:: wikimiki.org ::
| Colonnade |
Colonnade.]]
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, as in the famous elliptically curving colonnades that Bernini added to the facade of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, which embrace and define the Piazza. Compare the sequence of baluster forms that go to make a balustrade.
A colonnade of single columns is often termed a screen. When in front of a building, screening the door (Latin porta), it is called a portico, when enclosing an open court, a peristyle. A portico may be more than one rank of columns deep, as at the Pantheon in Rome. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade, but the porch of columns that surrounds a peripteral Classical temple (such as the Lincoln Memorial) can be termed a colonnade. Since the largest number of columns across the front of a classical temple front is normally eight (constituting an octastyle temple), it might be argued that a colonnade must have more than eight pairs. Certainly the proportions of a colonnade require that it be more than twice as long as it is tall.
At the British Museum porticos are continued along the front as a colonnade.
Category:Architectural elements
Column
A column in architecture and structural engineering is part of a structure whose purpose is to transmit through compression the weight of the structure. Other compression members are often termed columns because of the similar stress conditions. Columns can be either compounded of parts or made as a single piece. Columns are frequently used to support beams or arches on which the upper parts of walls or ceilings rest.
History
In the architecture of ancient Egypt as early as 2600 BC the architect Imhotep made use of stone columns whose surface was carved to reflect the organic form of bundled reeds; in later Egyptian architecture faceted cylinders were also common.
Some of the most elaborate columns in the ancient world were those of Persia especially the massive stone columns erected in Persepolis. They included double-bull structures in their capitals. The Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis, measuring 70 x 70 meters was built by the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes I (465-424). Many of the ancient Persian columns are standing.
The impost (or pier) is the topmost member of a column. The bottom-most part of the arch, called the springer, rests on the impost.
The classical orders in Europe
The Roman author Vitruvius, relying on the writings (now lost) of Greek authors, tells us that the ancient Greeks believed that their Doric order developed from techniques for building in wood in which the earlier smoothed tree trunk was replaced by a stone cylinder.
This myth of the transformation of wood into stone still causes controversy today - did the ancient Greeks invent columns this way for themselves, or did they imitate the stone construction of neighboring civilization?
Doric order
The Doric, or Tuscan, order is the oldest and simplest of the classical order. It is composed of a vertical cylinder that is wider at the bottom. It generally has neither a base nor a capital. It is often referred to as the masculine order because it is represented in the bottom level of the Colosseum, and was therefore considered to be able to hold more weight. The height-to-thickness ratio is about 4:1.
Colosseum, Athens, 421-407 BC]]
Ionic order
The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric. It usually has a base and the shaft is often fluted (it has grooves carved up its length). On the top is a capital in the characteristic shape of a scroll, called a volute, at the four corners. The height-to-thickness ratio is around 6:1.
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth, to which it was connected in the period. However, according to the Greek architectural historian Vitruvius, the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus, probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket. In fact, the oldest known Corinthian capital was found in Bassae, dated at 427 BC. It is sometimes called the feminine order because it is on the top level of the Colosseum and holding up the least weight. It is similar to the Ionic order, but rather than a scroll, the Corinthian capital consists of rows of acanthus leaves. Many variations have been made on the Corinthian capital. For instance, the capitals of the Capitol building in Washington, DC are made up partially of wheat stalks.
Notable columns
- Persepolis's columns
- Trajan's Column
- Monument to the Great Fire of London
- Nelson's Column
- Sigismund's Column
See also
- Forms in architecture
- Colonnade
- Persian column
- Pilaster
- Buckling
Category:Architectural elements
category:Architectural history
Category:Buildings and structures
ja:柱
Entablature
An entablature (ĕntăb´lechoor; Latin, and tabula, a tablet) is a classical architectural element, the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above the columns, resting on their capitals. It is commonly divided into the architrave, the supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall, the part immediately above the column; the frieze, an unmolded strip that may or may not be ornamented; and the cornice, the projecting and protective member.
The Doric version of the entablature is fairly simple. The architrave, the lowest band, is split, from bottom to top, into the guttae, the regulae, and the taenia.
The frieze is dominated by the triglyphs, vertically channelled tablets, separated by metopes, which may or may not be decorated. The triglyphs sit on top of the taenia, a flat, thin, horizontal protrusion, and are finished at the bottom of by (often ornate) decoration of drops, called guttae, which belong to the top of the architrave. The top of the triglyphs meet the protrusion of the cornice from the entablature. The underside of this protrusion is decorated with mutules, tablets that are typically finished with guttae.
The cornice is split into the soffit, the corona, and the cymatium. The soffit is simply exposed underside. The corona and the cymatium are the principal parts of the cornice.
The Ionic order of entablature adds the fascia in the architrave, which are flat horizontal protrusions, and the dentils under the cornice, which are tooth-like rectangular block moldings.
The Corinthian order, however, adds a far more ornate frieze, divided, from bottom to top, into the cyma reversa, the dentils, the ovulo, the modillions, the fascia, and the cyma recta. The modillions are ornate brackets, similar in use to dentils, but often in the shape of acanthus leaves.
