Architecture During the Age of
Enlightenment and Restoration
1600-1800
Architecture at a Glance
• During the age of enlightenment , everything
from art and religion to science and mathematics
was questioned. Architecture was no exception.
Architects would often place emphasis on the
structural integrity of their works, but yet they
still maintained a sense of extreme beauty and
exquisiteness. Objects and buildings were built
with simplistic, ordinary geometric shapes…But
when combined together, they provided for
incredible pieces of art.
Overview
• Neoclassicism - Architecture that draws upon
Western classical art and culture (usually that
of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome)
• The Enlightenment era style places emphasis
on symmetry, geometry, proportion and the
regularity of parts.
• columns, pilasters and lintels, semicircular
arches, hemispherical domes, niches, and
aedicules were commonly used
Similarities Between Ancient Architecture and
Enlightenment Period Architecture
•Temple of Vesta, Rome, 205 AD. This
was one of the most important temples
of it’s time.
•Notice the cylindrical pillars
•A structure built during the
enlightenment era
•To the untrained eye, it looks almost
identical to the style of architecture that
was used to build the temple (left).
•It seems as though it is even more
refined and advanced however.
Collision of Age of Faith With Age of
Reason Architecture
• When you combine architecture that was built
soley because it “looks good”- age of faith….with
architecture that was built soley on the premise
that it would be structurally sound…you get a
very interesting hybrid of architecture that is
absolutely beautiful
• A good example in which the Age of Faith and the
Age of Reason overlap can be seen in the Church
of Saint Geneviève in Paris, which was built in
1755 by architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot.
Some Examples of Architecture
Some More Examples of Architecture