History of Art and Architecture III

Abstract

5. Semester:Die Vorlesung gibt einen diachronen (chronologischen) und synchronen (phänomenologischen) Überblick über die Architekturgeschichte der Klassischen Antike (Griechenland, Etrusker, Römer).

Objective

5. Semester: Ziel der Vorlesung ist die Vermittlung grundlegender Kenntnisse der antiken Architektur, sowohl in formaler und typologischer Hinsicht, als auch in Hinblick auf die sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und religiösen Rahmenbedingungen ihrer Entstehung. Ziel ist ferner eine kritische Vermittlung der Bedeutung der Antike in der nachantiken Architekturgeschichte.

Content

Fifth Semester: Ancient Architecture (Christoph Höcker). The architecture history of antiquity is presented on the basis of significant building types such as temple, theater, stoa, gymnasion, house, villa, basilica, church, street, aqueduct, monument and tomb. By means of the typological connection, it is possible both to see each building as an example of a specific architectural type and to understand it with regard to its social context. Based upon selected buildings dating from the Greek Archaic period to the Byzantine late Antique period, discussion will focus on various themes. These include issues related to the objects themselves, such as material and form, components, building techniques, columnar orders, constructional precision, refinement, ornament and building sculpture. Equally important are issues of interpretation, such as system and artistic freedom, classic and classicism, and the meaning of buildings in their historical context. Reference will also be made to the methodological fundamentals of excavation, dating and reconstruction. The lecture course’s aim is to offer an overview of the most important architectural monuments of antiquity and to develop a sensibility for their qualities, characteristics and problems. Sixth Semester: Architecture and Art of the Romantic and Gothic Periods (Uta Hassler). This course begins with a study of the buildings which were central to our medieval culture - gothic cathedrals. The complex relationships between art and history, form and function, form and its construction, tradition and innovation are worked out. Constants and variables are studied in the architecture of the Middle Ages, between ca. 1000 and 1500 ad, which should give a clear picture of the types of buildings and styles of these times. In addition to this general overview, a critical understanding of such terms as: ‘development’, ‘architecture as a vector of meaning’ and ‘typologies in architecture’ is developed. These lectures aim to enable the student to appeciate medieval architecture by mean of a thorough understanding of its complexity.

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