Architecture and urban planning of the Renaissance. The problem of creating an ideal city Culture of the Renaissance
Introduction
Renaissance as a new worldview and a new artistic style emerged in Italy at the end of the 14th century. The first urban planning ideas represented the city as an architectural unity according to a predetermined plan. Under the influence of these ideas, instead of narrow and crooked medieval lanes, straight, wider streets built up with large buildings began to appear in Italian cities.
The layout and architecture of squares during the Renaissance took shape in the 15th-16th centuries. in Rome and other major Italian cities.
During this period, several cities were reconstructed here using new principles of urban planning. In most cases, palaces in such cities were located on the central squares, which sometimes represented the beginning of three-beam compositions.
Renaissance cities gradually acquired new features under the influence of social changes. However, due to private ownership of land and backward technology, it was impossible to quickly move from the old city to the new one. In all periods of the Renaissance, the main efforts of urban planners were directed to the development of the city center - the square and the nearest quarters. During the heyday of monarchical states in the XVIII century. the ensembles of the central squares of cities were given exceptional importance as their main decorations. City squares had mostly geometrically correct outlines.
If the architecture of ancient Greek and Roman squares was characterized by columns and porticos, then for the squares of the Renaissance period, arcades became new elements, developing simultaneously with the development of entire systems of squares.
In most medieval cities, decorative greenery was absent. Orchards were grown in the gardens of monasteries; orchards or vineyards of the townspeople were behind the city fortifications. in Paris in the 18th century. alleys, cropped greenery, flower garden parterres appear. However, the parks of palaces and castles were privately owned. Public gardens in most European cities appear only at the end of the 18th century.
Water basins in the Middle Ages, in essence, were an obstacle to the development of the city, dividing its districts, and served for narrow practical purposes. Since the 18th century rivers began to be used as connecting elements of cities, and in favorable conditions - as compositional axes. A vivid example is the wise urban planning use of the Neva and Nevka rivers in St. Petersburg. The construction of bridges and the construction of embankments consolidated this direction in urban planning.
During the medieval period, the skyline of the city was largely defined by the pointed spiers on city administrations, churches and public buildings. The silhouette of the city was defined by many small verticals and a few dominant ones. In connection with the new artistic understanding of the silhouette of the city, high medieval roofs were gradually eliminated, Renaissance buildings were completed with roofs with attics and balustrades.
With the increase in the scale of buildings and new types of coverings, the silhouette of the city is softened by domes of smooth outlines, which have received a dominant role in the panoramas of cities. Their change was greatly influenced by gardens and parks, the trees of which largely hide the buildings.
The architects of the Renaissance used strict means of expression in urban planning: harmonic proportions, the scale of a person as a measure of the architectural environment surrounding him.
The ideological struggle of the emerging Italian bourgeoisie against medieval forms of religion, morality and law resulted in a broad progressive movement - humanism. Humanism was based on civic life-affirming principles: the desire to liberate the human personality from spiritual constraint, the thirst for knowledge of the world and the person himself and, as a result of this, the craving for secular forms of social life, the desire for knowledge of the laws and beauty of nature, for the all-round harmonious improvement of man. These shifts in worldview led to a revolution in all spheres of spiritual life - art, literature, philosophy, science. In their activities, the humanists largely relied on ancient ideals, often reviving not only the ideas, but also the forms themselves, and the expressive means of ancient works. In this regard, the cultural movement of Italy in the XV-XVI centuries. called the renaissance, or resurrection
The humanistic worldview stimulated the development of the individual, increased its importance in public life. The individual style of the master played an increasing role in the development of art and architecture. The culture of humanism has put forward a whole galaxy of brilliant architects, sculptors, artists, such as Brunellesco, Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Palladio and others.
The desire to create an “ideal image of a person”, combined with the search for methods of artistic exploration of the world, led to a kind of cognitive realism of the Renaissance, based on a close union of art with a rapidly developing science. In architecture, the search for "ideal" forms of buildings, based on a complete and complete composition, has become one of its defining trends. Along with the development of new types of civil and religious buildings, the development of architectural thought is going on, there is an urgent need for theoretical generalizations of modern experience, especially historical and, above all, ancient.
Three periods of the Italian Renaissance
Renaissance architecture in Italy is divided into three main periods: early, high and late. architectural center Early Renaissance was Tuscany with the main city - Florence. This period covers the second quarter and the middle of the 15th century. The beginning of the Renaissance in architecture is considered to be 1420, when the construction of the dome over the Florentine Cathedral began. Construction achievements, which led to the creation of a huge centric form, have become a kind of symbol of the architecture of the New Age.
1. Early Renaissance period
The early Renaissance in architecture is characterized, first of all, by the forms of buildings created by the famous architect engineer Filippo Brunellesco (first half of the 15th century). In particular, he used a light semicircular instead of a pointed arch in the Orphanage in Florence. The rib vault, characteristic of Gothic architecture, began to give way to a new design - a modified box vault. However, the lancet forms of the arch still continued to be used until the middle of the 16th century.
One of the outstanding buildings of Brunellesco was the huge dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which had remained unfinished since the 14th century.
In the form of a large dome created by the architect, an echo of the Gothic lancet arch is noticeable. The span of the dome of this cathedral is large - 42m. The vaults of the dome, made of brick, rest on an octagonal base of logs sheathed with iron sheets. Thanks to the successful location of the cathedral on a hill and its high height (115m), its upper part, especially the dome, gives solemnity and originality to the architectural panorama of Florence.
Civil architecture occupied a significant place in the architecture of the Italian Renaissance. It primarily includes large city palaces (palazzo), which, in addition to housing, were intended for ceremonial receptions. Medieval palaces, gradually throwing off their harsh Romanesque and Gothic clothes with the help of marble cladding and sculpture, acquired a cheerful look.
The features of the Renaissance facades are huge arched window openings separated by columns, rustication of the first floors with stones, upper slabs, large projection cornices and finely traced details. Unlike austere facades, the architecture of well-lit interiors has a cheerful character.
For the decoration of the facades of the palaces of the early Renaissance, rustication was often used. Stones for rustication usually had an unworked (chipped) front surface with a cleanly hewn bordering path. The relief of rustication decreased with the increase in the number of floors. Later, the decoration with rustication was preserved only in the processing of socles and at the corners of buildings.
In the XV century. Italian architects often used the Corinthian order. Often there were cases of combining several orders in one building: for the lower floors - a Doric order, and for the upper floors - a composition of capitals, close in proportions and pattern to the Ionic type.
One of the examples of palace architecture of the mid-15th century. in Florence, the three-story Medici-Ricardi Palace, built according to the project of the architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo in the period 1444-1452, by order of Cosimo Medici, the ruler of Florence, can serve. According to the scheme of the facade of the Medici Palace, hundreds of palaces were later built in other cities.
A further development of the composition of the palace is the palazzo Rucchelai in Florence built in 1446–1451 designed by Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472). Like the ancient Roman Colosseum, its facade is divided into floors by orders with a transition from the simplest Doric order in the lower tier to the more subtle and rich Corinthian order in the upper one.
The impression of lightening the building upwards, created in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi with the help of rustication of the walls, is expressed here in the form of a tiered system of orders lightening upwards. At the same time, the large crowning cornice is correlated not with the height of the upper tier, but with the height of the building as a whole, which is why the composition acquired the features of completeness and static. In the development of the facade, traditional motifs are still preserved: double arched windows coming from the medieval form of windows, rustication of the walls, the general monumentality of the cloud, etc.
Pazzi Chapel (1430-1443) - a domed building, set in the courtyard of the monastery. In the composition of the facade, an internal structure dissected by an order with the volume of the hall with a dome on sails dominating it was displayed. The colonnade, cut along the axis by an arch and completed by a finely dissected attic, is matched by cartelized pilasters on the inner wall of the loggia, and protruding articulations of arches on the vaulted ceiling.
The correspondence of orders and the repetition of small domes in the loggia and the altar part contribute to the organic connection of the facade with the interior. The walls inside are dissected by flat, but highlighted in color pilasters, which, continuing in the divisions of the vaults, give an idea of the logic of building space, the tectonic system. Developing three-dimensionally, the order emphasizes the unity and subordination of the main parts. The visual "framework" also characterizes the dissection of the dome from the inside, which is somewhat reminiscent of the structure of the Gothic nerve vaults. However, the harmony of order forms and the clarity of the tectonic structure, balance and commensurability with man speak of the triumph of new architectural ideals over the principles of the Middle Ages.
Along with Brunellesco and Michelozzo da Bartolomeo, other masters (Rosselino, Benedetto da Maiano, etc.), whose work was mainly associated with Tuscany and Northern Italy, also played an important role in the development of new architecture. Alberti, who built, in addition to the Palazzo Ruccellai, a number of large structures (the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, the Church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, etc.), completes this period.
2. The period of the High Renaissance
The period of the High Renaissance covers the end of the 15th - the first half of the 16th century. By this time, due to the movement of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, Italy was experiencing a well-known economic decline and a reduction in industrial production. Often the bourgeoisie bought up land and turned into usurers and landowners. The process of feudalization of the bourgeoisie is accompanied by a general aristocratization of culture, the center of gravity is transferred to the court circle of the nobility: dukes, princes, popes. Rome becomes the center of culture - the residence of the popes, who are often elected from representatives of the humanistically minded aristocracy. Huge building work is underway in Rome. In this undertaking, undertaken by the papal court to raise their own prestige, the humanistic community saw the experience of reviving the greatness of ancient Rome, and with it the greatness of all of Italy. At the court, who ascended the throne in 1503. The humanist of Pope Julius II was the work of the most prominent architects - among them Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Antonio da Sangallo and others.
In the architecture of this period, the main features and trends of the Renaissance receive their finished expression. The most perfect centric compositions are created. The type of urban palazzo is finally taking shape, which during this period acquires the features of a building not only private, but also public, and therefore, in a certain area, becomes the prototype of many subsequent public buildings. The contrast characteristic of the early Renaissance period is overcome (between the architectural characteristics of the external appearance of the palazzo and its courtyard. Under the influence of a more systematic and archaeologically accurate acquaintance with ancient monuments, order compositions become more rigorous: along with the Ionic and Corinthian orders, simpler and more monumental orders - Roman Doric and Tuscan, are widely used, and the finely designed arcade on the columns gives way to a more mono In general, the compositions of the High Renaissance acquire great significance, rigor and monumentality. The problem of creating a regular urban ensemble is put on a real basis. Country villas are built as integral architectural complexes.
