Frozen Music

"Architecture is music in space, as it were a frozen music." Friedrich Wihelm

Art and architecture prevail throughout Rome. One cannot take a single step into the vast city without noticing the timeless foundations. Take the Pantheon for example. It is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. It is 142 feet tall and 142 feet wide. And, it is home to the eternal Roman column: a single pillar of light which stands frozen in time.

The Eternal Roman Column in the Pantheon

Yet another timeless engineering accomplishment is St. Peter's Basilica. Intricate designs carved into

 marble and precious stones line every inch of the space inside. Even though the basilica is over three football fields long, Michelangelo intentionally designed it to feel small and more intimate. For example, the wooden canopy in the middle of the picture below is actually seven stories high and is placed deliberately under the dome to make the onlooker perceive the dome to be smaller than it actually is. This was also Michelangelo's last project before he died. He only finished part of the dome. However, the basilica was finished after his death and followed Michelangelo's detailed blueprints.

St. Peter's Basilica

"Architecture has recorded the great ideas of the human race. Not only every religious symbol, but every human thought has its page in that book." Victor Hugo

Speaking of Michelangelo, one of my absolute favorite sights thus far was the Sistine Chapel. I was able to capture a picture of the famous part of God breathing life into Adam before a security guard yelled at me. Here God is pictured in His crowning glory with an entourage of angles and attendants coming down to the helpless, limp form of Adam straining to touch his creator's outstretched hand. Michelangelo painstakingly painted each position of a hand, each way a face is turned, and each direction a figure gazes in a precise position to fabricate a story beginning with creation and ending with the final judgement. This celling has saturated millions of eyes which have gazed upon it with sheer, striking awe. Scholars agree that the Sistine Chapel is the greatest work of art in the world created by a single person. This is the epitome of music frozen in time.

-Katelyn

Sistine Chapel