The frieze is sometimes omitted - for example, on the portico of the caryatides of the Erechtheum - and probably did not exist as a structure in the temple of Diana at Ephesus. Neither is it found in the Lycian tombs, which are reproductions in the rock of timber structures based on early lonian work. The entablature is essentially an evolution of the primitive lintel, which spans two posts, supporting the ends of the roof rafters.
The structure of the entablature varies with the three classical orders, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. In each, the proportions of the subdivisions (architrave, frieze, cornice) are defined by the proportions of the column in the order. In Roman and Renaissance interpretations, it is usually around a fourth of the height of the column. Most versions of entablature that do not fit these patterns are usually derived from them.
The entablature, going together with the system of classical columns, is rarely found outside of classical architecture. However,
it is sometimes used to complete the upper portion of a wall, where columns are not present, and in the case of pilasters (pseudo-columns partially projecting from a wall) or detached or engaged columns it is sometimes profiled round them. This use of the entablature irrespective of columns begins to appear after the Renaissance.
References
-
-
See also
- Classical order
- Classical architecture
- Subdivisions of the entablature:
- Architrave
- Frieze
- Cornice
Category:Architectural elements
Rome
Rome (Italian and Latin: Roma) is the capital of Italy and of its Latium region. It is located on the Tiber and Aniene rivers, near the Mediterranean Sea, at . The Vatican City, a sovereign enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and the home of the Pope.
Rome is the largest city and comune in Italy; the comune or municipality is one of the largest in Europe with an area of 1290 square kilometers. Within the city limits, the population is 2,823,807 (2004); almost 4 million live in the general area of Rome as represented by the province of Rome. The current mayor of Rome is Walter Veltroni.
With a GDP of €75 billion (higher than New Zealand's and equivalent to Singapore's — all three have roughly the same population of around 4 million), in the year 2001 the comune of Rome produced 6.5% of Italy's total GDP, the highest rate among all of Italy's cities.
The city's history extends nearly 2,800 years, during which time it has been the seat of ancient Rome (the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, Roman Empire), and later the Papal States, Kingdom of Italy and Italian Republic.
History
Demographics
Throughout its long history Rome has been a centre of learning, trade and commerce. The native Italian population have shared their city throughout the ages with migrants from across Europe and the wider world. In ancient times a large proportion of the population were foreign merchants, slaves, officials and their descendants who came from across the wide empire which bore the city's name. Today the population is very diverse with immigrants thought to make up as much as 20% of the population of the city.
Economy
Today Rome has a dynamic and diverse economy concentrating on innovation, technologies, communications and the service sector. They produce 6.5% of the national GDP (more than any other city in the Italy) and continues to grow at a higher rate than those in the rest of the country. Tourism is inevitably one of Rome's chief industries. The city is also a centre for banking, publishing, insurance, fashion, high-tech industries, housing, cinema (particularly at the famous Cinecittà studios, dubbed the "Hollywood on the Tiber"), and the aerospace industries.
Many international headquarters, government ministries, conference centres, sports venues and museums are located in Rome's principal business districts: the E.U.R. (Esposizione Universale Roma); the Torrino (further south from the E.U.R.); the Magliana; the Parco de' Medici-Laurentina and the so-called Tiburtina-valley along the ancient Via Tiburtina.
Transportation
Esposizione Universale Roma district.]]
Esposizione Universale Roma) from the park around the artificial
lake. Rome, EUR district.]]
Rome has an intercontinental airport named Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport - FCO, but more commonly known as Fiumicino, which also is Italy's chief airport, and the Giovan-Battista Pastine international airport (commonly referred to as Ciampino Airport), a joint civilian and military airport southeast of the city-center, along the Via Appia, which handles mainly charter flights and regional European flights including some low-cost airlines. A third airport, called Aeroporto dell'Urbe, is located in the north of the city along the ancient Via Salaria and handles mainly helicopters and private flights. A fourth airport, called Aeroporto di Centocelle, in the eastern part of Rome between the Via Prenestina and the Via Casilina, has been abandoned for some years now, but is currently being redeveloped as one of the largest public parks in Rome.
A subway system operates in Rome called the "Metropolitana" or Rome Metro which was opened in 1955. There are 2 lines (A & B), a third (C) and a new branch of the B-line (B1) are under construction, while a fourth line (D) has been planned. The frequent archaeological findings delay underground work.
Today's (2005) total length is 38 km. The two existing lines, A & B, only intersect at one point, Termini Station, the main train station in Rome (which also is the largest train station in Europe, underneath and around which exists now a lively shopping center known as the "Forum Termini" with more than 100 shops of various types).
Other stations includes: Tiburtina (second-largest, which is currently being redeveloped and enlarged to become the main high-speed train hub in the city), Ostiense, Trastevere, Tuscolana, S. Pietro, Casilina, Torricola.
The Rome Metro is part of an extensive transport network made of a tramway network, several suburban and urban lines in and around the city of Rome, plus an "express line" to Fiumicino Airport. Whereas most FS-Regionale lines (Regional State Railways) do provide mostly a suburban service with more than 20 stations scattered throughout the city, the Roma-Lido (starting at Ostiense station), the Roma-Pantano (starting nearby Termini) and the Roma-Nord (starting at Flaminio station) lines offer a metro-like service.
