of individual countries and peoples, depending on the material, spiritual and natural conditions of social life, various architectural styles have developed, which are determined by the originality of interconnected types of structures, building structures and architectural form.

In the latest era in architecture, the architectural formulas of Vitruvius (a Roman architect and engineer of the second half of the 1st century BC) were considered canonical and even exemplary, which met the needs of their time (Baroque, Classicism, Gothic, Romanesque style, etc.). It was Vitruvius who proved that the fundamental principle of architecture is strength, utility and beauty. Behind him, the beauty of any structure depends on the proportions that must be correlated with certain, defined by him, harmonious relationships of the proportions of the human body.

With the advent of the period of modernism (not to be confused with modernity) and with the spread of modern building materials and technologies, with the crisis of the “united era” and the emergence of the principle of cultural difference, the architectural form almost irreversibly began to break away from function. Today, the form increasingly depends not on the material, as in the time of Vitruvius, but on the semiotic claims of the customer or the author-architect. Vitruvius' formulas became of interest only to students and "classicists". Architecture develops in a variety of styles on an extremely large scale and is widespread throughout the world, especially today the beauty of ancient customs and their modernization are appreciated.

Conclusion

Traditional, but logical consideration of the essence of architecture is carried out on the basis of consideration of the social need for it, the specifics of its activities. The process of the formation of architecture took a long time, was correlated with the process of development of a person, his sensual and intellectual abilities, with his creativity, activity, with the ability of cognition, which was inseparable from the process of development of society.

On the basis of the culturological approach, architecture is considered from the standpoint of the cultural conditionality of its origin and development, and the forms of architecture - as cultural forms of expression of the ideal wealth of society.

Architecture is regarded as a kind of art, sometimes characterized quite aphoristically (“architecture is frozen music”). It is always directed to eternity, always actual, realized present, modeling, improving and developing the world of man, society, humanity. This is always a targeted focus on the creation of a socially significant new, more perfect, since the main vector of architecture is creativity.

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European architecture of the 15th - early 19th centuries

Italian Renaissance and Baroque architecture

In the XIII-XIV centuries. the cities of Northern Italy become the gates of lively maritime trade, depriving Byzantium of the role of an intermediary between Europe and the exotic East. The accumulation of money capital and the development of capitalist production contribute to the rapid formation of bourgeois relations, which are already cramped within the framework of feudalism. A new, bourgeois culture is being created, which has chosen ancient culture as its model; its ideals receive a new life, which gave the name to this powerful social movement - the Renaissance, i.e. Renaissance. The mighty pathos of citizenship, rationalism, the overthrow of church mysticism gave rise to such titans as Dante and Petrarch, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas More and Campanella. In architecture, the Renaissance manifested itself by the beginning of the 15th century. Architects are returning to clear logical order systems. Architecture acquires a secular and life-affirming character. Lancet Gothic vaults and arches give way to cylindrical and cross vaults, vaulted structures. Ancient samples are carefully studied, the theory of architecture is being developed. The preceding Gothic had prepared a high level of building technology, especially lifting mechanisms. The process of development of architecture in Italy XV-XVII centuries. conditionally divided into four main stages: Early Renaissance - from 1420 to the end of the 15th century; High Renaissance - the end of the 15th - the first quarter of the 16th century, the Late Renaissance - the 16th century, the baroque period - the 17th century.

