Architecture Archivi

8 Dicembre 20208 Dicembre 2020 Redazione ArcheoMe 3 minuto di lettura

ARCHAEOLOGY | The expression of the power of Akràgas, the Temple of Concordia

The expression of power of Akràgas, the Temple of Concordia, is the most famous Greek temple in Sicily. The inhabitants of ancient Agrigento built as many as 10 temples during the fifth century BC, in a fierce challenge to the last capital against Syracuse. The so-called Temple of Concordia, in particular, was built in 430 BC and today is located inside the famous Valley of the Temples of Agrigento. The monument owes the name Concordia to the interpretation that the historian Tommaso Fazello made of a Latin epigraph found nearby, but which, in fact, has nothing to do with the temple.

Map of the Temple of Concordia

It is a hexastyle peripterus in Doric style: a quadrilateral with six columns on the front and thirteen on the long sides (it follows the classical canon, therefore, which has the columns on the long sides being double plus one compared to those on the front). The perfectly preserved peristasis rests directly on a crepidoma composed of four steps and consists only of Doric columns: the shaft is not particularly slender and ends in a capital with a simple shape. Each column has twenty grooves and, towards two thirds of the height, presents a harmonious entasis. The peristasis supports an entablature composed of a lintel, a frieze decorated with metopes and triglyphs and an unsculpted tympanum.

*Map, elevation and photo of the Temple of Concordia*

The inner naos (the cell), accessible through a step, is preceded by a pronaos in antis (framed between two columns) and is followed by another vestibule. This second space, called opisthodomos, was usually used for the custody of the treasure, the donations and the archives of the temple. Of great interest is the presence, on the sides of the pronaos, of pylons with stairs leading to the roof. Likewise, on the top of the walls of the cell and in the blocks of the trabeation of the peristasis, the recesses for the wooden roof truss are clearly visible. Studies have shown that the exterior and interior of the temple were covered with polychrome stucco. The chromatic hypothesis made by the experts suggested a white stucco covering for the whole structure, with the exception of the frieze and the tympanum which, instead, had to be colored red and blue.

From Temple to Church

At the end of the sixth century AD, the Temple of Concordia was transformed into a Christian basilica by Bishop Gregory II and dedicated to Saint Peter and Paul. This metamorphosis brought about a series of changes, which contributed to the survival of the structure to the present day: the overthrow of the ancient orientation, the demolition of the wall of the opisthodomos, the closure of the intercolumni and the construction of twelve arched openings in the walls of the cell; all this allowed the three canonical naves to be built. The pits, instead, which are located inside and outside the church, refer to high-medieval burials. In 1748 the temple returned to its ancient forms, with the reopening of the colonnade, and stopped being used for worship.

With one of the symbols of the classical art of Sicily we close the first phase of life of this column with a Sicilian flavor. From 2021, in fact, the column Archaeology in Sicily will change “location” and will be published in ArcheoMe’s magazine. We certainly could not limit the history of our land to a few lines: Sicilian archaeology still has so much to tell and I will continue to be its humble spokesperson.

See you soon!

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/archeologia-lespressione-della-potenza-di-akragas-il-tempio-della-concordia/

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26 Novembre 202026 Novembre 2020 Redazione ArcheoMe 3 minuto di lettura

BEHINDFASCISM | The University City, a State Art

The University City project was a symbol of fascism and the whole Rome. The complex, inaugurated on April 21, 1935, represented an important venture for the regime because Mussolini decided to concentrate the buildings in a single area, to examine and modify the different designs and to visit the site often. The complex became a work created for the people and was somehow sanctified by the people.

A collective design

Mussolini entrusted Marcello Piacentini, academic of Italy, with the task of creating this large complex of buildings that was to constitute not only the University of Rome but the largest study center in Italy and the Mediterranean. Together with Piacentini, many others were the architects called by the Duce to collaborate, so that it would be a collective design enterprise. In spite of the work of the various architects, a unity of style was created, since the classic type of basilica and common architectural elements were used, such as the use of the same windows and the same covering materials such as travertine and yellow or red plaster.

