During the Renaissance, an attitude was gradually formed among architects towards a structure as part of a whole, which must be able to relate to the surrounding space, and be able to find a contrasting, mutually beneficial combination of different structures. The culture of urban planning of the Renaissance took shape gradually and in various ensembles - in San Marco Square in Venice, in the ensemble of the Educational House of the Silkworm Workshop of the architect. Brunelleschi et al. Great importance played out the use of arcades and colonnades along the streets, which gave urban development noticeable community features (Uffizi Street in Florence by the architect Vasari).
A significant contribution to the formation of examples of an architectural ensemble isCapitol Square in Rome,designed by Michelangelo. Opening the square to the city while simultaneously subordinating the space of the square to the main building is new feature, introduced by Michelangelo into the architecture of urban ensembles.
Gradually, in the understanding of architects, the idea of the city as a single whole, in which all parts are interconnected, matured. New firearms rendered medieval stone fortifications defenseless. This predetermined the appearance of earthen walls along the perimeter of cities.bastionsand determined the star shape of the line of city fortifications. Cities of this type appeared in the 2/3 of the 16th century. A revivalist idea of"ideal city" -the city most convenient for living.
In organizing the urban area, Renaissance architects followed 3 basic principles:
1. class settlement (for nobles - the central and best parts of the city);
2. professional-group settlement of the rest of the population (artisans of related professions are nearby);
3. division of the city territory into residential, industrial, commercial and public complexes.
The layout of “ideal cities” must necessarily be regular or radial-ring, but the choice of layout must be determined by natural conditions: relief, reservoir, river, winds, etc.
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| Palma Nuova, 1593 |
Usually in the center of the city there was a main public square with a castle or with a town hall and a church in the middle. Trade or religious areas of regional significance in radial cities were located at the intersection of radial streets with one of the city's ring highways.
These projects also involved significant improvements - landscaping streets, creating channels for rainwater drainage and sewerage. Houses had to have certain ratios of height and distance between them for the best insolation and ventilation.
Despite their utopianism, the theoretical developments of the “ideal cities” of the Renaissance had some influence on the practice of urban planning, especially when constructing small fortifications in a short time(Valetta, Palma Nuova, Granmichele- 16th -17th centuries).
Creation ideal city tormented scientists and architects from various countries and eras, but the first attempts to design something like this arose during the Renaissance. Although, at the court of the pharaohs and Roman emperors, scientists worked, whose works were aimed at creating some kind of ideal settlement, in which not only everything would clearly obey the hierarchy, but also in which it would be comfortable to live for both the ruler and a simple artisan. Just remember Akhetaten, Mohenjodaro, or the fantastic project proposed by Stasicrates to Alexander the Great, according to which he proposed to carve a statue of a commander with a city located on his arm from Mount Athos. The only problem was that these settlements either remained on paper or were destroyed. Not only architects, but also many artists came to the idea of designing an ideal city. There are references to the fact that Piero della Francesca, Giorgio Vasari, Luciano Laurana and many others were involved in this.
Piero della Francesco was known to his contemporaries primarily as the author of treatises on art. Only three of them have reached us: “Treatise on the Abacus”, “Perspective in Painting”, “Five Regular Bodies”. It was he who first raised the question of creating an ideal city, in which everything would be subordinated to mathematical calculations and promising constructions of clear symmetry. For this reason, many scholars attribute to Pierrot the image “View of an Ideal City,” which fits perfectly into the principles of the Renaissance.
