RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE PART 1

ARC 1424: History of Architecture 3

Background Renaissance Architecture

• 14th century
• a renewed interest regarding arts and sciences
emerge especially in Italy
• The scholars and artist studied human body and
depicting it more realistically, thus the core of
renaissance is Humanism
• Italy is the center of the renaissance, particularly in
the area of Florence, Rome and Venice
The splitting-off from the Roman Cat holic Church by • derived from rinascita, the Italian word for "rebirth."
many northern European countries, which Luther had
promoted by his public stand against the Church's
corruption, was the most world-changing event of the
sixteenth
Factors that Affect the Renaissance Architecture
• Humanism
• Scale and Proportion in
Renaissance
– Applications of Mathematics
• Symbolic Meanings of Numbers
• Forms of Mathematics Affecting Design
Building Typologies
• Religious Structures
• Palazzo (Palaces)
• Villa
• Piazza
• Fortification
• Theaters
Renaissance Architecture in Italy
Florence Rome Venice
Geographical

the isolated position on the Adriatic sea secured it

Its prestige is it is the capital of an empire that
against attack from the mainland and made it sea-
Centrally situated and the chief power of Italy crumbled but its architecture is being revived by the
power of the Adriatic with direct maritime
popes and cardinals.
connection.

the ruins of pagan Rome were quarries from which

Geological

The quarries in Tuscany supplies large block of stone

material could be easily collected for renaissance though Venice is considered a floating city, materials
and marble giving massive and monumental
building as well as the abundant supply of local are traveled through water-carriage.
character to the architecture
travertine stone and marble.

bright and sunny climate rendered large windows

Climate

unsuitable. The open cortile and sheltering Extreme heat of summer tempered by sea breezes
Genial and sunny
colonnade are the result of warm climate. favoring outdoor life
Temperate Climate
Religio

Influenced by the Dominican preacher Savonarola Influenced by the return of the popes maintained a semi-independence from pope at rome
us

Rediscovery of classical literature provided the home of classic roman traditions which naturally
engaged in conquering neighboring towns. Its
enthusiasm throughout Italy for old Roman exerted great influence over any new developments.
Social

prosperity was due to state commercial system with

Architecture. The movement began in Florence Printing press, school for artist and craftsmen
successful trading community.
under Medici Family gradually spread throughout Italy
Architectural Character

combination of gothic and renaissance thus making

classic orders were used in façade and cortile and
rusticated masonry which provided massive and it distinguished from the rest of Europe. It is more
conformity to ancient roman architecture prevailed.
rugged appearance. Has Internal court. General light and graceful than Florence. A special feature is
The principle of unity was achieved by including two
absence of pilaster as decorative feature called the central grouping of windows framed on either
or more storey in one Order of pilasters and
astylar side by unbroken wall spaces of comparatively flat
sometimes crowned by attic storey
palace facade.
 Characteristics of Renaissance Architecture

Renaissance architecture is best described by the following attributes:

• Simplicity
• Balanced proportion
• Human in scale
• Planar Classicism – Orders on Facades, Use of triumphal arch and temple front

facade of Sant' Andrea, Mantua Palazzo Rucellai Church of San Lorenzo, Florence Santa Maria delle Carceri
Early Renaissance Architects