Rome also has a comprehensive bus system. The web site (translated in english) of the [http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?lng=2 public transportation company (ATAC)] allows a route to be calculated using the buses and subways. [http://www.atac.roma.it/biglietti/index.asp?COD=320&LNG=2 Metrebus integrated fare system] allows holders of tickets and integrated passes to travel on all companies vehicles, within the validity time of the ticket purchased.
Chronic congestion caused by cars during the 1970s and 1980s led to the banning of unauthorized traffic from the central part of city during workdays from 6.00 a.m to 6 p.m. (this area is officially called Zona a Traffico Limitato, Z.T.L. in short). Heavy traffic due to night-life crowds during week-ends led in recent years to the creation of other Z.T.L.s in the Trastevere and S. Lorenzo districts during the night, and to the experimentation of a new night Z.T.L. also in the city center (plans to create a night Z.T.L. in the Testaccio district as well are underway). In recent years, parking-spaces along the streets in wide areas of the city have been converted to pay-parkings, as new underground parkings spread throughout the city. In spite of all these measures, traffic remains an unsolved problem, as in the rest of the world's cities.
Education
Z.T.L.
Rome continues to be the major education and research center of Italy, with many major universities that offer degrees in all fields. Among the prestigious educational establishments in Rome is the University of Rome La Sapienza (founded 1303), which is Europe’s biggest university with almost 150,000 students. The city is also home to three other public universities: Università degli studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, more commonly called Roma 2, University of Roma Tre and the Istituto Universitario di Scienze Motorie.
Undisputed as the greatest repository of western art of the last 3,000 years of human history, Rome is home to many foreign academic institutions, as well, such as The American Academy, The British School, The French Institute, The German Archaeological Institute, The Swedish Institute, and The Finnish Institute, The Japan Foundation.
Several private universities are as well located in Rome, as:
- LUISS University (Libera università internazionale degli studi sociali), probably the most prestigious private university in Rome;
- Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore, a renowned university in Italy;
- John Cabot University, a private American University;
- LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria SS. Assunta);
- University of Malta, an International University;
- Libera Università di Roma "Leonardo da Vinci";
- Libera Università Degli Studi "S. Pio V";
- UPTER University;
- I.S.S.A.S. University.
Still located in Rome are the Accademia di Santa Cecilia - the world's oldest academy of music (founded 1584), St. John's University's Rome campus which is located at the Pontificio Oratorio San Pietro, several academies of fine arts, colleges of the church, medical and Health research instituts.
Monuments and sights
- See Wikipedia's category "Monuments and sights of Rome"
Houses of worship
Churches
Rome is home to over 900 churches.
Basilicas
Patriarchal basilicas
- San Giovanni in Laterano (St. John in Lateran)
- San Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's)
- San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul outside the Walls)
- Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major)
- San Lorenzo fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence outside the Walls)
Other basilicas
- Sant'Agnese fuori le mura (St. Agnes outside the Walls)
- Sant'Andrea delle Fratte
- Santi Apostoli (Holy Apostles)
- San Bernardo alle Terme
- San Clemente (St. Clement)
- Santi Cosma e Damiano (SS. Cosmas and Damian)
- Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
- San Lorenzo in Lucina
- San Marco (St. Mark)
- Santa Maria degli Angeli
- Santa Maria in Aracoeli
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva
- San Martino ai Monti
- San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains)
- Santa Prassede (St. Praxedis)
- San Saba
- Santa Sabina
- San Sebastiano fuori le mura
- Santi Quattro Coronati
- Santa Maria in Trastevere
Other important churches
The following do not yet have Wikipedia articles, but are important nonetheless:
- San Giorgio al Velabro;
- San Giovanni dei Fiorentini;
- San Lorenzo in Miranda (temple of Antoninus and Faustina)
- Santi Marcellino e Pietro;
- Santa Maria della Pace;
- Santa Maria dei Monti;
- Santo Stefano Rotondo;
Non-Christian places of worship
- Great Synagogue of Rome
- Great Mosque of Rome and Islamic Cultural Center
Image:Sicht vom petersdom roma.jpg|View over Rome from St. Peter's Basilica.
Image:RomeSinagogue.jpg|Rome's main Synagogue in the old Jewish Ghetto district, on the banks of the Tiber river.
Administrative subdivision of Rome
The Administrative subdivision of Rome consists in the division of the large territory of Rome into 19 Districts.
Province of Rome
Rome is the capital of a province, with an area of 5,352 sq. km, and a total population of 3,700,424 (2001) in 120 comuni. The province can be viewed as the extended metropolitan area of the town of Rome, although in its more peripheral portions, especially to the north, it comprises towns surrounded by firmly rural landscape, just as towns elsewhere thruout Italy.
Markets and shopping areas
Porta Portese
Street market on Sunday mornings, from very early to around 1pm, on the left bank of the Tiber, between Porto Portese and Stazione Trastevere, centred on Via Portuense. The wares are mainly clothes, both old and new. The second-hand clothing stalls are by far the more popular, with the clothes sorted by type (leathers and furs, jeans, coats, children’s clothes, etc) and piled on large tables with everything at the same (low) price. Tables start at 50c, and range up to 20 euro for high-quality leather and fur.
