A conference examining the complex relationship between ritual activity and its architectural setting, using the example of that most ceremonial of cities - Venice. The proceedings focus on the Renaissance and the Baroque periods: when architects reacted most self-consciously to the theatrical dimensions of their art and when all the elements of architectural design, from perspective to iconography, were harnessed in the interests of dignifying the townscape. The wider implications of the role of architecture in reinforcing political ideologies make this a relevant focus of our concerns today as well as a subject of compelling historical interest.
Ennio Concina - Architecture and the Republican Ideal in Venice in the mid-1550s.
Robert Finlay (Respondent)