Art History I / Architecture II: Reading a Building
Practice question · Select all that apply

Which are true of the central-plan church in Renaissance debate?

Hints
  1. Three describe the argument; one claims it was settled.
  2. The plan of St Peter's was contested for decades.
Show the answer
  • A. It carried associations of the tomb and the martyrium
  • B. Liturgy pushed against it by requiring a processional axis
  • C. Theorists valued it because the circle was held to be the most perfect figure
Why

The dispute was never settled, which is the interesting part. Theorists wanted the circle and liturgy wanted the axis, and the compromise plans of the sixteenth century, including the long argument over St Peter's, are that unresolved tension built at full scale.

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