Fulda Cathedral

Fulda Cathedral

          Fulda Cathedral is the former abbey church of Fulda Abbey and the burial place of Saint Boniface. The abbey was dissolved in 1802 but the diocese and its cathedral have continued. The Baroque district of Fulda, and is the symbol of the area. Great German Baroque Architect Johann Dientzenhofer drew plans of the new church in 1700, who was commissioned by the Prince-Abbot.

           Like the Ratgar Basilica before it, Fulda Cathedral is oriented to the west. The main facade onto the cathedral square is the east front, and the choir is located at the west end of the nave. The cathedral is 325 feet long 128 feet high into the top of the dome. The main frontage is flanked by two towers 214 feet high.

          Four massive three-quarter columns accompanied by half pilasters stand to either side of the main portal and support the architrave, the frieze with its triglyphs and heavy cornices. On the architrave over segment of a round arch sit two large angels, supporting the arms of the Prince-Abbot Adalbert von Schleifras.

Source: http://thecompletepilgrim.com/cathedral-fulda/

S. Maria Maggiore

The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore; 'Basilica of Saint Mary Major, or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Papal major basilica and the largest Catholic church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, from which size it receives the appellation "major". The Basilica is located at 34 Piazza del Esquilino, some five blocks southwest of Stazione Termini. The original structure was constructed in the 12th century then later renovated in 1743.

S. Maria Maggiore Basilica has undergone many renovations throughout its long history of use, and is still in use today as it frequently hosts catholic mass. Its original design, by Ferdinando Fuga was classical and traditionally Roman. Margret R. Miles states in her work, “Santa Maria Maggiore's Fifth-Century Mosaics: Triumphal Christianity and the Jews:” ‘Santa Maria Maggiore so closely resembles a second-century imperial basilica that it has sometimes been thought to have been adapted from a basilica for use as a Christian church. Its plan was based on Hellenistic principles stated by Vitruvius at the time of Augustus.
The design of the basilica was a typical one during this time in Rome: a tall and wide nave; an aisle on either side; and a semicircular apse at the end of the nave. What could be noted as slightly out of the norm, but certainly not unusual, is the basilica’s immense area. The original site was home to a previous Basilica. It is uncertain which aspects of the foundation were reused in the design and construction of S. Maria Maggiore.
The interior Athenian marble columns supporting the nave likely come from the first basilica, or from various other Roman building. Fun-fact: when materials of older buildings are salvaged and reused in new buildings(of this time) the salvaged materials can be referred to as spolia.  Of the forty columns, thirty-six are marble and four granite. Many of the columns were pared shortened to make them all identical, and although the interior has undergone many renovations, each appeasing the new styles of each century, the columns along with the entire structural system remains true to the original design. The haphazardly placed campanile is the highest in Rome, at 240 feet, and constructed in the fourteenth century. The campanile’s design is typical example of a Roman Bell tower, and it has not seen any reconstruction in its lifetime. 

At the time of construction, S. Maria Maggiore was nearly at the edge of the populated area of Rome. Yet, today the basilica has surfaced the consequence of a modern city functioning and keeping up with the advances of human progress while living on top of thousand of years of history; the construction of Stazione Termini only a few blocks away has turned the area into a heavily trafficked area and the base of the basilica has become a host to an enormous roundabout

On a final note, Bernini lived very near S. Maria Maggiore, during a portion of his life, and he desired to be buried there. Visitors are told that a staircase inside the bell tower was designed by him, however most art historians do not include it among Bernini's works.

Miles, Margaret Ruth. Rereading Historical Theology Before, During, and after Augustine. Eugene, Or.: Cascade, 2008. Print.Romeartlover. "Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller." S. Maria Maggiore. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

Porto di Ripetta, Rome, Italy- 1704

Image: GoogleMaps

Porto di Ripetta was a port in Rome. It was designed and built in 1704 by the Italian, Baroque architect, Alessandro Specchi. Located on the banks of the River Tiber, it was in front of the church of San Girolamo degli Schiavoni. Its low walls with steps descended in sweeping, scenographic curves from the street to the river. The port no longer exists but is known today from documents including engraved views, drawings and early photographs.

On the left bank of the Tiber, facing southali  this was the place to stop and rest for those coming downriver. On the other bank of the river, Porto di Ripa Grande served a similar purpose for those coming in from the ocean side of the city.

Engraving by  Piranesi

During the second half of the 19th century, the river banks and roads along the Tiber were radically reconstructed to improve the city's flooding defenses and its transportation connections. The new road on the left bank is called, Lungotevere.

In the area of the Porto di Ripetta, an iron bridge was constructed between 1877-1879 across the Tiber and adjacent to the port. This in turn led to the construction of another more substantial bridge, the Ponte Cavour which was opened in 1901. This lead to the demolition of the Porto di Ripetta. Photographs from the late nineteenth century record the port, the iron bridge and the new Ponte Cavour. 

