Art & Architecture at the Tempietto

Thanks to the Core Curriculum, University of Dallas Rome students are not so different from Renaissance architects. At UD, study of the past guides students as they head into the future. Renaissance architects followed a similar principle. Their education was found in the close examination of ancient Roman ruins. Yet, having mastered the rules by which ancient buildings were constructed, Renaissance architects were not expected to imitate anquity precisely. Rather, they were to exercise invenzione, creating something entirely new within that body of rules.

On Wednesday 12 March, UD students art & architecture students headed to Rome for an in-depth study of invenzione at Bramante's Tempietto on the Janiculum Hill. Often called the "jewel of the Renaissance," this smallest-of-churches marks a spot on which medieval Romans believed Saint Peter to have been crucified. About 1500, Bramante was given the opportunity to memorialize this holy site and he did so by creating a building that both pays homage to Rome's ancient architectural tradition and sets architecture on a new course.

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