The Round Cloister of Bramante's Tempietto

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Description
The original design for the round cloister by Donato Bramante, meant to accompany his Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio, dates from the early 16th century. It was initially planned to be situated between the pre-existing church of San Pietro in Montorio and its older cloister. However, the round cloister was never realized as envisioned; instead, a rectangular cloister was built, placing the Tempietto at its center. This adjusted plan is detailed in Sebastiano Serlio’s "I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura" (1570), which presents an idealized schematic of the design. The specifics of whether the cloister was intended to have one or two stories, or if the 16 columns were meant to support an entablature or a series of arches, are not documented clearly. The design has been depicted several times throughout the history of architecture. Notably, Paul Marie Letarouilly’s 1940 illustration critiques the feasibility of Serlio's depicted four chapels, pointing out spatial conflicts with the transept apse of the main church.

Classification
Identifiers Category Type Condition Origin Period
Wikidata: Q12960184 Single Built Work Cloisters
Getty AAT: 300007423
Never-realised Renaissance

Creation
Year Time Frame Creator Creator ID
Not specified 1502-1510 Donato Bramante Wikidata: Q7793

Location
Address Coordinates City ID
Piazza di S. Pietro in Montorio, 2, 00153 Roma RM, Italy 41° 53' 19" N , 12° 27' 59" E

Available sources
Type Holder Author Creation Date Content
Conceptual design Not specified Not provided

Digital Reconstructions
Prefix Covered Time Frame Dataset License Authors
CLROM1510 1510 Attribution (CC-BY) Nicola D'Addario