Leon Battista Alberti came closest to implementing such a large-scale project. True, he was not able to realize his entire idea, but he left behind a large number of drawings and notes, from which other artists were later able to achieve what Leon could not. In particular, Bernardo Rossellino performed many of his projects. But Leon implemented his principles not only in writing, but also through the example of many of the buildings he built. Basically, these are numerous palazzos designed for noble families. The architect reveals his own example of an ideal city in his treatise “On Architecture”. The scientist wrote this work until the end of his life. It was published posthumously and became the first printed book revealing the problems of architecture. According to Leon's teachings, the ideal city should reflect all human needs and answer all his humanistic needs. And this is no coincidence, because the leading philosophical thought during the Renaissance there was anthropocentric humanism. The city should be divided into quarters, which would be divided according to a hierarchical principle or by type of employment. In the center, on main square, there is a building where city power would be concentrated, as well as main cathedral and the houses of noble families and city managers. Closer to the outskirts were the houses of traders and artisans, and the poor lived on the border itself. This arrangement of buildings, according to the architect, became an obstacle to the emergence of various social unrest, since the houses of the rich would be separated from the homes of poor citizens. Another important planning principle is that it had to meet the needs of any category of citizens, so that both the ruler and the clergy would feel comfortable living in this city. It was supposed to contain all the buildings, from schools and libraries to markets and baths. The general accessibility of such buildings is also important. Even if we ignore all the ethical and social principles of an ideal city, external, artistic values remain. The layout had to be regular, according to which the city was divided into clear blocks by straight streets. In general, all architectural structures should be subordinated to geometric shapes and drawn along a ruler. The squares were either circular or rectangular in shape. According to these principles, old cities, such as Rome, Genoa, Naples, were subject to partial demolition of old medieval streets and the creation of new spacious quarters.
In some treatises a similar remark was found about the leisure of people. It concerned mainly boys. It was proposed to build playgrounds and intersections of such a type in cities that young people playing would be under the constant supervision of adults who could watch them without hindrance. These precautions were aimed at instilling prudence in young people.
The culture of the Renaissance largely provided food for further reflection on the structure of an ideal city. This was especially true for humanists. According to their worldview, everything should be created for a person, for his comfortable existence. When all these conditions are fulfilled, a person will receive social peace and mental happiness. Therefore, in this
In a society, wars or riots simply cannot arise a priori. Humanity has been moving toward this result throughout its entire existence. Just remember the famous “Utopia” by Thomas More or “1984” by George Orwell. Works of this kind touched not only on functional features, but also thought about the relationships, order and structure of the community that lived in this locality, not necessarily a city, maybe even the world. But these foundations were laid back in the 15th century, so we can safely say that the scientists of the Renaissance were comprehensively educated people of their time.
Italian era architecture Early Renaissance(Quattrocento) opened a new period in the development of European architecture, abandoning the Gothic art dominant in Europe and establishing new principles that were based on the order system.
During this period, ancient philosophy, art and literature were purposefully and consciously studied. Thus, antiquity was layered with strong, centuries-old traditions of the Middle Ages, especially Christian art, due to which the specifically complex nature of the culture of the Renaissance was based on the transformation and interweaving of pagan and Christian subjects.
The Quattrocento is a time of experimental searches, when it was not intuition that came to the fore, as in the era of the Proto-Renaissance, but precise scientific knowledge. Now art played the role of universal knowledge of the surrounding world, about which many scientific treatises of the 15th century were written.
The first theorist of architecture and painting was Leon Batista Alberti, who developed the theory of linear perspective based on the truthful depiction of the depth of space in a painting. This theory formed the basis of new principles of architecture and urban planning aimed at creating an ideal city.
The Renaissance masters began to return to Plato's dream of an ideal city and an ideal state and embodied those ideas that were already central to ancient culture and philosophy - the idea of harmony between man and nature, the idea of humanism. So, new image The ideal city was at first a kind of formula, a plan, a daring application for the future.
The theory and practice of urban planning during the Renaissance developed in parallel to each other. Old buildings were rebuilt, new ones were built, and at the same time treatises were written on architecture, fortification and redevelopment of cities. The authors of the treatises (Alberti and Palladio) were far ahead of the needs of practical construction, without describing finished projects, but by presenting a graphically depicted concept, the idea of an ideal city. They also discussed how the city should be laid out from the point of view of defense, economics, aesthetics and hygiene.
