Teatro Olimpico (Sabbioneta)
The Teatro Olimpico (Olympic Theater), also known as Teatro all'antica (Ancient Theater) and Teatro Ducale (Princely Theater), is a theater building in the Lombard city of Sabbioneta . It was created in the last quarter of the 16th century during the Renaissance . It is the oldest remaining free-standing building in Europe that was built solely for the purpose of the theater. The somewhat older Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza of the same name was inserted into a medieval building, while the Teatro Olimpico in Sabbioneta was built specially.
History and building history
After the construction of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, it was the express wish of Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga to own a similar building. This actually commissioned at this time in Venice employed Vincenzo Scamozzi with the construction. Scamozzi was one of the very few Italian architects of his time who had experience with theater construction: he had completed the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza , which was almost completed by Andrea Palladio . A few plan drawings by Scamozzi have survived; they are now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence . The theater began in 1587 or 1588, depending on the source, and was completed in 1590. There were only performances in the year of completion and still in 1591, after which it was no longer played. The building served as a military hospital in the 17th century and was later converted into a cinema , which continued into the 1970s. The building was restored in the 1980s and is now used for concerts.
Exterior
The building's facades are built on two floors. In the basement, the windows and portals above the high plinth walls are framed by pillow blocks , as are the corner edges of the building. The upper floor is structured by pilasters of the Tuscan order , whereby the entablature with its metopes and triglyphs is still a borrowing of the Doric order on which the Tuscan order is based . The motto "Roma quanta fuit ipsa ruina docet" is inserted several times around the cornice separating the facade parts. Scamozzi alternately inserted windows and niches between the pilasters, three on the short sides to the back and four on the front, and nine on the long sides. The semicircular niches are covered with simple triangular gables , the windows with blown segmental arch gables. Highly oval, empty medallion surfaces are inserted into the drop. The window gables, medallions and the upper part of the entablature are additionally decorated by Kymatien according to the Ionic order .
Interior
The facade structure on the long sides does not reflect the conditions inside the building in the central facade axes. The actual theater hall extends continuously from the floor to the ceiling without a mezzanine. Only in the entrance area has another floor been drawn in above the vestibule and above the rear part of the stage. The front upper floor can be reached via a staircase, the staircase forms the left part of the three-axis front facade. Scamozzi was still based on Palladio's building in Vicenza in some basic points, but was clearly going his own way. The floor plan of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza is almost square, while the theater in Sabbioneta is roughly 3: 1 in length to width.
Auditorium
The auditorium is clearly based on Palladio's model of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. The rows of seats to the balustrade with the superstructure are curved in an arch, running in opposite directions to the outside. There is a balustrade above the rows of seats, the area behind was reserved for the ducal family. Scamozzi took over from Palladio's interior construction in Vicenza, but much less monumentally than in Vicenza, the arched structure with the twelve columns, following the Corinthian order , and the twelve statues of the Olympian gods on them. The auditorium is frescoed illusionistically on all walls . Most of them are works with Roman themes, such as depictions of emperors, Capitol Square and Castel Sant'Angelo . The model for some of the frescoes, especially those depicting the courtly audience, may have been Paolo Veronese's work in the Maser Villa .
stage
The stage is designed to rise slightly, which is related to the perspective effects of Scamozzi's construction. While Palladio had chosen a rigid proscenium for the stage construction in Vicenza , Scamozzi took a completely different path: for him the depth effect of the stage was decisive . Therefore, as can be seen on the plans, he designed a system of central street alignment, which he shortened in perspective by narrowing the side components and increasing the height of the stage so that the effect of depth was created. Long after him, Gianlorenzo Bernini used a similar technique when building the Scala Regia . The original stage set by Scamozzi was replaced by a system of movable backdrops in the 17th century and was finally lost in the 18th century. It was only when the original plans were found in the Uffizi in 1996 that it was possible to reconstruct the stage structure as it stands in the theater today.
Architectural theoretical treatment
Scamozzi himself dealt with his experiences in theater building in terms of architectural theory. Above all, his experiences building the theater in Vicenza as well as his own in Sabbioneta occupy a large space in Volume II of his major work L'idea della architettura universale . The work, based on 10 volumes, of which three have not appeared and four have only partially survived, was first published in Venice in 1615.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dewiel: Lombardy and Italian Lakes - Art and landscape between Adda and Po , p 349/350.
- ↑ Schomann: Kunstdenkmäler in western Upper Italy , p. 427.
- ↑ Art Library of the National Museums in Berlin (ed.): Architectural theory , p. 72.
- ↑ Dewiel: Lombardy and Italian Lakes - Art and landscape between Adda and Po , S. 350th
- ↑ Dewiel: Lombardy and Italian Lakes - Art and landscape between Adda and Po , p 349/350.
- ↑ Dewiel: Lombardy and Italian Lakes - Art and landscape between Adda and Po , p 349/350.
- ^ Art library of the National Museums in Berlin (ed.): Architectural theory , p. 70ff.
literature
- Gerrit Confurius: Sabbioneta or The Fine Art of Founding a City . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-596-10532-3 , in particular chapter Teatro Olimpico , pp. 178-186
- Lydia L. Dewiel: Lombardy and Northern Italian Lakes - Art and Landscape between Adda and Po . (= DuMont art guide). 4th edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-7701-1861-8
- Susanne Grötz, Ursula Quecke: The Teatro Olimpico in Sabbioneta . In: Teatro. A trip to the northern Italian theaters from the 16th to 19th centuries . Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-106-8 , pp. 61-67
- Heinz Schomann: Art monuments in western northern Italy . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1987, ISBN 3-534-03144-X
- Art library of the State Museums in Berlin (ed.): Architectural theory . Taschen, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-8228-5082-9
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 59 ′ 56 ″ N , 10 ° 29 ′ 21 ″ E