The most important architect of this period was Donato d'Angelo Bramante (1444–1514). The Cancelleria building attributed to Bramante (the main papal office) in Rome - one of the outstanding palace buildings - is a huge parallelepiped with a rectangular courtyard surrounded by arcades. The harmonious composition of the facades develops the principles laid down in the Palazzo Ruccellai, but the overall rhythmic structure creates a more complex and solemn image. The first floor, treated as a basement, intensified the contrast with a lightweight top. Rhythmically arranged plastic accents created by large openings and platbands framing them acquired great importance in the composition. The rhythm of horizontal articulations became even clearer.
Among the religious buildings of Bramante, a small chapel stands out in the courtyard of the monastery of San Pietro in Montrrio, called Tempietto. (1502) - a building located inside a rather cramped courtyard, which was supposed to be surrounded by a circular arcade in plan.
The chapel is a domed rotunda surrounded by a Roman Doric colonnade. The building is distinguished by the perfection of proportions, the order is interpreted strictly and constructively. In comparison with the centric buildings of the early Renaissance, where linear-planar wall development prevails (Pazzi Chapel), the volume of Tempietto is plastic: its ordered plasticity corresponds to the tectonic integrity of the composition. The contrast between the monolithic core of the rotunda and the colonnade, between the smoothness of the wall and the plasticity of deep niches and pilasters emphasizes the expressiveness of the composition, complete harmony and completeness. Despite its small size, Tempietto gives the impression of monumentality. Already by contemporaries of Bramante, this building was recognized as one of the masterpieces of architecture.
Being the chief architect at the court of Pope Julius II, Bramante from 1505. works to rebuild the Vatican. A grandiose complex of ceremonial buildings and solemn courtyards located at different levels was conceived, subordinate to a single axis, closed by the majestic exedra of the Belvedere. In this, in essence, the first Renaissance ensemble of such grandiose design, the compositional techniques of the ancient Roman forums were masterfully used. The papal residence was supposed to be connected with another grandiose building in Rome - the Cathedral of Peter, for the construction of which the Bramante project was also accepted. The perfection of the centric composition and the grandiose scope of the project of the Cathedral of Peter Bramante give reason to consider this work the pinnacle of the development of Renaissance architecture. However, the project was not destined to be realized in kind: during the life of Bramante, the construction of the cathedral was only begun, which from 1546, 32 years after the death of the architect, was transferred to Michelangelo.
The great artist and architect Rafael Santi took part in the competition for the project of the Cathedral of Peter, as well as in the construction and painting of the Vatican buildings, together with Bramante, who built and painted the famous loggias of the Vatican, which received his name (“Raphael loggias”), as well as a number of remarkable structures, both in Rome itself and outside it (the construction and painting of the Villa Madama in Rome, the Pandolfini Palace in Floren tions, etc.).
One of the best students of Bramante - the architect Antonio da Sangallo Jr. - owns the project of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome , to a certain extent completed the evolution of the Renaissance palace.
In the development of its facade, there are no traditional rustication and vertical articulations. On the smooth, brick-plastered surface of the wall, wide horizontal belts running along the entire facade clearly stand out; as if leaning on them, there are windows with embossed architraves in the form of an antique “edicule”. The windows of the first floor, unlike the Florentine palaces, have the same dimensions as the windows of the upper floors. The building was freed from the fortress isolation, still inherent in the palaces of the early Renaissance. In contrast to the palaces of the 15th century, where the courtyard was surrounded by light arched galleries on columns, a monumental order arcade with semi-columns appears here. The order of the gallery is somewhat heavier, acquiring the features of solemnity and representativeness. The narrow passage between the yard and the street has been replaced by an open "vestibule", revealing the prospect of the front yard.
3. Late Renaissance
The late period of the Renaissance is usually considered the middle and the end of the 16th century. At this time, the economic downturn continued in Italy. The role of the feudal nobility and Church Catholic organizations increased. To combat the reformation and all manifestations of an anti-religious spirit, the Inquisition was established. Under these conditions, humanists began to experience persecution. A significant part of them, pursued by the Inquisition, moved to the northern cities of Italy, especially to Venice, which still retained the rights of an independent republic, where the influence of the religious counter-reformation was not so strong. In this regard, during the period of the late Renaissance, the most striking were two schools - the Roman and the Venetian. In Rome, where the ideological pressure of the counter-reformation strongly influenced the development of architecture, along with the development of the principles of the High Renaissance, there is a departure from the classics towards more complex compositions, greater decorativeness, a violation of the clarity of forms, scale and tectonicity. In Venice, despite the partial penetration of new trends into architecture, the classical basis of architectural composition was more preserved.
A prominent representative of the Roman school was the great Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). In his architectural works, the foundations of a new understanding of form, characteristic of this period, are laid, distinguished by great expression, dynamics and plastic expressiveness. His work, which took place in Rome and Florence, reflected with particular force the search for images capable of expressing the general crisis of humanism and the inner anxiety that the progressive circles of society then experienced before the impending forces of reaction. As a brilliant sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was able to find bright plastic means to express in art the inner strength of his heroes, the unresolved conflict of their spiritual world, the titanic efforts in the struggle. In architectural creativity, this corresponded to the emphasized identification of the plasticity of forms and their intense dynamics. Michelangelo's order often lost its tectonic significance, turning into a means of decorating walls, creating enlarged masses that amaze a person with their scale and plasticity. Boldly violating the architectural principles familiar to the Renaissance, Michelangelo to a certain extent was the founder of a creative manner, which was later picked up in the architecture of the Italian Baroque. The completion of Peter's Cathedral in Rome after Bramante's death belongs to the largest architectural works of Michelangelo. Michelangelo, taking as a basis a centric scheme close to Bramante's plan, introduced new features into its interpretation: he simplified the plan and generalized the interior space, made the supports and walls more massive, and added a portico with a solemn colonnade from the western facade. In the three-dimensional composition, the calm balance and subordination of the spaces of Bramante's project are translated into the emphasized dominance of the main dome and the under-dome space. In the composition of the facades, clarity and simplicity were replaced by more complex and large plastic forms, the walls are dissected by ledges and pilasters of a large Corinthian order with a powerful entablature and a high attic; between the pilasters, window openings, niches and various decorative elements (cornices, corbels, sandriks, statues, etc.) are placed, as it were, squeezed into the piers, giving the walls an almost sculptural plasticity.
In the composition of the Medici Chapel the church of San Lorenzo in Florence (1520), the interior and sculptures made by Michelangelo merged into a single whole. Sculptural and architectural forms are full of inner tension and drama. Their sharp emotional expressiveness prevails over the tectonic basis, the order is interpreted as an element of the artist's general sculptural conception.
One of the outstanding Roman architects of the late Renaissance is also Vignola, the author of the treatise “The Rule of Five Orders of Architecture”. The most significant of his works are the castle of Caprarola and the villa of Pope Julius II. . During the Renaissance, the type of villa undergoes significant development associated with a change in its functional content. Even at the beginning of the XV century. it was a country estate, often surrounded by walls, and sometimes even had defensive towers. By the end of the XV century. the villa becomes a place of country rest for wealthy citizens (Villa Medici near Florence), and from the 16th century. it often becomes the residence of large feudal lords and higher clergy. The villa loses its intimacy and takes on the character of a frontal frontal-axial structure, open to the surrounding nature.
The villa of Pope Julius II is an example of this type. Its strictly axial and rectangular composition descends in ledges down the mountainside, creating a complex play of open, semi-open and closed spaces located at different levels. The composition is influenced by the ancient Roman forums and courts of the Vatican.
The outstanding masters of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance were Sansovino, who built the building of the Library of San Marco in Venice (begun in 1536) - an important component of the remarkable ensemble of the Venetian center, and the most prominent representative of the classical Renaissance school - the architect Palladio.
The activities of Andrea Palladio (1508 - 1580) proceeded mainly in the city of Vicenza, not far from Venice, where he built palace buildings and villas, as well as in Venice, where he built mainly church buildings. His work in a number of buildings was a reaction to the anti-classical tendencies of the late Renaissance. In an effort to preserve the purity of classical principles, Palladio relies on the rich experience he gained in the process of studying the ancient heritage. He is trying to revive not only order forms, but entire elements and even types of buildings of the ancient period. Structurally truthful order portico becomes the main theme of many of his works.
At Villa Rotonda , built near Vicenza (begun in 1551), the master achieved exceptional integrity and harmony of the composition. Located on a hill and clearly visible from a distance, the four facades of the villa with porticos on all sides, together with the dome, form a clear centric composition.
In the center is a round domed hall, from which exits lead under the porticos. Wide portico staircases connect the building with the surrounding nature. The centric composition reflects the general aspirations of Renaissance architects for the absolute completeness of the composition, clarity and geometricity of forms, the harmonious connection of individual parts with the whole, and the organic fusion of the building with nature.
But this “ideal” scheme of composition remained single. In the actual construction of numerous villas, Palladio paid more attention to the so-called three-part scheme, consisting of the main volume and one-story order galleries extending from it to the sides, serving to communicate with the services of the estate and organizing the front courtyard in front of the facade of the villa. It was this scheme of a country house that later had numerous followers in the construction of manor palaces.
In contrast to the free development of the volumes of country villas, Palladio's urban palaces usually have an austere and laconic composition with a large-scale and monumental main façade. The architect widely uses a large order, interpreting it as a kind of "column - wall" system. A striking example is the palazzo Capitanio (1576), the walls of which are treated with columns of a large composite order with a powerful, loose entablature. The upper floor, expanded in the form of a superstructure (attic floor), gave the building completeness and monumentality,
Palladio also widely used in his city palaces the two-tier division of facades with orders, as well as an order placed on a high rusticated basement - a technique first used by Bramante and subsequently widely used in classicist architecture.
Conclusion
Modern architecture, when searching for forms of its own stylistic manifestation, does not hide that it uses historical heritage. Most often, she refers to those theoretical concepts and principles of shaping that in the past have achieved the greatest stylistic purity. Sometimes it even seems that everything that the 20th century lived before was returning in a new form and quickly repeating itself again.
Much of what a person values in architecture appeals not so much to a scrupulous analysis of individual parts of an object, but to its synthetic, integral image, to the sphere of emotional perception. This means that architecture is art or, in any case, contains elements of art.
Sometimes architecture is called the mother of the arts, meaning that painting and sculpture developed for a long time in an inseparable organic connection with architecture. The architect and the artist have always had a lot in common in their work, and sometimes they got along well in one person. The ancient Greek sculptor Phidias is rightfully considered one of the creators of the Parthenon. The graceful bell tower of the main cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, was built "according to the drawing" of the great painter Giotto. Michelangelo, who was equally great as an architect, sculptor and painter. Raphael also successfully acted in the architectural field. Their contemporary, the painter Giorgio Vasari, built the Uffizi Street in Florence. Such a synthesis of the talent of the artist and architect was found not only among the titans of the Renaissance, it also marked the new time. Applied artists Englishman William Morris and Belgian Van de Velde made a great contribution to the development of modern architecture. Corbusier was a talented painter, and Alexander Vesnin a brilliant theater artist. Soviet artists K. Malevich and L. Lissitzky interestingly experimented with architectural form, and their colleague and contemporary Vladimir Tatlin became the author of the legendary project of the 111 International Tower. The author of the famous project of the Palace of Soviets, architect B. Iofan, is rightfully considered the co-author of the sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Girl" together with the remarkable Soviet artist Vera Mukhina.
