European architecture- The architecture of European countries is distinguished by a variety of styles.

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Primitive era

During the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC) in Europe, structures were erected from large stone blocks, which are classified as so-called megalithic architecture. Menhirs - vertically placed stones - marked the place of public ceremonies. Dolmens, which usually consisted of two or four vertical stones covered with stone, served as burial places. The cromlech consisted of slabs or pillars arranged in a circle. An example is Stonehenge in England.

Antiquity

One of the oldest structures of European architecture are the ruins of buildings on the island of Crete, the creation of which dates back more than 1000 BC. e. They are the first representatives of ancient architecture, then used Ancient Greece and Rome. The rounded shapes of columns and arches bore the imprint of ideas about ideal forms and embodied grace and beauty. Statues could be part of a structure as part of a wall or as a replacement for columns. This architecture influenced not only temples and palaces, but also public institutions, streets, walls and the houses themselves. Roman architecture was more complex than Greek, and arches began to play an increasingly important role in it. The Romans were the first to use concrete at least in Europe. The most notable structures: the Colosseum and aqueducts.

Middle Ages

At the beginning of the Middle Ages architectural art in Europe fell into decay and Byzantine architecture played the main role here. It developed on the basis of ancient traditions under the influence of the philosophy of Christianity. Palaces, aqueducts, and baths continued to be built, but churches became the main type of buildings. A type of cross-domed church was formed. How construction material burnt brick was used - plinth.

In the 10th century In Western Europe, the construction of cities begins, half-timbered construction of housing and buildings becomes widespread. In the XI-XII centuries. in France, western Germany and northern Italy, the Romanesque style emerges, based on the ancient Roman and Byzantine heritage. The defining buildings of the Romanesque style are basilica cathedrals with two towers on either side of the entrance, with hipped pyramidal or cone-shaped roofs, having a Latin cross shape in plan. Another architectural type was the castles of feudal lords with fortress walls built as fortifications.

From the middle of the 12th century. The Romanesque style is replaced by the Gothic style (then it was called “French” because of its origin). The capacity and height of cathedrals increases, the cross-sections of structures and the thickness of supports are reduced. The walls are lightened due to large windows, round windows appear - “roses”. The Gothic style is characterized by pointed arches. The vaults were built on a system of arches thrown in several directions. High level achieved stone processing technology. A great achievement of Gothic was stained glass - windows with paintings made from pieces of colored glass in a lead frame. . The most famous temples of this type of architecture are located in Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral, in Rotterdam, in Toulouse. Italian humanists gave the style a modern name, due to its opposition to ancient architecture.

From the end of the 19th century until the beginning of the First World War and the Great October Socialist Revolution, the art of the dominant artistic movements in countries of developed capitalism began to switch to anti-realistic positions. However, with the growth of the revolutionary movement, a transition to a new stage in the development of realism, imbued with anti-bourgeois ideas, and then associated with socialist ideals, is planned. The process of its development is complex and contradictory, marked by the emergence of various stylistic forms and trends.

Eiffel Tower, 1889, Built for the centenary of the French Revolution

Gaudi. Church of the Sagrada Familia
Built since 1884, Barcelona

Architecture. In the era of imperialism, development various types art flows unevenly. While painting is going through a deep crisis, architecture is enjoying relatively favorable conditions compared to the 19th century. Social, nature of production, rapid growth technology, the need for mass construction, the active struggle of the working class for their rights force capitalist states to interfere in the planning of architectural construction, and necessitate solving problems of urban planning and ensembles. Architecture, unlike painting, is an art form inextricably linked with material production, with technical progress, satisfying the practical needs of society. It cannot be divorced from solving the problems posed by life. The eclecticism of the 19th century is being replaced by the search for a solid style based on the use of new structures and materials introduced into construction practice since the 1840s (steel, cement, concrete, reinforced concrete, frame system, huge coverings of the vaulted-dome system, suspended coverings, trusses , visors).

Technical capabilities new architecture, its aesthetically strengths reflected not only the social nature of production in the era of imperialism, but created the material prerequisites for the flourishing of architecture in the future in the conditions of the elimination of private property and exploitation. Private property and competition led to the manifestation of subjective arbitrariness. Hence the pursuit of fashionable, deliberately extravagant solutions. The architecture of bourgeois society is characterized by a contradictory interweaving of false and aesthetically progressive tendencies.