• Early Renaissance architecture was conceived in terms of

planes and modules.
• Ancient Roman arc taken as a model, and the orders
became the basis of a new architectural vocabulary.
• The architect was largely defined by Brunelleschi and
Alberti.
• Notable Architects are:
– Filippo Brunelleschi
– Leon Battista Alberti
– Michelozzo
– Bernardo Rossellino
– Giuliano da Sangallo
– Giocondo, Fra Giovanni
Filippo Brunelleschi
• considered the first Renaissance architect, thus the moniker "Father of the Renaissance
Architecture“
• Brunelleschi’s most important contribution to art was the development of the single-point
linear-perspective system. Brunelleschi also applied the rules of linear perspective to
architecture.
• His stylistic character is:
• Clarity: A clear, rational order was achieved by several means:
• Simplicity: A minimum number of components were used.
• Severity: Ornamentation was kept to a minimum, and when sculpture was included, it was clearly separated from the
architectural design and subordinated to it. Columns were unfluted except in their pilaster form.
• Contrast: The use of pietra serena next to whitewashed plaster walls accentuated the basic components of the
design.
 Dome of Florence Cathedral,
Florence, 1420-36.
the pre-existing support system
rising from the design of the
lower part of the building was
minimal for its wide 138.5-foot
opening, Brunelleschi
compensated by using a steep
profile and a struct ural system
of ribs between inner and outer Foundling Hospital, Piazza Santissima Annunziata,
shells. He devised a method of Florence, 1419-mid 15th century.
construction using interlocking The hospital's plan, which consists of f our wings
rings of masonry t hat did not around a square courtyard, is far less complex t han
require scaffolding, a feat that that of earlier hospitals. The orphanage's entrance
brought him fame and loggia faces the later-built Piazza Santissima
admiration Annunziata, whose loggias were loosely based on
it.
Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo, Florence,
1419-28
The proportions of Brunelleschi's Old Church of San Lorenzo, Florence, 1421-1470s.
Sacristy were calculated to embody whole The rebuilding of San Lorenzo afforded Brunelleschi the
number ratios like 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3. The opportunity to apply a modular approach in designing the plan
height up to the top of the architrave is half and vertical proportions of the basilica. Its basic scheme of a
of the distance to the base of the dome nave (commissioned 1442) with a flat ceiling flanked by side
and a third of the distance to the top of the aisles supported by columns resembles the designs of both
hemispherical dome. Ribs divide the dome Roman basilicas and early Christian churches. After
into twelve sections, each pierced by an Brunelleschi's death, the church was expanded by the addition
oculus. of individual chapels beyond the side aisles
Leon Battista Alberti
•wrote treatises on many subjects during his long career:
Øfamily (Della famiglia), which he considered the building block of a moral and rational society
ØDe pictura (On Painting)
ØDe statua (On Sculpture)
ØDe re aedificatoria (On Architecture) - As the first architectural treatise of the Renaissance, had a decisive
influence on Renaissance architecture.
•His stylistic characteristics
ØOrders on Façades
ØHe initially used engaged columns but later preferred pilasters. He was also the first to articulate the stories
by superimposing colonnades one over another in an arrangement referred to as super-columnation.
ØFree Use of Classical Forms
ØAlberti believed that with sufficient understanding of the vocabulary and principles of ancient architecture, it
would be possible to invent new forms and combinations that maintained the Classical spirit.
ØInvention of capitals.
ØIn his early work, Alberti invented new capitals using the motifs and compositional principles of Roman
capitals.
ØCombining pilasters with rustication.
ØAt the Palazzo Rucellai, Alberti combined pilasters with rustication.
ØUse of triumphal arch and temple front.
ØAlberti's church-façade compositions incorporated Roman building types like the triumphal arch and the
temple front. At Sant' Andrea, he utilized both of these forms together.
Malatesta Temple, Rimini Palazzo Rucellai
• The Malatesta Temple is the first church in • The Palazzo Rucellai is t he
the Renaissance to incorporate the orders first Renaissance palace to
on its façade. include the orders on its
• Alberti used superimposed orders on the façade. They are
high central section of the façade but was superimposed in a variation
unable to repeat their use on the corners on the Roman Colosseum.
because of the lower level of the roof • The palace's influence was
there. greater outside Florence
• The façade's lower story was based on the than in the city itself because
Roman triumphal-arch form, and its side Florentine tastes in t he
walls are formed of massive arcades like fifteenth century tended
those of Roman structures such as the toward the use of graduat ed
Basilica Julia. rustication.
 Santa Maria Novella, Florence
• The presence of pre-existing features on the lower
portion of Santa Maria Novella restricted Alberti's
ability to give it a purely classical façade.
• He called attention away from this anachronistic
treatment by imposing a classical framework using
a temple front on the upper level and suggesting a
triumphal arch on the lower

Sant' Andrea, Mantua

San Sebastiano, Mantua • is especially important for its use of chapels instead of side aisles to
• It is Alberti's only flank the nave, piers instead of columns to support the nave arcade,
centralized church. and a barrel vault instead of flat construction attached to the trusses to
• the first church of the form the ceilings of the nave and choir
Renaissance to be based • Its design fuses a triumphal arch wit h a temple front and includes a
on a Greek-cross plan. second system of the orders.
Michelozzo di Bartolommeo

