The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculations on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi (Paperback)

by George Hersey (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review


"A fascinating demonstration of the savage landscape out of which the over-cultivated language of classical architecture emerged."
- Alexander Tzonis, Delft University



"To suggest that the classical language of architecture, which has for so long been construed - even by its native speakers - to depend mainly on a set of powerful, but bloodless conventions, was associated by way of the poetic language of tropes with ancient sacrificial ritual is a radical argument in the true sense of the term."
- Alan J. Plattus, Yale University

Product Description
"A fascinating demonstration of the savage landscape out of which the overcultivated language of classical architecture emerged." -- Alexander Tzonis, Delft University

Why do architects still use the classical orders? Why use forms derived from ancient Greek temples when ancient Greek religion has been dead for centuries and when the way of life they expressed is extinct? Any why decorate a contemporary courthouse with the bones, eggs, darts, claws, and garlands that an ancient Greek would recognize as the trappings of animal sacrifice?

With these provocative questions George Hersey begins his recovery of the meaning of classical architecture. For the last four centuries, he shows, philology and formalism have drained architecture of its poetry. By analyzing this poetry--the tropes founded on the Greek terms for ornamental detail--he reconstructs a classical theory about the origin and meaning of the orders, one that links them to ancient sacrificial ritual and myth.

In doing so, Hersey reinterprets key tales and taboos that were part of the cultural memory of the ancient Greeks. His touchstone is Vitruvius, author of the only surviving classical treatise on architecture, whose stories about Dorus, Ion, and the Corithian maiden, and about the Caryaean women and Persian soldiers, describe the orders as records or remembrances of sacrifice.

Hersey finds revivals of this consciousness in the Italian Renaissance and throws new light on the works of the architectural theorists Francesco di Giorgio and Ceasare Cesariano, and also on Raphael's Disputá, Michelangelo's tomb of Julius II and Medici Chapel, and Hugues Sambin's handbook of termini.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 5th Printing edition (February 10, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262580896
• ISBN-13: 978-0262580892
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #491,085 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars blood sport, January 20, 2005

By	S. Alesch "schopfung" (New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

its wonderful to read details regarding the birth of greek architecture, the birth of classicism. the heads above arches, those sorry warriors, beaten. the blood letting flutes, fat dripping thigh bones, guttae from the triglyphs if i remember correctly. no wonder classicism is so haunting - sometimes touching - the echinus shape on the capital of tuscan and doric is also the name for "hedgehog" - its gently sloping butt is the same and also for "little cake" as in the sloping crescendo of a risin cupcake's belly. humane architecture has its birth in death - modernism is only intellectual. a subjective dream of babel. in the study of words are clues to the strength of classical architecture.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extroadinary, October 12, 1995

By A Customer

A marvelous marriage of language and the language of Architecture. Finally, someone has had the courage and talent to take this thing back to the (bloody) beginning. I have read it a couple of times, and given it to about 6 friends.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hersey at his best!, March 15, 2004

By	Wildeguy "wildeguy2000" (New York) - See all my reviews

I bought this book and finished it the day it arrived. I couldn't put it down. It reads like a detective story for architecture enthusiasts. Hersey begins this work by introducing a cluster of tropes that at first seem disparate items. As he develops his arguments (and there are many) he weaves a beautiful tapestry with these tropes. Hersey brings the roots of Greek architecture alive (literally). If he were a philosopher I would be tempted to compare him to Nietzsche in his ability to uncover the conceptual ruins of ancient art. I also recommend Hersey's other work, but this one is my favorite.