Casa Battle
Antonio Gaudi
1905–1907, Barcelona, ​​Spain

Casa Mila
Antonio Gaudi
1905–1910, Barcelona, ​​Spain

House
1918–1919
Turku, Finland

The harbinger of a new stage in the development of architecture was the Eiffel Tower (height 312 m), erected from prefabricated steel parts for the Paris World Exhibition of 1889 according to the design of engineer Gustav Eiffel as a sign of the entry into a new era of the machine age. Devoid of utilitarian meaning, the openwork tower soars easily and smoothly into the sky, embodying the power of technology. Its dynamic vertical plays an important role in the city's skyline. The grandiose arch of the tower’s base seems to unite the distant vistas of the city landscape visible through it. This building had a stimulating effect on the further development of architecture.

An interesting monument of this time was the Gallery of Machines built from metal trusses with a glass ceiling spanning 112.5 m, built for the same World Exhibition (the gallery was dismantled in 1910), which had no equal in the perfection of its design.

The first residential building in which a new building material was used - reinforced concrete - was built in Paris (1903) by O. Perret. The design of the building, which determined its light logical composition, was revealed for the first time on the facade. Great importance for the further development of architecture, the hangars of the Parisian suburb of Orly (1916–1924) had folded vaults of parabolic shape. Based on the type of their durable structures, various systems of reinforced concrete coverings were created - folded vaults and domes several centimeters thick with spans of about 100 m. However, at first, and in purely engineering buildings, eclecticism tendencies often appeared - new materials and new structures were not thought through aesthetically, they combined with elements of old styles.

Museum of Art
1912–1920
Helsinki, Finland

Casa Mila
Antonio Gaudi
1905–1910, Barcelona, ​​Spain

Kazan Station
A.V. Shchusev,1913–1926
Russia Moscow

Modern style. In 1890–1900 in different countries A movement called Art Nouveau from the French word “modern” spread. Its creators, on the one hand, strived for rational designs, using reinforced concrete, glass, facing ceramics, etc. On the other hand, modernist architects in Austria and Germany, Italy and France began to strive to overcome the dry rationalism of construction technology. They turned to whimsical decorativism and symbols in the ornamentation of scenery, in paintings, sculpture of interiors and facades, to the deliberate emphasis on streamlined and curving, sliding forms and lines. Twisting patterns of metal frames of railings and flights of stairs, balcony railings, bends of the roof, curvilinear shapes of openings, stylized patterns of curly seaweed and women's heads with flowing hair were often combined with freely recycled forms of historical styles of the past (mainly the styles of the East or the Middle Ages - bay windows, Romanesque turrets, etc.), giving the buildings a somewhat romantic character. The Art Nouveau style expressed itself most fully in the individual construction of palaces, mansions and in the type of apartment building, giving preference to asymmetry in the grouping of building volumes and in the location of window and door openings. Art Nouveau influenced arts and crafts and the culture of everyday life. At the beginning of the 20th century, the expressiveness of the main structural elements intensified in modern architecture, and a desire appeared to identify their purpose and the characteristics of building materials in the composition of buildings. The decisive turning point in the development of architecture came, however, after the First World War.

Romanesque style 9th-13th century style. The main role was given to harsh, fortress architecture. Monasteries, churches, castles were located on elevated places, dominating the area. The original prototype of the churches were Roman basilicas, but they were significantly modified: for example, the flat ceiling was replaced by a vault. The churches were decorated with paintings and reliefs, in conventional forms expressing the frightening power of God. But images of animals and plants go back to folk art. Among the magnificent examples of Romanesque architecture are the monasteries of St. Paul and St. Giovanni in Rome, the cathedral in Pisa and the church of St. Miniatas in Florence. There are many excellent examples of this style in France and Germany (for example, the cathedral in Bamberg).

Gothic Style of the centuries. It reflected the formation nation states, strengthening of cities, development of trade and crafts. The leading architectural type is the city cathedral. The frame system made it possible to create cathedral interiors of unprecedented height and spaciousness, and to cut through the walls with huge windows with multi-colored bends. The upward aspiration of the cathedral is expressed by giant openwork towers, lancet windows and portals, curved statues, and complex ornaments. Town halls, as well as residential buildings, shopping arcades and other structures were built in the same style. In Gothic we see an increased interest in real world, nature, wealth of experiences.

