Militaty architecture: Fortification plans by S. Fernández de Medrano, 1677

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As many of the readers will surely have guessed, militaty architecture and even more, Renaissance militaty architecture, is among my favourite pursuits. These plans on the construction of the characteristic bastion fortifications, belong to the treatise “Rudimentos Geométricos y Militares” by the Spanish engineer Sebastián Fernández de Medrano, printed in 1677 at Brussels. Spanish and Italian engineers at the service of the Spanish crown were among the best in the world at that time.

Delphi, Apollo’s Sanctuary: Architecture

Το my wife Nelly, my inspiration and guiding light of my life.

Temple of Athena Pronaea at Delphi
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Some digital and artwork architectural reconstructions of temples in Apollo’s Sanctuary at Delphi, Phokis (Central Greece).

Erechtheion (Acropolis of Athens): Architecture

Two architectural representations of the Erechtheion temple (a digital one and an artwork) in the Acropolis of Athens (c. 420 BC).

Architecture of the Athenian Acropolis

 

In this post I present digital reconstructions of an architectural detail in the southwest wing of (above) and of the temple of Erechtheion (below). Both refer to buildings of the Acropolis of ancient Athens. Guess who’s the figure standing in front of the Erechtheion!

Temple plans of Angkor Wat

Site plans of Angkor Wat, a massive temple complex in Cambodia :

Κωνσταντινούπολη, Βασιλίς πόλεων

Η παρούσα ανάρτηση αφορά τις εντυπωσιακές αναπαραστάσεις της Κωνσταντινούπολης, της ‘Βασιλίδος πόλεων’, από τον σημαντικό Γάλλο καλλιτέχνη  Antoine Helbert. Εντυπωσιάσθηκα ιδιαίτερα από τις διατομές του και τις απόψεις από αέρος. Οι ακόλουθες αναπαραστάσεις περιλαμβάνουν πέντε απόψεις της Πόλης από αέρος (οι οποίες απεικονίζουν μεταξύ πολλών άλλων κτισμάτων, τον Ιππόδρομο, την Αγία Σοφία κ.α.), δύο διατομές της Αγίας Σοφίας (από τις οποίες η μία είναι λεπτομέρεια της άλλης), διατομές του Βουκολέοντος ήτοι του παράκτιου αυτοκρατορικού παλατίου, και του Περιστυλίου του Μεγάλου Παλατίου, τα τείχη της Πόλης το 1204 όταν οι Σταυροφόροι είχαν στρατοπεδεύσει μπροστά τους, και τέλος τη σκληρή μάχη εναντίον των Οθωμανών στην πύλη του Αγίου Ρωμανού το 1453.

© Τα πνευματικά δικαιώματα των ακολούθων αναπαραστάσεων ανήκουν στον Antoine Helbert.

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Constantinople, Queen of cities: Architecture (part IΙ)

© Credit/copyright of the following representations belongs to Antoine Helbert.

Constantinople, Queen of cities: Architecture (part I)

Today I’ m posting the impressive representations of Constantinople, the Byzantine ‘Queen of cities’, by Antoine Helbert, a French artist. I was impressed mostly by his cross-sections and aerial views. The following representations include five aerial views of Constantinople (depicting among many other features the Hippodrome, the cathedral of Aghia Sophia and many others), two cross-sections of Aghia Sophia (the one being a detail of the other), cross-sections of Boukoleon being the royal palace by the sea, and the Peristylion of the central grand palace and its hall, the walls of the city in 1204 when the Crusaders camped in front of them, and finally the battle at the gate of St. Romanos in 1453 when the city was besieged and captured by the Ottomans.

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© Credit/copyright of the following representations belongs to Antoine Helbert.

Porta Grecorum

Republication  from militaryarchitecture.com

 

Mdina, circa 1565, showing position of gateways and early Hospitaller bastions

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Mdina’s medieval gate.

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Perhaps the most visible and most evident vestige of the medieval defences of Mdina is Greeks Gate, or Porta Grecorum. Although this was not the main entrance into the city, but merely a porta falsa, or secondary gateway that went down directly into the land front ditch, it is nonetheless the only complete medieval entrance in all of the Maltese islands to have survived to the present day and, therefore, tells us much about the nature and workings of fortified medieval entrances.

The fortress of Valletta 1566

Republication  from militaryarchitecture.com

Valletta, named after its founder, Grand Master of the Order of St John, Jean Parisot de Valette, was built after the Great Siege of 1565 with the financial help of a Christendom grateful for the defeat of Suleiman’s war machine.

French Military Architecture in Malta

Source: Militaryarchitecture.com

Militaryarchitecture.com presents the first in an exclusive series of lectures by Dr. Stephen C. Spiteri on Military Architecture and Fortification.