History of

Architecture
 Early Christian Architecture
St. Clemente, Rome
Architect: Carlo Stefano Fontana

The Basilica of Saint Clement is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated

to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically speaking, the structure is a
three-tiered complex of buildings: the present basilica built just before the year 1100
during the height of the Middle Ages; beneath the present basilica is a 4th-century
basilica that had been converted out of the home of a Roman nobleman, part of which
had in the 1st century briefly served as an early church, and the basement of which had
in the 2nd century briefly served as a mithraeum; the home of the Roman nobleman
had been built on the foundations of republican era villa and warehouse that had been
destroyed in the Great Fire of 64 AD.

Byzantine Architecture
Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy
Architect: Unknown
The Basilica of San Vitale is a church in Ravenna, Italy, and one of the most
important surviving examples of early Christian Byzantine artand architecture in
Europe. The Roman Catholic Church has designated the building a "basilica", the
honorific title bestowed on church buildings of exceptional historic and ecclesial
importance, although it is not of architectural basilica form. It is one of eight Ravenna
structures inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is especially noted for the
colourful mosaics of Christian iconography that decorate the interior walls and ceilings.

The church has an octagonal plan. The building combines Roman elements: the
dome, shape of doorways, and stepped towers; with Byzantine elements: polygonal apse,
capitals, narrow bricks, and an early example of flying buttresses. The church is most
famous for its wealth of Byzantine mosaics, the largest and best preserved outside
of Constantinople.
 Romanesque Architecture
Abbey Church of Corvey, Germany
Architect: Unknown
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey is more than a UNESCO World Heritage Site: it
embodies world culture. Both the abbey and palace are steeped in history and were once
major seats of power. Nowadays, Corvey is a privately owned cultural gem in the Weser
Uplands. And it is still a place of pilgrimage on the long road to Santiago de Compostela.

The former Benedictine abbey at Corvey is unique: its westwork, or western

façade, is not just one of the only nearly fully-preserved Carolingian structures, it is the
only Carolingian westwork to survive at all. Because of this, the former monastery and
convent of the same name were awarded the coveted UNESCO World Heritage title in
2014, providing the city with its first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Imposing westworks
like those in Corvey once had a very particular task to perform. Most were attached to
the churches of the Imperial monasteries, where kings and emperors would stay when
travelling. Only rulers and their court were permitted to use them. From one gallery,
which opened onto the church, the king or emperor could participate in the worship
from an elevated position.

The Corvey westwork is not only unique because of its age, but also because of
its magnificent mural, though only fragments have been preserved today. It depicts
scenes from the Odyssey, thereby proving that religious buildings in that era took
inspiration from images from antiquity.
 Gothic Architecture
Notre-Dame De Paris
Architect: Jean De Chelles and Pierre De Montreull
Notre-Dame de Paris, also called Notre-Dame
Cathedral, cathedral church in Paris, France. It is the most famous of
the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages and is distinguished for its size, antiquity, and
architectural interest.

The cathedral was begun in 1160 and largely completed by 1260, though it was
modified frequently in the following centuries. In the 1790s, Notre-Dame
suffered desecration during the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery
was damaged or destroyed. Soon after the publication of Victor Hugo's novel The
Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, popular interest in the building revived. A
major restoration project supervised by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc began in 1845 and
continued for twenty-five years. Beginning in 1963, the facade of the Cathedral was
cleaned of centuries of soot and grime, returning it to its original color. Another
campaign of cleaning and restoration was carried out from 1991-2000.

Renaissance Architecture
The Leaning tower of Pisa
Architect: Bonanno Pisano and Guglielmo
The Leaning Tower of Pisa or simply the Tower of is the campanile, or
freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for
its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The tower is situated
behind the Pisa Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in the city's Cathedral
Square, after the cathedral and the Pisa Baptistry.
The tower's tilt began during construction in the 12th century, due to soft
ground on one side, which was unable to properly support the structure's weight. The
tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed in the 14th century. It
gradually increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected)
by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
 Revivalist Architecture
Big Ben, London
Architect: Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin
After the fire that destroyed the original Westminster Palace in 1834, architect
Charles Barry submitted design plans for the new palace that included the clock tower.
Barry himself wasn't the original designer of the clock tower. The original architect for
the clock tower was Augustus Pugin, a British architect who was a forerunner in the
Gothic Revival style during the nineteenth century. Barry asked Pugin to design the
clock tower after seeing his work across the country, including the clock tower at
Scarisbrick Hall. The clock tower was completed in 1859, twenty-five years after the
original building burned down.

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock but it was renamed
Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
The Big Ben clock tower was designed in the Gothic Revival style. Gothic Revival
is an architectural style that was popular in England during the nineteenth century. It
was an homage to the Gothic stylings of the medieval times. The main characteristics of
Gothic Revival are lancet windows, heavy ornamentation, pinnacles, and the use of
natural materials such as stone and iron.

Modern Architecture
Sydney Opera House
Architect: Jorn Utzon
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre at Sydney
Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the 20th century's most
famous and distinctive buildings.
The facility features a modern expressionist design, with a series of large precast
concrete "shells", each composed of sections of a sphere of 75.2 metres (246 ft 8.6 in)
radius, forming the roofs of the structure, set on a monumental podium. The building
covers 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres) of land and is 183 m (600 ft) long and 120 m (394 ft) wide
at its widest point. It is supported on 588 concrete piers sunk as much as 25 m (82 ft)
below sea level.
 Postmodern Architecture
Eiffel Tower, Paris
Architect: Alexander Gustav Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de
Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company
designed and built the tower.
The wager was to "study the possibility of erecting an iron tower on the Champ-
de-Mars with a square base, 125 metres across and 300 metres tall". Selected from
among 107 projects, it was that of Gustave Eiffel, an entrepreneur, Maurice Koechlin
and Emile Nouguier, both engineers, and Stephen Sauvestre, an architect, that was
accepted.