• Michelozzo's style owes much to Brunelleschi. He used a classical vocabulary

and sharply contrasting materials such as pietra serena and plaster, which
produced a clarity much like that seen in the works of Brunelleschi.
• Michelozzo was innovative through his use of fluted freestanding columns.
• Michelozzo's buildings generally retained certain Gothic elements
• His notable works are:
– Monastery of San Marco, Florence
– Palazzo Medici
– Remodeling and Expanding Santissima Annunziata, Florence
Palazzo Medici Monastery of San Marco
• It served as a model for Renaissance Michelozzo's rebuilding of the
palaces until the end of the fifteenth Monastery of San Marco shows
century. restraint in decoration and a
• Michelozzi organized the various parts general simplicity.
with a new clarity and emphasis on
horizont al lines on his design of the
palazzo.
• The stories, which are divided by
string courses, decrease in height as
they rise. The stonework of the façade
changes in texture from story to story:
the ground floor is heavily rusticat ed,
the piano nobile has a smoot h-faced
rustication, and the upper story is
ashlar.
Bernardo Rossellino
• Bernardo Rossellino occupies an important place in the history of both architecture
and sculpture in the middle third of the fifteenth century. He worked for at least
two popes and was made the Master of the Cathedral Works in Florence in 1461.
• His Notable works are:
– Piazza Pio II, Pienza Cathedral, Palazzo Piccolomini

Pienza Cathedral The Palazzo Piccolomini

is unusual in its design because • is important in the history of palace
the Pope specified that it be based design for its early use of pilasters.
on a Gothic church the rib-vaulted • The Palazzo Piccolomini has loggias on
interior could hardly be more alien all three floors of the garden
to Renaissance design but some of facing. These loggias, especially
the façade's individual members the highest one, provide a view of not
are classical, their arrangement is only the garden but also the distant
not countryside.
 Giuliano da Sangallo
• the oldest and most prominent member of a family of woodworkers that included three architects.
• Giuliano showed great ingenuity in incorporating elements of classical architecture into his own
buildings and creating designs that were compatible with ancient theories
• He also designed a system of coffering using interlocking curved terracotta tiles, which emulated
ancient Roman forms.
• His Notable Works are:
– Sacristy of Santo Spirito
– Villa Medici, Poggio a Caiano
– Palazzo Gondi
– Santa Maria delle Carceri

Palazzo Gondi
The Sacristy of Santo Spirito The palace is notable for its refined
is located beside the church's nave. Its design masonry, which includes such
combines an octagonal plan with an eight-section features as large rounded stones for
dome. Its vestibule is vaulted with Giuliano's the ground story and a set pattern of
characteristic coffered barrel vault. blockwork from bay to bay.
The Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano, Santa Maria delle Carceri
• located just west of Florence, The Greek cross plan of
was the first Italian villa whose Santa Maria delle Carceri
basic design incorporated consists of four rectangular
classical architectural elements. barrel-vaulted cross arms
• A number of innovations in villa that project from a higher,
design were introduced such as dome-topped square block in
a symmetrical plan with enfilade the center. This church was
openings, a temple-front façade, the first in the Renaissance
and a barrel-vaulted salone. to be symmetrical on both
• Compared with earlier villas, its axes. It embodies many of
style is simpler, its scale is larger, the features recommended
and its shape is more horizontal. in Alberti's De re
aedificatoria.
Giocondo, Fra Giovanni

• was a Franciscan friar of many interests and skills.

