The Tempietto

One of the rewards of sorting through one's belongings, long neglected, is the occasional discovery of treasures. Not long ago we unearthed, from one of Alex's boxes, a kit for building a paper model of a Renaissance temple in Rome. How timely, given that I'll be in Rome later this month.

It required a few hours, a good deal of patience, lots of eye-hand coordination, and a truckload of glue, but the process was very enjoyable. And I quite like the miniature building it produced. I feel as if I know the temple already.

On May 28th I'll be on a private tour of Rome with my mother, brother, and sister. (I can hardly wait.) I'll be sure to make a special request to visit the Tempietto.







A tiny bit of research revealed some interesting information about the building:

The Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio is a small commemorative martyrium built by Donato Bramante, possibly as early as 1502, in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio. It is considered a masterpiece of High Renaissance architecture… One of Bramante's earliest commissions, the "Tempietto" is one of the most harmonious buildings of the Renaissance. It is meant to mark the traditional spot of St. Peter's martyrdom… It is almost a piece of sculpture, for it has little architectonic use. Despite its small scale the construction has all the grandeur and rigorous conformity of a Classical building. Perfectly proportioned, it is composed of slender Doric columns, a Doric entablature modeled after the ancient Theater of Marcellus, and a dome.

— Wikipedia

The Tempietto in the cloister of San Pietro in Montorio was built by Bramanate after 1502, on the commission of the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The emphasis here is on the harmony of proportions, the simplicity of volumes (cylinder, hemisphere) and the sobriety of the Doric order. The circular plan symbolizes divine perfection. Inspired by ancient temples, the Tempietto is both a homage to antiquity and a Christian memorial.

— Mitchell Beazley. The World Atlas of Architecture. p276.

For Bramante, the planning of the Tempietto must have represented the union of illusionistic painting and architecture he had spent his career perfecting. The building, too small on the inside to accommodate a congregation (only 15 feet in diameter), was conceived as a 'picture' to be looked at from outside, a 'marker', a symbol of Saint Peter's martyrdom.

— Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p302.

The Tempietto in situ: