Baroque architecture is the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late 16th-century Italy,

that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and
theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and the absolutist state. It
was characterized by new explorations of form, light and shadow, and dramatic intensity.

Whereas the Renaissance drew on the wealth and power of the Italian courts and was a blend of
secular and religious forces, the Baroque was, initially at least, directly linked to the Counter-
Reformation, a movement within the Catholic Church to reform itself in response to
the Protestant Reformation.[1] Baroque architecture and its embellishments were on the one hand
more accessible to the emotions and on the other hand, a visible statement of the wealth and
power of the Church. The new style manifested itself in particular in the context of the new
religious orders, like the Theatines and the Jesuits who aimed to improve popular piety.

The architecture of the High Roman Baroque can be assigned to the papal reigns of Urban
VIII, Innocent X and Alexander VII, spanning from 1623 to 1667. The three principal architects of
this period were the sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini and the painter Pietro da
Cortona and each evolved his own distinctively individual architectural expression.

Dissemination of Baroque architecture to the south of Italy resulted in regional variations such
as Sicilian Baroque architecture or that of Naples and Lecce. To the north, the Theatine
architect Camillo-Guarino Guarini, Bernardo Vittone and Sicilian born Filippo Juvarra contributed
Baroque buildings to the city of Turin and the Piedmont region.

A synthesis of Bernini, Borromini and Cortonas architecture can be seen in the late Baroque
architecture of northern Europe which paved the way for the more decorative Rococo style.

By the middle of the 17th century, the Baroque style had found its secular expression in the form
of grand palaces, first in Francewith the Chteau de Maisons (1642) near Paris by Franois
Mansartand then throughout Europe.

During the 17th century, Baroque architecture spread through Europe and Latin America, where
it was particularly promoted by the Jesuits.

Distinctive features of Baroque architecture can include:

in churches, broader naves and sometimes given oval forms

fragmentary or deliberately incomplete architectural elements

dramatic use of light; either strong light-and-shade contrasts (chiaroscuro effects) as at

the church of Weltenburg Abbey, or uniform lighting by means of several windows (e.g.
church of Weingarten Abbey)

opulent use of colour and ornaments (putti or figures made of wood (often gilded), plaster
or stucco, marble or faux finishing)
 large-scale ceiling frescoes

an external faade often characterized by a dramatic central projection

the interior is a shell for painting, sculpture and stucco (especially in the late Baroque)

illusory effects like trompe l'oeil (an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in
order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions.) and
the blending of painting and architecture

pear-shaped domes in the Bavarian, Czech, Polish and Ukrainian Baroque

Marian and Holy Trinity columns erected in Catholic countries, often in thanksgiving for
ending a plague

Though the tendency has been to see Baroque architecture as a European phenomenon, it
coincided with, and is integrally enmeshed with, the rise of European colonialism. Colonialism
required the development of centralized and powerful governments with Spain and France, the
first to move in this direction.[3] Colonialism brought in huge amounts of wealth, not only in the
silver that was extracted from the mines in Bolivia, Mexico and elsewhere, but also in the
resultant trade in commodities, such as sugar and tobacco. The need to control trade routes,
monopolies, and slavery, which lay primarily in the hands of the French during the 17th century,
created an almost endless cycle of wars between the colonial powers: the French religious wars,
the Thirty Years' War (1618 and 1648), FrancoSpanish War (1653), the Franco-Dutch
War (16721678), and so on. The initial mismanagement of colonial wealth by the Spaniards
bankrupted them in the 16th century (1557 and 1560), recovering only slowly in the following
century. This explains why the Baroque style, though enthusiastically developed throughout
the Spanish Empire, was to a large extent, in Spain, an architecture of surfaces and faades,
unlike in France and Austria where we see the construction of numerous huge palaces and
monasteries. In contrast to Spain, the French, under Jean-Baptiste Colbert (16191683), the
minister of finance, had begun to industrialize their economy, and thus, were able to become,
initially at least, the benefactors of the flow of wealth. While this was good for the building
industries and the arts, the new wealth created an inflation, the likes of which had never been
experienced before. Rome was known just as much for its new sumptuous churches as for its
vagabonds