Alberti was actually the first to proclaim the basic principles of the ideal urban ensemble of the Renaissance, developed by synthesizing the ancient sense of proportion and the rationalistic approach new era. Thus, the aesthetic principles of Renaissance city planners were:
- consistency of architectural scales of the main and secondary buildings;
- ratio of the height of the building and the space located in front of it (from 1:3 to 1:6);
- absence of dissonant contrasts;
- balance of composition.
The ideal city was of great concern to many great masters of the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci also thought about it, whose idea was to create a two-level city, where freight transport moved along the lower level, and ground and pedestrian roads were located on the upper level. Da Vinci's plans also involved the reconstruction of Florence and Milan, as well as the drafting of a spindle-shaped city.
By the end of the 16th century, many urban planning theorists were puzzled by the issue of defensive structures and retail space. Thus, the fortress towers and walls were replaced by earthen bastions outside the city boundaries, thanks to which the outlines of the city began to resemble a multi-rayed star.
And although not a single ideal city was ever built in stone (not counting small fortified cities), many of the principles of building such a city became reality already in the 16th century, when direct lines began to be laid in Italy and many other countries. wide streets, which connected important elements of the urban ensemble.
The appearance of the term “Renaissance” (Renaissance) dates back to the 16th century. Wrote about " renaissance» Italian art - the first historiographer Italian art, great painter, author of the famous “Biographies of the Most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1550) - Giorgio Vasari.
This concept originates from the historical concept widespread at that time, according to which the Middle Ages were characterized by constant barbarism and ignorance that followed the fall of the great civilization of the classical archaic.
If we talk about the medieval period as something simple in the development of culture, then it is necessary to take into account the assumptions of historians of that time about art. It was believed that art, which in the old days flourished in ancient world, finds its first rebirth to a new existence precisely in their time.
Spring/ Sandro Botticelli
In the initial understanding, the term “renaissance” was interpreted not so much as the name of the entire era, but exact time(usually the beginning of the 14th century) the emergence of new art. Only after a certain period did this concept acquire a broader interpretation and began to designate in Italy and other countries the era of formation and flowering of a culture in opposition to feudalism.
Now the Middle Ages are not considered a break in the history of European artistic culture. In the last century, a thorough study of the art of the Middle Ages began, which has greatly intensified in the last half century. It led to its revaluation and even showed that renaissance art owes a lot to the medieval era.
But one should not talk about the Renaissance as a trivial continuation of the Middle Ages. Some modern Western European historians have made attempts to blur the line between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but have never found confirmation in historical facts. In fact, an analysis of the cultural monuments of the Renaissance indicates a rejection of most of the basic beliefs of the feudal worldview.
Allegory of love and time/ Agnola Bronzino
Medieval asceticism and insight into everything worldly is being replaced by an insatiable interest in the real world with the grandeur and beauty of nature and, of course, in man. Belief in the superpowers of the human mind as the highest criterion of truth led to the precarious position of the untouchable primacy of theology over science, so characteristic of the Middle Ages. The subordination of the human personality to church and feudal authorities is replaced by the principle of the free development of individuality.
Members of the newly minted secular intelligentsia paid all attention to human aspects as opposed to the divine and called themselves humanists (from the concept of the times of Cicero “studia hmnanitatis”, meaning the study of everything connected with the nature of man and his spiritual world). This term is a reflection of a new attitude to reality, the anthropocentrism of Renaissance culture.
A wide range of creative impulses was opened during the period of the first heroic onslaught on the feudal world. People of this era have already abandoned the networks of the past, but have not yet found new ones. They believed that their possibilities were limitless. It was from this that the birth of optimism, which is so characteristic of Renaissance culture.
Sleeping Venus/ Giorgione
A cheerful character and endless faith in life gave rise to a belief in the infinite possibilities for the mind and the possibility of personality development harmoniously and without barriers.
Fine art of the Renaissance in many respects it contrasts with the medieval one. European artistic culture developed in the development of realism. This leaves an imprint both on the spread of images of a secular nature, the development of landscape and portraiture, close to the genre interpretation of sometimes religious subjects, and on the radical renewal of the entire artistic organization.