Early Renaissance architecture

The beginning of the Renaissance in architecture is associated with Florence, which reached by the 15th century. extraordinary economic growth. Here, in 1420, the construction of the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore began (Fig. 1, F1 - 23). The work was entrusted to Filippo Brunellechi, who managed to convince the city council of the correctness of his competitive proposal. In 1434, the octahedral lancet dome, 42 m in diameter, was almost completed. It was built without scaffolding - the workers worked in the cavity between the two shells of the dome, only its upper part was erected with the help of suspended scaffolding. The lantern above it, also designed by Brunelleschi, was completed in 1467. With the completion of construction, the height of the building reached 114 m. The chapel was the first experience of work on centric buildings in Renaissance architecture. In 1444, according to the project of Brunelleschi, a large city building was completed - the Educational House (a shelter for orphans). The portico of the Orphanage is interesting as the first example of a combination of columns bearing arches with a large order of framing pilasters. Brunelleschi also built the Pazzi Chapel (1443), one of the finest works of the early Renaissance. The building of the chapel, completed with a dome on a low drum, opens to the viewer with a light Corinthian portico with a wide arch. In the second half of the XV century. many palaces of the city nobility are being built in Florence. Michelozzo in 1452 completes the construction of the Medici Palace (Fig. 2); in the same year, according to the project of Alberti, the construction of the Rucellai Palace was completed, Benedetto da Maiano and Simon Polayola (Kronaka) erected the Palazzo Strozzi. Despite certain differences, these palaces have a common spatial solution scheme: a high three-story building, the premises of which are grouped around the central courtyard, framed by arched galleries. The main artistic motif is a wall decorated with rustication or decorated with a warrant with majestic openings and horizontal rods corresponding to the divisions of the floors. The structure was crowned with a powerful cornice. The walls were made in brickwork, sometimes with concrete filling, and faced with stone. For interfloor ceilings, in addition to vaults, wooden beam structures were used. The arched completions of the windows are replaced by horizontal lintels. Great work on the study of the ancient heritage and the development of the theoretical foundations of architecture was carried out by Leon Batista Alberti (works on the theory of painting and sculpture, Ten Books on Architecture). The largest works of Alberti as a practice are, in addition to the Rucellai Palace, the restructuring of the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1480), where volutes, which were widely used in Baroque architecture, were used for the first time in the composition of the facade, the Church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, the facade of which was solved by superimposing two order systems. Alberti's work is characterized by the active use of the patterns of order divisions of the facade, the development of the idea of ​​a large order covering several tiers of the building. At the end of the XV century. the scale of construction is reduced. The Turks, who captured Constantinople in 1453, cut off Italy from the East that traded with it. The country's economy is in decline. Humanism is losing its militant character, art is seen as a means of escape from real life to the idyll, elegance and sophistication are valued in architecture. Venice, in contrast to the restrained architecture of Florence, is characterized by an attractive, open type of city palace, the composition of the facade of which, with subtle, elegant details, retains Moorish-Gothic features. The architecture of Milan retained the features of Gothic and fortified architecture, reflected in civil architecture.

Rice. 1. Florence Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. 1434 Axonometric section of the dome, plan of the cathedral.

Rice. 2. Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence. 1452 Fragment of the facade, plan.

Milan is associated with the activities of the greatest painter and scientist of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci. He developed several projects for palaces and cathedrals; a city project was proposed, in which, anticipating the development of urban planning science, attention was paid to the arrangement of water supply and sewerage, to the organization of traffic at different levels. Of great importance for the architecture of the Renaissance were his studies of the compositions of centric buildings and the mathematical justification for calculating the forces acting in the structures of buildings. Roman architecture of the late 15th century. replenished with the works of Florentine and Milanese architects, who, during the decline of their cities, moved to Rome to the court of the pope. Here, in 1485, the Palazzo Cancelleria was laid, made in the spirit of Florentine palaces, but devoid of the severity and gloomy asceticism of their facades. The building has graceful architectural details, fine ornamentation of the entrance portal and window frames.

High Renaissance architecture

With the discovery of America (1492) and. sea ​​route to India around Africa (1498), the center of gravity of the European economy moved to Spain and Portugal. The necessary conditions for construction were preserved only in Rome - the capital of the Catholic Church throughout feudal Europe. Here the leading was the construction of unique places of worship. The architecture of gardens, parks, country residences of the nobility is developing. A significant part of the work of the largest architect of the Renaissance, Donato Bramante, is associated with Rome. The tempietto in the courtyard of the church of San Pietro in Montorio was built by Bramante in 1502 (Fig. 3). This small work of mature centric composition was the preparatory stage of Bramante's work on the plan of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome.

Rice. 3. Tempietto in the courtyard of the Church of San Pietro in Montorio. Rome. 1502 General view. Section, plan.

