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Codex Mediceo Laurentianus
The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana or BML) is a historic library in Florence, Italy, containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze under the patronage of the Medici pope Clement VII, the library was built to emphasize that the Medici were no longer just merchants but members of intelligent and ecclesiastical society. It contains the manuscripts and books belonging to the private library of the Medici family. The library building is renowned for its architecture that was designed by Michelangelo and is an example of Mannerism.Fazio, Michael; Moffett, Marian; Wodehouse, Lawrence, ''Buildings across Time'' (London: Lawrence King Publishing Ltd, 2009), pp. 308–310.Lotz, Wolfgang; Howard, Deborah, ''Architecture in Italy, 1500–1600'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 91–94. All of the book-bound manuscripts in the library are identified in its ''Codex Lau ...
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Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico anno 2013, datISTAT/ref> Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered by many academics to have been the birthplace of the Renaissance, becoming a major artistic, cultural, commercial, political, economic and financial center. During this time, Florence rose to a position of enormous influence in Italy, Europe, and beyond. Its turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city served as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy (established in 1861). The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Ital ...
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Bartolomeo Ammannati
Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 151113 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the design of the Library of St. Mark's, the ''Biblioteca Marciana'', Venice) and closely imitated the style of Michelangelo. He was more distinguished in architecture than in sculpture. He worked in Rome in collaboration with Vignola and Vasari), including designs for the Villa Giulia, but also for works and at Lucca. He labored during 1558–1570, in the refurbishment and enlargement of Pitti Palace, creating the courtyard consisting of three wings with rusticated facades, and one lower portico leading to the amphitheatre in the Boboli Gardens. His design mirrored the appearance of the main external façade of Pitti. He was also named ''Consul'' of Accademia delle Arti del Disegno of Florence, which had been founded by the Duke Cosimo I in 1563. In 1569, Ammanati was commissioned to bu ...
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Kim Williams (architect)
Kim Williams is an American architect, an independent scholar on the connections between architecture and mathematics, and a book publisher. She is the founder of the ''Nexus: Architecture and Mathematics'' conference series, the founder and co-editor-in-chief of ''Nexus Network Journal'', and the author of several books on mathematics and architecture. Williams has a degree in architectural studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and is a licensed architect in New York. Books Williams is the author of: *''Italian Pavements: Patterns in Space'' (Anchorage Press, 1997) *''The Villas of Palladio'' (illustrated by Giovanni Giaconi, Princeton Architectural Press, 2003) She is an editor, translator, and commentator of older works on architecture and mathematics including: *''The Mathematical Works of Leon Battista Alberti'' (with Lionel March Lionel John March (26 January 1934 20 February 2018) was a British mathematician, architect and digital artist, perhaps best known ...
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Geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a ''geometer''. Until the 19th century, geometry was almost exclusively devoted to Euclidean geometry, which includes the notions of point, line, plane, distance, angle, surface, and curve, as fundamental concepts. During the 19th century several discoveries enlarged dramatically the scope of geometry. One of the oldest such discoveries is Carl Friedrich Gauss' ("remarkable theorem") that asserts roughly that the Gaussian curvature of a surface is independent from any specific embedding in a Euclidean space. This implies that surfaces can be studied ''intrinsically'', that is, as stand-alone spaces, and has been expanded into the theory of manifolds and Riemannian geometry. Later in the 19th century, it appeared that geometries ...
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Terra Cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta is the term normally used for sculpture made in earthenware and also for various practical uses, including vessels (notably flower pots), water and waste water pipes, roofing tiles, bricks, and surface embellishment in building construction. The term is also used to refer to the natural brownish orange color of most terracotta. In archaeology and art history, "terracotta" is often used to describe objects such as figurines not made on a potter's wheel. Vessels and other objects that are or might be made on a wheel from the same material are called earthenware pottery; the choice of term depends on the type of object rather than the material or firing technique. Unglazed pieces, and those made for building construction and industry, are ...
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Laurentian Library Plan
Laurentian (French: ''Laurentides'' or ''Laurentien'') may refer to: *Relation to Saint Lawrence Geography North America *Laurentide Ice Sheet, the continental glacier covering much of North America during the Pleistocene Epoch *Relating to the Saint Lawrence River Canada *Laurentia, the craton at the heart of the North American continent *Canadian Shield, also known as the ''Laurentian Shield'' or the ''Laurentian Plateau''. *Laurentian Divide, also known as the ''"Northern Divide"'', a continental divide in North America *Laurentian Mountains in Quebec *Laurentian Upland *Laurentian Abyss or ''Abyssal'' – a trench off the eastern coast of Canada *Laurentides, administrative region in Quebec *Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, in Quebec *Saint-Lin–Laurentides, a municipality in Quebec *Laurentien (Quebec City) (in French: quartier "Notre-Dame-des-Laurentides"), a borough in Quebec City, Quebec * Laurentian, Ontario, a neighbourhood within Valley East, Ontario Other *Laurentian Univ ...
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Vestibule (Architecture)
A vestibule (also anteroom, antechamber, or foyer) is a small room leading into a larger space such as a lobby, entrance hall or passage, for the purpose of waiting, withholding the larger space view, reducing heat loss, providing storage space for outdoor clothing, etc. The term applies to structures in both modern and classical architecture since ancient times. In modern architecture, a vestibule is typically a small room next to the outer door and connecting it with the interior of the building. In ancient Roman architecture, a vestibule ( la, vestibulum) was a partially enclosed area between the interior of the house and the street. Ancient usage Ancient Greece Vestibules were common in ancient Greek temples. Due to the construction techniques available at the time, it was not possible to build large spans. Consequently, many entranceways had two rows of columns that supported the roof and created a distinct space around the entrance. In ancient Greek houses, the prothyru ...
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Pilasters
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though it were a column, with a capital at the top, plinth (base) at the bottom, and the various other column elements. In contrast to a pilaster, an engaged column or buttress can support the structure of a wall and roof above. In human anatomy, a pilaster is a ridge that extends vertically across the femur, which is unique to modern humans. Its structural function is unclear. Definition In discussing Leon Battista Alberti's use of pilasters, which Alberti reintroduced into wall-architecture, Rudolf Wittkower wrote: "The pilaster is the logical transformation of the column for the decoration of a wall. It may be defined as a flattened column which has lost its three-dimensional and tactile value." A pil ...
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Pietra Serena
Pietra serena is a blue-gray sandstone used extensively in Renaissance Florence for architectural details. It is also known as Macigno stone. The material obtained at Fiesole is considered the best and is also quarried at Arezzo, Cortona, and Volterra, although it is no longer being actively mined and has been placed under conservation status due to depleting resources. Examples of its use in Florence include the interior pilasters, entablatures, and other decorative elements of Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel and Michelangelo's Medici Chapel. The most well-known of its quarries in the Florentine area is the Trassinaia quarry. History Pietra serena was first largely discovered by the Etruscans in the Archaic period who occupied the medieval Italian area of Fiesole. It was used in the construction of much notable Italian architecture during the "Golden Age of Rome", including that of artists such as Michelangelo, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Vasari. It was also used in building str ...
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