Ancient Roman Architecture - Modern Influence

Modern Influence

Today, Roman influence can be seen among countless buildings such as banks, government buildings, houses, business buildings, etc. Roman culture resonates among modern building styles because of the structural mastering of the dome and the arch. When a building has substantial weight bearing down on lower levels, columns can easily support the weight when it is distributed through an arch, reducing the stress significantly. The arch, for this reason, is the most famous and most modernly used aspect of Roman architecture and can be seen nearly anywhere.

The Dome is not used as frequently among modern buildings, but it is widely used to show prominence and elegance. In Washington, D.C., domes are a common theme among the government buildings, originally meant to imitate the grandeur of ancient Rome. Modern use of Ancient Roman Architecture is most commonly used as an allusion to Ancient Rome itself, people recall the Roman Empire as a colossal, dominant, and extremely influential nation. To allude to Ancient Rome is to project the image of greatness and influence.

Read more about this topic:  Ancient Roman Architecture

Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or influence:

    All that remains to the mother in modern consumer society is the role of scapegoat; psychoanalysis uses huge amounts of money and time to persuade analysands to foist their problems on to the absent mother, who has no opportunity to utter a word in her own defence. Hostility to the mother in our societies is an index of mental health.
    Germaine Greer (b. 1939)

    What arouses the indignation of the honest satirist is not, unless the man is a prig, the fact that people in positions of power or influence behave idiotically, or even that they behave wickedly. It is that they conspire successfully to impose upon the public a picture of themselves as so very sagacious, honest and well-intentioned.
    Claud Cockburn (1904–1981)