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: Work
Site: Fondaco dei Tedeschi
Location: Venice
Architect: Unknown
Year of Completion: 1508
Analysis: Luis Lopez
The Fondaco typology originated in the Arabian world. Known as the “funduk”. The funduk is a combitnation of a warehouse, inn, and shop. The Fondacos established in the Europe have adopted similar programs. Of the few fondacos found in the western world, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi contains a religious program as well similar to its eastern counterparts.
The Fondaco dei Tedeschi was originally built in 1228 AD, but rebuilt in 1508 AD after a fire. The fondaco served as a storage, inn a market for German Merchants arriving in Venice. These Merchants, traveling from cities like Nuremberg would travel south through the Swiss Alps prior to reaching Venice. At the shores of the lagoon the boatmen employed by the Fondaco take the merchant directly to to the Fondaco loggia where the goods are unloaded.
These goods are then taken to the warehouses which surround the courtyard on the ground floor. The merchant is then escorted to the administrative offices on the third floor for the accounting of goods and receival of room key. The merchant is able to then retire to their quarters on the second floor. Typically merchants from big cities would receive rooms, but smaller merchants would have to sleep in the hallways or in the storage rooms. Fondaco dei Tedeschi is the only place in which German merchants are able to stay/trade in the city of Venice. The Fondaco would be closed after a certain time to keep Merchants in.
The religious program was included through the use of an altar located in the courtyard. This provided convenience as well as take into respect the re-formative Christianity the Germans practiced. After waking, the merchants are able to take their goods to trade with shops on exterior of building. A Fondaco helper would be assigned to each merchant to help facilitate and translate for trade.
