Roman Architecture In Buildings example essay topic

Many adopted Romes spiritual and political customs. Today it is still very possible to see Roman architecture in buildings and designs. Suspension bridges, for example, use arches for support and the dome is widely used in arenas. The vault can be seen in subways and tunnels as well. New materials such as reinforced steel and polymers as well as new design revolutions have changed our way of architecture and building, but the influence of Roman architecture and the efficient mindset of the Roman people will always play a part in construction and architecture. One cant help but wonder if some culture two thousand years from now will look at our skyscrapers and cities and be amazed at us.

Although Roman architecture is often referred to as Classical architecture, the influence and impact it has had on the world since its time should probably cause us to label Rome as the first modern age. Theyre methods and values were much different than ours, but their importance in the history of the world concludes that they are worthy of all the fascination and thought we endure in them. If history is indeed to repeat itself, then shouldnt we learn all we can about Rome? Hopefully, for our own sake, history will not repeat itself, but as we continue to advance as a society it is important to remember the past and plan for the future.

Roman architects, more than anything, remembered the past and planned for the future. They incorporated knowledge from those before them and created a marvelous society with new building principles. The concept of the arches, vaults and domes, and the greatness of structures like the Pantheon and the Coliseum have had their hand in the architectural styles of every builder since the Romans. The Romans greatness as builders and as people is unquestionable; their impact will forever be a constant. The earliest Roman art is generally associated with the overthrow of the Etruscan kings and the establishment of the Republic in 509 BC.

The end of Roman art and the beginning of medieval art is usually said to occur with the conversion of the emperor Constantine the Great to Christianity and the transfer of the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople (present-day stan bul) in ad 330. Roman styles and even pagan Roman subjects continued, however, for centuries, often in Christian guise. The typical Roman city of the later Republic and empire had a rectangular plan and resembled a Roman military camp with two main streets the car do (north-south) and the (east-west) a grid of smaller streets dividing the town into blocks, and a wall circuit with gates. Older cities, such as Rome itself, founded before the adoption of regularized city planning, could, however, consist of a maze of crooked streets. The focal point of the city was its forum, usually situated at the center of the city at the intersection of the car do and the. The forum, an open area bordered by colonnades with shops, functioned as the chief meeting place of the town.

It was also the site of the city's primary religious and civic buildings, among them the Senate house, records office, and basilica. The basilica was a roofed hall with a wide central area the nave flanked by side aisles, and it often had two or more stories. In Roman times basilicas were the site of business transactions and legal proceedings, but the building type was adapted in Christian times as the standard form of Western church with an apse and altar at the end of the long nave. The first basilicas were put up in the early 2nd century BC in Rome's own Forum, but the earliest well-preserved example of the basilicas (circa 120 BC) is found at Pompeii.