Medieval art was based on the idea of the hierarchical structure of the universe, the culmination of which was outside the circle of earthly existence, which occupied one of the last places. There was a devaluation of earthly real connections and phenomena in time with space, since the main task of art was to visually personify the scale of values created by theology.
During the Renaissance, speculative art system fades away, and is replaced by a system that is based on knowledge and an objective image of the world that appears to man. That is why one of the main tasks of Renaissance artists was the issue of reflecting space.
In the 15th century this question was comprehended everywhere, with the only difference that the north of Europe (the Netherlands) moved towards the objective construction of space in stages through empirical observations, and the foundation of Italy already in the first half of the century was based on geometry and optics.
David/ Donatello
This assumption, which gives the possibility of constructing a three-dimensional image on a plane that would be oriented towards the viewer, taking into account his point of view, served as a victory over the concept of the Middle Ages. A visual depiction of a person reveals the anthropocentric orientation of the new artistic culture.
The culture of the Renaissance clearly demonstrates the characteristic connection between science and art. A special role was assigned to the cognitive principle in order to depict the world and people fairly truthfully. Of course, the search for support for artists in science led to the stimulation of the development of science itself. During the Renaissance, many artist-scientists appeared, led by Leonardo da Vinci.
New approaches to art also dictated a new manner of depicting the human figure and conveying actions. The former idea of the Middle Ages about the canonicity of gestures, facial expressions and permissible arbitrariness in proportions did not correspond to an objective view of the world around us.
For the works of the Renaissance, the behavior of a person is inherent, subject not to rituals or canons, but to psychological conditioning and the development of actions. Artists are trying to bring the proportions of figures closer to reality. This is what they're going for different ways, so in northern countries In Europe this happens empirically, and in Italy the study real forms occurs in conjunction with the knowledge of the monuments of classical antiquity (the north of Europe is introduced only later).
The ideals of humanism permeate Renaissance art, creating the image of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person. Renaissance art is characterized by titanism of passions, characters and heroism.
Renaissance masters create images that embody a proud awareness of one's own powers, the limitlessness of human possibilities in the field of creativity and true faith in the freedom of one's will. Many works of Renaissance art are consonant with this expression of the famous Italian humanism Pico della Mirandola: “Oh, the wondrous and sublime purpose of a person who is given the opportunity to achieve what he strives for and to be what he wants.”
Leda and the Swan/ Leonardo da Vinci
If the determining factor for the nature of fine art was to a greater extent the desire to display reality truthfully, then for the formation of new architectural forms an appeal to classical tradition. This consisted not only in the recreation of the ancient order system and in the renunciation of Gothic configurations, but also in classical proportionality, anthropocentric character new architecture and in the design of centric buildings in temple architecture, where the interior space was easily visible.
In the field of civil architecture, many new creations were created. Thus, during the Renaissance, multi-story city public buildings: town halls, universities, houses of merchant guilds, educational institutions, warehouses, markets, warehouses receive more elegant decoration. A type of city palace, or otherwise a palazzo, appears - the house of a wealthy burgher, as well as a type of country villa. New systems of facade decoration are being formed, a new structural system of a brick building is being developed (preserved in European construction until the 20th century), combining brick and wooden floors. City planning problems are being resolved in a new way, and city centers are being reconstructed.
New architectural style gained life with the help of developed craft construction technology prepared by the Middle Ages. Basically, Renaissance architects were directly involved in the design of a building, directing its implementation in reality. As a rule, they also had a number of other specialties related to architecture, such as: sculptor, painter, and sometimes decorator. The combination of skills contributed to the growth of the artistic quality of the structures.
If we compare it with the Middle Ages, when the main customers of works were large feudal lords and the church, now the circle of customers is expanding with the change social composition. Guild associations of artisans, merchant guilds and even private individuals (nobles, burghers), along with the church, quite often give orders to artists.
Also changes social status artist. Despite the fact that artists are in search and enter the workshops, they often receive awards and high honors, take places in city councils and carry out diplomatic assignments.
