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: Palazzo Medici
Location: Florence
Architect: Michelozzo
Year of Completion: 1484
Analysis: Lawrence Boyer
The Palazzo Medici was the home and public face of the Medici family until they relocated to the Palazzo Piti. In this, it became a place of negotiation and banking as well as home life for the family. The building in its entirety, from the large-scale positioning in the city of Florence to the small-scale stonework on the facade work to underscore the image of power and create a physical hierarchy between the family and its visitors. The ritual enacted between the visitor and the architecture is an exchange that conveys the power of the Medici family but also their patronage to the city of Florence.
At the urban scale, the palazzo is axial to both the Medici church of San Lorenzo, as well as the Duomo, a large public square in the city. It is also positioned such that it protrudes out into the street for higher visibility along the street, and is significantly higher and wider than most surrounding buildings.
The two main classes of visitors that came to the palazzo were the amici (friends), and vicini (neighbors). These two groups would have very different relationships with the family and thus would also have very different treatment with regard to the palazzo - the rear garden entry was reserved for the amici whereas the imposing urban palazzo facade was the main entry for the vicini. Their readings and understandings of the family would thus be different from the way they were exposed to the palazzo. Vicini were less comfortable, often did not have appointments, and their waiting space grew crowded. Benches line the outside of the palazzo for them to sit on, and to show that the Medici family is worth waiting for, putting those who wait on display.
