Neoclassical architecture – how to recognise the style

Neoclassicism is the architectural style that from around 1750 took up the Greek and Roman forms of antiquity again: temple fronts with columns, symmetry, smooth walls and sparing decoration. It was used for museums, churches, government buildings and palaces well into the 19th century. In Sweden it corresponds to the Gustavian style and later the Karl Johan style.

Facts

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In the middle of the 18th century architects began to travel to measure and draw the ruins of antiquity on site. The Greek temples at Paestum were rediscovered, and from 1762 the Englishmen James Stuart and Nicholas Revett published accurate illustrations of the buildings of Athens. For the first time Greek and Roman architecture could be compared.

At the same time the French priest Marc-Antoine Laugier argued in 1753 that architecture should return to the simple and original, to columns that carry and beams that rest on them. The swelling forms of the Baroque and Rococo were seen as overloaded. Read more on the page on Neoclassicism.

Paris and the dome

Jacques-Germain Soufflot designed the church of Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, begun in the 1750s, with a temple portico of Corinthian columns and a dome carried by free-standing columns inside the church. During the Revolution it became a mausoleum for the nation's great men, the Panthéon.

Under Napoleon Neoclassicism took on a Roman and imperial character, the Empire style. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, begun in 1806, is an enlarged version of the arches of the Roman emperors. Read about the Romans' buildings in the guide to Roman architecture.

Greek Revival in Berlin and London

In Germany and Britain the Greek model became the most important, and the style is sometimes called Greek Revival. The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, built 1788–1791, was inspired by the Propylaea on the Acropolis. Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed the Altes Museum in 1823–1830 with a long Ionic colonnade in front of a rotunda that recalls the Pantheon.

In London the British Museum received a mighty Ionic façade, and in his own home, today Sir John Soane's Museum, John Soane created an idiosyncratic and light-filled version of classicism. In Russia and Finland whole city centres were built in the style, such as Helsinki Cathedral by Carl Ludvig Engel and St Isaac's Cathedral in St Petersburg.

Neoclassicism in Sweden

Gustav III had seen Italy and wanted antiquity in Stockholm. Gustav III's Pavilion in Haga Park, designed by Olof Tempelman and decorated by Louis Masreliez in 1787–1792, is one of the finest examples in the Nordic countries, with interiors inspired by Pompeii.

Under Karl XIV Johan the style took on a heavier, Empire-influenced form. Rosendal Palace on Djurgården, built 1823–1827 by Fredrik Blom, is a typical example. The same development can be seen in furniture and interiors; read the guides to the Gustavian style and the Karl Johan style.

An international language of state

Neoclassicism became the style of new nations and institutions. In the United States Thomas Jefferson designed his home Monticello and the University of Virginia in classical forms, and the Capitol in Washington was built with a dome and colonnades. Columns signalled democracy, science and permanence.

That is why there are Neoclassical buildings in almost every capital: parliaments, courts, banks, museums and universities. During the 19th century the classical forms were mixed with other styles in Historicism, but the classical temple front lived on well into the 20th century.

How to recognise it

Exercise

Which building did Karl Friedrich Schinkel design?