Graphic representation and three-dimensional layout are the main means by which the architect seeks and defends his decisions. The discovery of linear perspective in the Renaissance actively influenced the spatial concept of the architecture of this time. Ultimately, the comprehension of the linear perspective led to the linking of the square, the stairs, the building into a single spatial composition, and after that to the emergence of gigantic architectural ensembles of baroque and high classicism. Many years later, the experiments of cubist artists had a great influence on the development of architectural form creation. They tried to depict an object from different points of view, to achieve its three-dimensional perception by superimposing several images, to expand the possibilities of spatial perception by introducing a fourth dimension - time. This three-dimensional perception served as the starting point for the formal search for modern architecture, which opposed the flat screen of the facade with an intricate play of volumes and planes freely located in space.
Sculpture and painting did not immediately gain independence from architecture. At first they were just elements of an architectural structure. It took more than one century for the painting to separate from the wall or the iconostasis. At the end of the Renaissance, in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, sculptures still timidly crowd around the buildings, as if afraid to completely break with the facades. Michelangelo is the first to erect an equestrian statue in the center of Capitoline Square in Rome. The year is 1546. Since then, the monument, monumental sculpture acquires the rights of an independent element of the composition, organizing the urban space. True, the sculptural form still continues to live on the walls of the architectural structure for some time, but these last traces of the “former luxury” gradually disappear from them.
Corbusier affirms this composition of modern architecture with his characteristic certainty: “I do not recognize either sculpture or painting as decoration. I admit that both can evoke deep emotions in the viewer in the same way that music and theater affect you - it all depends on the quality of the work, but I am definitely against decoration. On the other hand, looking at an architectural work, and especially the platform on which it is erected, you see that certain places of the building itself and around it are certain intense mathematical places that turn out to be, as it were, the key to the proportions of the work and its environment. These are the places of the highest intensity, and it is in these places that the architect's definite purpose can be realized - whether in the form of a pool, or a block of stone, or a statue. We can say that in this place all the conditions are combined for a speech to be delivered, the speech of an artist, plastic speech.
Sergey Khromov
Although not a single ideal city was embodied in stone, their ideas found life in real cities of the Renaissance...
Five centuries separate us from the period when architects first addressed the issues of rebuilding the city. And these same questions are acute for us today: how to create new cities? How to rebuild the old ones - to fit separate ensembles into them or demolish and rebuild everything? And most importantly - what idea to lay in a new city?
The masters of the Renaissance embodied those ideas that had already sounded in ancient culture and philosophy: the ideas of humanism, the harmony of nature and man. People again turn to Plato's dream of an ideal state and an ideal city. The new image of the city is born first as an image, as a formula, as an idea, which is a bold claim for the future - like many other inventions of the Italian Quattrocento.
The construction of the theory of the city was closely connected with the study of the heritage of antiquity and, above all, the entire treatise "Ten Books on Architecture" by Mark Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), an architect and engineer in the army of Julius Caesar. This treatise was discovered in 1427 in one of the abbeys. The authority of Vitruvius was emphasized by Alberti, Palladio, Vasari. The greatest connoisseur of Vitruvius was Daniele Barbaro, who in 1565 published his treatise with his commentaries. In a work dedicated to Emperor Augustus, Vitruvius summarized the experience of architecture and urban planning in Greece and Rome. He considered the already classic questions of choosing a favorable area for the founding of the city, the placement of the main city squares and streets, and the typology of buildings. From an aesthetic point of view, Vitruvius advised adherence to ordination (following architectural orders), reasonable planning, observing the uniformity of rhythm and order, symmetry and proportionality, conformity of form to purpose and distribution of resources. |
In the urban planning of the Renaissance, theory and practice develop in parallel. New buildings are being built and old ones are being rebuilt, architectural ensembles are being formed and at the same time treatises are being written on architecture, planning and fortification of cities. Among them are the famous works of Alberti and Palladio, schemes of the ideal cities of Filarete, Scamozzi and others. The idea of the authors is far ahead of the needs of practical construction: they describe not ready-made projects that can be used to plan a specific city, but a graphically depicted idea, the concept of a city. Reasoning about the location of the city from the point of view of economy, hygiene, defense, aesthetics is given. Searches are being made for optimal plans for residential areas and urban centers, gardens and parks. Questions of composition, harmony, beauty, proportion are studied. In these ideal constructions, the planning of the city is characterized by rationalism, geometric clarity, centric composition and harmony between the whole and the parts. And, finally, what distinguishes the architecture of the Renaissance from other eras is the person standing in the center, at the heart of all these constructions. Attention to the human personality was so great that even architectural structures were likened to the human body as a standard of perfect proportions and beauty.
Theory
In the 50s of the XV century. The treatise "Ten Books on Architecture" by Leon Alberti appears. It was, in essence, the first theoretical work of the new era on this topic. It deals with many issues of urban planning, ranging from site selection and city planning to building typology and decor. Of particular interest are his arguments about beauty. Alberti wrote that "beauty is a strict proportionate harmony of all parts, united by what they belong to - such that nothing can be added, subtracted, or changed without making it worse." In fact, Alberti was the first to proclaim the basic principles of the Renaissance urban ensemble, linking the ancient sense of proportion with the rationalistic beginning of a new era. The given ratio of the height of the building to the space located in front of it (from 1:3 to 1:6), the consistency of the architectural scales of the main and secondary buildings, the balance of the composition and the absence of dissonant contrasts - these are the aesthetic principles of Renaissance urban planners.
The ideal city excited many great people of the era. Thought about him and Leonardo da Vinci. His idea was to create a two-level city: the upper level was intended for pedestrian and surface roads, and the lower one was for tunnels and canals connected with the basements of houses, through which freight transport moves. Known for his plans for the reconstruction of Milan and Florence, as well as the project of a spindle city.
Another prominent city theorist was Andrea Palladio. In his treatise "Four Books on Architecture" he reflects on the integrity of the urban organism and the relationship of its spatial elements. He says that "a city is nothing but a kind of big house, and vice versa, a house is a kind of small city." About the urban ensemble, he writes: "Beauty is the result of a beautiful form and the correspondence of the whole to parts, parts to each other and also parts to the whole." A prominent place in the treatise is given to the interior of buildings, their dimensions and proportions. Palladio is trying to organically connect the outer space of the streets with the interior of houses and courtyards.
Near the end of the 16th century. many theorists were attracted by the issues of retail space and fortifications. So, Giorgio Vasari Jr. in his ideal city pays a lot of attention to the development of squares, shopping arcades, loggias, palazzos. And in the projects of Vicenzo Scamozzi and Buanayuto Lorrini, issues of fortification art occupy a significant place. This was a response to the order of the time - with the invention of explosive shells, the fortress walls and towers were replaced by earthen bastions, taken out of the city boundaries, and the city began to resemble a multi-beam star in its outlines. These ideas were embodied in the actually built fortress of Palmanova, the creation of which is attributed to Scamozzi.
Practice
Although not a single ideal city was embodied in stone, with the exception of small fortress cities, many of the principles of its construction were embodied in reality already in the 16th century. At that time, in Italy and other countries, straight wide streets were laid, connecting important elements of the urban ensemble, new squares were created, old ones were rebuilt, and later parks and palace ensembles with a regular structure appeared.
| Ideal City by Antonio Filarete The city was an octagonal star in plan, formed by the intersection at an angle of 45 ° of two equal squares with a side of 3.5 km. In the protrusions of the star there were eight round towers, and in the "pockets" - eight city gates. The gates and towers were connected to the center by radial streets, some of which were shipping channels. In the central part of the city, on a hill, there was the main rectangular square, on the short sides of which the prince's palace and the city cathedral were to be located, and on the long sides - judicial and city institutions. In the center of the square there was a pond and a watchtower. Two others adjoined the main square, with the houses of the most eminent residents of the city. Sixteen more squares were located at the intersection of radial streets with the ring street: eight shopping and eight for parish centers and churches. |
Despite the fact that the art of the Renaissance was sufficiently opposed to the art of the Middle Ages, it easily and organically fit into medieval cities. In their practical activities, Renaissance architects used the principle of "building a new one without destroying the old." They managed to create surprisingly harmonious ensembles not only from buildings of the same style, as can be seen in the squares of Annuziata in Florence (designed by Filippo Brunelleschi) and the Capitol in Rome (designed by Michelangelo), but also to combine buildings from different times into one composition. So, on the square of St. Mark in Venice, medieval buildings are combined into an architectural and spatial ensemble with new buildings of the 16th century. And in Florence, from Piazza della Signoria with the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Street, designed by Giorgio Vasari, harmoniously follows. Moreover, the ensemble of the Florentine Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Brunelleschi's reconstruction) perfectly combines three architectural styles at once: Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance.
The city of the Middle Ages and the city of the Renaissance
The ideal city of the Renaissance appeared as a kind of protest against the Middle Ages, expressed in the development of ancient urban planning principles. Unlike the medieval city, which was perceived as a kind, albeit imperfect, likeness of the "Heavenly Jerusalem", the embodiment of not a human, but a divine plan, the city of the Renaissance was created by a human creator. Man did not just copy what already existed, he created something more perfect and did it in accordance with the "divine mathematics". The city of the Renaissance was created for man and had to correspond to the earthly world order, its real social, political and everyday structure.
The medieval city is surrounded by powerful walls, fenced off from the world, its houses are more like fortresses with a few loopholes. The city of the Renaissance is open, it does not defend itself from the outside world, it controls it, subjugates it. The walls of buildings, delimiting, unite the spaces of streets and squares with courtyards and rooms. They are permeable - they have many openings, arcades, colonnades, driveways, windows.
If the medieval city is the placement of architectural volumes, then the city of the Renaissance is to a greater extent the distribution of architectural spaces. The center of the new city is not the building of the cathedral or the town hall, but the free space of the main square, open both up and to the sides. They enter the building and exit out onto the street and the square. And if the medieval city is compositionally drawn to its center - it is centripetal, then the city of the Renaissance is centrifugal - it is directed to the outside world.
| Plato's ideal city In plan, the central part of the city was an alternation of water and earth rings. The outer water ring was connected to the sea by a channel 50 stadia long (1 stadia - ca. 193 m). The earthen rings separating the water rings had underground channels near the bridges adapted for the passage of ships. The largest water ring in circumference was three stadia wide, as was the earthen one following it; the next two rings, water and earth, were two stades wide; finally, the water ring encircling the island located in the middle was a stadia wide. |
The medieval city follows the natural landscape, using it for its own purposes. The city of the Renaissance is rather a work of art, a "geometry game". The architect modifies the terrain by superimposing a geometric grid of drawn spaces on it. Such a city has a clear shape: a circle, a square, an octagon, a star; even the rivers are straightened in it.
