Classical architecture looks to the building principles and traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. This lesson introduces the term, explains the importance of Vitruvius, and follows early efforts to revive classical forms in Western Europe.
Classical architecture usually refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of ancient Greek and Roman building. One important written source for those principles is De architectura, a treatise written around 10 AD by the Roman architect Vitruvius.
All flashcards
Classical architecture
In its common historical sense, architecture consciously derived from ancient Greek and Roman principles and forms.
*De architectura*
Vitruvius's Roman treatise on architecture, written around 10 AD.
Architectural vocabulary
Recurring structural and decorative elements, along with ideas about order and proportion.
Petrification
The reproduction of early timber-associated temple forms in stone.
Renaissance interpretation of antiquity
An adaptation of ancient architectural ideas rather than a simple copying of ancient buildings.
Quiz questions
How did Renaissance architects generally use ancient Greek and Roman architecture as a model?Answer: They interpreted ancient ideas and forms for new architectural designs.
Which later context was especially influenced by Palladian architecture?Answer: Grand buildings in Georgian Britain during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
What helped motivate the emergence of Neoclassical architecture from about 1750?Answer: A reaction to late Baroque and Rococo forms and a deliberate return to antiquity.
What happened to classical architecture in its stricter form with the advent of Modernism?Answer: It almost ceased to be practised, though it continued to influence architects.
What does petrification describe in Greek temple architecture?Answer: The preservation in stone of forms associated with earlier timber construction.