Basilica Palladiana
The Palladian Basilica in Vicenza, rare 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 the Veneto - recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Architectural History
The actual core building ( Palazzo della Ragione ) consists of two Gothic palaces of brick - the so-called "Old Palace " ( palatium Vetus ) and the so-called " palace " ( palatium communis), which were connected in the 15th century to form a structural unit without on the ground floor give passages - which located between them - partly inclined. End of the 15th century, the city council to give the medieval building a new face decided; then, the architect Tommaso Formenton was commissioned to redesign. If one assumes that the idea of building a Great Council Hall comes from him, his design seems to have obviously oriented towards the Palazzo della Ragione in Padua. But already collapsed parts of the facade and the main edifice, two years after completion. In order to rebuild a new architect was sought, but the early proposals by Antonio Rizzo and Giorgio Spavento from the year 1496 were also rejected as that of Jacopo Sansovino (1538 ), Sebastiano Serlio ( 1539), Michele Sammicheli (1541 ) and Giulio Romano ( 1542). Only in the years 1546-1549, more than 50 years after the collapse, they decided on a draft of the hitherto completely unknown Andrea della Gondola, who later became known under the stage name, Palladio '. Construction was started in 1549 and only in 1614, ie 34 years after the architect's death, is completed.
Name
The name Basilica ' still goes back to the time of Palladio: At that time, the construction - like an ancient Roman basilica - used as a public authority buildings with market and court functions.
Architecture
Through the use of white marble and by the uniform repetition of one and the same - derived from the Arc de Triomphe scheme - subject, of the so-called, Serlio window ', which was later known as Venetian windows, the architecture of the building received an equally representative as completely uniform appearance. Although it must be stressed that it is not used as a dwelling, but a public building, the nearly identical design on both floors is absolutely unusual and almost revolutionary for the time - the traditional division into a lower floor level and a ' piano nobile ' makes no longer makes sense. Only minor differences between the two levels can be distinguished: Doric capitals on the ground floor, Ionic on the first floor; Metope triglyph in the architrave of the ground floor; Balustrades upstairs. We'll provide half-columns and the twin columns on either side of the great arcades the facade receives a certain plasticity and spatial depth. The roof area to the top of the 52 meter long and 25 meter high council chamber is surrounded by allegorical figures standing on pedestals, which are integrated into the sill above the eaves.
Current usage
While the ground floor shops are housed temporary exhibitions in the area of the upper floor, which overlooks visible from afar with its copper roof as a single building of the city skyline, every now and then instead.
Quote
"It is not possible to describe the impression made by the Basilica of Palladio ... " (JW Goethe 's Italian Journey )