Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began throughout 1400 and ended around 1600. During this time, many great artists, inventions, and the like came about such as the printing press. The Renaissance was known for the "rebirth" that began in Florence, Italy. There was a shift from a religious to a secular emphasis that was based on humanity. The Roman Catholic Church had also become very powerful; this demonstrated corruption and misconduct. Martin Luther was a great figure at the time. He created reforms within the church to rebel against what was happening with the misconduct and corruption.

Throughout this era, Residential design became extremely popular. Comfort, convenience, and beauty became very important. This differed from the past when everybody was primarily focused on safety, strength, and protection. The furniture and interiors had elaborate turnings for structural support and ornamentation. Fresco's demonstrated an expansion of space. Paneling was used along furniture and surfaces as well. The interiors showed off their decorative moldings on doors and door frames. They had elaborate coffered ceilings; this included painted walls and ceiling decorations. They also had elaborate fireplace mantels as well as pilasters that were flat decorated columns. The floors were brick, terra-cotta tile, or marble in geometric patterns. Furniture was portable and sparse. It had inlays of ivory, lapis, marble, onyx, and other stones such as marquetry. Walnut was only utilized for the finest furniture. An example of a chair is the Sedia. The Sedia is a straight box-like armchair. It has straight rectangular legs attached to the floor stretchers. It also has a turned baluster or vase-like forms that support the front of the arms. Another example of a chair is the sgabello. The sgabello is a stool with a back. It has a small octagonal or rectangular seat supported by three legs. It is used for dining or all-purpose chair styles. 

Images | Past

The Printing Press

Sgabello Chair

Images | Present

Extra Credit | Short clip of a modern printing press.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN_KhB9SjVs

The Americas & China and India | Reviews

The Americas
1) Haley: She did a really good job explaining each of the four regions during this time. She provided great distinctions between them as well. I enjoyed her current day applications because they were very different from images on the power point presentation.

2) Emma: She did a wonderful job on breaking down the time period. She also provided excellent images that really represented the time period. I like how she broke down a paragraph and they provided images to explain that specific paragraph. It really helped follow what actually happened.

China and India
1) Amanda: I enjoyed her images, both past and present. They were all very intriguing, and they fit well into the era! Good job overall.

2) Savannah: Her images of the present applications were really cool. I particularly liked the ceiling elements in her current applications. They still had the Chinese motif, which really tied together the whole room.

China and India

China and India reigned throughout 1600 BC to 1912 AD. Although they are different regions, they have great similarities as well as differences.

China had the  use of red and gold for a color palette. They used layers in their construction. Instead of using nails, they used joinery techniques for their structures. Their buildings were very intricate and solid due to this; especially since they were made out of wood. The structures have lasted 900 plus years and are still standing today. The buildings created today may not withstand that long of time. Another unique fact with their buildings is that they would have rituals before they placed the wood on their structures. They would light firecrackers and the like to scare off any demons or bad vibes. It was more so focusing on their religion and beliefs in order to create harmony and peace.

China and India both had a stupa. A stupa is a mound of dirt, such as a burial ground, where a more permanent structure is built over the mound. This prototype was birthed in India. The stupa came to China as Buddhism spread to that region. There were great limitations with the stupa due to it not having enough space for visitors. Due to this, Chinese invented the Pagoda; a combination of the Stupa and Chinese tower building. An example of this is the Liuhe Pagoda that was created in 1165 AD. An Indian stupa example is the Great Stupa of Sanchi.

A great architectural element during this time was the Great Wall of China. It was built of stone, brick, wood, mud, and earth. It is located along the Northern border of China. It is said to be 5,500 to 13,000 miles long. The structures included watch towers so they could watch over their land for intruders.

Some of their furniture includes the folding chair and the yoke back chair. Their overall structure of their furniture includes weightlessness, beautiful, and stability. Both regions had a lack of furniture. People mostly sat on the floors or even slept on the floors.

Images | Past







Images | Present







Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7BF0HiaP2s

Here's a short clip of more modern Chinese interiors.