There is an evolution in man's attitude towards fine art. If earlier it was on the level of craft, now it is on a par with the sciences, and works of art for the first time begin to be considered as the result of spiritual creative activity.
Last Judgment/ Michelangelo
The emergence of new techniques and art forms was provoked by expanding demand and an increase in the number of secular customers. Monumental forms are accompanied by easel forms: painting on canvas or wood, sculpture made of wood, majolica, bronze, terracotta. Constantly growing demand for works of art led to the appearance of wood and metal engravings - the most inexpensive and most popular form of art. This technique made it possible for the first time to reproduce images in large numbers.
One of the main features of the Italian Renaissance is the widespread use of the traditions of ancient heritage that do not die in the Mediterranean region. Here, interest in classical antiquity appeared very early - even in the works of artists of the Italian Proto-Renaissance from Piccolo and Giovanni Pisano to Ambrogio Lorszetti.
The study of antiquity in the 15th century became one of the key tasks of humanistic studies. There is a significant expansion of information about culture ancient world. Many manuscripts of previously unknown works by ancient authors were found in the libraries of old monasteries. The search for works of art made it possible to discover many ancient statues, reliefs, and, over time, fresco paintings Ancient Rome. They were constantly studied by artists. Examples include the surviving news of Donatello and Brunelleschi’s trip to Rome to measure and sketch monuments of ancient Roman architecture and sculpture, the works of Leon Battista Alberti, Raphael’s study of newly discovered reliefs and painting, and how the young Michelangelo copied ancient sculpture. The art of Italy was enriched (due to the constant appeal to antiquity) with a mass of new techniques, motifs, and forms for that time, at the same time giving a touch of heroic idealization, which was completely absent in the works of artists of Northern Europe.
There was another main feature of the Italian Renaissance - its rationalism. Many people worked on the formation of the scientific foundations of art. Italian artists. Thus, in the circle of Brunelleschi, Masaccio and Donatello, the theory of linear perspective was formed, which was then outlined in the 1436 treatise by Leon Battista Alberti “The Book of Painting”. A large number of artists participated in the development of the theory of perspective, in particular Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca, who wrote the treatise “On Pictorial Perspective” in 1484-1487. It is in it that, finally, one can see attempts to apply mathematical theory to the construction of the human figure.
It is also worth noting other cities and regions of Italy that played a prominent role in the development of art: in the 14th century - Siena, in the 15th century - Umbria, Padua, Venice, Ferrara. In the 16th century, the diversity of local schools faded (the only exception being the original Venice) and for some period the leading artistic powers countries are concentrated in Rome.
Differences in the formation and development of art in individual regions of Italy do not interfere with the creation and subordination of a general pattern, which allows us to outline the main stages of development Italian Renaissance. Modern art history divides the history of the Italian Renaissance into four stages: Proto-Renaissance (late 13th - first half of the 14th century), Early Renaissance (15th century), High Renaissance (late 15th - first three decades of the 16th century) and Late Renaissance (mid and second half of the 16th century) .
Italian Renaissance (25:24)
A wonderful film by Vladimir Ptashchenko, released as part of the Masterpieces of the Hermitage series
The problem of creating an ideal city, despite its relevance today, became especially acute in the distant era of the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries). This theme, through the prism of the philosophy of anthropocentrism, becomes leading in the art of urban planning of this period. 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 reviving ancient spirit, called upon to glorify this very Man with a capital M. He encourages the creative thought of the Renaissance to search for unique, sometimes utopian, architectural and philosophical solutions to the problem of the formation of a city. The last one starts to play new role, it is perceived as a closed, integral interconnected space, fenced off and different from nature, where a person’s whole life takes place.
In this space, both the physical and aesthetic needs and desires of a person had to be fully taken into account, and such aspects of human stay in the city as comfort and safety had to be fully thought out. New firearms made medieval stone fortifications defenseless. This predetermined, for example, the appearance of walls with earthen bastions along the perimeter of cities and determined the seemingly bizarre star-shaped shape of the line of city fortifications. A general revivalist idea of the “ideal city” is being formed - the city that is the 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 thinking of the creator, establishing certain unknowns. previously 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 Marcus 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 studied the problem of musical acoustics of premises.
