Development in Architecture

             Architecture is the practice of building design and its resulting products, however customary usage refers only to the designs and structures that are culturally significant. Architecture is to building as literature is to the printed word. According to Vitruvius, a 1st-century BC Roman who wrote encyclopedically about architecture: "Well building hath three conditions: Commodity, Firmness, and Delight." In other words, one would say today that architecture must satisfy its intended uses, must be technically sound, and must convey aesthetic meaning. But the best buildings are often so well constructed that they outlast their original use. They then survive not only as beautiful objects, but as documents of the history of cultures, achievements in architecture that testify to the nature of the society that produced them. These achievements are never wholly the work of individuals. Architecture is a social art. Examples of such works of art are the Pyramids of Giza, the Lion's gate at Mycenae, the Parthenon, the Colosseum, the Hagia Sophia, and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Each of these buildings tells the story of the culture that produced it, and by studying the development of architecture; one can see the development of religions, ideas, and beliefs.
             The three pyramids at Giza in Egypt, Cheops, Khafre, and Menkaure, are among the most famous pieces of architecture in the world and they are also the first buildings with innovative architecture. Each Egyptian ruler was obsessed with constructing a tomb for himself more impressive and longer lasting than that of his predecessors. Before the 4th Dynasty (begins c. 2680 BC) Egyptian royal burial took the form of the mastaba, an archetypal rectangular mass of masonry. This evolved into the stepped pyramid and finally into the fully refined pyramid. The development of the pyramid reached its climax during the Fourth Dynasty in the famous triad of great pyramids at Giza...

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Development in Architecture. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 03:16, March 19, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/103875.html