The Americas

The Americas came about during 2000 B.C. to 1521 A.D. This time was known for its culture of nobles and commoners, hereditary leadership, divine right, farming, and sporting events. Each event made them distinctively different from the previous time periods. They had four dominating cultures: Olmecs, Mayans-Toltecs, Aztecs, and the Incas. The Olmecs were the first dominant culture in Southern Mexico, the Mayans-Toltecs thrived in Central America, the Incas were settled in Peru, and the Aztecs were within Mexico. The geography of the four cultures were within the low lands of the humid tropical region. The mountains created extreme climate shifts. This could have been why this time period came to an abrupt halt.

Their religion was based off of human sacrifice. If they were to conquer a tribe, they would kill them off and give them up for sacrifice for their Gods. They believed in many Gods, creating a polytheistic religion. Ceremonial centers were the nuclei of the Mesoamerican settlement. Temples provided spatial orientation for the town. Pyramids were meant to stand out and represent the Gods and powers of the region.

Although there were three other thriving cultures during this time, I would like to focus on the first culture that started it all. The Olmecs thrived in 2000 B.C. to 200 B.C. They were the first major civilization in Mexico. Their culture came to a sudden, violent end. The reasoning for the halt is unknown to this day. During this time, rubber was developed and the first calendar in western hemisphere was created. They started to develop their hieroglyphic writing which sparked more realistic art work. The temple was also their focus on city type. They were popular for their Mesoamerican ballgame which ended by one team dying off. An example of a sculpture during this time is the Olmec stone head; weighting approximately 40-50 tons. Their art work consisted of delicate carvings of jade, rock crystal, and less valuable stone. Ax heads, masks, and decorative objects were also considered very considerate and appealing art. Mural paintings and pottery were also prevalent. In today's world, we can still see some of their art from that exact period. A lot of things that were made out of wood did not survive due to it being a very tropical area.

Their social ways of living consisted of highly decorated homes for the Elites. They also wore elegant jewelry and clothing. Commoners lived in homes that were primarily made out of sticks and mud. This was almost as if they lived like the Prehistoric time. Their food sources were reliable for the commoners which created a very diverse diet.

Images | Past







Images | Present





Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVhGSSrO5mw

Gothic Design | Reviews

Erin: I like how Erin started off her explanation of the period by explaining that Gothic doesn't mean dark and demented. I also thought that her descriptions of the vaults and arches were great as well.

Rachael: I enjoyed how she bullet-pointed her explanations. It really broke down what exactly happened during this time period. She also provided great cathedral images from the era.

Gothic Design

This Gothic Design period reigned throughout 1140 to 1500, During this time, a lot of historic epidemics took place. In 1163, construction began on the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. In 1180 to 1192, the third crusade took place. During 1280, eyeglasses were invented in Italy. The One Hundred Years War took place between 1337 to 1453 against the French and English. Last but not least, the Black Plague began in Europe during 1347. This ended up killing off 75 million people; nearly a third of the population.

The society had many similarities as well as differences from the Romanesques' way of life. Paris was the center of the Gothic world. Like Romanesque, churches were the center of city life. New rivals began to come about between city states and nations. Competition and unity came about within the construction of the cathedrals. Their religious expression was the heart of design. The popes had immense power on all religious aspects. The design demonstrated represented wealth and power within the church. Because there were a large number of worshipers, it required large worship spaces to accommodate the occupancy.

Just like Romanesque, the Gothic period reigned in architecture. They created and improved three great features of architecture: pointed arch, ribbed vault, and the flying buttress. Because of these new architectural features, cathedrals had an appearance of weightlessness. The interior was stemmed with tall walls with stained glass to show off their many windows. It created a transcend earthly experience when you entered the building. One of the great features in almost every cathedral of this time was the rose window. An example of the first Gothic cathedral is St. Denis. This came about in France in 1130. Within this great architectural monument, you can see the stained glass windows, the pointed arches, the rose window and many many more elements from this time.

Images | Past







Images | Present





Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz5YdZdqE44

Gothic Architecture in 2 minutes --

Romanesque and Islamic | Reviews

Romanesque
1) Erin K: I enjoyed her focus on the architectural elements of this period. She focused on the new masonry being used and how this supported the churches. Erin also went into detail about the furniture and interiors of the homes which really provided an insight of how they lived.