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ or SI) is a male religious congregation of
the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits.[1] The society is engaged
in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. Jesuits work in
education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual research, and
cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social
justice and ecumenical dialogue

ITALY
A number of ecclesiastical buildings of the Baroque period in Rome had plans based on the
Italian paradigm of the basilica with a crossed dome and nave, but the treatment of the
architecture was very different from what had been carried out previously. One of the first Roman
structures to break with the Mannerist conventions exemplified in the Ges, was the church of
Santa Susanna, designed by Carlo Maderno. The dynamic rhythm of columns and pilasters,
central massing, and the protrusion and condensed central decoration add complexity to the
structure. There is an incipient playfulness with the rules of classic design, but it still maintains
rigor.

Guarino Guarini
Guarini was born in Modena. He was accepted as a Theatine novice in 1639, spent his novitiate
at the monastery of San Silvestro al Quirinale in Rome, and returned to Modena in 1647, where
he was ordained in 1648. He rose quickly in the Theatine hierarchy, becoming first auditor, then
superintendent of works, treasurer, lecturer in philosophy, procuratore, and finally provost in
1654. Prince Alfonso supported another candidate and Guarini was soon replaced and had to
leave Modena. The next few years are poorly documented. He became a member of the
Theatine House of Parma in 1656 and apparently visited Prague and Lisbon before publishing
his play La Piet trionfante in Messina in 1660, where he was a lecturer in mathematics.[3]

He wrote four mathematical books[1] in both Latin and Italian, of which Euclides adauctus is a
work on descriptive geometry. In 1665, he published a mathematical-philosophical tract Placita
Philosophica defending the geocentric universe against Copernicus and Galileo.[2]

He designed a large number of public and private buildings in Turin, including the palaces of
the Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy (as well as his sister (Louise Christine of Savoy),
the Royal Church of San Lorenzo (16661680), most of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud (housing
the Shroud of Turin; begun in 1668 by Amedeo di Castellamonte), the Palazzo Carignano (1679
85), the Castle of Racconigi and many other public and ecclesiastical buildings
at Modena, Messina, Verona, Vienna, Prague, Lisbon, and Paris. The Palazzo Carignano is
regarded as one of the finest urban palaces of the second half of the 17th century in Italy.
[1]
Guarini appears to have been influenced by Borromini. Between 1657 and 1659 he stayed in
Spain, where he studied Moorish buildings; this influenced the style of some of his buildings in
Turin.

Guarini died in Milan. In architecture, his successors include Filippo Juvarra, and Juvarra's
pupil Bernardo Vittone. The latter published his designs in Architettura Civile in 1737.

1. Royal Church of San Lorenzo

2. Chapel of the Holy Shroud

SPAIN
As Italian Baroque influences penetrated across the Pyrenees, they gradually superseded in
popularity the restrained classicizing approach of Juan de Herrera, which had been in vogue
since the late 16th century. As early as 1667, the faades of Granada Cathedral (by Alonso
Cano) and Jan Cathedral (by Eufrasio Lpez de Rojas) suggest the artists' fluency in
interpreting traditional motifs of Spanish cathedral architecture in the Baroque aesthetic idiom.
The most impressive display of Churrigueresque spatial decoration may be found in the west faade of
the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela).

In contrast to the art of Northern Europe, the Spanish art of the period appealed to the emotions
rather than seeking to please the intellect. The Churriguera family, which specialized in designing
altars and retables, revolted against the sobriety of the Herreresque classicism and promoted an
intricate, exaggerated, almost capricious style of surface decoration known as
the Churrigueresque. Within half a century, they transformed Salamanca into an exemplary
Churrigueresque city. Among the highlights of the style, the interiors of the Granada
Charterhouse offer some of the most impressive combinations of space and light in 18th-century
Europe. Integrating sculpture and architecture even more radically, Narciso Tom achieved
striking chiaroscuro effects in his Transparente for the Toledo Cathedral.

Facade of the University of Valladolid (1716-1718).

