Renaissance Architecture in Slovakia

From Italy the styles of the Renaissance began to travel northwards into what is now East Slovakia. Because the Slavs were not familiar with the new principles of design and architecture, they invited foreigners to supervise their new buildings. But Italy was not the only source of influence; from the west - from Silesia and Saxony, where Gothic was changing to a more intimate and human style - came builders, architects and sculptors. Indeed, for students of the Renaissance to see only the well-known High Renaissance buildings gives a false view of what most towns were like. The merchants and princes of this area were rich enough to build great houses, but far away enough from the center of the new movement to have minds and wills of their own; a new type of architecture came into being, uniting the best of sunny south and solemn west.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.