Comitium på Roms forum och Rikssalen på Stockholms slott – om deras likhet med ledning av Albertis De re aedificatoria

Abstract

The Comitium in Rome and the Hall of State in Stockholm Royal Palace – On their similarities under the guidance of Alberti´s De re aedificatoria

The use of parables in Alberti’s treatise De re aedificatoria reappears in drawings by the architect Nicodemus Tessin the younger, in the late 17th century. Alberti established an “moralized architecture” based on Cicero’s De officiis, which particularly influenced the relationship between function and form. The Comitium, a demarcated part of Rome’s forum for the people’s assembly, reflected its qualities of accessibility to the square and of orderly meetings. These functions were later transferred to a basilica and two curia buildings for religious and secular matters. According to Alberti all three were richly adorned with internal columns. The advent of the laws of the Twelve Tables, Duodecim Tabulae, with the Republic’s law texts engraved, were intimately associated with the Comitium. The projects of Inigo Jones, John Webb and Christopher Wren for Whitehall, a synonym for central government, appears to include structures based on Alberti’s tract. The Banqueting House is for example combined with a chapel. Corresponding elements appear in Tessin’s drawings for the Royal Palace in Stockholm. The Hall of State at Stockholm Palace, where the King met with the Parliament, appears to compile and fuse Alberti’s information about the basilica, the curia and the royal reception room. The tablets with ethical sentences in Tessin’s drawing reflect Cicero’s role for Alberti’s architectural theory.