2) Claire: I liked how she went into a broad examination of the period for her first paragraph. She then transferred into a more detailed summary; focusing in on a specific church. Claire also explained a modern example of this period which really helps connect the dots from the past to present.

Islamic
1) Angie: Angie did a good job providing several examples of mosques. She explained why each mosque was different, and she provided great facts about each of them. She explain the horseshoe arches and the mosaic design that were used extensively during this time.

2) Katie: Her current application images were really great. I enjoyed how they were very modern yet showed the historical elements that came about during the Islamic time period. My favorite is the last image she provided. It shows off the use of the fountain with columns that supported the horseshoe arches.

Islamic Design

During this time, Mohammed was the head figure of the Islamic religion. He lived from 570 to 632 C.E. It is said that Islamic religion was the foundation of the Islamic design. They were heavily influenced by religion because it was an important aspect of almost everybody's life. Instead of focusing their worship through a church, their central facility for prayer and worship was a mosque. The first mosque that was utilized was Mohammad's farm. It was the first prototype for many mosques to come. Some features of the mosque were: perimeter wall, covered hall of columns, and a courtyard. The main purpose was so that the people of Islamic religion could have a place to worship and pray to God by kneeling on a carpet and facing Mecca. An example of a mosque is the Prayer Hall of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. It came about in 820-836 C.E. The architectural elements of the mosque included classic capitols with Islamic arches. A new architectural element was also shown within the interior as well; the horseshoe arch. The horseshoe arch was used extensively to show off the great details within the interior. There were a lot of columns and supports, as well, due to the heavy structure of the overall mosque.

Islamic Design was known for their mosaics. They used glass, tiles, and stones for the designs. Their mosaics were demonstrated in geometric shapes and patterns. This took part in a lot of their design elements. They also used carpet extensively; on the floors and even walls. Carpet was popular throughout this time because the people would kneel for prayer in the mosques. It provided comfort while they worshiped.

Images | Past





Images | Current







Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdGaQ3IiIyw

Taj Mahal video clip.

Romanesque Period

Romanesque was a style of art that arose in Italy and Southern France around 800 A.D. It was a time where Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, was emperor of the Roman Empire. Charlemagne encouraged learning and the arts. He also focused on preserving the Roman literature, establishing schools and monasteries, and encouraging building structures with the use of technology from the Roman structures. Prior to 1000 A.D., there was little architecture that was built; this was evident due to the millennium of the Apocalypse. In other aspects of life during this time, the religious movement was very strong. It initiated pilgrimages to Christian shrines. Due to this spark of religion, a minimum of 1,587 churches were built between 1000 and 1100 A.D.

Within the Romanesque churches were very evident features of architecture. These features included a semicircular arch and a wide use of vaults. They used the plans from the Early Christian basilica which included the nave, transept, and apse. Instead of it being the exact replica, they modified those elements for better space accommodation. They also added a side chapel in the transept. The structures had vaulting, multiple aisles, better illumination, larger space, and an added choir.

Unlike previous periods, they were the first to use masonry for building structures instead of wood. They had to support their large vault structures, so they had to accommodate for that. They had three vault structures: barrel, groin, and ribbed. The barrel vault is just a basic barreled structure without any added features. A groin vault is when two barrel vaults join together. A rib vault is when there are two or three barrel vaults edged with an armature of piped masonry.

Some furniture that was featured within this period was the throne of Dagobert, the throne of Charlemagne, and the Romanesque chest with iron tracery.

Images | Past

Images | Present

Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSiD5Jinpuw

Video of Romanesque Architecture.

Early Christianity & Byzantine | Reviews

Early Christianity

1) Becca: I really enjoyed her layout. She didn't just write a paragraph and then present images. She intertwined the two so that it was much more interesting to read. Becca provided quality information about the time, as well as images that really showed off each architectural feature.

2) Kiera: The video clip of  the Constantinian: St. Peter's basilica in Rome provided great background information. She also went into great detail about the time period in her explanation. She also picked great images of churches during this time. It really demonstrates how we still use this type of architectural design in today's modern churches.

