Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence: Architecture & History
Basilica of San Lorenzo
Chronology
From 1421 to 1470.
Style
Renaissance period of the Quattrocento. Architect: Filippo Brunelleschi. Construction system: Arquitravat and surrounded. Location: Florence, Italy.
- Renaissance art took ancient Rome as a model and used the same classical canons.
- Three Greek orders were used (Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian) and two Roman orders (Tuscan and composite).
- Covered elements: Arch and barrel vault.
- The medieval dome was replaced by a half-dome.
- The plan of the churches: Basilica (Latin cross, three naves to the dome), centralized (a Greek cross or circular).
Elements of Support and Supported
The Latin cross plan was probably inspired by Roman and early Christian basilicas. Three naves are separated by slender Corinthian columns, the capitals of which are prolonged in the original fragments of entablature reminiscent of Romanesque and Byzantine abacuses. On the columns, supporting arches support a body of windows and the flat roof of the nave. The use of arches, Corinthian columns, and the distribution of the windows have the most immediate antecedent in the portico of the Hospital of the Innocents by Brunelleschi himself.
The aisles are covered by vaults supported by four points on one side, in the corresponding arches of the nave, and on the other, in the side walls; chaired in turn by pillars that support these half-arches that open to a series of attached chapels. The transept has a hemispherical dome on shells.
Exterior and Interior Space
Brunelleschi’s plan was set so that all horizontal lines converge on one point: the altar. The arms of the transept and square are the same size as the transept. The nave is twice as large as the aisles.
Corinthian columns support the grooved shaft without the arches of the nave. Both columns and arches are made with a typical dark gray Florentine stone that contrasts with the white background of the church. The roof of the nave is flat and is decorated with coffers.
The large open floor windows are the main source of light in the building. The aisles are lit thanks to ocular windows located above the arches of the chapels.
The church boasts an attractive and orderly layout that gives it perfect symmetry.
Brunelleschi also built the old sacristy, which consists of a square space covered by a dome with shells.
Meaning
The regular arrangement of space, simplicity in the distribution of elements, and the use of very thin columns and arches that define the different naves offer a broad and clear interior, so that horizontality clearly predominates over verticality.
Renaissance churches recovered human size and emphasized the horizontal drawing on elements such as cornices and a careful approach that conveniently led the view to a horizon layer attainable by man.
The ornamental poverty and use of gray stone in the typical Florentine building elements (columns, arches, capitals, etc.) and the white stucco roofs are due to Brunelleschi’s desire to build his architectural work with a large character, avoiding competition that could be represented by the artifices of painters or sculptors.
This temple is a reinterpretation of the nave floor of Roman basilicas and the primitive Christian church. The construction also mimics models of Romanesque and Byzantine architecture, such as the cubic forms that adorn the capitals on entablatures and recovered from classical antiquity on the dome shells.
Function
The function is religious; it was intended to convey to visitors a feeling of balance and peace.