Palladiana Basilica
_-_facade_on_Piazza_dei_signori.jpg)
The Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza , also known more rarely as Palazzo della Ragione (German about Palace of Justice ), is a Renaissance building by the architect Andrea Palladio . It ranks as a vintage masterpiece of architect and since 1994 - along with other buildings of Palladio in Vicenza and Veneto - as UNESCO - World Heritage Site recognized.
Building history
The actual core building ( Palazzo della Ragione ) consists of two Gothic palaces made of brick - the so-called "Old Palace" ( Palatium Vetus ) and the so-called "City Palace" ( Palatium Communis ), which were connected to a structural unit as early as the 15th century to abandon the passageways on the ground floor, some of which are inclined between them. At the end of the 15th century, the city council decided to give the medieval building a new face; then the architect Tommaso Formenton was commissioned with the redesign. Assuming that the idea to build a large council chamber came from him, his design obviously seems to have been based on the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua . But just two years after completion, parts of the facade and the core building collapsed. A new architect was sought for the reconstruction, but the early proposals by Antonio Rizzo and Giorgio Spavento from 1496 were rejected, as were those by Jacopo Sansovino (1538), Sebastiano Serlio (1539), Michele Sanmicheli (1541) and Giulio Romano ( 1542). It was not until the years 1546–1549, more than 50 years after the collapse, that a decision was made in favor of a design by the hitherto completely unknown Andrea della Gondola, which later became known under the stage name 'Palladio'. Construction began in 1549 and was not completed until 1614, 34 years after the architect's death.
Surname
The name 'basilica' goes back to the time of Palladio: At that time the building was used - like an ancient Roman basilica - as a sovereign building with market and court functions.
architecture
Through the use of white marble and the even repetition of the same motif - derived from the triumphal arch scheme - the so-called 'Serlio Window', which later also became known as the Venetian window , the architecture of the building was both representative and completely uniform Appearance. Although it must be emphasized that this is not a residential building, but a public building, the almost identical design of both floors is absolutely unusual and almost revolutionary for the time - the traditional division into a lower floor and a ' piano nobile ' results no longer make sense. Only slight deviations between the two levels can be seen: Doric capitals on the ground floor, Ionic ones on the upper floor; Metope triglyph frieze in the architrave of the ground floor; Parapets on the upper floor. The half-columns presented and the double columns on both sides of the large arcade arches give the facade a certain plasticity and depth. The roof area with the upper part of the 52-meter-long and 25-meter high council chamber is surrounded by allegorical figures that stand on pedestals that are integrated into the parapet above the eaves .
Todays use
While shops are housed on the ground floor, in the area of the upper floor, which with its copper roof towers over the city skyline like a single building, there are now and then temporary exhibitions.
Quote
"It is not possible to describe the impression that the Basilica of Palladio makes ..." (JW Goethe: Italian trip )
literature
- Andrea Palladio: I quattro libri dell 'architettura. = The four books on architecture. Translated from the Italian and introduced by Hans-Karl Lücke . Matrix, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-86539-176-6 (the Italian text was set after the Venice 1570 edition).
- Bruce Boucher: Palladio. The architect in his time. Hirmer, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7774-6440-6 .
- Volker Plagemann : The villas of Andrea Palladio. Ellert & Richter, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8319-0462-4
- Christoph Ulmer: Andrea Palladio. Magnus, Udine 2011, ISBN 978-88-7057-215-5 .
- Manfred Wundram : Andrea Palladio. 1508-1580. The rules of harmony. Taschen, Hong Kong et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-8365-0286-3 .
Web links
- Basilica Palladiana - aerial view, photos + information
- Basilica Palladiana - photo + information
- Palladian villas in northern Italy - Photos and information (English)
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
Coordinates: 45 ° 32 ′ 49 ″ N , 11 ° 32 ′ 47 ″ E