Ken Burns famously said “Architecture is the most important and influential of all art forms simply because it works on us at all times.” And no architectural style has been more influential than classical. Derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, the style, especially in the Western world, dominated architectural design from the Italian Renaissance until World War II.

From the collapse of the Western Roman empire in the 5th century until the Carolingian Renaissance of the 8th and 9th centuries, classical architecture was in hibernation. The style once again rocketed to prominence in 15th century Florence, where the Italian Renaissance was born. From there, in one iteration or another, classical architecture continued to grow, helped along enormously by people like the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio and the English cultural trendsetter Lord Burlington. The style possibly reached its apogee in 18th Britain and 19th century America, when it was the dominant style of power and prestige.

This three-week course will examine outstanding and influential public and private buildings from the 1st to the 21st centuries that helped create the modern world.