Architecture During the Age of Enlightenment and Restoration

1600-1800

Architecture at a Glance

• During the age of enlightenment , everything from art and religion to science and mathematics was questioned. Architecture was no exception. Architects would often place emphasis on the structural integrity of their works, but yet they still maintained a sense of extreme beauty and exquisiteness. Objects and buildings were built with simplistic, ordinary geometric shapes…But when combined together, they provided for incredible pieces of art.

Overview

• Neoclassicism - Architecture that draws upon Western classical art and culture (usually that of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome)

• The Enlightenment era style places emphasis on symmetry, geometry, proportion and the regularity of parts.

• columns, pilasters and lintels, semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches, and aedicules were commonly used

Similarities Between Ancient Architecture and Enlightenment Period Architecture

•Temple of Vesta, Rome, 205 AD. This was one of the most important temples of it’s time. •Notice the cylindrical pillars

•A structure built during the enlightenment era•To the untrained eye, it looks almost identical to the style of architecture that was used to build the temple (left). •It seems as though it is even more refined and advanced however.

Collision of Age of Faith With Age of Reason Architecture

• When you combine architecture that was built soley because it “looks good”- age of faith….with architecture that was built soley on the premise that it would be structurally sound…you get a very interesting hybrid of architecture that is absolutely beautiful

• A good example in which the Age of Faith and the Age of Reason overlap can be seen in the Church of Saint Geneviève in Paris, which was built in 1755 by architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot.

Some Examples of Architecture

Some More Examples of Architecture