The medieval city is vertical. Here everything is directed upwards, to the heavens - distant and inaccessible. The city of the Renaissance is horizontal, the main thing here is perspective, aspiration into the distance, towards new horizons. For a medieval person, the path to Heaven is an ascension, achievable through repentance and humility, renunciation of everything earthly. For the people of the Renaissance, this is an ascent through gaining their own experience and comprehending the Divine laws.
The dream of an ideal city gave impetus to the creative searches of many architects not only of the Renaissance, but also of later times, it led and illuminated the path to harmony and beauty. The ideal city always exists inside the real city, as different from it as the world of thought from the world of facts, as the world of imagination from the world of fantasy. And if you know how to dream the way the masters of the Renaissance did, then you can see this city - the City of the Sun, the City of Gold.
The original article is on the site of the magazine "New Acropolis".
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Federal Agency for Railway Transport
Siberian State Transport University
Department of "Philosophy"
ARTISTIC IMAGES OF THE RENAISSANCE
Essay
In the discipline "Culturology"
Head Designed
Professor student gr. D-111
Bystrova A.N. ___________ Kamyshova E.V.
(signature) (signature)
08.12.2012
(date of inspection) (date of submission for inspection)
year 2012
Introduction
The Renaissance is considered one of the brightest periods in the history of the development of European culture. We can say that the revival is a whole cultural era in the process of transition from the Middle Ages to the new time, during which a cultural upheaval (a turning point, a shift) took place. Fundamental changes are associated with the eradication of mythology.
Despite the origin of the term Renaissance (fr. Renaissance, "Renaissance"), there was no revival of antiquity and could not be. Man cannot return to his past. The Renaissance, using the lessons of antiquity, introduced innovations. He did not bring back to life all ancient genres, but only those that were characteristic of the aspirations of his time and culture. The Renaissance combined a new reading of antiquity with a new reading of Christianity.
The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the connection between the modern era and the Renaissance - this is a revolution, first of all, in the system of values, in the assessment of everything that exists and in relation to it.
The main purpose of the work is to show the fundamental changes that have taken place in the worldview of the greatest figures of the era under consideration.
1. Culture of the Renaissance
XIII-XVI The centuries have been a time of great change in economics, politics and culture. The rapid growth of cities and the development of crafts, and later the transition to manufactory production, transformed the face of medieval Europe.
Cities came to the fore. Not long before this, the most powerful forces of the medieval world - the empire and the papacy - were in deep crisis. IN XVI century, the decaying Holy Roman Empire of the German nation became the scene of the first two anti-feudal revolutions - the Great Peasants' War in Germany and the Netherlands Uprising.
The transitional nature of the era, the process of liberation from medieval paths taking place in all areas of life, at the same time, the still underdevelopment of emerging capitalist relations could not but affect the characteristics of the artistic culture and aesthetic thought of that time.
According to A. V. Stepanov, all changes in the life of society were accompanied by a broad renewal of culture - the flourishing of natural and exact sciences, literature in national languages, and fine arts. Originating in the cities of Italy, this renewal then captured other European countries. The author believes that after the advent of printing, unprecedented opportunities opened up for the dissemination of literary and scientific works, and more regular and close communication between countries contributed to the penetration of new artistic trends.
This did not mean that the Middle Ages receded before new trends: traditional ideas were preserved in the mass consciousness. The church resisted new ideas, using a medieval means - the Inquisition. The idea of the freedom of the human person continued to exist in a society divided into classes. The feudal form of dependence of the peasants did not completely disappear, and in some countries (Germany, Central Europe) there was a return to serfdom. The feudal system showed quite a lot of vitality. Each European country lived it out in its own way and within its own chronological framework. Capitalism existed for a long time as a way of life, covering only a part of production both in the city and in the countryside. However, the patriarchal medieval slowness began to recede into the past.
The great geographical discoveries played a huge role in this breakthrough. For example, in 1492. H. Columbus, in search of a way to India, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed near the Bahamas, discovering a new continent - America. In 1498 Spanish traveler Vasco da Gama, having rounded Africa, successfully brought his ships to the shores of India. WITH XVI V. Europeans are penetrating into China and Japan, of which they previously had only the most vague idea. From 1510, the conquest of America begins. IN XVII V. Australia was discovered. The idea of the shape of the earth has changed: the round-the-world trip of F. Magellan confirmed the conjecture that it has the shape of a ball.
Contempt for everything earthly is now replaced by an avid interest in the real world, in man, in the consciousness of the beauty and grandeur of nature, which could be proved by analyzing the cultural monuments of the Renaissance. The primacy of theology over science, indisputable in the Middle Ages, is shaken by faith in the unlimited possibilities of the human mind, which becomes the highest measure of truth. Emphasizing the interest in the human as opposed to the divine, representatives of the new secular intelligentsia called themselves humanists, deriving this word from the concept of " studia humanitanis ”, meaning the study of everything connected with human nature and his spiritual world.
For the works and art of the Renaissance, the idea of a free being with unlimited creative possibilities became characteristic. It is associated with anthropocentrism in the aesthetics of the Renaissance and the understanding of the beautiful, the sublime, the heroic. The principle of a beautiful artistic and creative human personality was combined by the theorists of the Renaissance with an attempt to mathematically calculate all kinds of proportions, symmetry, and perspective.
The aesthetic and artistic thinking of this era is based for the first time on human perception as such and on a sensually real picture of the world. Here, the subjectivist-individualistic thirst for life sensations is also striking, regardless of their religious and moral interpretation, although the latter, in principle, is not denied. The aesthetics of the Renaissance focuses art on the imitation of nature. However, in the first place here is not so much nature as the artist, who in his creative activity is likened to God.
E. Chamberlin considers pleasure to be one of the most important principles for the perception of works of art, because this indicates a significant democratic trend as opposed to the scholastic "learning" of previous aesthetic theories.
The aesthetic thought of the Renaissance contains not only the idea of absolutization of the human individual as opposed to the divine personality in the Middle Ages, but also a certain awareness of the limitations of such individualism, based on the absolute self-affirmation of the individual. Hence the motives of tragedy, found in the works of W. Shakespeare, M. Cervantes, Michelangelo, and others. This is the contradictory nature of a culture that has departed from ancient medieval absolutes, but due to historical circumstances has not yet found new reliable foundations.
The connection between art and science is one of the characteristic features of culture. Artists sought support in the sciences, often stimulating their development. The Renaissance is marked by the emergence of artists-scientists, among whom the first place belongs to Leonardo da Vinci.
Thus, one of the tasks of the Renaissance is the comprehension by man of a world filled with divine beauty. The world attracts a person because he is spiritualized by God. But in the Renaissance, there was another trend a person's feeling of the tragedy of his existence.
2. The image of the world and man in the works of great masters renaissance
The term "Renaissance" (translation of the French term "Renaissance") indicates the connection of the new culture with antiquity. As a result of acquaintance with the East, in particular with Byzantium, during the era of the Crusades, Europeans became acquainted with ancient humanistic manuscripts, various monuments of ancient fine art and architecture. All these antiquities began to be partially transported to Italy, where they were collected and studied. But even in Italy itself there were many ancient Roman monuments, which also began to be carefully studied by representatives of the Italian urban intelligentsia. In Italian society, a deep interest arose in the classical ancient languages, ancient philosophy, history and literature. The city of Florence played a particularly important role in this movement. A number of outstanding figures of the new culture came out of Florence.
Using the ancient ideology, created once in the most lively, in the economic sense, cities of antiquity, the new bourgeoisie reworked it in its own way, formulating its new worldview, sharply opposite to the worldview of feudalism that prevailed before. The second name of the new Italian culture - humanism just proves this.
Humanistic culture put the man himself (humanus - human) in the center of its attention, and not the divine, otherworldly, as was the case in medieval ideology. Asceticism no longer had a place in the humanistic worldview. The human body, its passions and needs were not seen as something "sinful" that had to be suppressed or tortured, but as an end in itself, as the most important thing in life. Earthly existence was recognized as the only real one. The knowledge of nature and man was declared the essence of science. In contrast to the pessimistic motives that dominated the worldview of medieval scholastics and mystics, optimistic motives prevailed in the worldview and mood of the people of the Renaissance; they were characterized by faith in man, in the future of mankind, in the triumph of human reason and enlightenment. A constellation of eminent poets and writers, scholars and artists of all kinds participated in this great new intellectual movement. The glory of Italy was brought by such wonderful artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian.
The undoubted achievement of the Renaissance was the geometrically correct construction of the picture. The artist built the image using the techniques he developed. The main thing for painters of that time was to observe the proportions of objects. Even nature fell under mathematical tricks.
In other words, artists in the Renaissance sought to convey an accurate image, for example, of a person against the backdrop of nature. If compared with modern methods of recreating a seen image on some kind of canvas, then, most likely, a photograph with subsequent adjustment will help to understand what the Renaissance artists were striving for.
Renaissance painters believed that they had the right to correct the flaws of nature, that is, if a person had ugly facial features, the artists corrected them in such a way that the face became sweet and attractive.
Depicting biblical scenes, Renaissance artists tried to make it clear that the earthly manifestations of a person can be depicted more clearly if biblical stories are used at the same time. You can understand what the fall, temptation, hell or heaven is, if you start to get acquainted with the work of artists of that time. The same image of the Madonna conveys to us the beauty of a woman, and also carries an understanding of earthly human love.
Thus, in the art of the Renaissance, the paths of scientific and artistic comprehension of the world and man were closely intertwined. Its cognitive meaning was inextricably linked with sublime poetic beauty; in its striving for naturalness, it did not descend to petty everyday life. Art has become a universal spiritual need.
Conclusion
So, the Renaissance, or the Renaissance, is an era in the life of mankind, marked by a colossal rise in art and science. The Renaissance proclaimed man the highest value of life.
In art, the main theme was a person with unlimited spiritual and creative possibilities.The art of the Renaissance laid the foundations of the European culture of the New Age, radically changed all the main types of art.
In architecture, new types of public buildings have developed.Painting was enriched with a linear and aerial perspective, knowledge of the anatomy and proportions of the human body.Earthly content penetrated the traditional religious themes of works of art. Increased interest in ancient mythology, history, everyday scenes, landscapes, portraits. A picture appeared, oil painting arose. The creative individuality of the artist took the first place in art.
