The era known to us as the Renaissance began approximately around the beginning of the fifteenth century, in Florence. The philosophy behind the whole movement is one of "rebirth" or the re-establishing of ancient classical culture.

Following the collapse of the Roman civilization much of Europe fell into decline, losing a great deal of information concerning that period. Therefore knowledge concerning the architecture of that age could only be acquired via the classical ruins that litter the Italian landscape; and through the writings of the Roman architect Vitruvius.

Thus one of the greatest (and most fundamental) achievements of the renaissance is the rediscovery of the basic elements of classical architectural design, especially those concerning construction. The results of this achievement can be seen in the construction of buildings such as Florence Cathedral. Begun in 1294, the Florentine people almost exceeded the limit of their abilities in their enthusiasm to build an impressively large Cathedral, and consequently could find no method to cover it. This problem was left unresolved for over a century before an architect by the name of Brunellesch

proportion. An example of which can be seen in Alberti's church of S. Sebastian in Mantua. The plan is in the shape of a Greek cross, which is a perfect form and therefore symbolizes the perfection of God. In return the Renaissance architecture also influenced the Christian faith through the introduction of centrally planned churches, banishing the false assumption that religious buildings must be cruciform in plan. Christianity affected the way of thinking of the Renaissance. The French scholar Emile Male summarized it perfectly when he wrote,

The idea of ideal proportions was also being applied to the anatomy most famously in Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man. Similarly whole buildings were proportioned to the human body, particularly because in ancient times the column was thought of as being in the image of a human body.

Another example is Bramante's Tempietto in Rome. Born in Urbino in (approx) 1444, he was a painter in his early years and is thought to have been a pupil of both Pierro della Francesca and Mantegna. Certainly the harmony of the paintings of Piero, and the interest in classical civilization of Mantegna is evident in his work. The Tempietto was to be a matyria to St Peter and was intended to be part of a courtyard of concentric circles, but was never completed. The building itself is made up of two cylinders, the peristyle and the cella. (The peristyle being low and wide, and the cella tall and narrow.) The width of the epistyle is equal to the height of the cella (excluding the dome). The dome is hemispherical both internally and externally and thus proportionate to the height of the cella. The introduction of the importance of proportion was a great achievement of the Renaissance, but admittedly one that takes a little time to understand and appreciate. As to the finely tuned eye of the Renaissance architects, an opening five inches too wide could be seen as an eyesore, and is evidently a skill, which is very sensitive.

"I shall define beauty to be harmony of all parts, in whatsoever subject it appears, fitted together with such proportion and connection, that nothing could be added, diminished or altered but for the worse...."

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