Architecture

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AP Art History › Architecture

Questions 1 - 10
1

Semi-circular arches from the first millenneum CE are a common feature of European churches in the style of architecture known as __________.

Romanesque

Gothic

Classical

Byzantine

Explanation

Romanesque churches dominated European architecture from sometime in the mid-to-late first millennium CE until about 1200. Romanesque churches were massive stone edifices that were marked out by having their doors and windows constructed out of simple semi-circular arches. Romanesque architecture was largely supplanted by the much more ornate and imposing Gothic style in the late Middle Ages.

2

Which of these statements about Greek temples is most accurate?

They were designed to be seen from the outside, where they emphasized balance over mystery

They were designed to be increasingly more beautiful as the worshiper went deeper into the temple area

They were designed by competing architects, each trying to outdo the previous in scale and design

They were only made of stone

They were built as gathering places for worshipers

Explanation

Temples epitomized the Greek way of life. They formed a balanced and aesthetically pleasing background to the daily lives of the Greeks, not necessarily places of active worship for the masses. They were built to be seen from outside, where their harmony spoke of the rationality of life.

3

The sides of a door or window frame, often decorated with sculpture in medieval churches, is called a _____________.

jamb

portal

tympanum

cornice

Explanation

The side of a window frame or doorway in a medieval church is called a jamb. In medieval churches, the portal (or entrance way) often was elaborated with decorative sculpture on every available surface, including the jamb and the tympanum, the semi-circular or triangular wall space over a door.

4

Gettyimages 94911839

Monte Albán, estimated to have been built in 500BC, and located in what is now known as the state of Oaxaca in Mexico, was primarily occupied by which pre-Columbian civilization?

The Zapotec civilization

The Aztec civilization

The Olmec civilization

The Inca civilization

The Mayan civilization

Explanation

Monte Albán was the cultural and political center of the Zapotec civilization for over one thousand years. The Zapotec civilization occupied the area now known as Oaxaca in Mexico. It was founded between 500 and 700BC, and later abandoned, over 1,000 years later. Although other Pre-Columbian civilizations discovered and potentially occupied the remains of Monte Albán after its abandonment, no civilization occupied it as their cultural and political center like the Zapotec civilization did.

5

All of the following are architectural features of a mosque except __________________.

muezzin

minaret

minbar

qibla wall

Explanation

A "minaret" is a tower on a mosque from which a crier, or muezzin, calls the faithful to prayer. A "minbar" is a podium for a reader of the Koran. The "qibla wall," found in the prayer hall, points the believer towards Mecca.

6

The __________ was a basilica church that was converted into a mosque in 1453 following the Ottoman invasion of Turkey.

An image of the building is shown below.

File:Hagia Sophia Cathedral.jpg

Hagia Sophia

Sistine Chapel

Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmet

Crystal Mosque

Wazir Khan Mosque

Explanation

This is an image of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.

It was first a Greek Basilica church under Constantine and converted to a Mosque when the Turks invaded and occupied Istanbul in 1453.

This is the only answer choice that fits the historical context of being converted to a mosque in this region (Istanbul, Turkey/Greece). Though the Blue Mosque is in Istanbul, it was built after the occupation.

Image is in the public domain, accessed through Wikipedia Media Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hagia\_Sophia\_Cathedral.jpg

7

Semi-circular arches from the first millenneum CE are a common feature of European churches in the style of architecture known as __________.

Romanesque

Gothic

Classical

Byzantine

Explanation

Romanesque churches dominated European architecture from sometime in the mid-to-late first millennium CE until about 1200. Romanesque churches were massive stone edifices that were marked out by having their doors and windows constructed out of simple semi-circular arches. Romanesque architecture was largely supplanted by the much more ornate and imposing Gothic style in the late Middle Ages.

8

Le Corbusier's Five Points of Architecture are best captured in the building _____________________.

Villa Savoye

Fallingwater

Farnsworth House

Monticello

Explanation

Le Corbusier was both a practicing architect and an architectural theorist. These two identities were best joined in his design and construction of Villa Savoye outside of Paris. The building intentionally and forcefully followed Le Corbusier's manifesto Five Points of Architecture. The five points Villa Savoye followed were having pilotis that lifted the building off the ground, a functional roof that could be used as a garden, a free floor plan without load bearing walls allowing interior openness, large windows that provided vast amounts of natural light, and freely designed facades that acted merely as a skin on the outside of the building.

9

The Roman building the Pantheon features columns in the style called __________.

Corinthian

Ionic

Doric

Composite

Explanation

Ancient Greek and Roman architecture can be broken down into three main chronological groupings, from oldest to youngest: the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian. As a building of the Roman Empire, the Pantheon, built between 27 BCE and 126 CE, is emblematic of the Corinthian order, especially its ornate columns lining its portico.

10

The neoclassical artistic movement of the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries was inspired by which ancient civilization or civilizations?

The ancient Greeks and the ancient Romans

The ancient Greeks

The ancient Romans

The ancient Egyptians

Mesopotamians

Explanation

Neoclassicism was inspired by both ancient Greek and ancient Roman civilizations. This can be seen in its use of columns and other characteristics commonly associated with Greek and Roman art and architecture. Neoclassical sculptures also greatly resemble ancient Greek and ancient Roman sculptures.

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