Renaissance style Renaissance is a period in the history of centuries. Characterized by a humanistic worldview, an appeal to cultural heritage antiquity. However, ancient culture developed and was interpreted in a new way. In architecture, secular buildings began to play a leading role - public buildings, palaces, city houses. Using the order division of walls, arched galleries, colonnades, vaults, domes, architects gave their majestic buildings clarity, harmony and proportionality to man. The buildings are characterized by clarity of structure and clear division of strict volumes and light, spacious interiors.

Baroque One of the main styles of the centuries. It is associated with the noble-church culture of mature absolutism. It reflected ideas about the complexity, diversity, and variability of the world. Characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism, a desire for grandeur and splendor, for a combination of reality and illusion. Architecture is characterized by spatial scope, unity, and fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms.

Rococo Style, early 18th century. Characterized by a departure from life into the world of fantasy and mythology. Especially characteristic motif ornament - a stylized shell (rocaille). A graceful, whimsical ornamental rhythm dominates. The buildings are distinguished by their sophistication, decorative beauty of asymmetrical compositions, and comfort. Lush interior design can be combined with relative austerity appearance buildings (for example, in the architecture of French hotels).

Classicism Style of the centuries. It developed in France, reflecting the rise of absolutism. In the 18th century he was associated with the bourgeois Enlightenment. The ancient heritage is considered as the norm and an ideal example. The architecture is characterized by clarity and geometric shapes, logical planning, a combination of walls with orders, and restrained decor. The basis of the architectural language is the order, in proportions and forms closer to antiquity than in the architecture of previous eras. The interior is characterized by clarity of spatial divisions and softness of colors. Perspective effects are widely used in monumental and decorative painting.

Art Nouveau Style of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Art Nouveau architecture sought the unity of constructive and artistic principles. New technical means, new materials (for example, reinforced concrete), free, functionally based layout, decorative rhythm of flexible flowing lines, stylized floral patterns, especially from aquatic plants. The buildings are emphatically individualized, all their elements are subject to a single ornamental rhythm and figurative and symbolic design.

Modern European architecture is based on the principles of rationalism and practicality. It is a direct confirmation of the statement of the Roman architect Vitruvius (the so-called triad), that architecture is based on three principles - strength, utility and beauty. The history of the origin of the European style goes deep into the past and combines features and trends in architecture over many eras.

The formation of this direction is based on the connection between certain locations of buildings and the time of their construction. Not only the properties and designs of the objects being built, their functionality are taken into account, but also methods of decoration and decoration. Earlier architectural trends did not always successively replace each other, but could arise simultaneously and compete with each other, which ultimately led to the emergence of European house building.

Previous architectural movements and styles

In the middle of the first millennium, approximately X-XII centuries, a bright new direction has emerged in the design and construction of urban structures. This is the so-called Romanesque style, which had a significant influence on the formation of the ideas of all world art of that time. Characteristic primarily for church architecture - temple buildings, monastery complexes. Distinctive features buildings made in this style:
— the influence on architecture of the features of ancient Roman architecture, expressed in the use of vaults and various arches;
— simplicity of silhouette and exterior decoration;
- the strength and solidity of buildings, which are given to them by thick walls with narrow openings for windows and various portals.

Most of the buildings built at this time were fortresses. These included castles of noble and wealthy people, churches, and monasteries. The main structure in these defensive complexes was a tower - a donjon, around which other structures were located.

Later, in medieval Europe, approximately until the end of the 15th century, took the leading role. In this style, the arches are already strongly pointed, and the tall towers, but with a small base area, are directed upward. The windows are lancet, with stained glass. In Gothic style, great importance is attached to carved details for decorating facades - archivolts, tympanums, wimpers.

A great impetus for the further development of all architecture in Europe was the architecture of the Renaissance, which raised the social status and role of the master designing buildings. The basic principles of this style were formulated at the beginning of the 15th century and were fundamental for another two centuries. The proportions of the building, its symmetry relative to one or several axes, and the strict order of arrangement of columns, pilasters, and niches were of great importance in the design. The emergence and development in urban planning of such famous styles how Baroque, Rococo and Classicism had a huge influence on shaping the appearance of the European home.