Campo de' Fiori
Campo de' Fiori is one of the oldest markets in Rome, where food and flowers are most frequently found. Though the name literally means "field of flowers," there are no fields in sight; it's in the middle of downtown Rome, off of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. The market is open every morning of the week except Sunday. Campo de' Fiori, surrounded by many bars and restaurants, is also a popular destination at night for locals and foreigners alike.
Symbols and trivia
Rome is commonly identified by several proper symbols, including the Colosseum, the she-wolf (Lupa capitolina), the imperial eagle, and the symbols of Christianity. The famous acronym SPQR recalls the ancient age and the unity between Roman Senate and Roman people.
Rome is called "L'Urbe" (The City), "Caput mundi" (head of the world), "Città Eterna" (eternal city), and "Limen Apostolorum" (the threshold of the apostles).
The town's colors are golden yellow and red (garnet): they stand, respectively, for christian and imperial dignities.
Rome has two holidays of its own: April 21 (the founding of Rome), and June 29 (the feast of its patron saints, Peter and Paul). Other locally important dates are December 8 (the Immaculate Conception) and January 6 (Epiphany).
The Grande Raccordo Anulare (commonly shortened "Il GRA" or "Il Raccordo"), which is more than 80 km long, once encircled the city. Rome has since grown past this round motorway, with new districts well beyond it.
Some proverbs about the Eternal City:
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
- All roads lead to Rome.
- Rome wasn't built in a day.
During its long history, Rome has always had a scarcity of native inhabitants, so by tradition a "true" Roman is one whose family has lived in Rome for no less than 7 generations: this is the original "Romano de Roma" (in Romanesco, the local dialect of Italian).
For the autonomistic party Lega Nord, Rome is the symbol of the allegedly parasytical Italian central government, crystalized in their slogan Roma ladrona ("Thief Rome").
Image:Roma01.jpg|Senatus PopulusQue Romanus. Great Seal of Rome's municipality
Image:polizia-roma.gif|Seal of Rome's City Police, with the seal and the she-wolf.
Events
Roma Europa Festival, September
Annual appointment for modern art and theatre, music and dance, with artists from of all Europe.
Festival Romics, October
Comics and Cartoon Festival: exhibitions, cartoon film showings of designers and publishing companies.
Roma Jazz Festival, October
Festival of jazz music since of 1876.
Italian and international artists.
Roman Summers, from June to September
Various events from music to theater, literary meetings and cinema. Events that take place in the most characteristic places in Rome that attract the participation of thousands of artists from all over the world.
Cultural Events
White Night
Series of events at venues throughout Rome on September: concerts, special outdoor performances, churches and monuments open to the public during, museums open all night with free entrance, shops open all nights. ([http://www.lanottebianca.it/index.asp?lang=en&destinazione=cosa_])
External links
- [http://www.comune.roma.it/cultura/ Official Site of the City of Rome]
- [http://www.romasotterranea.it/ Roma Sotterranea/Subterranean Rome]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/home.html Bill Thayer's Gazetteer of Rome]
- [http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Arc/5319/eng.htm Andrea Pollett's Virtual Roma]
- [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/9259/roma_ant.htm Roma Antica e Roma Moderna], in Italian
- [http://www.forbeginners.info/rome/ Rome for Beginners]
- [http://www.alberghi-a.roma.it/info.htm Informations and useful numbers about Rome]
Ancient Rome
- [http://www.romeartlover.it/Rome.htm Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth Century traveller]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/ Encyclopædia Romana, by James Grout]
- [http://www.maquettes-historiques.net/page4.html La maquette de Rome]
- [http://intranet.grundel.nl/thinkquest/introduction.html "Forum Romanum", a ThinkQuest site]
- [http://www.vroma.org/~forum/ "Forum Romanum" Project at VRoma]
Christian Rome
- See Wikipedia's category "Churches of Rome"
Galleries
- [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov:81/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=15316 Satellite image of Rome] at NASA's Earth Observatory
- [http://myweb.lmu.edu/fjust/Rome.htm Ancient Rome, Images and Pictures]
- [http://map.cs.telespazio.it/fontane/index.html Fontanelle di Roma], including the aqueducts
- [http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/roma/movie.htm A virtual travel of Rome] pictures and virtual reality movies
- [http://www.rome.info/pictures/ Free Rome Pictures]
- [http://sabin.ro/gallery/album412 Rome Photo Gallery]
- [http://digilander.libero.it/fotogian/roma.html Photos of Rome]
- [http://www.photoroma.com/ PhotoRoma]
- [http://www2.siba.fi/~kkoskim/rooma/pages/MAIN.HTM Vedute di Roma]
- [http://www.secretrome.com Pictures of Rome]
- [http://rome.arounder.com/fullscreen.html Arounder.Com] (QTVR panoramas)
Maps
- [http://www.italy-weather-and-maps.com/maps/italy/lazio.gif Rome and environs (Lazio)]
- [http://www.statravel.co.uk/images/off/short_breaks/map/map_rom.gif downtown Rome]
- [http://www.walkingrome.com/links/Pianta-di-Roma-Web.jpg downtown Rome (WalkingRome)]
- [http://www.activitaly.it/infobase/index.php?lang=en Interactive map (Activitaly)]
- [http://www.duke.edu/~rkl7/Images/Rome%20City%20map.jpg Map of Ancient Rome]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=rome&spn=0.039455,0.126549&t=k&hl=en Google Maps satellite images of Rome]
Travel guides
-
Category:Capitals in Europe
Category:Holy cities
Category:Roman sites of the Lazio
-
Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games
Category:World Heritage Sites in Italy
Category:Christianity
als:Rom
ko:로마
ja:ローマ
simple:Rome
PiazzaA piazza is an open square in a city, often used as a marketplace, found in Italy. It is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza. Piazza has taken some slightly different meanings in Britain and the US. In Ethiopia, it is used to refer to a part of a city.