Porto di Pipetta pictured in 2010

Ballroom at the Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi

            Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi is one of the large townhouses located in Palermo, Sicily. Palermo locates on the north- west coast by the sea; its location made it a center for commerce and vast prosperity. Palermo also harbors mild climate and fertile soil, so it eventually attracted the wealthy and noble to settle and transforming the area with artistic and linguistic forms. (1)

               Prince Pietro Valguarnera, a son of one of the most prestigious families of the Sicilian aristocracy of Spanish origin inherited his family title after his older brother past away, was the one who decided to commission the expansion of the Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi. The palace was constructed throughout the 18^th century. (2) Before construction of the mansion, Pietro Valguarnera needed to buy the warehouses on the western side of the main building, so he could have more space to build. Once he gained enough land, he paid Andrea Gigante, one of the best architects of the day, to begin designing for this masterpiece. (1)

             

The palace was designed in the Baroque style. It hosts a very grand and scenic entrance. They created a new main staircase in line with the main entrance and enlarge space dedicating to public reception rooms which allowed new areas for receptions that include three new antechambers, a banquet hall and a large gallery. (1) The palace also shows great richness of decorations and complete beauty of ornaments within its rooms. All of its rooms were filled with precious furnishing, decorations, tapestries, embroidery, china, glassware and furniture. (2)

          The grand ballroom is one of its most magnificent rooms with lavish sofas, woodwork, console tables, carved chairs, and well decorated walls, doors painted in pure gold and tall elegant mirrors that reflect stylish ornaments. The ceiling harbors similar extravagance, it is decorated with Murano glass chandeliers to candles that well resembles the luxurious styles of the era. (2) The Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi is one of the most successful representations of Baroque architecture that still stands today.   

Works Cited

     1.       Cotugno, Linda, Nuccio, Lucrezia. “Valguarnera- Gangi Palace: A Historical Cultural Urban Structure in Palermo”. 2011. Web. http://geografie.uvt.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ART_9_COTUGNO_NUCCIO.pdf

     2.      Stanzione, Nicola. "Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi - Www.palermoviva.it." Www.palermoviva.it. N.p., 2016. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

     3.      "Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi (Palermo)." All That Is Chic. N.p., 2016. Web. 05 Dec. 2016. 

Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, Rome, 1600s

Image: GoogleMaps

Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza  (University of Rome) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, built between  1642-1660 by Francesco Borromini. It was built in the Roman Baroque style and is well known to be a masterpiece of its time. It stands and the end of a courtyard at 40 Corso del Rinascimento and is now used by the Archives of the City of Rome.

During the fourteenth century, there was a chapel dedicated to Saint Ivo for the palace of the University of Rome in the cite. When Borromini’s design was commissioned in the seventeenth century, he choose a six-pointed star plan, resembling the Star of David (at the time, it was recognized as the Star of Solomon, symbolizing wisdom). He merged a curved facade of the church with the courtyard of the palace. The corkscrew lantern of the dome was unique and the complex rhythms of the interior have a dazzling geometry to them. The main artwork of the interior is the altarpiece by Pietro da Cortona portraying St. Yves.

The church rises at the end of the Giacomo della Porta courtyard, The façade is concave, molding the church into the courtyard as if completing it. The façade itself looks like a continuation of the courtyard arches besides for minor openings where doors and windows have been placed. Above the façade is a large parapet structure allowing only the higher portions of the church to been seen past the façade.  A key exterior aspect is the top of the church, where the lantern of Sant'Ivo stands  with a spiral shape, topped by a Cross.

The interior of Sant'Ivo is more interesting than the exterior. Borromini was well known for combining  geometrical shapes as well as his pairing of columns in order to facilitate curves. However, in this project, Borromini did not blend the shapes- the church is made up of distinctly different geometries. As seen in the image above, the floor scheme is a triangle with its corners cut off and semi-circles in between the triangle’s three lines. Borromini utilized curves and edges in equal amounts to define the shape of the rotunda. The windows associated with the round sections of the dome are larger than those associated with the edges. Sunlight illuminates the dome through an oculi in the lantern. Borromini had a talisman with the shape of a bee installed in the roof of the lantern as the symbol of the family of Urban VIII Barberini who commissioned the construction of this church.

The aisles of arches surrounding the right and left wings of Sant'Ivo are not halted by the church. The space between the arches and the walls in the aisles still continue past the church’s sides. Each aisle has a single lateral entrance to the church. These side entrances lead to hexagonal rooms; these rooms are connected to the rotunda. Behind the Altar is two more hexagonal rooms with windows aligned on the back.