Features of the construction of houses and cottages in Europe

The technology for constructing frame wooden houses is considered one of the best in modern housing construction. There are several variants of it, with names such as “Finnish houses”, “Canadian cottages”, “German houses”.

Successful use of frame construction in the difficult conditions of the northern regions, with high humidity and the presence long periods with negative temperatures, proves the correctness of the development of the European architectural style in the chosen direction. Such buildings are especially readily erected in Germany, Finland, and other countries North America, Scandinavia.

European-style house designs do not include any frills. The space of all premises, both residential and utility, is used very efficiently, the number of corridors and their area are reduced to a minimum.

For a long time, materials widely used in construction such as facing bricks, natural stone, decorative, waterproofing or special plaster have been used to decorate facades.

Characteristic features of the European style in house designs

The layout of houses built in accordance with the requirements of German design and technology is based on very simple geometric shapes, squares or rectangles. Additionally, the following features of this style can be highlighted:

• The roof is simple in design. The roof slopes are no more than four. The covering is metal or bitumen shingles. The color of the roofing covering is usually blue or red, of varying tonal saturation.
• The presence of a base, which is lined with stone tiles, natural or artificial.
• Various balconies and bay windows, which are a true decoration of German-style houses.
• Window designs are usually made in the form of arches or rectangles. Shutters are being used less and less. Window frames become less massive. Entrance doors are often installed in wood, sometimes even in a different color from the window groups and the entire facade.
• The entrance group is represented by a low concrete staircase with a small number of steps and a small canopy over it.
• The houses are one-story or two-story.

Unlike the German style, the Scandinavian style is represented by residential buildings that do not have a basement or ground floor. Buildings with a residential attic are very popular; full-fledged two-story buildings can rarely be found.

For finishing facades, wood coated with a protective varnish is used, but nowadays special paints of brown or beige tones are increasingly used.

The roof in Scandinavian-type houses can be flat, but it is rarely installed on buildings due to the difficulty of removing snow and its melting in the spring. Metal tiles, roofing copper, bitumen shingles and other modern coatings that can qualitatively protect buildings from exposure to moisture and dampness are used as roofing materials.

Window openings and frames have big sizes, it is possible to use panoramic glazing. There are no bay windows and balconies in Scandinavian-style buildings, and the facades are decorated with carved wooden elements. The porch often has a wooden staircase with carved balusters.

Advantages of European style architecture

Modern European houses are especially suitable for developing private plots in rural areas. But they are also popular in small cities, where high-rise buildings apartment buildings usually not built.

The similarity of all modern technologies used in the construction of buildings is based on the frame design. The methods of installation, fastening of individual components and elements, and the materials used for insulation differ. The differences are due to the possibility of using those resources and materials, the production of which was launched at enterprises located nearby.

Unlike Canadian-assembled frame houses, which take up to four months to build, houses in Germany are built very quickly, literally in a few days. The factories have automatic lines installed; frames are assembled in warm and dry production workshops, which significantly improves the quality and duration of further operation of buildings. Such automatic lines are currently operating in most industrialized, developed countries, not only in Europe, but also in other parts of the world. Building a European home is beneficial for several reasons.

Development of European architecture at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Baroque and classicism

With the previous Renaissance architecture considered new historical stage architecture constitutes organically connected links in the complex development of the branched whole of European architecture of modern times. In the 17th and 18th centuries. further creative development this architecture takes on different forms in the first thirds of the XIX V. comes to its historical conclusion. If the Renaissance spiritually liberated the individual and with the coming great cultural revolution the collective mind and the centuries-old craft experience of medieval architecture retreated before the power of the individual creative genius, then the era following the Renaissance was in the architecture of European countries a time of genuine brilliance of phenomenally bright creative individuals. If the Renaissance returned to architecture a subtle and flexible instrument of its art - the classical order - and thereby opened the way from the still epic greatness of Gothic to the new beauty of the “heroic” image, then the era that followed can least of all be reproached for the damage to this instrument. In the 17th and 18th centuries, not only perfect mastery of the classical order became universal, but its very principle was creatively modernized, so that in the face of other tasks, a different era, the order could become an effective weapon of architecture in a new way.

Architecture of Italy at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 19th centuries.

