SLAVERY IN ARCHITECTURE

Slavery in Architecture

Slavery in Architecture

Introduction

Architecture, from the earliest times, has had two purposes: firstly, the purely utilitarian to provide warmth and shelter, and secondly, the political goal of instilling a sense of humanity through the splendour of its expression in stone. The first purpose was enough, so it refers to the abode of the poor, but the temples of the gods and the palaces of kings were intended to inspire fear of the heavenly powers and their favourite on earth. In a few cases glorifying individual monarchs, but to communities: the Acropolis in Athens and the Capitol in Rome showed the imperial majesty of those proud cities for construction of subjects and allies. The aesthetic merit was considered desirable in public buildings and, later, in the palaces of plutocrats and emperors, but did not take into account farmers' huts and ramshackle dwellings in the urban proletariat.

Purpose of Art in Architecture

In the medieval world, despite the greater complexity of social structure, the purpose of art in architecture was similarly restricted, in fact more so, because of the great castles was planned with a view to military strength and if they were some beauty was by accident. There was feudalism, but the Church and trade, which led to the, best architecture of the middle Ages. Wool merchants of England and the Netherlands, who were in service to the kings of England and the dukes of Burgundy, expressed his pride in the splendid municipal buildings slices and Flanders, and less magnificence, many British markets. But it was Italy, the birthplace of modern plutocracy, the leading commercial architecture to perfection. Venice, the Bride of the Sea, the city that deflected cross and frightened united monarchs of Christendom, created a new kind of majestic beauty in the palace of the Doge and the merchant princes. Contrary to the rustic northern barons, urban magnates of Venice and Genoa did not need loneliness or defence, but lived near each other, and created cities where everything is not visible to the curious stranger was superb and aesthetically pleasing. In Venice, especially, it was easy to hide the misery of slums and was hidden away in alleys indoors where occupants never saw the shelves. Never since then has achieved success plutocracy (Gelernter, 2001: 78-86).

Cultural Aspect

In the Middle Ages, the Church not only built cathedrals, but also other kinds of buildings, more appropriate to our modern needs: abbeys, monasteries, convents and schools. Were based on a restricted form of communism, and designed for a peaceful social life. In these buildings, all individual Spartan are simple, and all the communal, splendid and spacious. Simple monk's humility was satisfied with a rough and bare cell, the prides of the order are exhibited in the great magnificence of buildings, chapels and refectories. In England, monasteries and abbeys ruins survive primarily to please the tourists, but the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, are still part of national life and preserve the beauty of medieval ...