The inside walls and dome of the rotunda were covered by Borromini with sculptures and motifs. On each section there are columns of stars leading up to an angel’s face with wings. 

Sources: 

1-  Watkin, David. A History of Western Architecture: Sixth ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1986. Print.

2- http://www.bluffton.edu/homepages/facstaff/sullivanm/italy/rome/stivo/stivo.html

Four Rivers Fountain, Rome, Italy, 1651

Rome’s love affair with fountains goes back to antiquity, meanwhile the city today can boast a collection of public fountains incomparable to any other city in the world. The purpose of the fountains has changed over time, from reflecting the generosity associated with papal families in Baroque Rome to providing a secure source of potable water to the locals before the days of indoor plumbing; now, an aesthetically pleasing public work of art that depicts a historical Roman artifact. Amongst these fountains exists the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, also known as the Four Rivers Fountain located in the Piazza Navona in Rome.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

In 1648, evidently with the help of his close friend Niccolo Ludovisi, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned by Pope Innocent X to create a fountain that would surround a gift from the Emperor Caracalla – a slender Egyptian obelisk surmounted by a dove – which was previously erected as a central ornament for the piazza.3 However, it was not planned for Pope Innocent X to designate Bernini as the designer of this project; in fact, it was a competition called on by the Pope requiring the leading architects and artists of the time to showcase their design for the fountain.1 However, per Bernini’s biographer Filippo Baldinucci, Bernini’s close friend Ludovisi fooled the pope into giving Bernini the commission;

"So strong was the sinister influence of the rivals of Bernini on the mind of Innocent X that when he planned to set up in Piazza Navona the great obelisk brought to Rome by the Emperor Caracalla which had been buried for a long time at Capo di Bove for the adornment of a magnificent fountain, the Pope had designs made by the leading architects of Rome without an order for one to Bernini. Prince Niccolò Ludovisi, whose wife was niece to the pope, persuaded Bernini to prepare a model, and arrange for it to be secretly installed in a room in the Palazzo Pamphilj which the Pope had to pass. When the meal was finished, seeing such a noble creation, he stopped almost in ecstasy. Being prince of the keenest judgment and the loftiest ideas, after admiring it, said: "This is a trick ... It will be necessary to employ Bernini in spite of those who do not wish it, for he who desires not to use Bernini's designs, must take care not to see them."2

In Bernini’s design, the four Rivers for the fountain are depicted using four gods representing the four great rivers of the four continents as then recognized by the Renaissance geographers.1 The first was the Ganges River in Asia depicting a nonchalant god looking away from the light of the church symbolizing the spiritual ignorance of the self-indulgent land. He holds an oar to represent the navigability of the river which is quite broad and deep.

God representing the Ganges River in Asia in Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain. 

The second river was the Rio de la Plata (translated from Spanish as River of Silver) in America represented by a god throwing his hands back in surprise symbolizing the newly converted lands beginning to see the light. He rests on a pile of coins to show the riches he possesses and intends on bringing to Europe.

God representing the River of Silver in America in Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain.

The next and third figurine was that of the Nile of Africa depicted by a god with a cloth covering his head as a result of the unknown origin of the river at the time. Symbolically, it also refers to what the Catholic world saw as the dark ignorance of the “pagan” world therefore representing this god never seeing the light of Christianity.

God representing the Nile River in Africa in Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain.

Finally, the Danube River in Europe, depicted to be the most “civilized” and cultured of the figures, is illustrated by a god reaching back and touching a papal crest (which holds the keys of St. Peter)4, since the Danube is the closest of the great rivers to Rome. It symbolizes Europe looking toward and embracing the light of the Lord.

God representing the Danube River in Europe in Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain.

The crest holding the keys to St. Peters being touched
by the god representing the Danube River in Europe.

Throughout Bernini’s previous work, it is known that baroque sculpture emphasizes the idea of pushing the figure to its most dynamic position. By capturing what seems like a snapshot of a figure frozen in a moment of passionate action movement, Bernini was able to accomplish this style of art and architecture. Although Bernini gets all of the credit, the majority of the actual construction was carried out by his assistant. The bodies in the sculpture are built out of marble and surrounded by various types of animals including a sea monster, a horse, a lion, and a combination of other realistic and mystical creatures.3

It is believed that much of the locals disapproved of the sculpture at the time of its construction for various reasons. The main reason being that the fountain was being built and paid for by the public of Rome during the famine of 1646-48. Street vendors from the markets in the piazza also protested the fountain claiming it took away from the beauty of the piazza itself. Eventually, all protesters were either chased from the square or simply arrested.

However, in the present day, the sculpture is looked at, as yet another Bernini masterpiece. The theatrical, evocative, and individuality within the sculpture is the epitome of Baroque; and the work in its entirety influenced and shaped many Italian fountains for the century to come. 

