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: Chapter Meeting
Site: Capella Pazzi
Location: Florence
Architect: Brunelleschi
Year of Completion: 1443
Analysis: Julia Chou
The Pazzi Chapel, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1443 as the “first cloister” on the southern flank of the Basilica di Santa Croce. Commissioned by the Pazzi family, whose wealth was second to the Medicis, it is considered an early Renaissance masterpiece.
There is great emphasis on the rationality of the architecture. The main room is highly ornamented, alluding to the wealth and power of the Pazzi family and the heavenly city. The facade of the chapel is known for its entablature, with a central arch.
The Pazzi Chapel was a chapter house, a meeting room designed for the governing chapter. At the time, it was occupied by the Franciscans, followers of Saint Francis. It also served as a classroom for the teaching of monks as well as other religious purposes. The chapel behind the altar was where the Pazzi family had the right to bury its dead. On the scale of the city, the Pazzi Chapel was a representation of the commissioning family’s power, and was a location for the family to perform private prayer. Exterior windows are strategically placed higher for the privacy of the interior.
Chapter meetings are led by the cathedral’s archdeacon, dean, or provost. General chapter is composed of monks or representatives from all of the monasteries. The elderly use seating built into the walls of the room. On the scale of the building, daily meetings are held for task assignment, exhortation of the superior, evening collation, and reading before the compline. Inside the main space, weekly confessions of sins (the Chapter of the Sins) occurs where each mendicant order lays on the ground the chapter house to confess their sins in the order of their hierarchy.
