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: Communion
Site: San Lorenzo
Location: Florence
Architect: Brunelleschi
Year of Completion: c. 1470
Analysis: Benjamin Wang
The Catholic Sacrament of Holy Communion is the most important one of the seven sacraments. It is the central bringing of Catholicism which occurs every mass. The ritual of communion is widely taken up with the preparation of the bread and wine. The bread representing the body of Christ and the wine as his blood. The Holy Eucharist refers to the body and blood of Christ which Catholics believe the bread and wine are truly the body and blood, the soul of Christ. For Catholics, it is not just a ritual passed down as a symbolic act, but a reality.
The origin of communion comes from the last supper when Jesus sacrifices himself for others to continue to live. The act of receiving communion is an act of recognizing this sacrifice, but to let go of the sins a person may have committed.
The Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy helps to reinforce the focus of communion as a ritual. While all churches have naves some have side aisles as well. For San Lorenzo, the process of communion would have the priest and people meet in the crossing of the church.
The priest would have already been elevated a few steps illustrating his hierarchal connection to God over the mass of people. He would then walk down the steps to give out the bread and wine to the people. After receiving the bread and wine the people would disperse to the side and walk down the side aisle back to their seat contemplating their new freedom. The point of meeting and receiving happens at the core of the crossing where the highest point of the church is. The dome acts as a threshold between the priest and people, but also as a connection to the high gods of heaven and those above.
