Architecture
Baroque architecture arises from leading architectures from Italy, Germany and Austria. Its evolution (and the Baroque era itself) is divided to 3 periods:
early baroque (17th century)
peak baroque (1700-1740)
late baroque (after 1740)
It works with the same idea like Renaissance but the application is more complicated.
Attributes:
structured groundplan of buildings
bricked wall covered with parget
enlarged spread of vault
cupola
quadrangular windows with arch
pilasters, props, pillars and cascades
The most important component of Baroque architecture is movement. Fountains, smaller buildings and even sculptures had to feel like if it was a living organism. The purpose of this was the interception of movement. With every point of view, the delineation, face and form were different!
Important architects and buildings:
- Giovanni Battista Alliprandi - hospital in Kuks
Kryštof Dientzenhofer - St. Nicholas Church
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini - St. Peter's Basilica
Exchange in Italy
Exchange in the Czech Republic
Village
Inhabitants were divided according to the cattle and land: peasants, cottagers, smallholders and landless people. There were also maidservants and farm workers without property, they worked for other farmers in exchange for food and living. The employees of villages were for example teachers, vicars, shepherds, etc.
There were three types of villages. The most popular one was a village with a village square, spread and serial type. Houses were mostly built from from adobe and dry clay, later they fired bricks. Roofs were made from thatches. Besides houses itself, the inhabitants usually also had a farmyard, stall, henhouse and through the barn it continued to the garden with fruit trees and also bees and there was a well in every household. The biggest room in the house was kitchen with an oven and it was the warmest room.
Inhabitants were bondmen until 1781. They had to do the treadmill and pay tithe to the establishment. Agriculture was archaic, they did it the same for hundreds of years - the fallow land system. They were breeding low-profit crops using simple tools. They plowed by hook or simple plough. They sheared grains with sickle and then they made bundles like shorts and mandels. They flailed it and stored it in granary. Later they started growing potatoes. Agriculture was the main source of living for villagers, so they made processions to please God to have a good crop.
The owners of villages were aristocrats - the Church, towns or monarchs. Villagers had to pay charges, but also they paid taxes to the state and to the Church.
Farmers elected a reeve (often the richest farmer) and he took care of the village - collected charges, judged conflicts, etc. Neighbours came together and took care of the prosperity and function of the village.
Villages were growing up and new buildings were built, so Maria Theresa decreed to number the houses for better availability. Fires were very often, so monarchs decreed firefighting precautions, which villagers accepted with passion.
In the end of the Baroque, life in the village was affected by the Serfdom Patent by Joseph II - Czech king and Roman and German emperor. It was published on the 1st of November 1781. Villeinage was moderated like in Austrian countries. Thralls were obligated to pay in kind, to respect the establishment and to work on their land. But thralls became liberal, could get married without the agreement of establishment and could move from one manor to another. They could study or work out of their manor. This patent affected the progress of the Czech National Revival because Czech speaking people moved to German speaking towns.
Food was very simple. People ate meat very rarely, they rather baked bread, buns and cakes. The main part of food were kinds of legumes, porridges and later also potatoes. They ate soups every part of the day. They worn simple clothes, which they made themselves.
Every Sunday, they went to the church and in the afternoon, dancing parties were held. Villagers celebrated Easter and Christmas, children walked around the village as carollers. During long winter evenings, women got together, removed feathers from ducks and told folk tales and folksongs.
Quiz
- Name the inhabitants of a Baroque village.
- What did the Serfdom Patent permit? Who published it?
- What was included in a village building?
- What were villagers doing in their free time?
- How did agriculture look like? Describe the process of harvesting crops.
Creating 3D models during the exchange in Lithuania