The architectural approach

The chosen plot of land, in a quadrangular shape, is located between Viale del Policlinico, Viale dell’Università and Viale Regina. The different institutes are grouped around a central empty space, the center of the project. An essential project, with monumental visions, avenues and gardens. The monumental entrance, formed by high and solemn propylaea, opens towards Viale del Policlinico, 60 m wide, bounded by the buildings of the different faculties. In front of the Avenue, on its axis and placed to close the long side of the Forum, stands the building of the Rectorate and the Library, which forms a unitary complex with the buildings of the Faculties of Humanities and Law. The tree-lined avenue flows into a large transversal space, a square measuring 68 x 240 m, similar in size to Piazza Navona. At both ends stand the Institutes of Mathematics by Giò Ponti and the Institute of Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology by Giovanni Michelucci. In the rear part, near the Aula Magna, there was a large square used for meetings and various ceremonies. Many areas were used for parks and gardens, such as the quadriporticus built on the left side of the avenue. The pronaos, the travertine pillars, the large windows framed in red marble, the statue of Minerva placed in front of the atrium represent a harmony of form and values.

*The great avenue seen from the Rectorate building*

*The entrance porch seen from the outside*

Building technology

The construction of the buildings was caged in reinforced concrete with the foundations consisting of concrete poles. The external facades were covered with a curtain of lithoceramic and Roman travertine. There were many special applications, such as glass brick cladding, lightweight reinforced concrete floors or glass-cement canopies.

*The Rectorate building with the statue of Minerva*

Architecture as a style of the fascist era

The University City is a successful experiment of collaboration and coordination that will be re-proposed with the E42. The simple architecture does not renounce the modernity born in a classical and Mediterranean climate. A political and artistic compromise: the point of equilibrium will then be found according to the orientations and needs that the Regime required for the realization of modern architecture as a style of a fascist era, a State art.

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19 Novembre 202019 Novembre 2020 Redazione ArcheoMe 5 minuto di lettura

BEHIND FASCISM | E42, the relationship between regime and architecture

The E42 project represents the most important episode of the fascist will; with its construction the relationship between regime and architecture is given a turning point. The Duce identifies the “Mussolinian city” with the architecture that recalls Roman classicism. The project was born from the idea of Giuseppe Bottai, Governor of Rome who proposed in 1935 to Mussolini the intention to organize a Universal Exhibition in Rome. The idea was to create the “Olympics of Civilizations”, which would formalize the arrival of Italy to peace and cultural confrontation with other nations. The Exposition is called E42 because the end of the work was in 1942, the twentieth anniversary of the seizure of power by the fascists.

The seat of E42

The E42 is a project consisting of permanent buildings, with the exception of the Palace of Water, Light and Tourism, which were to make way for further expansion of the city. An area of about 400 hectares was chosen, located in the southern part of Rome, near the Abbey of the Three Fountains, thus intensifying the connections between the city and the sea.

The project team

Mussolini appoints as commissioner Vittorio Cini, a man from industry and finance, and personally chooses the six architects to whom he entrusts the realization of the project: Pagano, Piacentini, Piccinato, Muzio, Rossi and Vietti. The construction of the E42 involved everyone, not only the insiders. The Duce on this occasion speaks of peace and collaboration between nations, but in reality he aims at economic success to strengthen the coffers of the State and cope with the war effort, not expected before 1943-1944.

The Roman Castrum

The E42 was conceived with the typical Roman castra scheme, with glass and steel palaces, all referable to a single style, the “E42 style” of the XXieth Fascist Era. An expression that revealed the trends of an era, therefore classical feeling, monumentality and grandeur.

In the second version of the project, produced in 1938, Piacentini took direct control of the operation. The architect used classical styles such as the arch, the colonnade and the exedra. You were faced with an almost suspended atmosphere, tending towards solemnity. Much of the surface area was occupied by parks and gardens.

The entire project was based on the system of the cardo and decumanus maximus: the cardo was via Imperiale, which would connect Rome to the sea, while the decumanus was the axis that connected Palazzo dei Congressi with Palazzo della Civiltà e del Lavoro. At the intersection of the two streets, the Piazza Imperiale, the scenographic heart of the entire project, is grafted onto the four symmetrical buildings that were to house the Museums of Arts and Popular Traditions and the Museum of Science. This type of system recalls the acropolis of Selinunte and the agora of Miletus, while the pentagonal shape of the plant is inspired by the plan of Versailles by Blondel; lastly, the green areas recall those of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati.

The Imperial Gate and the Sea Gate

The monumental entrances were the Imperial Gate and the Sea Gate, which led to the entrances of the Exhibition. For the Imperial Gate, the architects initially thought of an aligned sequence of towers, but then they opted for a line of fountains. Unfortunately, the interruption of work due to the war prevented its realization. The Sea Gate, on the other hand, was a monumental arch that was to cross Via Imperiale, south of the artificial lake. Among the various projects presented, the one that was approved was by the engineer Covre, with two aluminum alloy arches of 200 and 320 m of light. The final project was completed in March 1941, too late to carry out the work.

