Classical architecture

Origins Classical architecture is derived from the architecture of ancient Greece and ancient Rome. After the collapse of the western part of the Roman empire, the architectural traditions of the Roman Empire ceased to be practised in large parts of western Europe. In the Byzantine Empire, however, ancient ways of building methods survived, though they gradually developed into a distinct Byzantine style. The first conscious attempts to bring back the architectural language of classical antiquity into Western Europe emerged during the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th and 9th centuries. The gatehouse of Lorsch Abbey () in present-day Germany features alternating attached columns and arches, a paraphrase of, for example, those of the Colosseum in Rome. While Byzantine, Romanesque, and even to some aspects of Gothic architecture (with which classical architecture is often posed) incorporate classical elements and details, they generally do not reflect a systematic effort to revive or emulate the architectural principles of antiquity. For instance, they typically do not adhere the idea of a systematic order of proportions for columns. As such, these styles are not considered classical architecture in the strict sense. During this time period, the study of ancient architecture developed into the architectural theory of classical architecture; somewhat over-simplified, that classical architecture in its variety of forms ever since have been interpretations and elaborations of the architectural rules set down during antiquity. Most of the styles originating in post-Renaissance Europe can be described as classical architecture. This broad use of the term is employed by Sir John Summerson in The Classical Language of Architecture. The elements of classical architecture have been applied in radically different architectural contexts than those for which they were developed, however. For example, Baroque or Rococo architecture are styles which, although classical at root, display an architectural language much in their own right. During these periods, architectural theory still referred to classical ideas but rather less sincerely than during the Renaissance. ==Scope==

in Munich, designed by Leo von Klenze and built 1816–30, an example of Neoclassical architecture. As noted above, classical styles of architecture dominated Western architecture for a long time, roughly from the Renaissance until the advent of Modernism. That is to say, that classical antiquity at least in theory was considered the prime source of inspiration for architectural endeavours in the West for much of Modern history. Even so, because of liberal, personal or theoretically diverse interpretations of the antique heritage, classicism covers a broad range of styles, some even so to speak cross-referencing, like Neo-Palladian architecture, which draws its inspiration from the works of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, who himself drew inspiration from ancient Roman architecture. Furthermore, it can be argued that styles of architecture not typically considered classical, like Gothic, can contain classical elements. Therefore, a simple delineation of the scope of classical architecture is difficult to make. The more or less defining characteristic can still be said to be a reference to ancient Greek or Roman architecture, and the architectural rules or theories that derived from that architecture. ==Petrification==

in England, opened in 1920 and built in a Neoclassical style. In the grammar of architecture, the word petrification is often used when discussing the development of sacred structures such as temples, mainly with reference to developments in the Greek world. During the Archaic and early Classical periods (about the 6th and early 5th centuries BC), the architectural forms of the earliest temples had solidified and the Doric emerged as the predominant element. The most widely accepted theory in classical studies is that the earliest temple structures were of wood and the great forms, or elements of architectural style, were codified and rather permanent by the time the Archaic became emergent and established. It was during this period, at different times and places in the Greek world, that the use of dressed and polished stone replaced the wood in these early temples, but the forms and shapes of the old wooden styles were retained in a skeuomorphic fashion, just as if the wooden structures had turned to stone, thus the designation "petrification" or sometimes "petrified carpentry" for this process. This careful preservation of the traditional wooden appearance in the stone fabric of the newer buildings was scrupulously observed and this suggests that it may have been dictated by religion rather than aesthetics, although the exact reasons are now lost in antiquity. Not everyone within the reach of Hellenic civilization made this transition. The Etruscans in Italy were, from their earliest period, greatly influenced by their contact with Greek culture and religion, but they retained their wooden temples (with some exceptions) until their culture was completely absorbed into the Roman world, with the great wooden Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol in Rome itself being a good example. Nor was it the lack of knowledge of stone working on their part that prevented them from making the transition from timber to dressed stone. ==See also==