                           

1 "Fountain of Four Rivers (Bernini)." Rome.info: Your Travel Guide to Rome. Rome.info, n.d. Web.

2 Bacchi, Andrea, Catherine Hess, Jennifer Montagu, and Anne-Lise Desmas. "5.10." Bernini and the Birth of Baroque Portrait Sculpture. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008. 234. Print.

3 "Fountain of the Four Rivers." Artble. Artble, 07 May 2015. Web.

4 "BERNINI- “Fontana Dei Quattro Fiumi” or “Fountain of 4 Rivers”." MaItaly. MaItaly, 24 Feb. 2011. Web.

Santa Maria degli Angeli, Rome, Italy, 1563

From the statue of David to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti is perhaps the most well-known Italian in history. Through his works he was able to impose change in culture, in the art world, and in the course of history. It is evident that he exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western Art, therefore it is necessary to study his works of art, including one of his churches in Rome: Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, better known by its shorter name – Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri 20th-century entrance.

Santa Maria degli Angeli is a unique Renaissance church located in Rome, Italy. Designed by Michelangelo and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to the angels, and to the Christian slaves who perished while building these structures, the church was built within the Roman walls of the Baths of Diocletian.1 In fact, it is one of the three buildings left within these walls (other two being the Museo Nazionale and the Octagonal Hall or Aula Ottagona).   

Pope Pius IV, who reconvened and concluded the Council of Trent, entrusted Michelangelo, who at the time (1563) was working at St. Peter’s Basilica, to transform the Thermal Baths into a church.2 Still, Michelangelo placed special thought when designing the transept of the new church. The transept is so dominant, that the effect is essentially that of a transverse nave. He created a Greek cross design leaving unaltered several right-angle frames, the vestibule and the chancel. Consequently, there were three entrances: two on each side of the transept and one towards the exedra. Unfortunately, the following year, at the age of 88, Michelangelo passed away; but his works were immediately continued and completed by Jacopo Lo Duca.1

Plan of Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli illustrating dominating transept.

Today, when visiting this minor Basilica, one would automatically be dazed as the exterior has a unique surface for a church, since its outer walls consist in part of the brick of the Baths of Diocletian. However, due to the addition of the modern façade by Bazzani in the 20^th century, some may say the façade takes away from the simplicity of the church.

The interior is the true gem of this structure. Within the church, it is easier to appreciate the grandeur in which the Romans built, which can be seen in the size in which the imperial baths were built. The great vaulted transept also gives a striking display of the magnificent scale of Roman construction, being almost 300 feet long, and with the risen floors, over 90 feet high. With the many additions to the basilica throughout time, the basilica now has new bronze doors by Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj as well as a statue of John the Baptist by him. There is also the 5-meter high bronze statue of Galileo Galilei Divine Man, designed by Tsung-Dao Lee, that was donated to the church in 2010.

Grandeur scale of the interior of the Santa Maria deli Angeli.

Moreover, an interesting addition to the church, that has awed many of those who visit, would be the meridian line.  At the beginning of the 18^th century, Pope Clement XI appointed the mathematician, astronomer, archaeologist, historian and philosopher, Francesco Bianchini, to build a meridian line that would function as a sort of sundial within the basilica. The line is laid down along the meridian that crosses through Rome, at latitude 15º.1 Through a small hole in the ceiling, light penetrates the church and casts its light on this line. The reason behind the meridian line, per the pope, was to produce a tool that would predict Easter precisely and check the accuracy of the Gregorian reformation of the calendar. He also wanted to give Rome a meridian line just as important as the one built in Bologna’s cathedral by Giovanni Domenico Cassini; which according to Alan Cook, was accomplished: “The disposition, the stability and the precision are much better than those of the famous meridian… in Bologna.”3

Angles depicting the entry of light and its location on the meridian line.

The meridian line located inside Santa Maria degli Angeli.

This church has been altered in many ways since its design. Almost every few years there have been multiple additions to the church, whether it be a sculpture, a painting, a chapel or even another resting body during burial ceremonies. After the wedding of the Prince of Naples, the status of Santa Maria degli Angeli ascended, and has since been the scene of religious ceremonies promoted by the Italian state.1 Then in 1920, the church was given the status minor basilica by Pope Benedict XV. Today, Santa Maria degli Angeli is served by diocesan clergy and functions as a parish church.1

                           

1 "Santa Maria Degli Angeli E Dei Martiri, Rome." Sacred Destinations. Sacred Destinations, n.d. Web.

2 "Santa Maria Degli Angeli Roma: Project of Michelangelo." Santa Maria Degli Angeli Roma. Santa Maria Degli Angeli Roma, n.d. Web.

3 Cook, Alan. "A Roman Tercentenary: Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London." A Roman Tercentenary 56 (2002): 273. Print.