Thursday, October 30, 2008

Palladio's Tempietto at Maser

As I said to Sean last night, who would have thought that the project I would enjoy working on the most is the one about architecture? I'm doing my paper on this charming little edifice:


Isn't it cute? I really dislike the belltowers, though. Carlo Maderno was apparently inspired by this building to stick a couple of towers onto the front of the Pantheon, which were ridiculed so much by the Italians (who called them "asses' ears") that they were eventually taken down. Someone should have told Maderno that just because Palladio did it did not make it a good idea. Thinking you can 'improve' the important architectural monument in Western history = epic fail.

For such a small building, there's a surprising amount of arguing over its original purpose, the dedication of the main altar, even the placement of various saints in the church (eg, my sources can't even agree on whether St. Paul or St. Andrew is on Christ's right hand at the main altar). There's also its rather unique design, which looks Pantheon-inspired from the front but which actually is a hybrid of a central-plan church with a Greek cross plan.

Hm, if I were better with Photoshop, I would try to take off those towers and see what it would look like. Unfortunately, I think that would make the lantern look painfully out of place. He should have just made it an oculus and been done with it.

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