In the art of the Renaissance, the paths of scientific and artistic comprehension of the world and man were closely intertwined.Art has become a universal spiritual need.
Undoubtedly, the Renaissance is one of the most beautiful eras in the history of mankind.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Kustodieva T.K. ITALIAN ART OF THE RENAISSANCE OF THE XIII-XVI CENTURIES (ESSAY-GUIDE) / Т.К. KUSTODIEVA, ART, 1985. 318 P.
- IMAGES OF LOVE AND BEAUTY IN THE CULTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE / L.M. BRAGINA, M., 2008. 309 P.
- Stepanov A.V. ART OF THE RENAISSANCE. ITALY XIV-XV CENTURIES / A.V. STEPANOV, M., 2007. 610 P.
- Stepanov A.V. ART OF THE RENAISSANCE. NETHERLANDS, GERMANY, FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND / A.V. STEPANOV, AZBUKA-CLASSICS, 2009. 640 P.
- CHAMBERLIN E. THE AGE OF THE RENAISSANCE. LIFE, RELIGION, CULTURE / E. CHAMBERLIN, CENTERPOLYGRAPH, 2006. 240 P.
The problem of creating an ideal city, despite today's relevance, was especially acute in the distant era of the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries). This theme, through the prism of the philosophy of anthropocentrism, becomes the leading one in the art of urban planning of this period. A man with his needs for happiness, love, luxury, comfort, convenience, with his thoughts and ideas, becomes the measure of that time, a symbol of the resurgent ancient spirit, called to sing of this very Man with a capital letter. He moves the creative thought of the Renaissance to the search for unique, sometimes utopian, architectural and philosophical solutions to the problem of the formation of the city. The latter begins to play a new role, it is perceived as a closed whole interconnected space, fenced off and different from nature, where the whole life of a person passes.
In this space, both physical and aesthetic needs and desires of a person should be fully taken into account, such aspects of human stay in the city as comfort and safety should be fully thought out. The new firearms made the medieval stone fortifications defenseless. This predetermined, for example, the appearance of walls with earthen bastions along the perimeter of cities and determined, it would seem, a bizarre star-shaped line of city fortifications. A general revivalist idea of the "ideal city" is being formed - the city that is most convenient and safe for living. In a word, such trends are not alien to the modern architect, but the Renaissance then marked a new frontier, a new breath of life in the mind of the creator, establishing certain unknowns. earlier criteria, standards and stereotypes, the consequences of which are felt in the search for an ideal city today.
The first studies in this vein were carried out by Mark Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), an architect and engineer in the army of Julius Caesar - in his treatise Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius posed the problem of the golden mean between theory and practice, described the basic concepts of aesthetics, the proportionality of a building and a person, and for the first time in history investigated the problem of musical acoustics of premises.
Vitruvius himself did not leave an image of the ideal city, but this was done by many researchers and successors of his ideas, from which, as is often noted, the Renaissance itself began.
But arguments about the ideal city, its concepts originate in the treatises of ancient Greek philosophers - so, for a second, it is worth turning to an era somewhat earlier than we are considering - to antiquity.
Sfortsinda - typical houses arch. Filarete (drawing by Leonardo da Vinci)
The centuries-old process of building city-states in the capital of Ancient Greece, Athens, was summed up in the writings of the two largest philosophers of antiquity: Plato (428 - 348 BC) and Aristotle (384 - 322 BC).
Thus, the idealist philosopher Plato, associated with the aristocratic circles of his time, was an adherent of a rigidly regulated state system, it was not for nothing that he also owned the story of the mythical country of Atlantis, ruled by a king and archons. In the interpretation of Plato, Atlantis was the historical prototype of that ideal city-state, which he discussed in his works “The State” and “Laws”.
Returning to the Renaissance, let's say about Leon Batista Alberti, the first true theorist of urban planning in the history of mankind, who describes in detail “how to make a city”, starting from the choice of a place and ending with its internal structure. Alberti wrote that “beauty is a strict proportionate harmony of all parts united by what they belong to, such that nothing can be added, subtracted, or changed without making it worse.” In fact, Alberti was the first to proclaim the basic principles of the Renaissance urban ensemble, linking the ancient sense of proportion with the rationalistic beginning of a new era. The given ratio of the height of the building to the space located in front of it (from 1:3 to 1:6), the consistency of the architectural scales of the main and secondary buildings, the balance of the composition and the absence of dissonant contrasts - these are the aesthetic principles of Renaissance urban planners.
Alberti in his treatise "Ten books on architecture" draws an ideal city, beautiful in terms of rational planning and the appearance of buildings, streets, squares. The entire living environment of a person is arranged here in such a way that it meets the needs of the individual, family, and society as a whole.
Bernardo Gambarelli (Rosselino), having picked up already existing ideas, contributes to the development of the vision of an ideal city, which resulted in the city of Pienza (1459), which still exists, has absorbed elements of many projects that have remained on paper or in the creative ideas of the creators. This city is a clear example of the transformation of the medieval settlement of Corsignano into an ideal Renaissance city with straight streets and a regular layout.
Antonio di Pietro Averlino (Filarete) (c. 1400 - c. 1469) in his treatise gives an idea of the ideal city of Sforzinda.
The city was an octagonal star in plan, formed by the intersection at an angle of 45 ° of two equal squares with a side of 3.5 km. In the ledges of the star there were eight round towers, and in the "pockets" - eight city gates. The gates and towers were connected to the center by radial streets, some of which were shipping channels. In the central part of the city, on a hill, there was the main square, rectangular in plan, on the short sides of which the prince's palace and the city cathedral were to be located, and on the long sides - judicial and city institutions.
In the center of the square there was a pond and a watchtower. Two others adjoined the main square, with the houses of the most eminent residents of the city. Sixteen more squares were located at the intersection of the radial streets with the ring street: eight shopping squares and eight for parish centers and churches.
Pienza was not the only realized city in Italy that embodied the principles of the "ideal" planning. Italy itself at that time was not a united state, as we know it now, it consisted of many separate independent republics and duchies. At the head of each such area was a noble family. Of course, every ruler wanted to have in his state a model of an “ideal” city, which would allow him to be considered an educated and progressive Renaissance person. Therefore, in 1492, the representative of the D Este dynasty, Duke Ercole I, decided to rebuild one of the main cities of his duchy - Ferrara.
The restructuring was entrusted to the architect Biagio Rossetti. He was distinguished by a breadth of views, as well as a love of innovation, which manifested itself in almost all of his works. He thoroughly studied the old layout of the city and came to an interesting solution. If before him architects either demolished old buildings or built from scratch, then Biagio decided to build a new city on top of the old one. Thus, he simultaneously embodied the concept of the Renaissance city with its straight streets and open spaces and emphasized the integrity and self-sufficiency of the medieval city. The main innovation of the architect was a different use of spaces. He did not obey all the laws of regular urban planning, which suggested open squares and wide streets. Instead, since the medieval part of the city was left intact, Biagio plays on opposites: he alternates main roads with narrow streets, bright squares with dark dead ends, large ducal houses with low houses of ordinary inhabitants. Moreover, these elements do not contradict each other at all: the reverse perspective is combined with the straight one, and the running lines and growing volumes do not contradict each other.
The Venetian scholar and connoisseur of architecture Daniele Barbaro (1514-1570) devoted most of his life to studying the treatise of Vitruvius, which resulted in his book entitled “Ten books on the architecture of Vitruvius with a commentary by Daniele Barbaro”, written in 1556. This book reflected the attitude to ancient architecture not only of the author himself, but also of most architects of the 16th century. Daniele Barbaro throughout his life thoroughly studied the treatise and tried to recreate the scheme of the ideal city, which would reflect the ideas of Vetruvius and his concepts that complement his vision.
Somewhat earlier, the Renaissance architect Cesare Cesarino published his commentary on the Ten Books of Architecture in 1521 with numerous illustrations, including theoretical diagrams of an ideal city.
Among the many such theorists of the XVI century. Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) occupied a special place. In his treatise Four Books on Architecture (Italian: Quattro Libri deHArchitettura), published in 1570, Palladio did not single out a special section on the city, but his entire work was essentially devoted to this particular topic. He said that "a city is nothing but a kind of big house, and vice versa, a house is a kind of small city."
Putting an equal sign between a residential building and a city, Palladio thereby emphasized the integrity of the urban organism and the interconnectedness of its spatial elements. He reflects on the integrity of the urban organism and the relationship of its spatial elements. About the urban ensemble, he writes: "Beauty is the result of a beautiful form and the correspondence of the whole to parts, parts to each other and also parts to the whole." A prominent place in the treatise is given to the interior of buildings, their dimensions and proportions. Palladio is trying to organically connect the outer space of the streets with the interior of houses and courtyards.
At the end of the XVI century. during the siege of cities, artillery weapons with explosive shells began to be used. This forced city planners to reconsider the nature of city fortifications. The fortress walls and towers were replaced by earthen bastions, which, being carried forward beyond the city boundaries, were capable of both repelling enemy attacks and conducting flanking fire on the enemy approaching the city. Based on this, there was no need to protect the city gates, which from now on have turned from powerful defense centers into the main entrances to the city. These innovations in the form of a variety of star-shaped bizarre forms are reflected in the projects of the ideal cities of Buonayuto Lorini, Antonio Lupicini, Francesco di George Martini, Girolamo Maggi, Giovanni Bellucci, Fra Giocondo, Francesco de Marchi, Daniel Speckle, Jacques Perret, Albrecht Dürer, Vicenzo Scamozzi, George Vasari Jr. and etc.
And the fortified city of Palmanova can rightly be considered the culmination of the fortification architecture of the Renaissance, the plan of which, according to the plan of the architect Vicenzo Scamozzi, has the shape of a nine-pointed star, and the streets radiate from the square located in the center. The territory of the city was surrounded by twelve bastions, and each of the bastions was planned in such a way as to protect the neighboring ones, and had four city gates, from which there were two main streets intersecting at right angles. At their intersection was the main square, which overlooked the palace, cathedral, university and city institutions. Two trading squares adjoined the main square from the west and east, the exchange square was located in the north, and the square for hay and firewood trade was located in the south. The territory of the city was crossed by a river, and closer to its periphery there were eight parish churches. The layout of the city was regular. The fortress was surrounded by a moat.