Chapter “Architecture of Italy at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 19th century.” section “Europe” from the book “General History of Architecture. Volume VII. Western Europe and Latin America. XVII - first half of the XIX centuries." edited by A.V. Bunina (chief editor), A.I. Kapluna, P.N. Maksimova.

The emergence of Baroque in Italy

Italy, which occupied in the XII-XIV centuries. leading place in Europe, by the beginning of the 17th century. found itself on the outskirts of its economic and political life. The decline of handicraft production and trade, and at the same time the weakening of the role of the urban bourgeoisie, led to the strengthening of the landed aristocracy and the church, without the support of which no social force could do at that time. The contrast between the unbridled luxury of the nobility and the difficult life of the impoverished peasant masses and artisans reached unprecedented severity. The economic decline of the country was aggravated by political intrigues and internecine wars that tore apart the small Italian principalities, and the oppression of landowners and absolutist rulers was intensified by the oppression of foreign conquerors who repeatedly invaded Italy throughout the 18th century. At the end of the 17th century, Habsburg Spain dominated Milan in the north, Naples and Sicily in the south, controlling the states located in between (the duchies of Mantua and Modena, Tuscany, Parma and the papal possessions). Control was exercised both through dynastic ties and through police measures, justified by increased robbery and vagrancy (direct consequences of the extreme impoverishment of the village). The few states that retained independence - the maritime republics of Genoa (with Corsica) and Venice (with its possessions in Istria, Dalmatia and the Ionian Islands) and the Duchy of Savoy, which extended to Nice - were in obvious decline. The transfer of Milan, Naples and Sardinia to Austria (1713) marked the end of Italy's political independence.

Urban planning in Baroque Italy

Baroque architecture cannot be understood in isolation from the urban planning of this era, since its characteristic tendencies and, above all, a new understanding of the ensemble established new relationships between the space of a square, street or garden with a building, which radically affected the composition of the latter. The economic crisis that engulfed the country's trade and handicraft production had the greatest impact on the advanced Italian cities, slowing down their growth and greatly complicating the implementation of broad urban planning initiatives. And yet, the need to renovate the cities that formed spontaneously in the Middle Ages required the continuation of what began at the end of the 15th and 1st half of the 16th centuries. measures to streamline the street network, clearing littered areas, developing vacant lots and urban water supply. These utilitarian requirements, determined by direct necessity, combined with the ideological and political aspirations of the Catholic Church and secular rulers, who attracted the best craftsmen to carry out their tasks, brought up on the achievements of two centuries of development of advanced architectural and artistic culture Italy, led to a remarkable development of urban planning art.

The early Baroque period in Italian architecture (late 16th - early 17th centuries)

Baroque in architecture, as in other arts, did not develop immediately and developed unevenly, acquiring a different character depending on local conditions and characteristics. The cradle of architecture was Rome, where an architecture that was deeper in its ideological and emotional content and powerful in its forms developed. Intense construction activity here has never ceased (since the war and the sack of Rome in 1527). Talented craftsmen from various cities of Italy continued to come here, and the church and its princes spared no expense in reconstructing the city, erecting new buildings, decorating and decorating churches and palaces with precious materials, gilding, painting and sculpture. Baroque acquired a more refined, festive character in Genoa, Turin and Venice, which in the 18th century. remains one of the most important artistic centers in Italy and has a significant influence on the development of European culture as a whole. Florence - the cradle of the Renaissance - remains less susceptible to the features of the new style. But in Naples and Sicily, the Baroque flourishes rapidly and in a unique way, although belatedly: the most striking works of the Baroque here date back to the 18th century, in many of them the Spanish influence is noticeable.

The flourishing of Baroque in Italian architecture (2nd third of the 17th - early 18th centuries)

From the 2nd third of the 17th century, the Baroque entered a period of full maturity, reaching its highest flowering in the architecture of papal Rome. This period is characterized by clear changes in the character of architecture, which is now distinguished by an unprecedentedly wide scope and impressive representativeness of compositions, the solemn grandeur of the external appearance and the splendor of the interiors. The restraining influence of architectural treatises late Renaissance with their characteristic academic rigorism noticeably weakened, as did the religious intolerance characteristic of the first decades of the Counter-Reformation. Along with the work to complete the cathedral and St. Peter, which were supposed to serve to strengthen the prestige of the Catholic Church and give new shine to the halo surrounding its high priest and the papal curia, extensive private construction was also carried out in Rome. Representatives of the most powerful families of the Italian nobility who occupied the papal throne in the middle of the 17th century. (Urban VIII Barberini, 1633-1644; Innocent X Pamphili, 1644-1655, and Alexander VII of the Chigi family of bankers, 1655-1667), their numerous relatives and other major construction customers in Rome openly sought luxury and splendor for their palaces and villas, which, half a century earlier, would probably have attracted severe censure.

