Posted by: Francesca Grisolia 

Posted by: Brianna Kholer 

Posted by: Kayla Nunnally 

Posted by:  Melecia O'Malley 

Posted by:  Calvin Chen 

Title: Horseshow Arch Alhambra

Posted by:  Calvin Chen 

          Brno Ossuary is an example of structure made for need. As there was a need to store remains of the deceased at that time this place acted a perfect place to store it. What is though provoking is how today it is listed as a form of expression and heritage. 

          The Skull Rack discussed is rather a tragic architecture. The rack, according to the researchers, were used in human sacrifice rituals to preserve the Aztec way of life. The excavation site lies in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec civilization's heartland, which is now a portion of modern-day Mexico City. From around the 14th through the 16th century, the Mexica people lived there. When Spanish explorers arrived, they found the native inhabitants and their rituals to be barbarous, and they destroyed or covered over many of their constructions.

When viewed together all the architectural landmarks and structures share a common quality. Purpose. All these landmarks were made for a certain purpose. How we define that purpose is what is invariant among them. The Islamic Architectures shared are representation on the believes Islam holds and their manifestation in form of art. The focus of use of symbolism shows how meaning was given to them by the rulers who made them. The Chapel here similarly does the same thing for Christianity. Along with that another thing that we notice is the interpretation as today something as tragic as human sacrifice which is the believed purpose the skull rack shown is a place to be studied and visited for the sake of academic and recreation. Interpretation to these architectures is given by the period we are viewing them in. In terms of physical appearance, we do not similarities such as all the objects include all the necessary elements that are needed for them to function, the arches have material and mechanical benefit, the ossuary had places to hold skulls, the rack has poles to hold the skulls and the chapel has a place to pray and organize events. We can also see the use of decorative elements in structures made for cherishment of religion while the ones that exist only to serve certain purpose are kept simple. 

          The group of art tells us a lot about the history of art. We notice that when it came to making architecture most of the times they were made to praise or promote religion. Religion has been subjected to a lot of analysis by academics claiming it to be a factor that helps humans work of a larger scale as groups and by viewing such structures we can infer that architecture was used as a symbol of power during history. A group ruling a place left their landmarks there to promote and establish their believes in that place. This concept of using art of promote believes is something we even see today in form of contemporary and revolutionary art. Along with those cultures would stick to elements they discovered or believe to be of some spiritual importance when making palaces, forts, and chapels. Architecture, after observing these pieces of architecture one can see how expression of ideas was reflected not only in paintings but also structures.