In the engineering environment of the Renaissance, questions of composition, harmony, beauty, and proportion are diligently studied. In these ideal constructions, the planning of the city is characterized by rationalism, geometric clarity, centric composition and harmony between the whole and the parts. And, finally, what distinguishes the architecture of the Renaissance from other eras is the person standing in the center, at the basis of all these constructions. Many more names and names of cities can serve as examples. Survived Urbino with its grandiose Ducal Palace, "a city in the form of a palazzo", created by the architect Luciano Laurana for Duke Federico da Montefeltro, Terradel Sole ("City of the Sun"), Vigevano in Lombardy, Valletta (capital of Malta). As for the latter, this majestic walled city grew on the waterless, steep cliffs of the Mount Sciberras peninsula, rising between the two deep harbors of Marsamxett and Grand Harbour. Founded in 1566, Valletta was completely built, along with impressive bastions, forts and a cathedral, in an astonishingly short time - 15 years.
General ideas, concepts of the Renaissance flowed far beyond the turn of the 17th century and splashed out in a stormy stream, embracing subsequent generations of architects and engineering figures.
Even the example of many modern architectural projects shows the influence of the Renaissance, which for several centuries has not lost its idea of humanity and the primacy of human comfort. Simplicity, convenience, "accessibility" of the city for the inhabitant in all sorts of variable devices can be found in many works, and each following them in their own way, architects and researchers, all as one, nevertheless stepped along the paved road already paved by the masters of the Renaissance.
Not all examples of “ideal cities” were considered in the article, the origins of which date back to us from the depths of the era of the beautiful Renaissance - in some, the emphasis is on the convenience and ergonomics of being a civilian, in others on the maximum efficiency of defensive operations; but in all the examples we observe a tireless craving for improvement, for achieving results, we see confident steps towards the convenience and comfort of a person. Ideas, concepts, to some extent, the aspirations of the Renaissance flowed far beyond the turn of the 17th century and splashed out in a stormy stream, embracing subsequent generations of architects and engineering figures.
And the example of modern architects clearly shows the influence of the concepts of the Renaissance figures, somewhat modified, but not losing their idea of humanity and the primacy of human comfort in urban planning projects. Simplicity, convenience, "accessibility" of the city for the resident in all sorts of variable devices can be found in many other works, implemented and by no means - remained on paper. Each one following his own path, architects and researchers, all as one, nevertheless stepped along the already paved road by the masters of the Renaissance, following the immortally relevant and alluring light of the idea of rebirth, the rebirth of the human soul, and the main steps in this direction were made in the distant XIV century.
The concepts of the ideal city of the Renaissance, for all their utopia and impossibility from the pragmatic point of view of a person, especially a modern one, do not cease completely in their splendor, or at least partially, elements periodically creep into the works of romantic architects, striving not so much for perfection in their difficult creative craft, but for perfection in an environment more complex and unpredictable than parchment and perspective - to the unattainable perfection of the human soul and consciousness.
Palmanova - Cathedral
The age of the city has reached its splendid heyday, but there are already signs that it is dying. The century was stormy and cruel, but inspiring. It originated from the city-states of Ancient Greece (3 thousand years before the Renaissance), which gave rise to the ideal of a free man who rules himself. Because, in fact, such a city consisted of a group of people who, after many generations of quarrels and civil strife, developed an effective system of self-government. This system varied from city to city. In any of them, the number of people capable of claiming full citizenship has always been small. The mass of the inhabitants remained in a more or less servile position and exercised their rights only through violent and cruel uprisings against the higher strata. Nevertheless, throughout Europe, in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands especially, there was some social agreement about the aims, if not the methods, of government, namely the structure of society, in which the rulers were chosen by some of the ruled. From this civic concept began endless bloody wars. The price that citizens paid for their freedom was measured by their willingness to take up arms in defense of their city against its rivals.
The true voice of the city was the great bell on the city hall or the cathedral, which sounded the alarm at the approach of the armed inhabitants of a hostile city. He called on all who were able to hold weapons to the walls and to the gates. The Italians turned the bell into a kind of mobile temple, some kind of secular Ark, which led the armies into battle. In a battle with neighboring cities for possession of a piece of arable land, in a battle against an emperor or a king for civil rights, in a battle against hordes of wandering soldiers ... During these battles, life in the city froze. All able-bodied men, from fifteen to seventy years old without exception, broke away from normal activities to fight. So in the end, for the sake of economic survival, they began to hire professionals who knew how to fight, while civil power, meanwhile, was concentrated in the hands of one of the prominent citizens. Since he controlled money and weapons, this citizen was gradually transformed into the ruler of a once free city. In those countries that recognized the central monarchy, the city was reconciled to the throne (simply from exhaustion). Some cities, such as London, retained greater autonomy. Others found themselves completely absorbed in the structure of the monarchy. Nevertheless, throughout the Renaissance, cities continued to exist as living entities, performing most of the functions that in modern society fall under the jurisdiction of the central government. They were neither industrial, bedroom districts, nor amusement parks, which many of them later became, but organic structures that combined human flesh and building stone into their own recognizable rhythm of life.
city shape
The cities with which Europe was studded like ceremonial clothes with precious stones were already ancient by the Renaissance. They passed from century to century, maintaining a surprisingly regular shape and constant size. Only in England they did not feel symmetrical, because, with rare exceptions, English cities were not built according to a predetermined plan, but grew from modest settlements, and their structure was formless, as the building was attached to the building in the most disorderly way. On the Continent the trend continued to start new cities rather than expand old ones to unmanageable proportions. In Germany alone, 2,400 cities were founded in 400 years. True, by today's standards it is difficult to say whether these were small towns or large villages. Orange in France had only 6,000 inhabitants until the 19th century. And a city with a quarter of a million inhabitants was considered simply a giant, and there were few of them. The population of Milan, the capital of the duchy, was 200 thousand people, that is, twice the population of its main rival, Florence (see Fig. 53, photo 17), so size was not at all a measure of power.
Rice. 53. Florence at the end of the 15th century From a modern woodcut
Reims, the place of coronations, a large shopping center, had 100 thousand inhabitants, and Paris something about 250 thousand. The population of most European cities could be estimated at 10-50 thousand people. Even the losses from the plague did not affect the population for a long time. The number of victims of the plague has always been exaggerated, although, perhaps, in a few months it carried away about a quarter of the inhabitants. However, after a generation, the city returned to its usual level of population. The surplus of inhabitants flowed to new cities. The Italian model, when several towns, united by military or commercial ties, are attached to a large city, can be traced to one degree or another throughout Europe. In such a federation, the system of government and local customs inherent in each city was zealously observed, but the collection of taxes and protection was controlled from the center city.
The city grew like a tree, keeping its shape but growing in size, and the city walls, like cut rings, marked the milestones of its growth. Just outside the city walls lived the poor, beggars, outcasts of all kinds, who built their huts around the walls, creating a disgusting mess of miserable streets. Sometimes they were dispersed by the energetic municipality, but more often they were allowed to remain where they were until some plan loomed. Wealthy residents settled outside the city in villas in the middle of large estates, protected by their own walls. When, finally, economic necessity or civic pride demanded the expansion of the city, another ring of walls was erected around. They seized new land and left additional space for development. And the old walls continued to stand for several more centuries, if they were not predatoryly dismantled for the construction of new buildings. Cities resumed their form, but did not pursue new building materials, so that the same piece of brick or hewn stone could be in half a dozen different buildings in a thousand years. You can still see traces of the disappeared old walls, because later they turned into ring roads or, less often, into boulevards.
The fortress walls set the shape and determined the size of the city. In the Middle Ages, they served as a powerful protection for the inhabitants, who had supplies of water and food. A military leader who was about to besiege a city should have prepared for many months of waiting until the enemy ran out of supplies. The walls were kept in order at the public expense, and, whatever else fell into disrepair, they were taken care of first of all. The collapsed wall was a sign of a ruined city, and the first task of the victorious invader was to wipe it off the face of the earth. Unless he was going to live there. However, gradually the fortress walls lost their significance, which was reflected in the way cities began to be depicted. In the 16th century, the top view was widely used, the plan, where special importance was attached to the streets. They were painted in the border of houses. Important buildings were highlighted. But gradually everything was formalized, made flat, and the plan became more accurate, although less spectacular and picturesque. But before the plan came into use, the city was depicted as if a traveler, approaching, sees it from afar. It was rather a work of art, on which the city appeared, as in life, with walls, towers, churches, pressed close to each other, like one huge castle (see Fig. 54).
Rice. 54. City wall as a military structure. Nuremberg in 1493. From a modern engraving
Such cities exist to this day, such as Verona, located on a hillside. In their plan, the drawing laid down by the builders is clearly visible. In the south, especially in Italy, large, tower-like houses dominated, giving the urban landscape the appearance of a petrified forest. These houses were remnants of a more violent age, when feuds between families and factions tore apart the cities. Then those who could build higher, higher, even higher gained an advantage over their neighbors. Skillful city government succeeded in reducing their numbers, but many still sought to elevate themselves in this way, endangering the internal security of the city and greedily depriving the narrow streets of air and light.
Rice. 55. City gate, where duties are collected from all goods arriving in the city
The city gates that cut through the walls (see fig. 55) played a double role. They performed not only a defensive function, but also contributed to the city's income. Guards were placed around them, collecting a fee on everything that was brought into the city. Sometimes these were agricultural products, crops harvested from the surrounding fields, orchards and orchards. And sometimes - exotic spices brought from thousands of miles - everything at the gate was subject to customs inspection and duties. At one time, when the Florentine customs had fallen dangerously low, one of the officials suggested doubling the number of gates and thereby doubling their profitability. At a meeting in the city council, he was ridiculed, but this thoughtless proposal stemmed from the belief that the city was an independent entity. The villagers hated these extortions, receiving only dubious promises of armed protection for them. They went to all sorts of tricks, just to avoid paying. Sacchetti has a very true-sounding story about a peasant who hid chicken eggs in his baggy pants to fool the guards. But those, warned by the enemy of the peasant, forced him to sit down while they examined the cargo. The result is clear.
In cities, gates played the role of eyes and ears. They were the only point of contact with the outside world. It was from the outside world that the threat came, and the guards at the gate meticulously reported to the ruler about the arrival and departure of foreigners and all sorts of strangers in general. In free cities, closed gates were a symbol of independence. The late traveler, who arrived after sunset, was forced to spend the night outside the city walls. Hence the custom to build hotels outside, at the main gate. The gate itself was like a small fortress. They housed a garrison guarding the city. Huge castles that towered over medieval cities were, in fact, a simple continuation of the main fortress gate-houses.