*Project of the Sea Gate of Adalberto Libera, 1942*

INA and INPS Palaces

The final structure of the Exhibition involved several changes in the arrangement of the first entrance square, with the introduction of the two opposing exedras that gave shape to the two buildings of the INA and INPS, in the area of the large artificial basin of the lake, where one can see a reference to the Trajan’s Markets. The double colonnade of the exedras did not have a static function, but only a decorative one and it was made of marble. In addition, the two buildings were adorned with four colossal bas-reliefs of square shape.

EUR in the fifties

In 1940, due to the outbreak of the Second World War, many monuments of the E42 were not completed and the immense building site was abandoned, taking on an almost ghostly appearance.

The works were resumed, under the guidance of Virgilio Testa, Secretary General of the Governorate of Rome, only in the ’50s. The entire area, renamed EUR, was transformed into a district for offices and residences and became the site of the Olympics in 1960.

The architecture of the E42

The architecture of E42 addresses the masses. It represented an instrument for their education in the fascist sense and a testimony to the mission of civilization. The architecture of the Empire symbolized the myth of Romanity, immediately grasping the link between the modernity of the present and the ancient Roman tradition. In ancient Rome the Duce saw the model of a relationship between the individual-artist and the community, to be taken up and framed in the totalitarian conception of the State.

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/dietro-al-fascismo-le42-il-rapporto-tra-regime-e-architettura/

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18 Novembre 202018 Novembre 2020 Redazione ArcheoMe 4 minuto di lettura

THEATRE | Discovering Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the largest theatre in Italy

Palermo, the county seat of Sicily, offers the traveller numerous wonders of architecture, from the Arab-Norman to the Byzantine, and there is no lack of masterpieces that have evolved over time, in a fusion of different stylistic trends.

Every corner has something to offer, but the historic centre certainly holds architectural jewels of cultural and artistic interest, such as the Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele, better known simply as Teatro Massimo.

The structure of the Teatro Massimo

The Massimo is the largest theatrical building in Italy and the third largest in Europe, after the Opéra National in Paris and the Staatsoper in Vienna.

The entire external structure features elements in neoclassical style, with references to Greek and Roman religious architecture: the front façade is made up of a pronaos of six Corinthian columns, raised on a staircase, on either side of which there are two bronze lion-shaped sculptures, allegories of Tragedy and Opera. The vault with the enormous hemispherical dome is also in neoclassical style and a system of rollers allows the temperature of the interior to be regulated.

The colossal dimensions of the theatre are due not only to the imposing monumental façade, but also to the set of halls, galleries and representative rooms that surround and complete the theatre itself.

The halls of the Massimo

The main hall, or Great Hall, has a horseshoe shape and contains five orders of 31 boxes each, in addition to the gallery. It has a capacity of 1247 seats and the hall boasts perfect acoustics. The stalls are overlooked by the Symbolic Wheel, a special ceiling composed of eleven wooden panels frescoed in the shape of a petal representing the “Triumph of Music” by Luigi Di Giovanni. The petals are mobile: a mechanism modulates their opening upwards, so that warm air can escape and guarantee excellent ventilation of the theatre in a natural way.

At the centre of the second tier of boxes is the so-called Palco Reale, designed by Ernesto Basile, with 27 seats and a private foyer: the “Salone del Sovrano“, embellished with mahogany coverings and a sumptuous Murano chandelier; red brocade armchairs and sofas complete the furnishings and 9 mirrors are fixed on the walls. On the doors and capitals is affixed the Savoy royal coat of arms.

The guided tour of the theatre also takes the visitor inside the Sala Pompeiana: the whole room is designed according to proportionality linked to the number 7 and its multiples. The symbolism of number 7 refers to the musical notes, the strings of the lyre, the days of the week and the deadly sins and Christian virtues.

Other rooms in the theatre include the Palco Bellini, once a meeting place and cultural circle, the Sala degli Stemmi, the Foyer and the Sala del Caffè.

Historical notes

Work began in 1875 and was led by architect Giovan Battista Filippo Basile, winner of the call for tenders issued in 1864. Upon his death, his son Ernesto Basile took over, who completed his father’s project at the request of the Municipality of Palermo.