US (Tuscany, Italy) Photo by Daniele Landini]]
When the Earl of Bedford developed the first privately-ventured public square built in London, Covent Garden, his architect Inigo Jones surrounded it with arcades, in the Italian fashion. Aristocratic talk about the piazza was connected in Londoners' minds, not with the square as a whole but with the arcades, which were called the "piazzas."
In Britain a piazza now generally refers to a paved open pedestrian space, without grass or planting, often in front of a significant building or shops.
In the United States, in the early 19th century, a "piazza" by further extension became a fanciful name for a colonnaded porch.
Examples of piazzas
- Piazza San Marco, in Venice
- St. Peter's Piazza, in Vatican City
- Piazza del Duomo
- Piazza del Campo
- Piazza Maggiore, in Bologna
- Piazza delle Erbe
- Piazza Navona
- Piazza di Spagna
- Covent Garden in London
See also
- List of city squares
Category:Urban studies and planning
Balustrade
A baluster (through the Fr. balustre, from Ital. balaustro, from balaustra, "pomegranate flower" [from a resemblance to the post], from Lat. balaustium, from Gr. balaustion) is a small moulded shaft, square or circular, in stone or wood and sometimes in metal, supporting the coping of a parapet or the rail of a staircase, an assemblage of them being known as a "balustrade". The earliest examples are those shown in the bas-reliefs representing the Assyrian palaces, where they were employed as window balustrades and apparently had Ionic capitals. They do not seem to have been known to either the Greeks or the Romans, but early examples are found in the balconies in the palaces at Venice and Verona. In the hands of the Italian revivalists, they became features of the greatest importance, and were largely employed for window balconies and roof parapets. The term "baluster shaft" is given to the shaft dividing a window in Saxon architecture. In the south transept of the abbey at St Albans, England, are some of these shafts, supposed to have been taken from the old Saxon church. Norman bases and capitals have been added, together with plain cylindrical Norman shafts.
References
-
Portico
A portico is a porch or walkway with a roof supported by columns, often leading to the entrance of a building.
Some famous examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, and the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome.
The temple-front portico applied to The Vyne, Hampshire was the first applied to an English country house.
See also
- Classical architecture
- List of classical architecture terms
- Loggia
- Opisthodomos
- Pronaos
- Italianate
Category:Architectural elements
PeristyleIn Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden. In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from Roman precedents, a basilica, such as Old St Peter's in Rome, would stand behind a peristyle forecourt that sheltered it from the street. In time the cloister developed from the peristyle.
In rural settings a wealthy Roman could surround a villa with terraced gardens; within the city Romans created their gardens inside the domus. The peristylium was an open courtyard within the house; the columns or square pillars surrounding the garden supported a shady roofed portico whose inner walls were often embellished with elaborate wall paintings of landscapes and trompe-l'oeil architecture. Sometimes the lararium, a shrine for the Lares, the gods of the household, was located in this portico, or it might be found in the atrium. The courtyard might contain flowers and shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and even fish ponds.
Though the Egyptians did not use the Greek term peristyle historians have adopted it to describe similar structures in Egyptian palace architecture.
See: Architecture
External link
- [http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/garden.html Barbara McManus, "The Peristylium"]: a reconstruction of a peristyle
Category:Architectural elements
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the Roman state religion, but which has been a Christian church since the 7th century. It is the best-preserved of all Roman buildings and the oldest important building in the world with its original roof intact. It has been in continuous use throughout its history.
History
The original Pantheon was built in 27 BC-25 BC under the Roman Empire, during the third consulship of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and his name is inscribed on the portico of the building. The inscription reads M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT, "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this." It was originally built with adjoining baths and water gardens.
baths]
In fact, Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed by fire in AD 80, and the Pantheon was completely rebuilt in about 125, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, as date-stamps on the bricks reveal. It was totally reconstructed, with the text of the original inscription (referring to Agrippa) added to the new facade, a common practice in Hadrian's rebuilding projects all over Rome. The building was later repaired by Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
Hadrian was a cosmopolitan emperor who traveled widely in the east and was a great admirer of Greek culture. He seems to have intended the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, to be a sort of ecumenical or syncretist gesture to the subjects of the Roman Empire who did not worship the old gods of Rome, or who (as was increasingly the case) worshipped them under other names.