However, the absence of a building plan in medieval cities was more apparent than real. It is true: the streets twisted aimlessly, circled, made loops, even dissolved into some courtyards, but after all, they were not supposed to provide a direct transition from one point of the city to another, but to create a frame, scenery for public life. The stranger, having passed through the city gates, could easily find his way to the center of the city, because the main streets radiated from the central square. "Piazza", "place", "platz", "square", whatever it was called in the local language, was the direct heir of the Roman forum, a place where anxious people gathered in days of war and where they wandered, having fun, in peacetime. Again, only England did not have such a meeting place. The British preferred to expand the main street into a market. It served the same purpose, but lacked a sense of cohesion and unity, and with increased traffic lost its importance as a central meeting place. However, on the continent, this echo of Ancient Rome continued to exist.
Rice. 56. Piazza (square) San Marco, Venice
It could have been a modest, unpaved area, shaded by trees, perhaps surrounded by shabby houses. And it could be huge, amazing, like the main squares in Siena or Venice (see Fig. 56), could be planned so that it seemed like a huge hall without a roof. However, no matter how she looked, she remained the face of the city, the place where the inhabitants gathered, and the vital organs of the city, the centers of government and justice, lined up around her. Somewhere else there could be another, naturally formed center: for example, a cathedral with auxiliary buildings, usually built on a small square. From the main gate, a fairly wide straight and clean road led to the square, then to the cathedral. At the same time, away from the center, the streets became, as it were, peripheral veins serving local needs. They were deliberately made narrow - both to provide passers-by protection from the sun and rain, and in order to save space. Sometimes the top floors of buildings were only a few feet apart. The narrowness of the streets also served as protection during wars, because the first action of the attackers was to gallop through them before the inhabitants had time to erect barriers. Troops could not maintain military order by marching on them. Under such circumstances, a hostile mob, armed with simple boulders, could successfully prevent the passage of professional soldiers. In Italy, streets began to be paved as early as the 13th century, and by the 16th century all the main streets of most European cities were paved. There was no separation between pavement and pavement, because everyone either rode or walked. Crews began to appear only in the 16th century. Gradually, wheeled traffic grew, the streets straightened to make it easier for him to pass, and then pedestrians were taken care of, further emphasizing the difference between rich and poor.
Cult of Vitruvius
The cities of the Renaissance era had one thing in common: they grew and developed spontaneously, as needed. Only the city walls were planned, which were laid and built as a whole, and inside the city, only the size of a particular building set the layout of the adjacent territory. The cathedral determined the structure of the whole district with adjoining streets and squares, but in other places houses appeared as needed or were rebuilt from existing ones. Even the very concept of city planning was absent until the second half of the 15th century, when the ideas of the Roman architect Vitruvius Polio were revived. Vitruvius was the architect of August Rome, and his work On Architecture dates from about 30 BC. He was not one of the famous architects, but his book was the only one on this subject, and it pleased the world, obsessed with antiquity. Discoveries in architecture were made in the same way as in geography: the ancient author gave impetus to minds capable of their own creativity and research. People who believe they are following Vitruvius have in fact used his name to frame their own theories. Vitruvius considered the city as a self-sufficient unit, which should be planned, like a house, all parts of which are subordinate to the whole. Sewerage, roads, squares, public buildings, proportions of building sites - everything has its own place in this plan. The first treatise based on the concept of Vitruvius was written by the Florentine Leon Battista Alberti. It was published in 1485, only thirteen years after his death, and led a long line of works that stretched until the 19th century, works that had a huge impact on urban planning. Most of these works were amazingly, even too exquisitely, illustrated. Given the mathematical basis of this cult, it is not surprising that the followers took everything to the extreme. The city was invented, just like a problem in geometry, not paying attention to human and geographical factors. Theoretical perfection led in practice to lifeless dryness.
Rice. 57. Palma Nova, Italy: a strict urban plan
Just fortunate that only a few cities were built in accordance with the principles of Vitruvius. Every now and then there was a need, more often a military one, in a new city. At times it could be built according to this new theory (for example, Palma Nova (see fig. 57) in the Venetian state). For the most part, however, architects had to content themselves with partial development, because they rarely had the opportunity to completely demolish the old buildings and rebuild in their place. The architect faced passive resistance, suffice it to recall how Leonardo da Vinci's proposal to build satellite settlements around Milan was met. The terrible plague of 1484 claimed 50,000 inhabitants, and Leonardo wanted to build ten new cities with 5,000 houses and settle there 30,000 people, “in order to defuse the too great crowding of people who have huddled in herds like goats ... filling every corner of space with stench and sowing the seeds of infection and death.” But nothing of the kind was done, because neither monetary gain nor military advantages were foreseen in this. And the ruler of Milan chose to spend the gold on decorating his own court. This was the case throughout Europe. Cities have already taken shape and there is no room left for large-scale planning. Rome was the only exception to this rule.
The first city of Christianity in the Middle Ages fell into decay. The peak of his misfortunes was the transfer of the papacy to Avignon in 1305. For more than a hundred years, there has not been a power in the Eternal City strong enough to restrain the ambitions of the great families and the brutal savagery of the crowd. Other cities of Italy grew prettier and prospered, while Rome was covered with mold and collapsed. The city of Augusta was built firmly, it survived and did not succumb to the attacks of time and the raids of the barbarians, but died at the hands of its own citizens. The wars were partly to blame, but mainly the fact that massive ancient buildings were a source of ready-made building materials. In 1443 the great schism ended, and the papacy was again established in Rome. For the first time, Pope Nicholas V drew attention to the deplorable state of the Eternal City. He understood that in order to recognize Rome as the capital of the world, it needs to be rebuilt (see Fig. 58). An enormous task! Once the city accommodated about a million people - the largest number of inhabitants until the 19th century. Before the industrial revolution, which led to the expansion of construction, no European city could compare in size with the Rome of Augustus. And in 1377 it had only about 20 thousand inhabitants. Seven of its hills were abandoned, the population preferred to live on the swampy banks of the Tiber. Cattle roamed the deserted streets lined with ruined houses. The forum lost its former glory and bore the nickname "Campo Vacchino", that is, "Cow Field". Dead animals were never cleaned up, and they rotted where they died, adding the smell of smoldering and rot to the filthy slush underfoot. There was no city in Europe that sank so low from such great heights.
Rice. 58. Panorama of Rome in 1493, with St. Peter's (above). From a modern engraving in Schedel's book "The Chronicle of the World"
More than 160 years have passed since Pope Nicholas V conceived his reconstruction, and until the time when Bernini completed the colonnade at St. Peter's Cathedral, more than 160 years have passed. And all the popes who ruled in these one and a half centuries, from the virtuous to the vicious, from the most learned Nicholas to the depraved Alexander Borgia, shared the passion that breathed new life into the first of all cities of the Renaissance, the love of art and architecture, the desire to turn the ancient city into a worthy capital of the Christian world.
The list of names of architects and artists who worked there sounds exactly like a roll call of fame: Alberti, the first of the Vitruvians, Bramante, Sangallo, Bernini, Raphael, Michelangelo and many others who fell into the shadow of the great, but are able to decorate the court of any ruler. Some of what has been done is regrettable: for example, the destruction of the ancient St. Peter's Cathedral in order to build a new Bramante temple in its place caused a storm of protests. But absolute papal authority was enough to complete one of the greatest urban projects in history. The result was not just a magnificent monument to some ruler. A number of benefits went to ordinary citizens: water supply improved, the ancient sewerage system was restored, the threat of fires and plague sharply decreased.
City life
The city was a stage on which, in front of all honest people, what was happening now in the silence of offices took place. Details striking in their variability were striking: the irregularity of buildings, the eccentric styles and variegation of costumes, the countless goods that were produced right on the streets - all this gave the Renaissance city a brightness that is absent in the monotonous monotony of modern cities. But there was also a certain homogeneity, a fusion of groups that proclaimed the inner unity of the city. In the 20th century, the eye has become accustomed to the divisions created by urban sprawl: pedestrian and car traffic take place in different worlds, industry is separated from commerce, and both are separated by space from residential areas, which, in turn, are subdivided according to the wealth of their inhabitants. A city dweller can live his whole life without seeing how the bread he eats is baked or how the dead are buried. The larger the city became, the more a person moved away from his fellow citizens, until the paradox of loneliness in the midst of a crowd became an ordinary phenomenon.
In a walled city of, say, 50,000 people, where most of the houses were wretched shacks, the lack of space encouraged people to spend more time in public. The shopkeeper sold goods almost from the stall, through a small window. The shutters of the first floors were made on hinges in order to quickly recline, forming a shelf or table, that is, a counter (see Fig. 60). He lived with his family in the upper rooms of the house and, only having become significantly richer, could he keep a separate store with clerks, and live in a garden suburb.
Rice. 60. City traders, including: a clothing and textile merchant (left), a barber (center) and a confectioner (right)
A skilled craftsman also used the lower floor of the house as a workshop, sometimes putting his products up for sale right there on the spot. Craftsmen and merchants were very inclined to show herd behavior: each city had its own Tkatskaya Street, Myasnitsky Ryad, and its own Rybnikov Lane. And if there was not enough space in small crowded rooms, or even just in good weather, trade moved to the street, which became indistinguishable from the market. Dishonest people were punished publicly, in the square, in the same place where they earned their living, that is, in public. They were tied to a pillory, and worthless goods were burned at their feet or hung around their necks. A vintner who sold bad wine was forced to drink a large amount of it, and the rest was poured over his head. Rybnik was forced to sniff rotten fish or even smeared his face and hair with it.
At night, the city was plunged into complete silence and darkness. Even where there was no obligatory "hour of extinguishing the fires", the wise man tried not to go out late and after dark sat safely behind strong doors with bolts. A passer-by, caught by the guards at night, had to prepare to convincingly explain the reason for his suspicious walk. There were no such temptations that could lure an honest person out of the house at night, because public amusements ended at sunset, and the townsfolk adhered to the hoarding habit of going to bed at sunset. Tallow candles were available, but still quite expensive. And foul-smelling wicks soaked in rags of fat were also used sparingly, because fat cost more than meat. The working day, which lasted from dawn to dusk, left little strength for a stormy night of fun. With the widespread development of printing, it became a custom in many homes to read the Bible. Another domestic entertainment was music-making for those who could afford to purchase a musical instrument: a lute, or a viol, or a flute, as well as singing for those who did not have money for it. Most people spent the brief hours of leisure between dinner and bedtime in conversation. However, the lack of evening and night entertainment was more than made up during the day at public expense. Frequent church holidays reduced the number of working days per year to a figure, perhaps lower than today.