The official opening of the theatre finally came on 16 May 1897 with Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi, premiered in Palermo. This was followed by years of splendour and great performances, especially lyrical ones. In 1974 the theatre closed for restoration works: it remained abandoned for a very long period, until 1997, when it was finally reopened.

Curiosities about the Teatro Massimo

It is said that king Umberto I, on a visit to Palermo, did not want to enter the theatre during the inauguration, because he found inappropriate the presence of such a sumptuous building in a city he considered not to be as prominent as Palermo.

The Teatro Massimo was built by demolishing the church of San Francesco delle Stimmate and the convent of San Giuliano. During the demolition works, however, the tomb of the first Mother Superior of the convent would have been desecrated.

Legend has it that the restless soul of the nun, known as “la Monachella”, still wanders around the rooms of the theatre, casting curses. Many have claimed to have seen the shadow of a nun wandering behind the scenes or in the basement. Moreover, there is a particular step, entering the theatre, called “the Nun’s step”, in which it is said that all those who do not believe the legend stumble upon it.

The Sala Pompeiana, also called “Rotonda del Mezzogiorno“, was once reserved for men only. If you stand in the middle of the room and speak, you can hear your voice amplified out of all proportion; but to those who are in the rest of the room the sound arrives distorted, to the point of making the words incomprehensible. What is said at the centre of the Rotonda del Mezzogiorno is impossible for those outside to understand. This particular resonance effect is due to a slight asymmetry of the room, purposely intentional.

The Massimo is very close to the causes of the LGBT community: every year, during the week of the Pride celebrations, the columns of its façade are illuminated by the colours of the rainbow flag.

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/teatro-alla-scoperta-del-massimo-di-palermo-il-piu-grande-ditalia/

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13 Novembre 202013 Novembre 2020 Redazione ArcheoMe 3 minuto di lettura

ARCHITECTURE | The Gothic in Sicily, the affirmation of a new style

Between the 13th and 15th centuries Sicily experienced a long period of political instability, during which numerous sovereigns reigned, including the Hohenstaufen of Swabia (1198-1266), the Angevins (1266-1282), the Aragonese (until 1516) and the Spanish (until 1713). They shared a welcoming spirit in a remote land, creating masterpieces which were disregarded in the rest of the peninsula. This is how the Gothic style developed in Sicily.

The military buildings of the Hohenstaufen family

Under the domination of Henry VI (1194-1197) and, above all, of Frederick II, whose reign lasted even longer (1198-1250), the numerous religious buildings and palaces inherited from the Normans were preserved. These rulers marked their era with the construction of strongholds, designed by architects from northern Europe: Gothic style arrived in Sicily in the 13th century in the form of fortified architecture.

The castles of Syracuse (Castello Maniace), Catania (Castello Ursino) and Augusta date back to this period, as do the fortifications of Enna’s castle, the strategic centre of the island, occupied since the Byzantine era, of which eight imposing towers remain. These buildings were characterised by a strongly geometrical plan (square structure with angular or median towers), portals or pointed arch windows, bare and austere walls, dominated by slits and merlons; finally, there were also rooms with ogival vaults.

The 14th century and the chiaramontano style

An important contribution to the development of Gothic architecture in Sicily was made by the Chiaramonte family. Powerful Sicilian lords for almost the whole fourteenth century, they established themselves thanks to the weakening of royal power. They also demonstrated their influence through the numerous constructions of civil and religious buildings; on these, they imposed as their artistic seal, which later became the family mark, the zigzag moulding, applied to portals, columns and mullioned windows, borrowed from the Arabs and adopted by the Normans.

From the second half of the 13th century, when the Sicilian population of Arab origin converted to Christianity, the Arab architectural influence in the construction of religious buildings and civil dwellings disappeared. The decorative zigzag motifs, imported from the East to Sicily, were applied by the Normans in many buildings: in Palermo, in the columns of the Palatine Chapel of the Palazzo dei Normanni, in the mullioned windows of the Monastery of San Salvatore in Cefalù and in the upper façade of the Cathedral.

In Agrigento and in several centres of the same province, this style, called “chiaramontano”, had a greater presence than other Sicilian sites; this is because the state owned city of Girgenti, for a certain period, was under the direct jurisdiction of the Chiaramonte family, who made it the artistic peak of 14th century architecture.

