Academic literature on the topic 'Baroque architecture'

Many historians have attempted to define Neo-Baroque in contemporary architecture. Yet, leafing through the manuals, it is not possible to find a definition of this phenomenon, described as “a hypothesis waiting to be developed”. This paper attempts to enter the debate, defining Neo-Baroque not as a mere citation practice, but as a cultural style that identifies today’s society, made of instability and restless expectations. To better understand the contemporary Neo-Baroque soul, the architectural historian must move using those same tools that animate Baroque aesthetics, trying to connect different times and concepts in order to realize relational subtleties that, in Baroque treatises, “are called flowers”. The formal value of Baroque architecture was rehabilitated in the 20th century by architects such as Paolo Portoghesi who, in parallel with the writing of the first manuals on the Baroque, intrinsically re-proposed neo-Baroque forms in his projects, making his architecture “blossom” through that dynamic of folds that is well described by the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. This folding will become a real working method for architects of the caliber of Frank Gehry who stretch and distend forms to replace the lost center with the fragmentation of viewpoints. Through an excursus of the most important “neo-Baroque flowers” of contemporary architecture, the contribution is an invitation to reflect on that aesthetic in which fold upon fold, fold within the fold, the neo-Baroque flowers express the same qualities as the flowers present in 17th-century architecture in plan and ornament: ephemeral, precarious, but also cultured citations and, in the words of Eugene D'Ors, “forms that fly”.

The subject of the study is the characteristic of the Baroque style and the integration of its elements into the decor of the architecture of the Crimea of the Art Nouveau period. The object of the study is the architecture of the Crimea and its decor of the period of the late XIX – first third of the XX century. The research uses the methods of art criticism analysis of Baroque visual forms and their integration into modernity, the method of analysis of previous studies, the method of synthesis in conclusions regarding the connotations of Baroque symbolism. The author considers such aspects of the topic as: a general overview of the origin of the Baroque style; features of the architecture of the Crimean Art Nouveau; integration of Baroque elements into the decor of the Art Nouveau of the Crimea. The main conclusions of the study are: 1. The appearance of the Baroque style in architecture and decor is attributed by architectural historians to the XVII century. However, its origins should be sought in the Middle Ages, since many Baroque elements repeat Arabesques brought by the Crusaders to Europe. Baroque has established itself as a church and palace style. In turn, the Asia Minor (Turkish) Baroque was a synthesis of traditional Arab elements and Western European influence in the XVIII century. 2. The Art Nouveau style in architecture and its decor is a synthesis of various elements of previous styles, arbitrarily used by architects in accordance with their personal tastes, as well as with the wishes of customers. The basis of the Crimean Art Nouveau, represented in country villas, mansions, palaces, apartment buildings, is classicism, Renaissance and Mudekhar style, with the introduction of individual features into them with the help of decor. The use of Baroque elements enlivened the buildings, giving them an elegant, southern flavor. A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is to clarify the periodization and origin of the Baroque style. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author for the first time analyzed the decor of the architecture of the Crimea of the modern period, identified and analyzed the elements of the Baroque, their origin and role in the style of modernity.

The article presents the Baroque architectural phase of the parish church in Ljutomer, the nave of which was constructed between 1688 and 1690 by the very prolific master mason from Leibniz (Lipnica), Jakob Schmerleib. The church has a three-nave structure, with its origins in Late Gothic architecture. The master mason was probably sent to Ljutomer by the owner of the seigniory Branek, Thomas Ignaz Maurer von Mauerburg, a member of the highest elite in Graz. Although the church is not the first Early Baroque sacral building in Prlekija, it boasts the most complex architecture amidst the predominantly single-nave, multi-bay counterparts. Early Baroque sacral architecture in the area emerged at a relatively late stage, about 1674 (churches in Cezanjevci, Velika Nedelja, and Stara Gora at Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici). By the end of the seventeenth century, nearly all of the important sacral buildings in Prlekija were rebuilt or newly constructed in the Baroque style.