In 609 the Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV, who reconsecrated it as a Christian church, the Church of Mary and all the Martyr Saints (Santa Maria ad Martyres), which title it retains.
Saints
The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment and spoliation which befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early mediaeval period. The only loss has been the external sculptures, which adorned the pediment above Agrippa's inscription. The marble interior and the great bronze doors have survived, although the latter have been restored several times.
During the reign of Pope Urban VIII, the Pope ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. Most of the bronze was used to make bombards for the fortification of Castel Sant'Angelo, with the remaining amount used by the Apostolic Chamber for various other works. (It is also said that the bronze was used by Bernini in creating the baldachin above the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, but according to at least one expert, the Pope's accounts state that about 90% of the bronze was used for the cannon, and that the bronze for the baldachin came from Venice.[http://gnv.fdt.net/~aabbeama/Christmas/Pantheon.html]) This led to the Latin proverb, "Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini" ("What the barbarians did not do, the Barberinis [family name of Urban VIII] did").
In the 15th century, the Pantheon was adorned with paintings: the most famous is the "Annunciazione" by Melozzo da Forlì.
Since the Renaissance the Pantheon has been used as a tomb. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Caracci, the architect Baldassare Peruzzi and two kings of Italy: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, as well as Vittorio Emanuele's Queen, Margherita.
Although Italy has been a republic since 1946, volunteer members of Italian monarchist organisations maintain a vigil over the royal tombs in the Pantheon. This has aroused protests from time to time from republicans, but the Catholic authorities allow the practice to continue, although the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage [http://www.beniculturali.it/default.asp?versione=Inglese&from=1] is in charge of the security and maintenance. The Pantheon is still a church and Masses are still celebrated in the church, particularly for weddings.
Masses
Structure
The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus), the Great Eye, open to the sky. A rectangular structure links the portico with the rotunda. In the walls at the back of the portico were niches for statues of Caesar, Augustus and Agrippa. The large bronze doors to the cella, once plated with gold, still remain, but the gold has long since vanished. The pediment was decorated with a sculpture in bronze showing the Battle of the Titans - holes may still be seen where the clamps which held the sculpture in place were fixed.
The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same (43 metres, or 142 feet 6 inches), so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube (alternatively, the interior could house a sphere 43 metres in diameter). The dome is the largest surviving from antiquity and was the largest dome in western Europe until Brunelleschi's dome of the Duomo of Florence was completed in 1436. It was covered with gilded bronze plates.
1436
The interior of the roof is intended to symbolize the heavens. The Great Eye, 27 feet across, at the dome's apex is the source of all light and is symbolic of the sun. Its original circular bronze cornice remains in position. The interior features sunk panels (coffers), which originally contained bronze star ornaments. This coffering was not only decorative, however but reduced the weight of the roof, as did the elimination of the apex by means of the Great Eye. The top of the rotunda wall features a series of brick-relieving arches, visible on the outside and built into the mass of the brickwork. The Pantheon is full of such devices - for example, there are relieving arches over the recesses inside - but all these arches were, of course, originally hidden by marble facing.
It may well be noted that the proportions of the building are in discord with respect to the classical ideal. Most evident is the rather large pediment, which appears far too "heavy" for the columns supporting it. The reason for this was the expectation that the building would be much taller than it actually is, which would affect larger columns. However, by the time the pediment was built, it was realised that the supply of imported stone for the columns were not enough to build to its anticipated height and thus the builders had to settle with a building that is somewhat out of proportion.
marble
The composition of the Roman concrete used in the dome remains a mystery. An unreinforced dome in these proportions made of modern concrete would hardly stand the load of its own weight, since concrete has very low tensile strength, yet the Pantheon has stood for centuries. It is known from Roman sources that their concrete is made up of a pasty hydrate lime; pozzolanic ash from a nearby volcano; and fist-sized pieces of rock. In this, it is very similar to modern concrete. The high tensile strength appears to come from the way the concrete was applied in very small amounts and then was tamped down to remove excess water at all stages. This appears to have prevented the air bubbles that normally form in concrete as the material dries, thus increasing its strength enormously.
As the best preserved example of monumental Roman architecture, the Pantheon was enormously influential on European and American architects from the Renaissance to the 19th century. Numerous city halls, universities and public libraries echo its portico-and-dome structure. Examples of notable buildings influenced by the Pantheon include Thomas Jefferson's Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Low Library at Columbia University, New York, and the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Some changes have been made in the interior decoration, however. Much fine marble has been removed in the course of the centuries, and there are capitals from some of the pilasters in the British Museum.
See also
- Volkshalle, huge unbuilt People's Hall designed by Adolf Hitler & Albert Speer for a victorious Nazi Germany that was inspired by the Pantheon.
