Tempietto del Bramante


The Tempietto 'del Bramante' is a martyrium designed by Donato Bramante to commemorate the site traditionally regarded as the location of Saint Peter’s crucifixion. The small, freestanding chapel was commissioned by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile and was completed for the cloister of San Pietro in Montorio in Rome, Italy. The structure is considered a masterpiece of High Renaissance architecture, with scholars and architects noting Bramante’s harmonious proportions and his symbolic adaptation of Classical and early Christian architectural elements.
WWW sanpietroinmontorio.it

History

After spending his first years in Milan, Bramante moved to Rome, where he was recognized by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, the soon-to-be Pope Julius II. In Rome, Bramante was able to study the ancient monuments firsthand. The temple of Vesta at Tivoli was one of the precedents behind the Tempietto. Other antique precedents Bramante was able to study in Rome include the circular temple of the banks of the Tiber, Temple of Hercules Victor, believed at the time to be a temple of Vesta. However, circular churches had already been employed by early Christians for martyriums, like Santa Costanza, also in Rome. Bramante would have been aware of these early Christian precedents, and as a result, the Tempietto is circular.

Description

The Tempietto is one of the most harmonious buildings of the Renaissance. The temple was constructed from bearing masonry. The circular temple supports a classical entablature, and was framed in the shadowy arch of the cloister. It is the earliest example of the Tuscan order in the Renaissance. The Tuscan is a form of the Doric order, well suited for strong male gods so Tuscan was well suited for St. Peter's. It is meant to mark the traditional exact spot of St. Peter's martyrdom, and is an important precursor to Bramante's rebuilding of St. Peter's.
Given all the transformations of Renaissance and Baroque Rome that were to follow, it is hard now to sense the impact this building had at the beginning of the 16th century. It is almost a piece of sculpture, for it has little architectonic use. The building greatly reflected Brunelleschi's style. Perfectly proportioned, it is composed of slender Tuscan columns, a Doric entablature modeled after the ancient Theatre of Marcellus, and a dome. Bramante planned to surround the building with concentric rings of colonnades, the columns of which would have been radially aligned to those of the Tempietto, but this plan was never executed.

In English

In Italian

  • Borsi, Franco. '. Electa, 1989.
  • Cantatore, Flavia. '. Edizioni Quasar, 2017.
  • Cipriani, Luigi. '. Pro manuscripto, 1986.
  • Frommel, Christoph Luitpold. "Bramante, il Tempietto e il convento di San Pietro in Montorio." Romisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 41 : 111-164.
  • Salerno, Carlo Stefano and Caterina Volpi. "Il Tempietto del Bramante." In ', edited by Alessandro Zuccari, 57-91. Eurografica Editore, 2004.
  • Thoenes, Christof. "Il Tempietto di Bramante e la costruzione della dorico genere aedis sacrae.'" In ', edited by Maria Elisa Avagnina and Guido Beltramini, 435-448. Marsilio, 2004.
  • Vanicelli, Primo Luigi. ''. 1971.

In German

  • Förster, Otto H. '. Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., 1956.
  • Günther, Hubertus. Architectura: Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Baukunst 32 : 149-166.
  • Peschken, Goerd. "Bramantes Tempietto und sein runder Zreuzgang." In ', edited by Thomas Amos, 73-81. Stauffen-Verlag, 2000.
  • Riegel, Nichole. "San Pietro in Montorio in Rom: Die Votivkirche der katholischen Könige Isabella und Ferdinand von Spanien." Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 32 : 275-320.
  • Schuller, Manfred, et al. "Der Tempietto: Ergebnisse der Bauforschung." Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 41 : 165-207.