Classicism in Italian architecture (mid-18th - early 19th centuries)

IN mid-18th century century in the architecture of Italy, a turn begins from Baroque to Classicism. Signs of fundamental changes in the thinking of architects appear first in theoretical works and are reflected in practice only towards the end of the century. This temporary gap between theory and practice, which over the course of three centuries developed in Italy in an inextricable connection, shows, on the one hand, the narrowed economic opportunities that led to a sharp reduction in construction activity in the country, and on the other, the peculiar origins of Italian classicism, significantly differed from the classicism of absolutist France and England. The first consistent and very principled criticism of Baroque architecture was launched by the Franciscan monk Carlo Lodolli at the school for young Venetian nobles at the end of 1750 and at the very beginning of 1760. The thoughts of Lodolli, who criticized the Baroque for unjustified excesses and formalism, clearly demanded that architecture return to sober functionalism, were set out consistently only a quarter of a century after his death in a treatise by Andrea Memmo, but undoubtedly had a widespread influence long before that. Thus, one of Lodolli’s students, Algarotti, an adherent of traditional, i.e., Baroque, architecture, expounds and criticizes the views of his teacher in works published in the 1760s. * In them, Lodolly appears as a “purist” and “rigorist”, fighting against excessive decoration and illusionistic tricks.

Architecture of France during the era of absolute monarchy in the 17th-18th centuries.

The chapter on French architecture has two sections. Section I is devoted to the time of the absolute monarchy of the 17th-18th centuries, section II - to the architecture of the Great Period french revolution and the establishment of bourgeois rule in early XIX V. Section I, covering two centuries, the era of the rise and fall of absolutism, is in turn divided into four periods. These periods, almost identical in duration, each last approximately 50 years and more or less correspond to the dates of the life and reign of the French kings. The division into periods is due to the fact that France changed its direction in architecture four times over the course of these two centuries. The stylistic changes that took place in all forms of art, including architecture, were closely related to the social changes taking place in France. The architecture reflected the spiritual quests and demands of various classes and estates French society. It is significant that during this period the language of architectural forms did not lag behind the development of society. This is understandable, because architecture was deliberately used to prove the progressiveness of the feudal-absolutist order, on the one hand, and the freedom of the human person, on the other. Through all four periods there is a complex struggle between state system and individual human personality, which is widely and deeply reflected in architecture. This is how majestic ensembles arise, reflecting artistic images the idea of ​​absolutism and along with this small refined architectural structures, in their volumes and proportions commensurate with a person.

Architecture of France during the reign of Henry IV - Louis XIII (1594-1643)

The reign of Henry IV of Bourbon (reign 1594-1610) sought centralization state power. To boost the economy, the government is building large manufactories and encouraging private enterprises to produce silk fabrics, tapestries, gilded leather for wallpaper, morocco, and porcelain. It gives privileges to foreign craftsmen and subsidies to domestic manufacturers. Much attention paid to the construction of new houses, bridges and especially canals. After the end of the religious wars, the country changed a lot. Life concentrated in cities and castles expands into wide open spaces. New populated areas appear without fortifications. The nature of architecture itself is changing, in which during this period, along with new trends, Gothic and Renaissance-classical styles still coexist architectural forms and designs.

Urban planning in France in the first half of the 17th century.

French cities had very dense buildings, as if merging into a single stone massif; however, this did not prevent the old cities from adapting to new living conditions: they were rebuilt, demolishing medieval buildings, in order to strengthen defense capabilities, combat epidemics and fires, while simultaneously striving for the architectural organization of the city as a whole. The development of a plan for an “ideal city” continues. However, in this, French architects, like their contemporaries in other countries, are completely dependent on the urgent needs of defense. New cities emerge both as fortified outposts (but now mainly on the outskirts of the state), and as industrial centers, and as residential cities. The latter are being built in conjunction with the resident palace, of which the city itself is part, planning subordinate to the palace.