External links
- [http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/roma/pantheon.htm Pantheon Rome], Virtual Panorama and photo gallery
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP
- /Pantheon.html Pantheon], article in Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
- [http://gnv.fdt.net/~aabbeama/Christmas/Pantheon.html Pantheon], excerpt from Rodolpho Lanciani's The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome Edition MDCCCXCVII
- [http://www.romanconcrete.com/ Roman Concrete Research]
- [http://81.208.34.15/dynamicindex/camera.html Live Pantheon Webcam]
- [http://www.activitaly.it/inglese/monument/pantheon.htm Pantheon]
- [http://www.generativeart.com/salgado/salgado.htm Tomás García Salgado, "The geometry of the Pantheon's vault"]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rome+Italy&ll=41.898412,12.476403&spn=0.005354,0.007811&t=k&hl=en Aerial photo]
- [http://chicagopictures.net/detail.aspx?ID=114 Photos of the Fountain outside of the Pantheon]
- [http://www.britishtours.com/rome/pantheon_rome.html Pantheon at Night], Virtual Reality image of the Pantheon at Night
----
Category:Ancient Roman architecture
Category:Churches of Rome
ja:パンテオン (ローマ)
British Museum
glass roof by Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room.]]
The British Museum in London is the United Kingdom's – and one of the world's – largest and most important museums of human history and culture. The museum was established in 1753 and was based largely on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on January 15, 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building.
The British Museum is home to over seven million objects illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. Many of the artifacts are stored underneath the museum due to lack of space.
The present chairman is Sir John Boyd and its director is Neil MacGregor.
The British Museum, like the other main museums and art galleries in London, charges no admission fee. Admission charges, however, are levied for some temporary special exhibitions.
The British Museum offers a range of learning experiences for everyone including schools, families and adults, one of which are a Postgraduate Diploma that focuses on the classical and decorative arts of Asia.
History
Though principally a museum of antiquities today, the British Museum was founded as a 'universal museum'. This is reflected in the first bequest by Sir Hans Sloane, comprising some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens, prints by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Middle and Far East and the Americas. The Foundation Act, passed on June 7 1753, added two other libraries to the Sloane collection. The Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dated back to Elizabethan times and the Harleian library was the collection of the first and second Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the Royal Library assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four 'Foundation collections' included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library, including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf.
The body of Trustees (which until 1963 was headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons) decided on Montagu House as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on a site now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location.
After its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Library and David Garrick's library of 1,000 printed plays, but had few ancient relics and would have been unrecognisable to visitors of the modern museum. The first notable addition to the collection of antiquities was by Sir William Hamilton, British Ambassador to Naples, who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artifacts to the museum in 1782. In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid. After the defeat of the French in the Battle of the Nile in 1801 the British Museum acquired more Egyptian sculpture and the Rosetta Stone. Many Greek sculptures followed, notably the Towneley collection in 1805 and the infamous Elgin Marbles in 1816.
The collection soon outgrew its surroundings and the situation became urgent with the donation in 1822 of King George III's personal library of 65,000 volumes, 19,000 pamphlets, maps, charts and topographical trawings to the museum. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished in 1845 and replaced by a design by the neoclassical architect Sir Robert Smirke.
Robert Smirke]
Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man sometimes called the 'second founder' of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Antonio Panizzi. Under his supervision the British Museum Library quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national library. The quadrangle at the centre of Smirke's design proved to be a waste of valuable space and was filled at Panizzi's request by a circular Reading Room of cast iron, designed by Smirke's son, Sydney Smirke.
The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal to the new British Museum (Natural History), now the Natural History Museum, in 1887. The ethnography collections were until recently housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind in Piccadilly; they have now returned to Bloomsbury and the Department of Ethnography has been renamed the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.
The temporary exhibition Treasures of Tutankhamun, held by the British Museum in 1972, was the most successful in British history, attracting 1,694,117 visitors. In the same year the Act of Parliament establishing The British Library was passed, separating the collection of manuscripts and printed books from the British Museum. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997.
With the bookstacks in the central courtyard of the museum now empty, the process of demolition for Sir Norman Foster's glass-roofed Great Court could begin. The Great Court, opened in 2000, while undoubtedly improving circulation around the museum, was criticised for having a lack of exhibition space at a time when the museum was in serious financial difficulties and many galleries were closed to the public. In 2002 the museum was even closed for a day when its staff protested about proposed redundancies. A few weeks later the theft of a small Greek statue was blamed on lack of security staff.
Criticisms
2002 of the Parthenon.]]
There is an ongoing controversy about the right of museums to possess artifacts taken from other countries, and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes are among its most disputed collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of both sets of artifacts to their native countries of Greece and Nigeria respectively.
The British Museum has refused to return either set, or any of its other disputed items, stating that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world".[http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/gr/andart.html] The Museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents it from selling any of its valuable artifacts, even the ones not on display. Critics have particularly argued against the right of the British Museum to own objects which it does not share with the public.
Supporters of the Museum claim that it has provided protection for artifacts that may have otherwise been damaged or destroyed if they had been left in their original environments. While some critics have accepted this, they also argue that the artifacts should now be returned to their countries of origin if there is sufficient expertise and desire there to preserve them. The British Museum has also argued that its objects benefit from their setting, where they can be seen for free alongside other artifacts from all over the world, although a counter-argument is that the objects would be better displayed in their native countries, closer to their original context.
