Architecture & Architectural Elements, pg 2/2
art history & education resources for classrooms and homeschoolers.

St. Peter's Basilica is the most prominent building in the Vatican and its dome is a significant landmark on the Rome skyline.

The current basilica was designed by architect Donato Bramante and built between 1506 and 1626 over a previous basilica.

The word ‘basilica’, from the Greek, orginally meant a large public building at the center of the town.

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Onion domes are usually associated with Russian Orthodox churches.

St. Basil's, commissioned by Ivan the Terrible, was built in Moscow between 1555 and 1561.

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India's Taj Mahal is famous for its architectural splendor, and the love story that inspired its creation.

In 1612, Mumtaz Mahal became the wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. When she died, Jahan began construction on Mumtaz's tomb, the Taj Mahal, in Agra, which took 20,000 people, 1,000 elephants, and twenty years, to finish.

Petra, a historical and archaeological city in Jordan is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system that created an artifical oasis that allowed the city to prosper.

Petra was founded sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans and is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited tourist attraction.

Named a UNESCO World Heritage site as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage”, it was also chosen by the BBC as one of the “40 places you have to see before you die”.

The Tower of Pisa is a campanile, a free standing bell tower, for the Cathedral of Pisa.

Notable for leaning, the tower had an inadequately planned and built foundation for the loose substrate that was incapable of supporting the structure evenly.

Building the tower began in 1173, the sinking on one side began in 1178 with the addition of the third level. Due to the inclination of the Pisan citizens to maintain the famed leaning aspect of the tower, work to prevent the tower from toppling completely included bringing the tower to a stable 3.97º slant.

FYI - It was Galileo's secretary who reported that the famous scientist tested his theory of falling objects by dropping two balls of the same material, but of differnt masses, from the tower, to demonstrate that the time of descent was independent of mass.

The 2000 years old Bam Citadel (Arg-E Bam) in Iran was the largest adobe building in the world until destroyed 12-26-2003 by an earthquake.

Dating from before 500 BC, the UNESCO World Heritage site on the Silk Road will be rebuilt.

The word “citadel”, which means fortess, and the word “city”, share the same Latin root word “civis” (citizen).

French architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux proposed a grandiose ideal city for the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, or Salines de Chaux.

In addition to the city being built near the forest that would supply the fuel for the drying pans of saline water that flowed to the works by canal, the shape of the buildings would explain their identify and function, i.e. the hoop makers houses were shaped as barrels.

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The Tempietto by Donato Bramante is considered a masterpiece of High Renaissance architecture.

The Tempietto, located in San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, is a martyrium, or final resting place for the remains of a saint or martyr.

Jantar Mantar consists of 13 architectural astronomy instruments, built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur, from 1724 onwards. There are five Jantar Mantars - literally translated as 'instrument and formula', in India (Delhi, Jaipur [functional], Varanasi, Ujjain, Mathura [lost]).

The primary purpose of the observatories was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets.

Among the structures are the Ram Yantra (a cylindrical building with an open top and a pillar in its center), the Jai Prakash (a concave hemisphere), the Samrat Yantra (a huge equinoctial dial), the Digamsha Yantra (a pillar surrounded by two circular walls), and the Narivalaya Yantra (a cylindrical dial).

The Minaret of Jam, a 65 meter tall tower made entirely of sun baked bricks, is “famous for its intricate brick, stucco and glazed tile decoration, which consists of alternating bands of kufic and naskhi calligraphy, geometric patterns, and verses from the Qur'an (the surat Maryam, relating to Mary, the mother of Jesus)”.

It is located in western Afghanistan, in what may be the remains of a lost city known as Turquoise Mountain.

Tudor style, the final development of medieval architecture, is named after the English ruling dynasty (1485-1603) of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.

Tudor style is characterized by decorative half-timbering, steeply pitched roofs, prominent cross gables, tall, narrow windows, small window panes, large chimneys that were often topped with decorative chimney pots. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is an example of Tudor architecture.

The Flatiron Building is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper and icon of New York City.

The architect was Chicago's Daniel Burnham, and upon completion in 1902, was one of the tallest buildings in the city.

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Falling Water, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect

Kunsthauswien
art + house + vienna

Museum dedicated to work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

The Watts Towers, an example of non-traditional vernacular architecture and American Naïve art, is a collection of 17 interconnected structures built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato (“Sam” or “Simon”) Rodia over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954.

Sam Rodia is included in the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper” album cover.

The United Nations complex of buildings, in the International Style, have served as the official headquarters of the “international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace” since its completion in 1952.

It is located overlooking the East River in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan. Architects of the U. N. building are Max Abramovitz and Wallace K. Harrison.