Classical architecture is architecture derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance. Classical architecture has inspired many more recent architects and has led to revivals such as neoclassical architecture from the mid-18th century and the Greek Revival of the 19th century. After a brief period of eclecticism, the classical style reigned again from the late 19th century until the second world war, though it continues to inform many architects to this day.
The term "classical architecture" also applies to any mode of architecture that has evolved to a highly refined state, such as classical Chinese architecture, or classical Mayan architecture. It can also refer to any architecture that employs classical aesthetic philosophy.
Read more about Classical Architecture: Archaeological Use, Architectural Use, Petrification
Famous quotes containing the words classical and/or architecture:
“The basic difference between classical music and jazz is that in the former the music is always greater than its performance—Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, for instance, is always greater than its performance—whereas the way jazz is performed is always more important than what is being performed.”
—André Previn (b. 1929)
“And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built in an age, the mad wind’s night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)