The article presents the Baroque architectural phase of the parish church in Ljutomer, the nave of which was constructed between 1688 and 1690 by the very prolific master mason from Leibniz (Lipnica), Jakob Schmerleib. The church has a three-nave structure, with its origins in Late Gothic architecture. The master mason was probably sent to Ljutomer by the owner of the seigniory Branek, Thomas Ignaz Maurer von Mauerburg, a member of the highest elite in Graz. Although the church is not the first Early Baroque sacral building in Prlekija, it boasts the most complex architecture amidst the predominantly single-nave, multi-bay counterparts. Early Baroque sacral architecture in the area emerged at a relatively late stage, about 1674 (churches in Cezanjevci, Velika Nedelja, and Stara Gora at Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici). By the end of the seventeenth century, nearly all of the important sacral buildings in Prlekija were rebuilt or newly constructed in the Baroque style.

The article is dedicated to the role of polychrome solutions of the architectonic order in shaping the mode of expression of Baroque façades. The ancient principles of designing architectural structures, inherited from the Renaissance, were subjected to reinterpretations in order to impart different expressive values. Vertical layouts began to dominate in the Baroque. Appropriately selected polychrome of the elements of the order could emphasize the compositional expression. The relationship between the layout of the polychrome in a given architectural order and the expression of a work of art has been established for some time. However, the generally available data on color schemes of architectural structures in Baroque buildings are still not fully organized. The paper analyzes examples of Baroque façades preserved in their original state and revalorized in recent years after thorough research by conservators in the field of architecture and color. The examples are mainly designed in the so-called great order, i.e., pertaining largely to church façades. The decisive field of change became the shaping of the coloristic decoration of the entablature.

This paper is to analyze the feature of combination of foreign and local elements in architecture and summarize the creative methods applied in the baroque catholic churches in Shanxi based on the related surveys and researches. It’s a good example explaining that the process of the gradual recognition of foreign architecture forms is also a process of localization. During this process, the local craftsmen have gradually created new and localized architectural forms based on their combination of traditional aesthetics and local techniques, which is significantly enlightening on the localized design of contemporary architectures.

The paper examines Christian architecture from the perspective of “meta-codal function”, i.e. through examination of architectural symbolism expressed solely by architectural means. Emphasizing symbolic and semantic content of architecture, the paper offers a broader research field of architectural artistry by using a wider iconographic comparison. As a representative of baroque architecture and the most prominent example of architectural symbolism, St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in Vilnius (1668–1702) has been selected for the research. The iconographic programme of this church is compared to most distinct iconographic themes identified through the analysis of some examples of historic Christian architecture. By this method, the research detaches from the usual stylistic analysis and poses the most basic question in architectural artistry: is architecture capable of expressing the independent artistic content which can translate more than architecture’s general appearance.

Summary The architectural legacy of the Unitarians in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania has received little attention from researchers to this day. This article presents an architectural synthesis of the Uniate and Order of Basilians that reflected the old succession of Orthodox architectural heritage, but at the same time was increasingly influenced by the architectural traditions formed in Catholic churches. This article presents the tendencies of the development of Uniate architecture, paying attention to the brick and wooden sacral buildings belonging to the Uniate and Order of Basilians in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The early Uniate sacral examples reflected the still striking features of the synthesis, which were particularly marked in the formation of the Greek cross plan and apses in the different axes of the building. All this marked the architectural influences of Ukraine, Moldova and other areas of Central and South-Eastern Europe, which were also clearly visible in Orthodox architecture. Wooden Uniate architecture, as in the case of masonry buildings, had distinctly inherited features of Orthodox architecture, and in the late period, as early as the 18th century, there was a tendency to adopt the principles of Catholic church architecture, which resulted in complete convergence of most Uniate buildings with examples of Catholic church buildings. Vilnius Baroque School, formed in the late Baroque era, formed general tendencies in the construction of Uniate and Catholic sacral buildings, among which the clearer divisions of the larger structural and artistic principles are no longer noticeable in the second half of 18th century. The article also presents the image of baroque St. Nicholas Church, the only Uniate parish church in Vilnius city, which was lost after the reconstruction in the second half of the 19th century.