The courtyard with a circular gallery was not realized. One of the significant works on the development of the idea of ​​centric composition was the construction of the Church of Santa Maria del Consoliatione in Todi, which has the utmost clarity of design and the integrity of the interior space, decided according to the Byzantine scheme, but using frame ribs in the domes. Here, part of the spacer forces is balanced by metal puffs under the heels of the spring arches of the sail. In 1503, Bramante began work on the courtyards of the Vatican: the courtyard of the Loggias, the Pigny garden and the Belvedere courtyard. He creates this grandiose ensemble in collaboration with Raphael. Design of the Cathedral of St. Peter (Fig. 111), begun in 1452 by Bernardo Rossolino, was continued in 1505. According to Bramante, the cathedral was to have the shape of a Greek cross with additional spaces in the corners, which gave the plan a square silhouette. The overall solution is based on a simple and clear pyramidal-centric composition crowned with a grandiose spherical dome. The construction, begun according to this plan, was stopped with the death of Bramante in 1514. From his successor, Rafael Santi, they demanded an extension of the entrance part of the cathedral. The plan in the form of a Latin cross was more in line with the symbolism of the Catholic cult. Of the architectural works of Raphael, the Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence (1517), the partially built "Villa Madama" - the estate of Cardinal G. Medici, the Palazzo Vidoni-Caffarelli, the Villa Farnesina in Rome (1511), the project of which is also attributed to Raphael, have been preserved.

Rice. 4. Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome. Plans:

a - D. Bramante, 1505; b - Raphael Santi, 1514; c - A, yes Sangallo, 1536; d - Minel Angelo, 1547

In 1527, Rome was captured and plundered by the troops of the Spanish king. The cathedral under construction acquired new owners, who demanded a revision of the project. Antonio da Sangallo Jr. in 1536 returns to the plan in the form of a Latin cross. According to his project, the main facade of the cathedral is flanked by two high towers; the dome has a higher rise, it is placed on two drums, which makes it visible from afar with the facade part strongly advanced forward and the huge scale of the building. Of the other works of Sangallo Jr., the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (begun in 1514) is of great interest. The third floor with a magnificent cornice and decorative processing of the courtyard was completed by Michelangelo after the death of Sangallo in 1546. In Venice, a number of projects were carried out by Sansovino (Jacopo Tatti): the library of San Marco, the reconstruction of Piazzetta. Giorgio Vasari, a well-known biographer of outstanding artists, created the Uffizi Street in Florence, which completed the composition of the Piazza della Signoria ensemble.

During the reign of Emperor Napoleon I and during the first three decades of the XIX century. in the architecture of France and other European countries, the Empire style was developed.

Then the empire was replaced by eclectic trends in architecture, they dominated Europe and Russia until the end of the 19th century.

Empire style in 19th century architecture

Empire - the final stage of the era of classicism. Moreover, this style was the official imperial style (from the French empire - “empire”), planted for special solemnity and splendor of memorial architecture and palace interiors.

Napoleon had his own court architects (Charles Percier, Pierre Fontaine), who were the creators of this style.

Charles Percier (1764-1838)

Robert Lefebvre. Portrait of Charles Percier (1807)
Charles Percier was a French architect, painter and decorator, teacher. Among his students is Auguste Montferrand, the creator of St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Having become the court architect of the emperor and one of the trendsetters during the period of the empire of Napoleon I, he, together with Fontaine, created a number of solemn monumental structures, for example, the arch on Carruzel Square in Paris (1806-1808), which resembled the ancient Arch of Constantine in Rome.

Arch in Place Carruzel. Architects Ch. Persier and F.L. Fontaine
The Arc de Triomphe on Carruzel Square in Paris is an Empire-style monument erected on Carruzel Square in front of the Tuileries Palace by order of Napoleon to commemorate his victories in 1806-1808. From the arch to the northwest, a 9-kilometer historical axis was laid, which consists of the Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysees with a large-scale Arc de Triomphe and the Great Arch of Defense.
The plots of the sculptural decoration for the arch were personally selected by Vivant-Denon, the founder and first director of the Louvre Museum, who accompanied Napoleon in the Egyptian campaign of 1798. Clodion's reliefs depict the Peace of Pressburg, Napoleon's triumphal entry into Munich and Vienna, the battle of Austerlitz, the congress in Tilsit and the fall Ulma.

Architects Percier and Fontaine created one of the wings of the Louvre (Marchand Pavilion)

Percier took part in the restoration of the Compiegne Palace, the creation of the interiors of Malmaison, the Saint-Cloud Castle and the Fontainebleau Palace, he was engaged in the design of furniture, interior decoration, decoration of celebrations and festivities.

