Ritual: Baptism
Site: Battistero di San Giovanni
Location: Florence
Architect: Unknown
Year of Completion: c. 1128
Analysis: Tina Lim
150 word description goes here. Achum consulto ves faturi pria vignos complius con se aucest rehebatam te iam fue con vium percer am tam terbis, quonsul usulare ntilicaet, cuperei publincum, consimus, nostriore mei ilneque a volicio mus conerit, publin denatod itentes, qua actum init; ne ine pro, manum iam o inam ignaturis adem re ius consum inulocrem sedit vivatimmodiu sedit et prata cont nicatiq uemus, dium ingultortus nos etorterit, omprorunit gra dit atu morum ductam Romnihilium pernum inam etorae nem des M. Nostra in sus. Alessolus, o ves cotandenemus bondac in Itam. Sertamquam or ublicultus publin vernius, nos, sente it; C. Hoculis? Romnirita ne ina, quam patiam sedem que confirit, uropore morei cem, nor ad Catus muscred cris culicaesi imuricendam tam it, quitata sdaccio, mederior qui catus morterum omnicaes! Duc re cus es!
The Laurentian Library reveals not only the ritual of study, but the rituals of self-sorting, categorization, and the dissemination of knowledge. Mapping the convergence and divergence of paths from the scale of the city to the building to the desk and to the book helps to reveal how the Laurentian Library acts as a motherboard for organizing the ritual circuitry of Renaissance Florence.
The Library’s desks are crucial to how rituals are performed in the space. Because the books are chained to the desks and the desks are built into the architecture, there is direct connection between the knowledge that one seeks and the place where it is found. The desks categorize texts by subject, displaying titles found in them on the side. Accessing a book that’s next to the window while someone is already in the desk requires shuffling places.
The Laurentian Library’s form is reminiscent of a religious building, with reading desks acting as pews alongside the processional aisle. The language borrows from the religious context of the San Lorenzo complex in which the Library is situated. In fact, the original plan of Michelangelo included a triangular rare books room at the end of the reading room, reminiscent of the Holiest of Holies in the Temple of Solomon. The procession inside the library, up the flowing staircase into the reading room, acts as a funnel that all elite Florentines coming to the library must pass through, regardless of where they came from in the city or what bench is their ultimate destination. The tripartite interior facade of the vestibule reinforces the idea of rising from hell to purgatory to heaven in an ascent to knowledge.
Ultimately, the Laurentian Library acts as the motherboard of the city’s knowledge, centralizing and organizing the ritual circuitry of Renaissance Florence.
Ritual: Study
Site: Biblioteca di San Marco
Location: Florence
Architect: Michelozzo
Year of Completion: 1437
Analysis: Miguel Roman
The San Marco Convent was a Dominican Monastery which houses the first public library in Europe. The library of San Marco represents the humanist ideal of the Florentines: a collection not established for one person, but for general use. Architecturally, the library facilitates learning through the abundance of light, the green frescoed green walls, and custom benches that helped users focus on the books. There is this idea that there are two means of circulation through the space: one for the non-secular user and one for the secular user. The non-secular user uses the primary components of the ground floor-the refectories, cloister, and hospice room. The secular user uses the humanistic entrance and stairs that lead up to the first floor. There they must travel past Cosimo’s cell, and dormitory in order to reach the library. There is also this idea that each of these pathways is guiding the user through the building with the use of frescoes. The library space was made for ambitious intellectuals and humanists, while the rest of the complex was made for the religious audience. Secular visitors to the San Marco library brought the public life of the city into this private complex. Consequently, they carried out their newly learned knowledge back into the city to share with the general public. The San Marco Convent helped extend humanist knowledge in this early period of the Renaissance.
