Word has come down in the news media that Sancta Maria in Ripa has been put on the market for sale by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Lemay. I’ve looked at the majestic buildings twice, first in October of 2008, and then in December of 2020. The high school buildings are not for…
Category: Europe
Posts about European cities
Il Gesù, Rome, Italy
We haven’t done an architectural history category post in awhile, so I thought we’d look at one of my favorite influential churches, that of Santissimo Nome di Gesù all’Argentina in Rome. Don’t worry, we’ll just call it Il Gesù, literally “The Jesus” in Italian from now on. As I remarked in my photographs of the…
Spires, Skyscrapers and American Skylines
I was thinking recently about how Western Civilization cities are defined by their skylines. In Europe, major cities were dominated by the spires of their churches and in their cathedrals. Take the city of Cologne; if you look above there is sort of a gentle pyramid shape formed if you follow the lines over the…
Renaissance Architecture, Part Two
Meanwhile, in Urbino, the Della Rovere family was laying the groundwork for the High Renaissance when their son Giuliano became Pope Julius II, bringing along the architect Donato Bramante and painter Raphael with him to Rome. Their ducal palace in Urbino, which I’ve looked at before, was a center of Humanist learning, focusing on ancient…
Renaissance Architecture, Part One
It’s come to my attention that there is not a strong grasp of what Renaissance architecture really is, judging by all the flippant labeling of many buildings around America as “Renaissance Revival.” So what exactly is Renaissance architecture in the context of Italian history (note there is also French, German, etc. variants, as well)? Let’s…
Some Final Thoughts on Paris
OK, we’re done with Paris. I did want to give some final thoughts on the French capital, and share some things that St. Louis could learn, and also be honest on some other matters. First of all, it’s sort of unfair to compare the two exactly because with any world capital, particularly a European one,…
Who Controls the Past Now Controls the Future
Who controls the past now controls the futureWho controls the present now controls the pastWho controls the past now controls the futureWho controls the present now? I’ve been thinking about the lyrics of this song by the band Rage Against the Machine, which are based off the novel 1984, after having gotten back from Paris….
Chapelle Expiatoire
The Chapelle Expiatoire might win the award for the building threatened with demolition the most number of times in its existence. Also, my streak of finding tourist attractions that are deserted continues, as I think there were a grand total of maybe four other people at this site when I visited. Expiatoire means “Expiation” which…
Montmartre Cemetery
Across Paris in the Montmartre area is another cemetery, built in the basin of a former limestone quarry–a common theme where largely unbuildable land is used for the burial of the dead. It’s an interesting counterpoint to Père Lachaise; Montmartre Cemetery is still a rural cemetery movement space but it is more rigid and just…
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Perhaps a visit to the burial ground where so many iconic people are buried would not be as memorable if a steady rain were not falling as I walked the winding paths of Père Lachaise Cemetery. Designed as the first rural or garden cemetery, laid out with winding paths and forested lanes, the land lies…