Vitruvius himself did not leave an image of the ideal city, but many researchers and successors of his ideas did, with which, as is often noted, the Renaissance itself began.
But discussions about the ideal city and its concepts originate in the treatises of ancient Greek philosophers - so, for a second, it’s worth turning to an era somewhat earlier than the one we are considering - to antiquity.
Sforzinda - typical houses of the architect. Filarete (drawing by Leonardo da Vinci)
The centuries-long process of building city-states in the capital of Ancient Greece, Athens, was summarized in the works of two of the greatest 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 strictly regulated government system, it is not for nothing that he owned a story about the mythical country of Atlantis, ruled by a king and archons. In Plato's interpretation, Atlantis was historical prototype that ideal city-state about which he discussed in his works “The State” and “Laws”.
Returning to the Renaissance, let's talk about Leone Baptiste Alberti - the first true urban planning theorist in the history of mankind, who describes in detail “how to make a city,” starting from the choice of location 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 urban ensemble of the Renaissance, linking the ancient sense of proportion with the rationalist principle 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 aesthetic principles Renaissance city planners.
Alberti, in his treatise “Ten Books on Architecture,” paints an ideal city, beautiful in its rational layout and appearance of buildings, streets, and squares. The entire living environment of a person is arranged here so that it meets the needs of the individual, family, and society as a whole.
Bernardo Gambarelli (Rossellino), having picked up already existing ideas, makes his contribution to the development of the vision of an ideal city, the result of which was the city of Pienza that actually exists to this day (1459), which has absorbed elements of many projects that remained on paper or in creative works. the creators' intentions. 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. There were eight round towers in the protrusions of the star, and eight city gates in the “pockets”. The gates and towers were connected to the center by radial streets, some of which were shipping canals. In the central part of the city, on a hill, there was a main square, rectangular in plan, on the short sides of which there were supposed to be princely palace and the city cathedral, and for a long time - judicial and city institutions.
In the center of the square there was a pond and a watchtower. Adjacent to the main square were two others, with houses of the most eminent residents of the city. At the intersection of the radial streets with the ring road there were sixteen more squares: eight shopping areas and eight for parish centers and churches.
Pienza was not the only city in Italy that embodied the principles of an “ideal” layout. Italy itself at that time was not a unified state as we know it now, it consisted of many separate independent republics and duchies. Each such region was headed by 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 advanced 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 reconstruction was entrusted to the architect Biagio Rossetti. He was distinguished by his breadth of views, as well as his love of innovation, which was evident 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 required 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 houses of dukes with low houses of ordinary residents. Moreover, these elements do not contradict each other at all: the reverse perspective is combined with the direct one, and the running lines and increasing volumes do not contradict each other.
The Venetian scholar and architectural expert Daniele Barbaro (1514-1570) devoted most of his life to the study of Vitruvius’s treatise, which resulted in his book entitled “Ten Books on the Architecture of Vitruvius with a Commentary by Daniele Barbaro,” written in 1556. In this book reflected the attitude towards ancient architecture not only of the author himself, but also of most architects of the 16th century. Throughout his life, Daniele Barbaro thoroughly studied the treatise and tried to recreate a diagram of ideal cities, which would reflect the ideas of Vetruvius and his own concepts that complemented his vision.
Somewhat earlier, the Renaissance architect Cesare Cesarino published his commentaries on the Ten Books on Architecture in 1521 with numerous illustrations, including theoretical diagrams of an ideal city.
Among the many similar theorists of the 16th 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 allocate a special section on the city, but his entire work was essentially devoted to this topic. He said that “a city is nothing more than a certain big house, and back, the house is a kind of small town.”