Byzantine

1) Haley: I liked how you focused on the architecture and interior in your writing. Your current images are also interesting; my favorite being the current application. It looks like an egg shell!

2) Krista: The way you formatted your paragraphs and images was very thought out. The mosaic of the dog was very cool too. It shows that even today, we still use these types of art and imagery.

Byzantine

The Byzantine era took place in 330-1453 C.E. It was the longest political entity in European history. During this time, secular leadership and religion was prominent. This meant that there was a leader for the government and a separate leader for religious aspects. Byzantine's people associated with the Eastern culture. This meant that they were heavily influenced by the Greeks. This time period called for very ornate features which all stemmed from the inspiration of past historic eras. To put things in retrospective, Istanbul in today's time used to be Constantinople. Constantinople was the capitol of the Roman empire.

During this time, the Christian liturgy changed from procession of clergy down the nave to the celebration of Mass. They ended up combining the layouts of the past to create a more centralized plan. It was a combination of a dome from the east and the square base of the classical temple of the west. This new architectural type was known as "domed basilica." This sparked the creation of pendentives. Pendentives were a big invention during this time. The people of the Byzantine era figured out how to place a dome on top of a square. It was a new architectural element that ended up being used extensively in larger creations. Since marble was not readily available, a lot of the pendentives were made out of bricks or light porous stones. They coated these elements with plaster and real gold. The creators were very strategic about their window placements; lighting was heavily important to the overall design. Because of this, the overall feel ended up being very mystical; almost heavenly-like. A very popular example of the pendentive being used is the Hagia Sophia structure.

Like stated earlier, the Byzantine's were influenced by the Greeks. Because of this, ornate features were used extensively throughout interiors. Floor was typically tiled in marble; often in geometric designs. The surfaces on the walls or ceilings included ornate marble; frescos, mosaics, and alabaster are examples of this.

Images | Past

     



Images | Present







Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWhGeDUSu-s

Here's a short presentation on the overall architecture of this time.

Early Christianity

Early Christianity took place in the period of 330-800 C.E. It was a time of a new religion that differed from past practices. Christianity began with the death of Christ. This took place in Ancient Judea; an eastern outpost of the Roman Empire. Because Christianity was a new religion, Rome did not tolerate it whatsoever. They considered it as a threat to the Emperor. The Emperor was considered head of the government at that time. They believed that Christians could not declare the divinity of the Emperor. The refusal of Christianity and the new practices resulted in the persecution of the early Christians in Rome. Although the new religion was constantly rejected, they still prospered under the persecution. They thrived with their underground religion. Christianity appealed to several people; many adherents were of the lower class. This new practice promoted access to God through the death of Jesus Christ. This provided great hope to those in the lower classes. 

In 313 C.E., the Emperor Constantine sworn the validity of Christianity. He ended up legalizing the religion through the Edict of Milan. It was declared that Christianity was an official religion with all rights and privileges as other state religions. This meant that instead of keeping it underground like before, they now had access to houses of worship and could display holy artifacts.

Throughout this time, architectural improvements were a must to support Christianity. They needed new facilities for worship due to the rising number of believers. The Roman temples were not structured to accommodate the worship or taking of the Eucharist; a ceremony reserved for the believers. After much consideration, the basilica came about. The basilica is a large oblong hall or building with double colonnades and a semicircular apse.

One of the most monumental places of worship is the Old St. Peter's Cathedral. It was the chief monument of Christianity. It is believed that it is the tomb of St. Peter the apostle. The exterior was very plain as opposed to the very elaborate exterior. Masonry walls, clerestory windows, a wood roof, and wood truss ceilings lined the architectural elements throughout. The total length was 700 feet.

After awhile, two different types of architectural layouts came about. There was the centralized and the basilica. The centralized had a rounded plan with the focus being in the center. The worshiping focus would be towards the middle while the worshipers encompassed the exterior. It was very different from the basilica due to it being oblong.

Images | Past

Images | Present

Extra Credit | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcWzlqJkamQ

Here's a short clip of how the persecutions against Early Christianity went about.