Renaissance architecture was that style of architecture which evolved for the first time in Florence, then in Rome, and other parts of Italy. The style has emerged on the basis of Humanist revived interest in Classical architecture. It was part of the general movement known as the Renaissance which spread outwards from Italy and effected many aspects of scholarship and the arts. Renaissance spread to all parts of Europe, integrating with the local traditions and climates.
Renaissance architecture in the Kingdom of Poland
Polish Renaissance architecture is divided into three periods: The First period (1500–1550), is the so-called "Italian". Most of Renaissance buildings were building of this time were by Italian architects, mainly from Florence including Francesco Fiorentino and Bartolomeo Berrecci.
In the Second period (1550–1600), Renaissance architecture became more common, with the beginnings of Mannerist and under the influence of the Netherlands, particularly in Pomerania. Buildings include the New Cloth Hall in Kraków and city halls in Tarnów, Sandomierz, Chełm (demolished) and most famously in Poznań.
In the Third period (1600–1650), the rising power of Jesuits and Counter Reformation gave impetus to the development of Mannerist architecture and Baroque.[1]
Renaissance architecture in the Kingdom of Hungary
One of the earliest places to be influenced by the Renaissance style of architecture was Hungary – in fact the Apostolic Kingdom was the first to embrace the Renaissance north of the Alps. The style appeared following the marriage of King Matthias Corvinus and Beatrix of Naples in 1476. Matthias was 15 when he was elected King of Hungary. He was educated in Italian, and his fascination with the achievements of the Italian Renaissance led to the promotion of Mediterranean cultural influences in Hungary. Many Italian artists, craftsmen and masons arrived at Buda with the new queen. One of whom, Aristotile Fioravanti, travelled from Hungary to Moscow where he built the Cathedral of the Dormition. The most important work of Hungarian Renaissance ecclesiastical architecture is the Bakócz Chapel in Esztergom.[2] It was the first centrally conceived chapel outside of Italy. In 1823 the medieval church was rebuilt and the chapel, to incorporate it into the new Neo-Classical Esztergom Cathedral, was moved stone by stone to a different position.
Buda Castle was enlarged and modernized in Renaissance style. King Matthias also built a sumptuous summer palace in Visegrád. His successor, King Ulászló II built an Italianate hunting lodge in Budanyék. These monuments were largely destroyed in the Ottoman wars but the remains of the Visegrád Palace were partially reconstructed around 2000 and 69 years ago .[3]
The Ottoman conquest of Hungary in 1526 put an abrupt end to the short-lived Hungarian Renaissance. The royal court ceased to exist but Hungarian landowner families in the Royal Hungary built a lot of provincial Renaissance castles in the 16–17th centuries. The most important of them was the Rákóczi Castle in Sárospatak.
Many significant Renaissance castles were built in Transylvania, that time an independent principality. The palace of Gabriel Bethlen in Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia, Romania) was designed by Italian architects. The Transylvanian Renaissance lasted well until the first half of the 18th century because of the aesthetical conservatism of the country. The vernacular architecture of Transylvania preserved Renaissance details especially long.
Gallery of Renaissance buildings
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Croatia -
Hungary
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Poland -
Ukraine
References
- ^ Harald Busch, Bernd Lohse, Hans Weigert, Baukunst der Renaissance in Europa. Von Spätgotik bis zum Manierismus, Frankfurt af Main, 1960
Wilfried Koch, Style w architekturze, Warsaw 1996
Tadeusz Broniewski, Historia architektury dla wszystkich Wydawnictwo Ossolineum, 1990
Mieczysław Gębarowicz, Studia nad dziejami kultury artystycznej późnego renesansu w Polsce, Toruń 1962 - ^ Image of Bakócz Chapel (1506–08)
- ^ image of reconstructed Visegrád Palace
Books
- Miskimin, Harry A. (1977). The Economy of Later Renaissance Europe 1460-1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Johnson, Lonnie, (1996). Central Europe : Enemies, Neighbors, Friends: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends. New York: Oxford University Press
- Labno, Jeannie (2011). Commemorating the Polish Renaissance Child: Funeral Monuments and Their European Context. Farnham: MPG Books Group.
- Kaufmann, T. D. (1995). Court, cloister, and city the art and culture of Central Europe, 1450-1800. Chicago (Ill.): University of Chicago Press.
- Anderson, J. (2009). Crossing cultures: conflict, migration and convergence : the proceedings of the 32nd International Congress of the History of Art. Carlton, Vic: Miegunyah Press.
- Jokilehto, Jukka (2011). World heritage: observations on decisions related to cultural heritage. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development. 1, 61-74.
- Freedman, J. S. (1999). Philosophy and the arts in Central Europe, 1500-1700: teaching and texts at schools and universities. Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Bowe, P., & Sapieha, N. (1991). Gardens in Central Europe. [UK], Antique Collectors' Club.
- Kaufmann, T. D. (1988). Art and architecture in Central Europe, 1550-1620: an annotated bibliography. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall.
- Lee, A., Péporté, P., & Schnitker, H. (2010). Renaissance? perceptions of continuity and discontinuity in Europe, c.1300-c.1550. Leiden: Brill.
- (2008). Bohemia & Central Europe 1200-1550: the permanent exhibition of the collection of Old Masters of the National Gallery in Prague at the Convent of St Agnes of Bohemia. Prague: National Gallery.