Malmaison - an estate 20 km from Paris, known as the private residence of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine Beauharnais

Empire style billiard room in Malmaison

Palace of Fontainebleau

One of the interiors of the castle of Fontainebleau

Pierre Francois Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853)

French architect, designer and decorator of furniture and interior decoration. Together with Charles Percier, he is one of the founders of the Empire style. One of the first began to use metal (cast iron) structures in construction.
From 1801, he was a government architect.
Known as the architect of the Louvre and the Tuileries, the Arc de Triomphe on Carruzel Square in Paris. Restored Versailles, a hospital in Pontois.
Together with Charles Percier he published in 1807 and 1810. descriptions of court ceremonies and festivities of the Napoleonic period.
The Tuileries palace of the French kings in the center of Paris was built in the 18th century, but during the days of the Paris Commune it was burned down and never rebuilt. With the coming to power of Bonaparte, he became his official residence, and then the construction of the northern wing was started. Percier and Fontaine refurbished the dilapidated interiors in the style of the First Empire (Empire). The apartments of the Empress Marie Louise were made in a fashionable neo-Greek style (the project was developed by P. P. Prudhon). A triumphal arch was erected at the main entrance to the palace (on Carruzel Square).

Gallery at the Tuileries
The palace was increasingly perceived as a symbol of the monarchical regime. Napoleon III also chose to stay in the Tuileries. Under him, the northern wing of the Louvre was completed along Rivoli Street. By the end of the 1860s, the Louvre and the Tuileries formed a single palace complex.
At the same time (in the era of Alexander I), the Empire style was the dominant style in Russia.

Eclecticism in Western European architecture of the 19th century

This trend in the architecture of Europe and Russia in the 1830-1890s. was dominant. It was also popular around the world.
Eclecticism- the use of elements of various architectural styles (Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, Neo-Rococo, Neo-Gothic, Pseudo-Russian style, Neo-Byzantine style, Indo-Saracenic style, Neo-Moorish style). Eclecticism has all the features of European architecture of the XV-XVIII centuries, but it has fundamentally different properties.
The forms and styles of a building in eclecticism are tied to its function. For example, the Russian style of Konstantin Ton became the official style of temple building, but was almost never used in private buildings. Buildings of the same period in eclecticism are based on different stylistic schools, depending on the purpose of the buildings (temples, public buildings, factories, private houses) and on the means of the customer. This is the fundamental difference between eclecticism and the Empire style, which dictated a single style for buildings of any type.

An example of eclecticism in architecture is Church of Saint Augustine in Paris (Saint-Augustin). It was built for 11 years (1860-1871).
The architecture of the church shows features of Romanesque and Byzantine influence. The main facade of the church is decorated with three arched passages at the bottom with the symbols of the evangelists above them and a giant rose at the top. Between it and the arcade there is a gallery of sculptures of 12 apostles. The dome of the church was painted by the famous artist A.V. Bugro.

Church of Saint Mary (Brussels)
It is also called the Royal Church of St. Mary and the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary.
The church is designed in an eclectic style, combining influences from Byzantine and ancient Roman architecture. The project belongs to the architect Louis van Overstraten. The construction of the church lasted 40 years (1845-1885).

Built in the same style Bern Historical Museum (Switzerland). It was created in 1894 by the Neuchâtel sculptor Andre Lambert.
As we have already noted, the eclectic style used elements of various architectural styles. Here are examples of the use of some forms of eclecticism.
neo-baroque- one of the forms of architectural eclecticism of the 19th century, reproducing the architectural forms of the Baroque. This direction did not exist for long and was reflected in architecture less clearly, usually combined with neo-rococo and neo-renaissance elements. This is explained by the fact that the baroque style in the art of Italy took shape at the end of the 16th-beginning of the 17th centuries, and in other countries (in Germany in the 18th century, for example), the baroque style borrowed elements of late Gothic, mannerism and combined with elements of rococo. Therefore, in the XIX century. neo-baroque became eclectic.
Neo-baroque became most widespread after 1880 outside of Europe: in the USA, throughout Latin America and the Far East, Japan, and China.