By equating a residential building with 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 interconnection of its spatial elements. He writes about the urban ensemble: “Beauty is the result of a beautiful form and the correspondence of the whole to the parts, the parts to each other, and also the parts to the whole.” A prominent place in the treatise is given to the interior of buildings, their dimensions and proportions. Palladio tries to organically connect the external space of streets with the interior of houses and courtyards.
At the end of the 16th 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 moved 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 longer a need to protect the city gates, which from now on turned from powerful defensive hubs into the main entrances to the city. These innovations in the form of a variety of star-shaped bizarre shapes were reflected in the projects of ideal cities by Buonaiuto Lorini, Antonio Lupicini, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Girolamo Maggi, Giovanni Bellucci, Fra Giocondo, Francesco de Marchi, Daniel Speckle, Jacques Perret, Albrecht Durer, Vicenzo Scamozzi , Giorgio Vasari Jr. and etc.
And the culmination of the fortification architecture of the Renaissance can rightfully be considered the fortified city of Palmanova, the plan of which, according to the plan of the architect Vicenzo Scamozzi, has the shape of a nine-sided star, and the streets radiate from the square located in the center. The city area was surrounded by twelve bastions, each of which was designed to protect its neighbors, and had four city gates, from which there were two main streets intersecting at right angles. At their intersection was the main square, overlooked by the palace, cathedral, university and city institutions. Two trading areas adjoined the main square from the west and east; in the north there was an exchange area, and in the south there was an area for trading hay and firewood. The territory of the city was crossed by a river, and eight parish churches were located closer to its periphery. The city layout was regular. The fortress was surrounded by a moat.
In the engineering environment of the Renaissance, issues of composition, harmony, beauty, and proportion were diligently studied. In these ideal constructions, the city layout is characterized by rationalism, geometric clarity, centricity of composition and harmony between the whole and parts. And finally, what distinguishes Renaissance architecture from other eras is the man standing in the center, at the heart of all these constructions. Examples include many more names and city names. Surviving 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 fortified city grew up on the waterless steep cliffs of the Mount Sciberras peninsula, rising between the two deep harbors of Marsamxett and the Grand Harbour. Founded in 1566, Valletta was completely built, complete with imposing bastions, forts and cathedral, in a stunning short term- in 15 years.
The general ideas and concepts of the Renaissance flowed far beyond the turn of the 17th century and splashed out torrent, covering subsequent generations of architects and figures of engineering thought.
Even in the example of many modern architectural projects, one can see the influence of the Renaissance, which over several centuries has not lost its idea of humanity and the primacy of human comfort. Simplicity, convenience, “accessibility” of the city for a resident in all sorts of variable devices can be found in many works, and following each in their own path, architects and researchers, all as one, still walked along the already paved road by the Renaissance masters.
The article did not examine all the examples of “ideal cities”, the origins of which go back to us from the depths of the wonderful Renaissance - in some, the emphasis is on the convenience and ergonomics of being a civilian, in others on the maximum efficiency of defensive actions; but in all examples we observe a tireless desire for improvement, for achieving results, we see confident steps towards the convenience and comfort of a person. The ideas, concepts, and, to some extent, aspirations of the Renaissance flowed far beyond the turn of the 17th century and splashed out in a stormy stream, covering subsequent generations of architects and figures of engineering thought.
And by example modern architects The influence of the concepts of the Renaissance figures is clearly visible, somewhat modified, but without losing their idea of humanity and the primacy of human comfort in urban planning projects. Simplicity, convenience, “accessibility” of the city for residents in all kinds of variable devices can be found in many other works, implemented and by no means remaining on paper. Following each their own path, architects and researchers, all as one, nevertheless walked 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 taken in distant XIV century.
The concepts of the ideal city of the Renaissance, for all their utopianism and impossibility from the pragmatic point of view of man, much less a modern one, do not cease completely in their splendor, or at least partially, as elements periodically creep into the works of romantic architects, striving not so much for perfection in their difficult creative craft, as much as towards perfection in a medium more complex and unpredictable than parchment and perspective - towards the unattainable perfection of the human soul and consciousness.
Palmanova - Cathedral