Different Era of Paris Architecture

There are a lot of styles you will see in Paris architecture. However, it’s significant to point out that very few structures were built in one particular method. These enormous structures of Paris architecture may look centuries to complete, where plans were modified and a lot were changed, but these were still put into completion at present.

Romanesque architects got their encouragement based on olden Rome and focused building huge church aisle with extraordinary width. St. Germain-de-Pres is a good resemblance of few Romanesque styles that remains in Paris. The whole building was Romanesque, but as time pass by, the time builders change some plans and resulted to a early Gothic style with spiky arches.

Gothic engineering progress unconstrained church architecture from the weighty, dense wall structures of Romanesque style. This happened in the 12^th century where the dim, subdued, relatively plain Romanesque interior that forced the visions of the people straight to the altar. The new Gothic interior lured the worshippers’ stare upward to high ceilings filled with graceful light. On the other hand, the Romanesque exteriors were positioned by elegant buttresses and spires. Perhaps, the best illustration of Gothic church architecture in the world is Notre-Dame Cathedral.

In architecture, as in painting, the Renaissance came from Italy and took some time to coalesce. And, as in painting, its rules stressed proportion, order, classical inspiration, and precision, resulting in unified, balanced structures. One example is the 1544 Hotel Carnavalet, a Renaissance mansion, is the only 16^th century hotel left in Paris. It contains the Musee Carnavalet, a museum devoted to the history of Paris and the French Revolution.

From the mid 17^th century, France took the fundamental of Renaissance classicism even further, finding inspiration in the classic era. During the reign of Louis XIV, art and architecture were submissive to political ends. Buildings were grandiose and severely ordered on the Versailles model.

Paris architecture style in 19^th century was diverse, beginning in a severe classical mode and ending with something of an identity crisis. During the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, classicism was reinterpreted in an ornate, dramatic mode. Urban planning was the architectural rage, and Paris became a city of wide boulevards courtesy of Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann, commissioned by Napoleon III in 1852 to redesign the city. Paris owes much of its remarkably unified look to Haussmann.

The ravages of war stalled the progress of French architecture for a number of decades, but the latter half of the 20^th century was to see some the most daring Paris architecture projects in French history and certainly some of the most controversial. It has taken decades for structure such as the Centre Pompidou or the Louvre’s glass pyramids to become accepted by most Parisians, but now they are a well-loved part of the skyline.

The face of Paris architecture is ever changing. The new era has already seen the arrival of the Musee de Qui Branly, an impressive, angular structure designed by Jean Nouvel, whose bright colors and clever use of vegetation is a flagship for 21^st century Paris architecture within the city center.

Paris architecture was one of the best artworks that is highly respected all over the world. Despite the ups and downs, it still managed to develop through time.