Theory of architectural proportions, judgments and Lithuanian architecture
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Architektūra; Lietuvos architektūra; Proporcijos; Gotika; Neoklasicizmas; Architecture; Proportions; Pythagoreanism; Gothic; Neoclassicism; Lithuanian architecture.
ENThe paper discusses the theories of proportions in various periods of Western civilization starting with classical Greece and their development into the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Although no major study has been published in this field yet, the author examines how a Lithuanian architectural historian studied these systems of proportions, which we often take for granted as sources of beauty when evaluating architectural structures. By criticizing the assertions such as “proportions can be grasped by a viewer almost instantaneously”, the author agrees those architectural philosophers and aestheticians who question such a simplistic attitude, and argues that architectural experience is more than a simple and immediate sense of sight — it also involves touching, hearing and other sensations. Besides, the architectural experience of the aesthetic kind demands certain other things. Focused attention and knowledge are among these requirements, thus, architecture can hardly be considered immediate in its impact. Though the role of architectural proportions plays out in judging and appreciating architecture, the aesthetics of architecture cannot depend on such notions as symmetry, harmony or proportions alone. [From the publication]