The development of the style passed through three phases. Between 1680 and 1720, the
Churriguera popularized Guarini's blend of Solomonic columns and composite order, known as
the "supreme order". Between 1720 and 1760, the Churrigueresque column, or estipite, in the
shape of an inverted cone or obelisk, was established as a central element of ornamental
decoration. The years from 1760 to 1780 saw a gradual shift of interest away from twisted
movement and excessive ornamentation toward a neoclassical balance and sobriety.
Two of the most eye-catching creations of Spanish Baroque are the energetic faades of
the University of Valladolid (Diego Tom, 1716-1718) and Hospicio de San
Fernando in Madrid (Pedro de Ribera, 1722), whose curvilinear extravagance seems to
herald Antonio Gaud and Art Nouveau. In this case as in many others, the design involves a
play of tectonic and decorative elements with little relation to structure and function. The focus of
the florid ornamentation is an elaborately sculptured surround to a main doorway. If we remove
the intricate maze of broken pediments, undulating cornices, stucco shells, inverted tapers, and
garlands from the rather plain wall it is set against, the building's form would not be affected in
the slightest.

GERMANY

Balthasar Neumann, was a German architect and military artillery engineer who developed a
refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Italian, and French elements
to design some of the most impressive buildings of the period, including the Wrzburg
Residence and the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (called Vierzehnheiligen in German).

The Wrzburg Residence is considered one of the most beautiful and well proportioned palaces
in Europe[1] and the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers is considered by some as the crowning
work of the period.

Neumann's career as an architect took off under Johann Philipp Franz von Schnborn, Prince-
Bishopric of Wrzburg who asked the young engineer in 1719 to plan, and in 1720 to lead
construction of, his new palace, the Wrzburg Residence. Although other architects participated,
Neumann was able to give the project his personal imprint, which became his life's work. [1]

The second task for the Prince-Bishop was the Schnbornkapelle of Wrzburg Cathedral (from
1721). In 1723 Neumann traveled and studied in France. At Paris and Versailles he met with
royal architects Germain Boffrand and Robert de Cotte and consulted them on the Wrzburg
projects. Back at Wrzburg, Neumann started to build a hunting lodge known as Mdelhofen
(1724, not finshed, demolished in 1725).[1]

1. Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers

On 24 September 1445, Hermann Leicht, the young shepherd of a nearby Franciscan
monastery, saw a crying child in a field that belonged to the nearby Cistercian
monastery of Langheim. As he bent down to pick up the child, it abruptly disappeared. A
short time later, the child reappeared in the same spot. This time, two candles were
burning next to it. In June 1446, the Leicht saw the child a third time. This time, the child
bore a red cross on its chest and was accompanied by thirteen other children. The child
said: "We are the fourteen helpers and wish to erect a chapel here, where we can rest. If
you will be our servant, we will be yours!" Shortly after, Leicht saw two burning candles
descending to this spot. It is alleged that miraculous healings soon began, through the
intervention of the fourteen saints.

The altar depicts the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

 Diagram showing the geometry of the floor plan: ovals and circles meet rectangles.
The Cistercian brothers to whom the land belonged erected a chapel, which immediately
attracted pilgrims. An altar was consecrated as early as 1448. Pilgrimages to the
Vierzehnheiligen continue to the present day between May and October.

2. Wrzburg Residence

FRANCE

French Baroque architecture is the name given to the French architecture during the reigns
of Louis XIII (161043), Louis XIV (16431715) and Louis XV (171574).

French Baroque profoundly influenced 18th-century secular architecture throughout Europe. In

particular, the Palace of Versailles and the jardin la franaise were copied by other courts all
over Europe.

Although the open three wing layout of the palace was established in France as the canonical
solution as early as the 16th century, it was the Palais du Luxembourg (161520) by Salomon de
Brosse that determined the sober and classicizing direction that French Baroque architecture
was to take. For the first time, the corps de logis was emphasized as the representative main
part of the building, while the side wings were treated as hierarchically inferior and appropriately
scaled down. The medieval tower has been completely replaced by the central projection in the
shape of a monumental three-storey gateway. De Brosse's melding of traditional French
elements (e.g., lofty mansard roofs and complex roofline) with some italianate quotations (e.g.,
ubiquitous rustication, derived from Palazzo Pitti in Florence) came to characterize the Louis XIII
style.