Palaces and castles of France in the first half of the 17th century.

In the 17th century There is a process of degeneration of a fortified castle into an unfortified palace. During this period, the palace was already included in the general structure of the city, and outside the city it was connected with a vast park. At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. close ties with Italy, deep interest in its culture and art, the luxury of its palaces and villas caused natural imitation in the highest French circles. But Baroque art was not widely developed throughout France. We can only talk about isolated baroque buildings, although for a number of French provinces and cities individual baroque motifs became deeply national: Languedoc, Montpellier, Eck, etc. French architects went through a rigorous school of practice. As a rule, they came from construction cooperatives or families of hereditary masons, united in corporations, strictly preserving their professional techniques, which dated back to the medieval traditions of Gothic. The constructive principles of Gothic were perfectly mastered by French architects, who were at the same time designers, practical builders and contractors. Hence the critical attitude towards everything brought in from the outside, including the Baroque. The interweaving of late Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque features with features of classicism is very characteristic of 1st France half XVII V. However, classicism from the end of the 16th century. up to mid-19th V. is the main direction, all the others accompany it.

Residential buildings in Paris in the first half of the 17th century.

At the beginning of the 17th century. in Paris, the growing need for housing caused widespread construction and settlement of new areas. However, almost nothing has reached us from ordinary urban development and hotels of this period - we know about them from theoretical works of the 1st half of the 17th century. By the end of the 16th century. In Paris, a type of hotel developed that dominated French architecture for two centuries, with a residential building between the courtyard and the garden. The courtyard, limited by services, faced the street, and the residential building was located in the back, separating the courtyard from the garden, as in the Carnavale Arch Hotel. Lesko (mid-16th century), rebuilt 100 years later by Mansart (Fig. 14). The same planning principle in hotels early XVII c.: Sully in Paris (1600-1620) on the street Antoine, architect. Jacques I Androuet-Ducerseau; Tubef on Rue Petit Champ. This layout had an inconvenience: the only courtyard was both front and utility. In the further development of this type, the residential and utility parts of the house are separated. In front of the windows of the residential building there is a front courtyard, and to the side of it there is a second, utility courtyard. The Liancourt Hotel (architect Lemuet) has such a courtyard.

Architecture of urban public buildings in France in the first half of the 17th century.

There were few purely administrative buildings at that time: these were mainly town halls and palaces of justice. In France, where royal power was strong, and municipal service in the 17th century. still small, the public buildings were small - they consisted of a meeting hall, several bureaus, an archive, a church, a hall for guards and police, and a prison. Rich residential buildings, converted into town halls, stood along the street next to other residential buildings. Such are the town halls in Avignon, Saulieu, and Poyères in Burgundy. New town halls in France were built on large squares, like the town hall in Larochelle (1595-1606). This magnificent building with statues on the facade, an open staircase and a small turret can serve as an example of provincial French “Baroque”, the origins of which come from ornamentation. Stricter than the form of the town hall in Trouet (1616, architect Louis Noble). The Town Hall in Reims (1627) is still a completely medieval building. The Senate of Paris overlooking the Rue Tournon is magnificent. Drawings of the interior of the Palaces of Justice in Paris and Rennes (S. de Brosses) have been preserved.

Architecture of religious buildings in France in the first half of the 17th century.

With the end of the religious wars, the restoration of destroyed churches and the construction of new ones immediately began. In Paris alone in the 1st half of the 17th century. More than 20 of them were erected. In the religious architecture of France of this time, which is very diverse, the traditions of Gothic and Renaissance are still strong: Notre Dame in Le Havre (1606-1608), Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in Paris, Saint Pierre in Auxerre and others. Baroque was not widely reflected in church architecture, although it paid tribute to it to some extent. The French Jesuits considered the baroque church of Il Gesu in Rome to be the ideal of beauty. French Jesuit architects, working first in Italy (Etienne Martellange and Tournel), introduced churches of the Il Gesu type in France. The influence of this Italian building certainly took place (the church in Rueli, in the city of Richelieu, etc.), but the degree of this influence is exaggerated. A number of churches built according to the Il Gesu plan have a completely different architectural appearance, otherwise organized facades. That's how churches are Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris, Jesuits in Blois, built by Marteliange, church in Avignon- Tournel (1620-1655), Saint Gervais in Paris- S. de Brossom and Meteso.