Among the buildings included in the so-called “chiaramontano style” Palazzo Chiaramonte is worth of special mention. It is called “lo Steri” and it is located in Piazza Marina in Palermo. It was the residence of an important Sicilian family; also worthy of notice is its façade of refined beauty, crowned by slits and decorated only with splendid windows with pointed arches. On the inside, there are various rooms and chapels with ogival vaults, a large room and ceilings with frescoes, recalling biblical and chivalrous scenes, attributed to the three Sicilian painters Simone da Corleone, Cecco di Naro and Darenu da Palermo.

All the subsequent urban palaces were built on the basis of these examples, characterised by mullioned and three-light windows, surmounted by drain arches both openworked and decorated with polychrome geometric motifs.

Gothic-Catalan art of the XV century

Catalan Gothic art developed in Sicily following the Spanish domination of the island from the end of the 14th century with the reign of the Aragonese. This development, clearly behind other European countries, was endorsed by the Catalan-Aragonese confederation, which became one of the greatest powers in the Mediterranean from the 13th century onwards. At the behest of the confederation, interest in a relatively sober Gothic style spread on the island, characterised by refined figures, a sense of proportion, breadth of form and large windows, open onto smooth, bare façades.

To this period belong the palaces Santo Stefano and Corvaja, in Taormina, the portal of the Cathedral of Palermo and the Bellomo palace in Syracuse. It seems useful to mention the artist Matteo Carnelivari, who, towards the end of the 15th century, designed the plans for the Abatellis, Aiutami Cristo palaces and, probably, also those of the Church of Santa Maria della Catena, in Palermo. These are the most representative creations of Gothic-Catalan art, characterized by Byzantine, Arab and Norman elements deriving from the most ancient local tradition.

Tradotto da: https://archeome.it/architettura-il-gotico-in-sicilia-laffermazione-di-un-nuovo-stile/

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7 Novembre 20207 Novembre 2020 Redazione ArcheoMe 3 minuto di lettura

ANCIENT EGYPT | Hatshepsut and the damnatio memoriae

Hatshepsut was the pharaoh-woman who reigned over Egypt between 1473 and 1458 BC. Her name is linked to the building program that culminated with the construction of the great Temple of Deir el-Bahari in West Thebes.

Her life

Hatshepsut, exclaimed her mother Ahmes giving birth to her, in other words “She has the face of the Noble Ladies”. Daughter of Thutmose I, from an early age she proved to be more gifted than her half-brothers, but to access the throne she had to marry the eldest of them Thutmose II, physically and mentally weak, who soon left her a widow. He then assumed the regency in place of Thutmose III, but gradually he was acquiring more and more the characteristics of a king: in fact, he was represented with the false beard typical of the pharaohs.

For her coronation the queen had a mythological text written, in which she justified her coming to the throne at the behest of the gods. Furthermore, in this text she claimed to be the result of the union between her mother and the god Amun and that her father Thutmose I had named her his successor before his death.

Despite the apparent success of her reign and a burial in the Valley of the Kings, the monuments dedicated to her were marred after her death with a drastic damnatio memoriae, apparently desired by her co-ruler and stepson or grandson, Thutmose III.

The fact that a woman had become pharaoh of Egypt was very unusual. In the history of Egypt, during the dynastic period, there were only two or three women who actually managed to rule as pharaohs rather than to exercise power as the “great wife” of a king.

Hatshepsut launched a new artistic movement, called for a theological reform, administered state finances with rare effectiveness and organized very profitable expeditions, such as those in the mysterious land of Punt, from which Egyptian ships returned full of incense and strange animals. An activism that undermined the already delicate political-religious equilibrium and that procured her dangerous enemies: the young pupil, the priests of Osiris and all those who could not stand the influence of Senenmut, the powerful adviser who, perhaps, was something more for the Queen.

Architecture

The queen worked in the temple of Karnak, where she had chapels built, a sanctuary for the sacred boat and erected two obelisks. Deir el-Bahari was the site chosen by the sovereign to place her mortuary temple, while her tomb was built in the valley of the Kings.

The Mortuary Temple, also known as djeser-djeseru (“holy among the saints”), is a temple located close to the rocky heights of Deir el-Bahari, on the west bank of the Nile, near the Valley of the Kings. It is dedicated to the solar deity Amun Ra and is located near the temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II.

The complex exploits a revolutionary planimetric solution of dividing the structure on different levels, in harmony with the underlying rocky scenario. The temple is considered the point of greatest contact between Egyptian and classical architecture: an example of the funerary architecture of the New Kingdom, it marks a turning point, abandoning the megalithic geometry of the Old Kingdom to move to a building that allows worship active.