While the British Museum continues to assert that it is an appropriate custodian and has an inalienable right to its disputed artifacts under British law, opponents of the Museum continue to criticise it for theft, and what is perceived to be a cavalier attitude towards the right of other cultures to possess their own works.
Nigeria
The building
The Greek Revival façade facing Great Russell Street is a characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke in the Ionic order. The pediment over the main entrance is decorated by scultptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting The Rise of Civilisation, installed in 1852.
The Duveen Gallery housing the Elgin Marbles was designed by John Russell Pope, architect of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. Although completed in 1938 it was hit by a bomb in 1940 and remained semi-derelict for 22 years before reopening in 1962.
The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court is a covered square at the centre of the British Museum designed by the architects Foster and Partners. The Great Court opened in December 2000 and is the largest covered square in Europe. The roof is a glass and steel construction with 1,656 pairs of uniquely shaped glass panes. At the centre of the Great Court is the Reading Room vacated by the British Library, its functions now moved to St Pancras. The Reading Room is open to any member of the public who wishes to read there.
The collections
British Library
The British Museum of today is primarily a museum of antiquities and ethnography. Lack of space has meant that it has had to shed its collections of natural history and books, but it still claims the mantle of 'universal museum'. The permanent exhibition on the Enlightenment in the King's Library gives some idea of the original scope of the museum.
In London the main collections of Western fine art and global applied art are housed in the independent National Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museums, respectively. However, the British Museum retains its Department of Prints and Drawings, which includes a cartoon by Michelangelo and many other works of artistic merit.
Highlights of the collections include:
- The Elgin Marbles, carvings from the Athenian Parthenon
- The Portland Vase
- The Rosetta Stone
- The Stein collection from Central Asia
- The Clock Room
- Works by Albrecht Dürer: 1 volume of sketches and 4 volumes of manuscripts
- Egyptian Mummies
- The Benin Bronzes
- Anglo-Saxon artifacts from the Sutton Hoo burial
- The Lewis Chessmen
- The Mold cape (a Bronze age gold ceremonial cape)
- The basalt statue Hoa Hakananai'a from Easter Island
- The echo in the reading room, which Gerard Hoffnung recommended
The notorious Cupboard 55 in the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, inaccessible by the public and known as 'the Secretum', has a reputation for containing some of the most erotic objects in the British Museum. Though claiming to be from ancient cultures, many of the objects are Victorian fakes and are deemed unfit for public display on grounds of quality, rather than because of their supposed obscenity.
Information
the Secretum
Admission to the British Museum is free, except for special exhibitions within the main museum.
Location
:Great Russell Street
:London WC1B 3DG
:Coordinates:
Nearest London Underground stations:
- Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern lines)
- Holborn (Central, Piccadilly lines)
- Russell Square (Piccadilly line)
Between 1908 and 1933 there was a British Museum station on the London Underground between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn stations. The platforms of this 'ghost station' are still visible from trains passing between the two stations.
The British Museum, and especially the Reading Room, is a recurring setting in David Lodge's 1965 novel The British Museum Is Falling Down.
Galleries
Joseph E. Hotung Gallery (Asia)
Image:IndusValleySeals.JPG|Seals of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Image:MathuraLionCapital.JPG|The Indo-Scythian Mathura lion capital, 1st century CE.
Image:6thPillarOfAshoka.JPG|Fragment of the 6th Pillar Edict of Ashoka (238 BCE), in Brahmi, sandstone.
Image:KanishkaCasket.JPG|The Kanishka casket, dated to 127 CE, with the Buddha surrounded by Brahma and Indra.
Image:CrystalGoose.JPG|A Hamsa sacred goose reliquary, Gandhara, 1st century CE.
Image:BimaranCasket.JPG|The Bimaran casket, Gandhara, 1st century CE.
Image:EmaciatedBuddha.JPG|The Buddha as an ascetic. Gandhara, 2-3rd century CE.
Hellenistic galleries
Image:ScythianArchers.JPG|Gold clothing appliqué, showing two Scythian archers, 400-350 BCE. Probably from Kul Oba, Crimea.
Image:PalmyraWoman.JPG|Funerary bust of a woman. Palmyra. Mid-late 2nd century CE.
External links
- [http://the.british.museum/ Official website of The British Museum]
- [http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/visit/datelist.html A list of important dates in the British museum's history from the official website]
- [http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/education/asia/diploma.html Diploma in Asian Art, The British Museum from the official website]
Category:Art museums and galleries in London
Category:Museums in London
Category:National museums
Category:Archaeology museums
Category:Camden
Category:Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government
ja:大英博物館
Category:Architectural elementsThis is a collection of terms that can be used to describe the physical parts of buildings but not
- terms for buildings as a whole (e.g. church, mansion)
- names for parts of building defined by their function (e.g. kitchen, nave)
- the names of styles of building or architectural movements (e.g. gothic, Bauhaus)
- building materials or method (e.g. thatch)
Elements, Architectural
Category:Songs by Harry RichmanRichman, Harry
Richman, Harry
Pozycjonowanie mieszne filmy metal milan italy hotels przetargi
|
|
|
|