Opera Garnier in Paris (1862). Eclectic (Neo-Baroque form)
Neo-Byzantine style- one of the directions of eclecticism in architecture. The neo-Byzantine style was characterized by an orientation towards Byzantine art of the 6th-8th centuries. n. e. It was especially pronounced in church architecture. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople served as a model for the construction of temples.
Domes of neo-Byzantine-style temples usually have a squat shape and are located on wide low drums girded with a window arcade. The central dome is larger than all the others. Often the drums of small domes protrude from the temple building only halfway.
The internal volume of the temple is traditionally not divided by pylons or cross vaults, forming a single church hall, creating a feeling of spaciousness and capable of accommodating several thousand people in some temples.

Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu. Jerusalem (Israel)

Although these last two churches are located outside of Europe, we decided to show them so that you can see how massive the eclectic trend in architecture of the 19th century was.
Neo-Renaissance- one of the most common forms of architectural eclecticism of the 19th century, reproducing the architectural solutions of the Renaissance. Distinctive features: the desire for symmetry, the rational division of facades, the preference for rectangular plans with courtyards, the use of rustic architectural elements (facing the outer walls of the building) and pilasters (a vertical ledge of the wall, conventionally depicting a column).
In the Neo-Renaissance style, for example, the buildings of the Stettin and Silesian railway stations in Berlin, Amsterdam Central Station, etc. were built.

Central station in Amsterdam

European architecture- the architecture of European countries, is distinguished by a variety of styles.

primeval era

In the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC), structures were erected on the territory of Europe from large stone blocks, which belong to the so-called megalithic architecture. Menhirs - vertically placed stones - marked the place of public ceremonies. Dolmens, which usually consisted of two or four vertical stones covered with stone, served as burial places. The cromlech consisted of slabs or pillars arranged in a circle. An example is Stonehenge in England.

Antiquity

One of the oldest structures of European architecture are the ruins of the buildings of the island of Crete, the creation of which is more than 1000 years BC. e.

They are the first representatives of ancient architecture, then used by Ancient Greece and Rome. The rounded forms of columns and arches bore the imprint of ideas about ideal forms and embodied grace and beauty. Statues could be part of the building as part of the wall or replacing the columns. This architecture influenced not only temples and palaces, but also public institutions, streets, walls, and the houses themselves. Roman architecture was more complex than Greek, and arches began to play an increasingly important role in it. The Romans were the first to use concrete, at least in Europe. Most noteworthy buildings: The Colosseum and the aqueducts.

Middle Ages

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, architectural art in Europe fell into decline and Byzantine architecture played the main role here. It developed on the basis of ancient traditions under the influence of the philosophy of Christianity. Palaces, aqueducts, baths continued to be built, but churches became the main type of buildings. A type of cross-domed church was formed. As a building material, burnt brick - plinth was used.

In the X century. in Western Europe, the construction of cities begins, the half-timbered construction of housing and buildings is spreading. In the XI-XII centuries. in France, in western Germany and northern Italy, the Romanesque style arises, based on the ancient Roman and Byzantine heritage. The defining buildings of the Romanesque style are basilica cathedrals with two towers on both sides of the entrance, with hipped pyramidal or cone-shaped roofs, having the shape of a Latin cross in plan. Another architectural type was the castles of feudal lords with fortress walls built as fortifications.

From the middle of the XII century. the Romanesque style is replaced by the Gothic (then it was called "French" because of its origin). The capacity and height of cathedrals are increasing, the sections of structures and the thickness of supports are decreasing. The walls are lightened by large windows, round windows appear - "roses". The gothic style is characterized by lancet arches. The vaults were built on a system of arches thrown in several directions. The technique of stone processing has reached a high level. Stained-glass windows were a great achievement of the Gothic - windows with paintings from pieces of colored glass in a lead frame. . The most famous temples of this type of architecture are in Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral, in Rotterdam, in Toulouse. Italian humanists gave the style a modern name, in connection with the opposite of ancient architecture.

Architecture 16th-19th centuries

In the 15th century in Italy, the ideas of restoring antique elements in construction and their improvement spread among architects. Architects such as Montorio Bramante and Michelangelo Buanarotti greatly influenced the architecture of Florence, Venice, Naples and Rome. The modern Vatican is famous