Rice. 61. Religious procession
Fasting days were strictly observed and supported by the force of law, but holidays were understood literally. They not only included the liturgy, but turned into wild fun. These days, the solidarity of the townspeople was clearly manifested in crowded religious processions and religious processions (see Fig. 61). There were few observers then, because everyone wanted to take part in them. Albrecht Dürer witnessed a similar procession in Antwerp, and his artist's eye gazed with delight at the endless procession of colors and shapes. It was on the day of the Assumption of the Virgin, “... and the whole city, regardless of rank and occupation, gathered there, each dressed in the best dress according to his rank. All guilds and estates had their own signs by which they could be recognized. In the intervals they carried huge expensive candles and three long old Frankish trumpets of silver. There were also drums and pipes made in the German style. They blew and beat loudly and noisily ... There were goldsmiths and embroiderers, painters, masons and sculptors, joiners and carpenters, sailors and fishermen, weavers and tailors, bakers and tanners ... truly workers of all kinds, as well as many artisans and various people who earn their livelihood. They were followed by archers with rifles and crossbows, horsemen and foot soldiers. But in front of all of them were religious orders ... A large crowd of widows also took part in this procession. They supported themselves by their labor and observed special rules. They were dressed from head to toe in white clothes, sewn especially for this occasion, it was sad to look at them ... Twenty people carried the image of the Virgin Mary with our Lord Jesus, luxuriously dressed. In the course of the procession, many wonderful things were shown, magnificently presented. Wagons were pulled, on which stood ships and other structures full of masked people. They were followed by a troupe, representing the prophets in order and scenes from the New Testament ... From beginning to end, the procession lasted more than two hours until it reached our house.
The miracles that so delighted Dürer in Antwerp would have fascinated him in Venice and Florence, because the Italians treated religious holidays as an art form. At the feast of Corpus Christi in Viterbo, in 1482, the whole procession was divided into sections, each of which was responsible for some cardinal or the highest dignitary of the church. And each strove to outdo the other by decorating his plot with costly draperies and providing it with a stage on which the mysteries were played, so that, as a whole, it formed into a series of plays about the death and resurrection of Christ. The stage used in Italy for the performance of the mysteries was the same as in all of Europe: a three-story structure, where the upper and lower floors served respectively as Heaven and Hell, and the main middle platform depicted the Earth (see Fig. 62).
Rice. 62. Scene for the presentation of mysteries
Most of all attention was attracted by the complex stage mechanism, which allowed the actors to soar and swim in the air. There was one scene in Florence which consisted of a suspended ball, surrounded by angels, from which, at the right moment, a chariot appeared and descended to earth. Leonardo da Vinci made an even more complex machine for the Dukes of Sforza, which showed the movement of celestial bodies, each carrying its own guardian angel.
Secular processions in Italy reenacted the great triumphs of classical Rome and were named after them. Sometimes they were arranged in honor of the arrival of some sovereign or famous military leader, sometimes just for the sake of a holiday. The glorious names of the great Romans were revived in memory, they were represented in togas and laurel wreaths and transported around the city in chariots. They especially liked to depict allegories: Faith conquered Idolatry, Virtue exterminated Vice. Another favorite representation is the three ages of man. Every earthly or supernatural event was played out in great detail. The Italians did not work on the literary content of these scenes, preferring to spend money on the pomp of the spectacle, so that all allegorical figures were straightforward and superficial creatures and only proclaimed high-sounding empty phrases without any conviction, thus passing from performance to performance. But the splendor of the scenery and costumes delighted the eye, and that was enough. In no other city in Europe did civic pride manifest itself so brightly and with such brilliance as in the annual ritual of the wedding with the sea, which was performed by the ruler of Venice, a strange mixture of commercial arrogance, Christian gratitude and Eastern symbolism. This ritual festival begins in 997 after the birth of Christ, when the Doge of Venice before the battle made a libation of wine, pouring it into the sea. And after the victory, it was celebrated on the next Ascension Day. A huge state barge, called the Bucentaur, was rowed to the same point in the bay, and there the doge threw a ring into the sea, declaring that by this action the city was married to the sea, that is, to the elements that made it great (see Fig. 63).
Rice. 63. "Bucentaur" Venetian
"Bucentaur" majestically participated in all civil ceremonies. Solemn processions in other cities moved in the dust in the heat, and the Venetians glided along the smooth surface of their great sea route. The Bucentaur was refitted from a battle galley, which swept all the enemies of Venice from the Adriatic. She retained the powerful and vicious ramming prow of a warship, but now the upper deck was trimmed with scarlet and gold brocade, and a garland of golden leaves stretched along the side sparkled dazzlingly in the sun. On the prow was a human-sized figure of Justice with a sword in one hand and scales in the other. The sovereigns who came to visit were escorted on this ship to the island city, surrounded by countless small boats, also decorated with rich fabrics and garlands. The guest was brought to the very door of the residence allotted to him. No wonder the Venetian carnivals, staged with the same splendid disregard for expense, resplendent with the same sensual, almost savage taste for bright colors, attracted visitors from all over Europe. During these days, the city's population doubled. Apparently, the fashion for masquerades went from Venice, which then spread to all the courtyards of Europe. Other Italian cities introduced masked actors into the mysteries, but it was the entertainment-loving Venetians with their commercial acumen who appreciated the mask as a piquant addition to the carnival.
The military competitions of the Middle Ages continued almost unchanged into the Renaissance, although the status of their participants somewhat decreased. So, for example, the fishmongers of Nuremberg staged their own tournament. Archery competitions were very popular, although the bow as a weapon disappeared from the battlefield. But the most beloved were the holidays, the roots of which went back to pre-Christian Europe. Failing to eradicate them, the Church, so to speak, christened some of them, that is, appropriated them, while others continued to live in an unchanged form, both in Catholic and Protestant countries. The greatest of these was May Day, the pagan meeting of spring (see Fig. 64).
Rice. 64. May Day celebration
On this day, both the poor and the rich traveled and went out of town to pick flowers, dance and feast. To become May Lord was a great honor, but also an expensive pleasure, because all the festive expenses fell on him: it happened that some men disappeared from the city for a while to evade this honorary role. The holiday brought to the city a particle of the countryside, life in nature, so close and so far away. Throughout Europe, the change of seasons was celebrated with festivities. They differed from each other in details and names, but the similarities were stronger than the differences. The Lord of Disorder still reigned on one of the winter days - the direct heir of the Roman saturnalia, which, in turn, was a relic of the prehistoric winter solstice festival. Again and again they tried to eradicate it, but it was revived in local carnivals with jesters, warriors and dancers in disguise, which first appeared to the world in cave drawings. The time has come, and the holidays of a thousand years ago easily fit into the life of cities, where the roar of printing presses and the noise of wheeled carriages marked the beginning of a new world.
Travelers
The main cities of Europe were connected by a very efficient postal system. A simple layman could freely use it ... if he was not afraid that his letters would be read. The authorities who organized the mail were interested in espionage almost as much as in establishing communication between cities and countries. Despite the terrible state of the roads, the number of vehicles increased. The wave of pilgrimage reached an unprecedented height, and when the flow of pilgrims began to subside, merchants took their place, because trade was actively developing. State officials were ubiquitous, the tramp of soldiers' boots on the march did not subside for a minute. Travelers going about their business are no longer a rarity. People like the restless Erasmus moved from one scientific center to another in search of a place and means of subsistence. Some even saw travel as a means of education combined with pleasure. In Italy, a new school of local history writers arose, who recommended the inquisitive to visit interesting places. Many traveled on horseback, but carriages had already begun to appear (see fig. 65), rumored to have been first invented in Kotz or Kosice (Hungary).
Rice. 65. German carriage 1563. Long-distance travel required at least 4 horses
Most of these carriages were made for show - they were extremely uncomfortable. The body was hung on belts, which in theory were supposed to serve as springs, but in practice turned the trip into a series of nauseating dives and swings. The average speed was twenty miles a day, depending on the quality of the roads. It took at least six horses to pull the carriage through the thick winter mud. They were very sensitive to the bumps they often encountered along the way. Once in Germany, such a pothole formed that three carriages fell into it at once, and this cost the life of one unfortunate peasant.
Roman roads were still the main arteries of Europe, but even their splendor could not resist the predation of the peasants. When material was needed to build a barn or barn, or even a house, the villagers with habitual readiness turned to large stocks of already hewn stone, which, in fact, was the road. As soon as the upper layers of the road surface were removed, the weather and transport completed the rest. In a few regions, there were orders to preserve and maintain roads outside the cities. In England, a miller who suddenly needed clay for repairs dug a hole 10 feet across and eight feet deep, and then threw it away. The pit filled with rainwater, a traveler fell into it and drowned. Called to account, the miller said that he had no intention of killing anyone, there was simply nowhere else to get clay. He was released from custody. However, the ancient custom prescribed to make roads of minimum width: in one place it was supposed to allow two carts to pass each other, in the other - to pass a knight with a spear at the ready. In France, where Roman roads ran through forests, their width was increased from 20 feet to about seventy-eight, as a precaution against brigands, who became more and more numerous as expensive freight traffic increased. A wise man always traveled in company, and everyone was armed. The lone traveler was regarded with suspicion, and he could well end up in a local prison if he did not name worthy reasons for his stay in this region.
Travel across Europe, even under favorable circumstances, could take several weeks. Therefore, roadside hotels - inns (see Fig. 66) have acquired such importance.
Rice. 66. Main common room of a roadside hotel
It could be a large establishment, such as the famous Bull Hotel in Padua, where up to 200 horses were housed in the stables, or it could be a tiny, fetid tavern for the careless and naive. In Austria, an innkeeper was captured, who, as it was proven, over the years killed more than 185 guests and accumulated considerable wealth from this. However, most contemporaries paint a quite friendly picture. The nice lady, portrayed by William Caxton in the first guidebook, was supposed to make a pleasant impression on travelers after a tiring day spent on the road. Caxton had his book printed in 1483.
Among other things, she supplied his monolingual countrymen with enough French phrases to inquire about how to get out of the city, hire a horse and get a lodging for the night. The conversation in the hotel cited there is more polite than informative, but it shows us what situations were repeated every evening in all the cities of Europe.
“God bless you, lady.
- Welcome, boy.
– Can I get a bed here?
- Yes, good and clean, [even if] there are a dozen of you.
No, there are three of us. Can you eat here?
- Yes, in abundance, thank God.
“Bring us food and give the horses hay and dry them well with straw.”
Travelers ate, prudently checked the bill for the meal and asked to add its cost to the morning calculation. Then follows:
“Take us to bed, we are tired.
“Jeanette, light a candle and show them upstairs to that room. And bring them hot water to wash their feet, and cover them with a feather bed.”
Judging by the conversation, this is a first-class hotel. Travelers are served dinner on the table, they obviously did not bring food with them, although this was the custom. They are escorted to bed with a candle and provided with warm water. Perhaps, if they were lucky, they could get a bed for each, and not share it with some stranger. But whether it was a luxurious hotel, in which guests were also offered entertainment, or a simple hut near the city wall, the traveler could rest in it for several hours, protected not only from bad weather and wild animals, but also from his fellow humans.
