The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture
Posted in Reviews on Wed Aug 16, 06 by Kyle under Architecture and Books.
One of the books that I have been reading lately is George Hersey’s The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculation on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi from the MIT Press. As the title of the book suggests the author examines the original significance and meaning behind what we now consider the ornamental aspects of Classical Greek architecture and shows how they were much more than mere decoration to the Greeks, Romans and Europeans of the Renaissance. Before reading the book I was already familiar with some of the information that he retells, for instance Vitruvius’s account of the origin of the Corinthian order. Callimachus the sculptor and architect was supposedly inspired to create the signature form of the Corinthian capital when he saw an acanthus plant that had grown up around a basket covered with a tile full of mourning mementos that had been placed over the grave of a Corinthian maiden.
However I was unfamiliar with many of the symbolic meanings and origins of other architectural elements that Hersey discusses. The primary thesis of the book is that classical ornament originated in the Greek temples’ function as a place of worship and especially sacrifice. Using linguistic analysis he traces the webs of meaning that surround such esteemed and time honored features as astragal and scotia moldings. According to Hersey astragals, a beaded moulding of one circular round bead followed by two narrow disc beads, are literally fleshed out as “a string of pearls or knucklebones, or vertebrae… used in religious services.” (p. 36 if you’re curious)
Scotia moldings, the concave molding at the base of a column (you can see then on the second picture above), are explained this way:
...Σκοτία (skotia) is the name of the goddess of darkness and underworld things. Darkness or shadow was perceived by the ancients not as the mere absence of light but as palpable substance, a vapor that was dark because it was dense with the tiny mote-like souls of the dead. So if we look again at the shadows cast by a scotia molding, we are to see them as thick with souls. (p. 21-23)
A multitude of other examples from Classical Antiquity through the Renaissance are made that combine to excavate and explicate the ruins of the original meanings of the classical orders. Many of them have violent and gruesome origins with their basis in sacrificial practices or battle and warfare. The author makes a point of contextualizing this in the light of the beliefs of classical paganism and their political struggles. He also explains how these violent objective correlatives were appropriated by the Popes and their designers to satisfy the messages and exploits of the Christian church during the Renaissance.
After reading this book, I don’t think that I’ll be able to look at the old 19th century bank down the street in the same way ever again. It has put a slightly macabre but fascinating edge on all of the classically styled buildings that grace the planet. But it also makes me think about how much more rich the architecture of the past was because of its symbolic import, something that is almost entirely lacking from any buildings of today. Even if a contemporary architect incorporates personal symbolism or reference into a project that still does not change that the reading of this kind of objective, or more frequently, abstract correlative will remain personal and limited to architectural enthusiasts. Such encoded meaning will not enter the public mythology or metaphysics and be understood by the populace at large in a capacity larger than a class or “lifestyle” signifier. I am fascinated by the idea of a shared public visual metaphysics that exists outside the tropes of commercialism because it so foreign to our culture today. For me, that sense of shared resonance is part of what makes classical buildings so awe inspiring and pleasant. Even if the exact coded power that they embody is not known, the presence of the power can still be felt when we experience such a building.
One area where the book is lacking is in charting the transitionary period between when architectural motifs were still part of the public metaphysics and the current era when they have been relegated to a kind of retrospective formalism. Hersey addresses this somewhat by mentioning an unbuilt postmodernist Venturi project at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate. He comments briefly on how classical architecture has taken up the mantel of the early democratic Republic and the mythos of the founding fathers for Americans and how Venturi’s stretching of the canonical creates new potential readings. Unfortunately, just at the point where I expected him to discuss this idea more thoroughly the book come to an end.
If you have any interest at all in classical architecture I would thoroughly recommend this book for its eye opening perspective. It is manageably short and delightfully lucid in a way that few architectural theorists or writers can bring themselves to muster. In spite of the brevity of commentary on contemporary issues, the fact that it has the potential to leave you with more questions than answers is almost refreshing.