• As an architect, he specialized in engineering and designed
fortifications, hydraulic works, and the structural systems of buildings
• Fra Giocondo's publication in 1511 was the first edition of Vitruvius to
be illustrated
High Renaissance Architecture

• High Renaissance architecture embodied harmony and balance on a

monumental scale. Bramante led the way by using a new dynamic approach to
design that was conceived in volumes rather than planes and organized so that
its parts flowed together in an organic manner.
• Notable Architects
– Donato Bramante
– Raffaelle Santi (or Sanzio)
– Baldassare Peruzzi
– Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
– Giulio Romano
– Michelangelo Buonarroti
– Giacomo Barozzi (Vignola)
– Andrea di Pietro della Gondola (Palladio
Donato Bramante
• architect who introduced the High Renaissance style in architecture.
• His stylistics characteristics are:
– Mathematical Proportions
• He used simple ratios in defining the proportions of architectural elements
– Classicism
• He understood Roman architecture as a "whole cloth" rather than an assemblage of separate features
– Severity
• Bramante's ornamentation consisted of little more than the application of the orders to accentuate structural components like
piers, floors, and roofs. This allowed the beauty of his shapes and proportions to be appreciated without distracting
elements
– Organic Structure
• Bramante thought in terms of interlocking volumes in which the spaces flowed together as one
– Plasticity
• Bramante's plasticity was derived from the organic nature of the building itself rather than the projections and recessions of
wall surfaces
Cloister of Santa Maria della Pace Tempietto, San Pietro
The spacing of the stories was determined by Bramante's Tempietto, which is
the pre-existing construction, resulting in the located at the Monastery of San
upper story being considerably shorter. Pietro in Montorio, marks the site
Because the upper story of a superimposed of St. Peter's martyrdom.
arcade would have appeared squat, Bramante The Tempietto is composed of
used trabeated construction and subdivided two cylinders: a taller-than-wide
each bay with a column, which violated the domed circular core and a wider-
principle of using supports over supports and than-tall outer ring of columns.
openings over openings
The Palazzo Caprini (destroyed)
consisted of two main stories of contrasting character. The ground story was faced wit h
stucco imitating rusticat ed masonry, and the piano nobile was articulated by pairs of
Roman-Doric engaged columns carrying a Doric entablature

Belvedere Court of Vatican Palace

• Bramante designed a thousand-foot long terraced courtyard, known as the
Belvedere Court, to connect the Vatican Palace with the Villa Belvedere.
• To vary the pattern of t he long expanses of arcading, which provided
galleries for antique stat uary, two forms were used: a simple column-on-pier
form on the lower and middle terraces and a complex pattern invented by
Bramante that was called a travata ritmica on the upper terrace.
Additions to Santa Maria presso San Satiro
• His work there, which was first recorded in 1482, involved three distinct parts: the main church,
the baptistery, and the small ninth-century centralized church to which the main church was
attached.
• The most notable part of Bramante's work on the new church of Santa Maria presso San Satiro
is his creation of the illusion of a three-bay chancel within a shallow niche. This was done
using painted terracotta tiles that mimic a coffered ceiling.
• Baptistery. Bramante's baptistery follows the tradition of having eight sides, which refer to the
seven days of Creation plus the day of Resurrection.
Mannerist Architecture

• Refers to a style in which architects reached beyond the bounds of Classical Architecture in inventing new
forms and breaking the rules governing the orders and their proportions.
• The use of classical forms ranged from creative or novel to prankish or perverse
Raphael
• Real name Raffaelle Santi (or Sanzio)
• Influential features introduced by Raphael's buildings include colored and veined marble for interior walls,
topographically based villa plans, and the orders instead of rustication for the ground story of a palace façade.
• He started the transition of mannerism style
• His notable works are:
– Villa Madama and Palazzo Branconio dell' Aquila

Villa Madama
• Due to its size of construction only portion of it was able to
construct. The part that was constructed is located on the upper
side of the site, where it is nestled into the sharply rising hillside.
• During the Sack of Rome, the building was burned, and its current
state is due to modern restoration.
The Palazzo Branconio dell' Aquila,
• was torn down in the seventeenth century, is significant for its stylistic
departure from the tradition of Bramante
• Its similarities with Palazzo Caprini is in its use of a classical vocabulary and its
basic features. However, the Palazzo Branconio differed from it in not using
rustication, in using the orders on the ground story, and in using ornament
autonomously. Chigi Chapel
Baldassare Peruzzi

• Peruzzi was a creative draftsman who

experimented with new forms of architectural
drawing that make the essential features legible
briefly. This styles of drafting are:
– Perspective-section combination.
– Axonometric projection.
– Illusionistic Wall Paintings
• Peruzzi is known for his theater designs. He
designed theaters using the two main forms of
stage used in the Renaissance, the scaenae frons
and the perspective stage.
• One of the main propoenent of Mannersit Style
• His notable works are:
– Villa Farnesina
– Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne
 The Villa Farnesina
• was innovative in being one of the first to utilize a
U-shaped plan
• The exterior walls are decorated in the late-
fifteenth-century manner using pilasters on both
stories. A frieze under the eaves recalls the
friezes of ancient temples, which often included
festoons.

Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne

• The palace includes several Mannerist
irregularities such as a curved façade
and a lack of upper-story stringcourses,
which makes the upper windows of the
façade appear to float.
Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
• Antonio da Sangallo the Younger was the third successful architect of the Sangallo family of Florence.
Antonio is referred to as "the Younger" to distinguish him from his uncle Antonio da Sangallo the Elder,
who also worked as an architect.
• His notable works are:
• Palazzo Palma-Baldassini
• Palazzo Farnese
Palazzo Farnese, 1517-89.
Palazzo Palma-Baldassini, • Antonio's finest which was
• a seven-bay palace for extremely influential
Melchiorre Baldassini, • Antonio determined the plan,
anticipated that of the the design of the windows,
Palazzo Farnese, whose and the masonry of tan brick
present form was worked with quoins on the corners.
out in the late 1530s. Antonio completed many
• Both palaces have quoins major parts of the building,
at the corners, accentuat ed including the main entrance
entrances, windows on the and vestibule, two stories of
ground stories, window the courtyard, and the ground
trims that differ on each story loggia on the rear wing.
story, and plain, low- He died in 1546 before the
textured wall surfaces on all cornice and rear wing were
stories. begun.
Giulio Romano
• Giulio Romano was born Giulio Pippi.
• Giulio formulated many elements of his individual style at an early point in his career. Mannerism was emerging
then, and his work was clearly part of the new movement.
• One of Giulio's signature features is a flat arch formed by voussoirs that create a dynamic grouping

Palazzo Stati Maccarani, Rome,

• The Palazzo Stati Maccarani, now called the Palazzo di Brazzà, resembles
Bramante's Palazzo Caprini in a number of basic features.
• Giulio's doorway also differs in being taller than the side arches.
• It is different in using shallow pilasters instead of half-round columns.
• It also differs in alternating triangular and segmental pediments, a f eature
that Raphael revived from antiquity.
• The emphasis resides on the lower story, where st acks of blocks frame a
doorway and oversized voussoirs create an appearance of force and
movement.
• This dynamic handling of masonry became part of Giulio's lifelong
vocabulary of architectural elements.
Palazzo del Tè, Mantua, c.1526-34.
• The building consists of four equal wings that form a large square courtyard.
• The exterior, which incorporates wide and narrow bays, relates to the
courtyard through its use of a similar architectural vocabulary.
• The courtyard's four walls were designed so that facing walls follow the
same pattern.
• The centers of the North and South wings of the courtyard boast triple-arch
portals, while the centers of the East and West wings contain pedimented
portals.
• The courtyard is often cited as an exemplar of mannerism due to its
unconventional architectural features.
Casa Pippi, Mantua, c. 1540.
• The unusual nature of its façade can best be
appreciated by comparing it with that of Bramante's
Palazzo Caprini, with which it shared several general
features.
• It differs from the Palazzo Caprini and other palaces
in having several unusual features including such
functionally redundant combinations as an arch with a
lintel and arches with pediments.
Jacopo Sansovino 1486-1570

• His original name was Jacopo Tatti, but he took the name "Sansovino" from the Florentine sculptor Andrea
Sansovino, to whom he had been apprenticed
• Sansovino's two periods in Rome gave him a thorough grounding in the High-Renaissance styles of Bramante
and Raphael.
• During his second period in Rome (1518-27) Sansovino was aware of the Mannerist elements that were
evolving in the work of Raphael and Romano. Although Mannerism was clearly evident in works like La Zecca,
his style did not exhibit the capriciousness and irrationality exhibited by Giulio Romano's Mantuan works like
the Palazzo del Tè.
• His notable works are:
• Zecca, Venice, begun
• Library of San Marco, Piazzetta San Marco, Venice,
• Loggetta, Venice,
• Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande, Venice, begun
La Zecca, Venice Library of San Marco, Venice

Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande, Venice

Loggetta, Piazza San Marco

Michelangelo Buonarroti 1475-1564
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is unique in the history of world art as the only man to attain the highest level in the three
arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture
Michelangelo's architecture in Florence, where he worked from 1516 through 1534, primarily consisted of three sites at San
Lorenzo. This work established him as one of the founders of the style that has come to be called Mannerism.
Architectural Characteristics
General Qualities
Several general qualities can be identified in Michelangelo's architecture.
• Optical approach.
Michelangelo designed buildings optically, that is, on the basis of how they appeared rather than how they embodied preconceived
design principles. This approach is also referred to as "pictorial."
• Caprice.
In regarding the eye as the final arbiter during the design process, Michelangelo felt unconstrained to follow the fundament al rules
of Roman architecture. He rearranged classical motifs in striking and unprecedented ways.
• Dynamism.
Michelangelo's architecture possesses an organic sculptural quality.
• Unity.
Michelangelo conceived of buildings as unified, organic wholes in which the parts play dominant or subordinate roles. The parts are
interlinked so that none can stand alone as discrete entities. Linear forms often intersect other parts.
• Tactile contrasts.
The expression of oppositions t akes numerous forms such as shallow spaces with deep recesses and crisp angles with curvilinear
forms.
Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo Laurentian Library, San Lorenzo

Pietà
Piazza del Campidoglio Palazzo dei Conservatori Pietà
 Vignola
• Vignola influenced the course of architecture through an architectural treatise and through his design of influential
variants to both central- and longitudinal-plan churches.
• His work includes many Mannerist details, but due to his correctness and adherence to traditional approaches to
form and composition, he is not a thoroughgoing Mannerist
• Because many of Vignola's innovations were used in the Baroque era, the label "Proto-Baroque" is often applied
to his work, and his famous axial-plan church, Il Gesù, is often taken as a starting point of Baroque architecture
• Regola delle Cinque Ordini d' Architettura (Rules of the Five Orders of Architecture), was neither broad in
scope like Serlio's treatise nor theoretical like Alberti's De re aedificatoria and Filarete's Il trattato d'architettura. Its
subject is the correct usage of the orders according to ancient models. Il Gesù, Rome

Villa Giulia, Rome

Palladio
• Palladio's original name was Andrea di Pietro della
• Gondola
• I quattro libri is divided into f our parts consisting of an introduction and three sections dealing wit h the major types of buildings:
domestic, public, and religious.
• Book I: The first book introduces general elements like materials, construction, the five orders, and architectural parts
(doors, roofs, etc.).
• Book II: The second book deals with private houses, both in town and in the country.
• Book III: The third book covers public structures like streets, bridges, piazzas, and basilicas.
• Book IV: The fourth book focuses on temples, which P alladio considered t he ancient equivalent of Christian churches. Over
a century earlier, Alberti had referred to churches as "temples" in his treatise.
• Palladio's treatise, which was text-based (pictures illustrating text rat her than text explaining pictures), was abundantly illustrated by
his own plans, elevations, and sections of both ancient and Renaissance buildings

• The Palladian motif refers to a configuration in which an arch is carried by

columns that stand a short distance from piers.
• This arrangement forms a recognizable trio of openings consisting of an
arch flanked by rectangular openings whose heights correspond to the
springing line of the arch.
• Palladian motif made it possible to vary the spacing of the arches of an
arcade without alt ering their spans or heights because the widt hs of the
rectangular spaces between the columns and piers can be adjusted as
Basilica, Vicenza needed.
 Palladianism (Palladian Architecture)
• was an approach to architecture strongly influenced by the sixteenth century architect Andrea
Palladio.
• Characterised by Classical forms, symmetry, and strict proportion, the exteriors of Palladian San Giorgio Maggiore
buildings were often austere. Inside, however, elaborate decoration, gilding and ornamentation
created a lavish, opulent environment.
Villa Rotonda, Vicenza

STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS
• Proportions Based on
Pythagorean Harmony
• Thoroughgoing Symmetry
• Serene Balance and Visual
Palazzo Chiericati
Appeal
• Coordination of Proportions and
Room Sequences
• Frequently Used Forms
• Engaged columns
• Colonnades
• Palladian motif
• Thermal windows
Loggia del Capitaniato • Free-standing statues
The St. Peter Basilica, Rome

• St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is the most famous church in the world on
account of its beauty, size, and its status as the home church of the
Roman Catholic Church. St Peter’s was conceived as a shrine to the
apostle Peter and planned as a holy covering for his body. The old
church of the basilica was tested by the time; thus it was deteriorating
and shows critical weakness that may lead to collapse of the church.
• The Basilica took 120 years to complete with multiple popes and
architects leading the design.
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions

1. Donato Bramante
Created the first original floor plan
for the new basilica. Julius II
commissioned Bramante to design a
new church to replace Old St.
Peter's. His first plan is known from
a medal and a partial plan known as
the parchment plan. These two
plans roughly correspond in having a
number of distinct parts in common.
Bramante based the lateral distance
between the crossing piers on the
width of the nave of Old St. Peter's.
His design for a solid-core
hemispherical dome is known from
one of the drawings in Serlio's
Architettura
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions

2. Guillano da Sangallo
He strengthened and extended the peristyle of
Bramante into series of arches and ordered
openings around the base. He propose a Latin
cross plan from Bramante’s Greek Cross. Under
his vision, the rather delicate form of the lantern
became a massive structure, surrounded by a
projecting base, a peristyle and surmounted by a
spire conic form. However, this plans was never
applied simply because its too eclectic to be
considered
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions

3. Raphael
After Bramante's death in 1514, the
duties of designer and supervisor of
construction were separated, and the
responsibility for design passed to
Raphael while that for construction went
to Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. At
one point, Pope Leo X called for the
addition of a nave, and Raphael worked
out a plan that incorporated this feature.
The main change in Raphael’s plan is
the nave of five bays, with a row of
complex apsidal chapels off the aisles
on either side.
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions
4. Baldassare Peruzzi
– Maintained Raphael’s changes but otherwise
reverted to the Greek cross plan and other feature of
Bramante. illustrates a perspective version of a plan
and multiple sections of St. Peter’s.
5. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger
– He designed the Pauline Chapel. Antonio made little
progress on St. Peter's in the 1530s and 1540s,
which is fortunate because his design lacked unity
and coherence. Sangallo's design is preserved by a
wooden model executed by Antonio Labacco.
6. Fra Giocondo
– Fra Giocondo’s major contribution to the basilica is
strengthening its foundation. During his period, signs
of stress and cracks were becoming eveident with
the structure. Giocondo specializes in Hydraulic
works and structural system of the Building
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions
7. Michelangelo
After the death of Antonio da Sangallo, the Younger, who had been the
chief architect of St. Peter's since the death of Raphael, Michelangelo was
put in charge of the project. He abandoned Antonio's axial plan and model
and returned to a simpler variation of Bramante's apse-ended Greek-cross
plan. Michelangelo's detailing of the outer perimeter consists of a rhythmic
arrangement of paired pilasters that establish wide and narrow sections of
walls.
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions

8. Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola

– Vignola’s major contribution for
the church is the addition of
Cupola. He was also appointed to
make sure that Michelangelo’s
plan will be executed.
9. Giacomo della Porta
– He subsequently altered
michelangelo’s design by adding
of lion’s masks over the swags on
the drum in honor of Pope Sixtus
and adding a circlet of finials
around the spire at the top of the
lantern, as proposed by Sangallo.
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions

10. Carlo Maderno

He extended Michelangelo’s plan adding a
nave and grand façade making Michelangelo’s
centralized Greek cross design into a latin
cross with long nave.
Architects of St. Peter Basilica and their Contributions
11. Gian Lorenzo Bernini
– Bernini is more of a baroque architect rather
than a renaissance architect. He added the
piazza, the Cathedra Petri, and the
Baldacchino. The piazza is a monumental
elliptical space, enclosed by 284 Doric columns
four rows deep (196m wide and 148m long).