Architecture of France during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715)

The absolutism of France, brilliantly reflected in the architecture of the 2nd half of the 17th century, also had a flip side to the coin. The costs of royal buildings and the maintenance of the court of Louis XIV - the “Sun King” - were completely beyond the budget of France. During the wars (1667, 1672, 1687), France lost a number of lands, and economically lost first place to England. By the end of the reign of Louis XIV, the national debt reached fabulous figures, tens of times higher than the country's annual budget. During the monarch's youth, Surintendent Colbert managed to strengthen and boost the French economy. Colbert paid much attention to the construction of cities and new industrial centers, the creation of the Academy of Architecture (1677). Francois Blondel was appointed director of the Academy, the first members were Liberal Bruant, Daniel Guitard, Antoine Lepautre, Francois Levot, Pierre Mignard, Francois D'Orbay. In 1675, J. A. Mansart received the title of academician, and in 1685, Pierre Bullet.

Urban planning in France during the reign of Louis XIV

The largest urban planner and military engineer of the 17th century. in France there was an arch. Vauban, who built 150 fortified cities. Some of them, like Brest, received further development. Vauban introduced a lot of new things into the science of fortification. Before him, fortified cities were defended by artillery, which could fire at the enemy even from the city center due to the presence of straight streets. Vauban improved the defense of the city with a system of ditches, bastions, and curtains. A fortified city, as a rule, had the shape of a regular polygon, surrounded by large loops of fortifications. In the city of Juning (1679), the area of ​​defensive structures is equal to eight times the area of ​​the residential part of the city. The cities of Longvin (1679) and Neuf-Brisac in Alsace (1698) were built by Vauban in the form of a regular octagon with a checkerboard layout; in the center there was a square square with entrances at the corners. The city of Rocroi was rebuilt by Vauban, preserving the radial ring system of streets and the surrounding boulevards. The system of new powerful fortifications gave the city the shape of an irregular pentagon.

Palaces and castles of France during the reign of Louis XIV

The Vaux-le-Vicomte castle was built in 1661 by Louis Levo (interiors - architect C. Lebrun; park - Andre Le Nôtre). This building still has a lot from earlier architecture: high roofs, separate over each volume; in the central part of the building, along the main facade, there is a floor order of rusticated columns. The entrance portal with a pediment decorated with reclining sculptures is reminiscent of the works of S. de Brosses or Ducersault. The interiors of the castle are magnificent. In the park, Le Nôtre first outlined an axial system of composition of flat parterres, subordinate to the palace. However, here the ponderous palace has not yet merged into a single organism with the park, and the axial development of the park from the palace, into the distance, into infinity, is disrupted by the transverse location of the pool at the end of the garden. These problems would be solved by Le Nôtre at Versailles. However, all this does not diminish the enormous artistic merit of this outstanding work of France.

Parisian hotels during the reign of Louis XIV

In the rich residential buildings of the court nobility, as well as the financial elite, the number of rooms increases and the layout becomes more complex. During this period, several options arise for the layout of mansions according to the type of house between the yard and the garden. In a number of properties, the layout is asymmetrical, the yard and garden are located on one side, and residential and outbuildings- with another. These are the hotels in Paris: Ezelen - L. Levaux (Fig. 47, 1), houses on the street. Clery (Fig. 47, 2) and Juges Consul - Jean Richet, hotels of Amelo de Betsei - D. Gottard (Fig. 48,1), Montmorency - Jacques Moreau (Fig. 47,5). An example of a symmetrical solution is the Toad Hotel - L. Bruant. But, as a rule, with an asymmetrical plan, symmetry is maintained in the facade, often created by artificial techniques. In many hotels of the mid-17th century. features of a type of development that have not yet been completed are noticeable (hotels Amelo, Louvois, Chamois, etc.); the plans do not have a clear relationship between the parts. Searches in this direction (hotels Toad and Beauvais - Antoine Le Nôtre, Fig. 48.2) are fully resolved in the works of J. A. Mansart: hotels Lorge, Noel in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Mansart's house on the street. Tournel and house offered by Mansart as a model.