Although the open three wing layout of the palace was established in France as the canonical
solution as early as the 16th century, it was the Palais du Luxembourg (161520) by Salomon de
Brosse that determined the sober and classicizing direction that French Baroque architecture
was to take. For the first time, the corps de logis was emphasized as the representative main
part of the building, while the side wings were treated as hierarchically inferior and appropriately
scaled down. The medieval tower has been completely replaced by the central projection in the
shape of a monumental three-storey gateway. De Brosse's melding of traditional French
elements (e.g., lofty mansard roofs and complex roofline) with some italianate quotations (e.g.,
ubiquitous rustication, derived from Palazzo Pitti in Florence) came to characterize the Louis XIII
style.
Chteau de Maisons-Laffitte near Paris, by Franois Mansart, 1642

Probably the most accomplished formulator of the new manner was Franois Mansart, a tireless
perfectionist credited with introducing the full Baroque to France. In his design for Chteau de
Maisons (1642), Mansart succeeded in reconciling academic and baroque approaches, while
demonstrating respect for the gothic-inherited idiosyncrasies of the French tradition. Maisons-
Laffitte illustrates the ongoing transition from the post-medieval chateaux of the sixteenth century
to the villa-like country houses of the eighteenth. The structure is strictly symmetrical, with an
order applied to each story, mostly in pilaster form. The frontispiece, crowned with a separate
aggrandized roof, is infused with remarkable plasticity and the whole ensemble reads like a
three-dimensional whole. Mansart's structures are stripped of overblown decorative effects, so
typical of contemporary Rome. Italian Baroque influence is muted and relegated to the field of
decorative ornamentation
The same three artists scaled this concept to monumental proportions in the royal hunting lodge
and later main Palace of Versailles (16611690). On a far grander scale, the palace is a
hypertrophied and somewhat repetitive version of Vaux-le-Vicomte. It was both the most
grandiose and the most imitated residential building of the 17th
century. Mannheim, Nordkirchen and Drottningholm were among many foreign residences for
which Versailles provided a model.

Les Invalides, Paris, by Jules Hardouin Mansart, 1676

The final expansion of Versailles was superintended by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, whose key
design is in Paris, the Dome des Invalides (16761706), generally regarded as the most
important French church of the century. Hardouin-Mansart profited from his uncle's instruction
and plans to instill the edifice with an imperial grandeur unprecedented in the countries north of
Italy. The majestic hemispherical dome balances the vigorous vertical thrust of the orders, which
do not accurately convey the structure of the interior. The younger architect not only revived the
harmony and balance associated with the work of the elder Mansart but also set the tone for Late
Baroque French architecture, with its grand ponderousness and increasing concessions
to academicism.

St Paul's Cathedral, London

Built on a site of an earlier church that was severely damaged in the Great Fire of
London in 1666, the St Pauls Cathedral is widely considered as one of the finest
examples of English Baroque architecture. The design is the work of the celebrated
English architect Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) who was also commissioned to
rebuilt over 50 churches that were damaged in the Great Fire and many notable
secular buildings across England. From 1710 when completed until 1962, St Pauls
was the tallest building in London.

Karlskirche, Vienn
The beautiful Baroque church is one of Viennas most admired buildings. It was
commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (1685-1740) who vowed to
build a church after the last major plague outbreak in the early 18th century.
Karlskirche was built between 1716 and 1737 after the design of Austrian architect
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723) who won the competition for design
of the church. He died before completion of his masterpiece which was completed by
his son Joseph Emanuel.

St. Peter's Square, Vatican

The St. Peters Square and its imposing colonnades with 140 statues of saints
are the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) who was next to Francesco
Borromini one of the most prominent architects of the Baroque era. He also
built the left fountain largely following the design of the earlier Carlo
Madernos fountain (on the right) to create a symmetry. In the center of the
square stands an ancient Egyptian obelisk which was erected on its current
site in 1586 by Domenico Fontana.

Les Invalides, Paris

Les Invalides is one of the greatest masterpieces of French Baroque
architecture. Most of the complex was built by French architect Liberal Bruant
(1635-1697), while the spectacular chapel dome was completed by Jules
Hardouin Mansart (1644-1708). Built as a retirement home and hospital for
veterans between 1671 and 1678, Les Invalides is today home to the museum
of the French Army, museum of military models and museum of
contemporary history. But it is also the final resting place of several French
national heroes including Napoleon Bonaparte.