3 Things I learned about Renaissance

What is the Renaissance?

    The Renaissance is a period of transition between the Middle ages to Modern times. In the end of the 12th century, mankind was viewed with full of sin and ashes. The Middle age view made men showing sin and guiltiness just from his appearance. But as the Renaissance period took place, things started to change, and people viewed man almost "godlike." After all, humans are creations of mankind. Man was created in God's image. It showed strength, reason, and made ideas that man could become almost like god. Mankind quickly developed with new ideas and started making all kinds of art; massive buildings that were considered impossible just a few generations before; sculptures that are more magnificent than anything, this period was considered a massive social change in Europe.

                     Mona Lisa (approx. 1503) - by Leonardo Da Vinci; a Renaissance masterpiece

3 Things I learned about Renaissance

    The first thing I learned is that the the Renaissance period's knowledge was from ancient countries. . In the 1st century, the Roman Empire ruled the western world. It had more than a million people in its capital, Rome. It dictated all art, architecture, math, and everything else. But as years passed, the barbarians took the upper hand in fighting, and the western Roman empire fell. The architecture, mathematics, art, and other ideas decayed with the city, to be forgotten. Later, a city named Constantinople (Byzantine Empire), became the 2nd Rome, having half a million people, beautiful architecture, and ancient knowledge stored. The byzantine empire started to go apart, and a large exodus of scholars ran away with the valuable ancient books. This made a wave of knowledge flow through the west, and inspired painters, architects, and many others. 

    The second thing I learned is that the Renaissance not only brought back the ancient knowledge, but expanded it further. In 1300's Florence, there were plans for the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, but it was never built for a century. In 1418, Filippo Brunelleschi was the first one to take the task of building the massive building. He was a architect, a sculptor, a inventor and an engineer. He invented special cranes that would be used for the dome and would later revolutionize building methods. He rediscovered perspective. Perspective drawing would also inspire painters, and made Renaissance paintings more realistic than ever before. This new form of architecture spread from Italy to other countries such as Switzerland, Spain, France and so on. This style that was inspired by ancient buildings, took symmetry and columns very important. 

    The third thing I learned is that the Renaissance period was not just a period of amazing art and buildings, but it was a time after the black plague that motivated the people that survived to 'enjoy' the rest of their lives. The Black Plague wiped out one-thirds of the whole population of Europe. Florence, for example, had only 1/5th of its population surviving. and happened just before the Renaissance. The Renaissance brought back hope and a meaning of enjoy and living life. This lead to a new elite, such as merchants and bankers, whom were ignored in the middle ages but quickly rose to power during the Renaissance.

My judgement

    I think the Renaissance period was a miracle in human society because it brought back many of the amazing things mankind has done and brought back hope and fun to mankind. We can still see many of the great artworks and architectures that were built during the period, and these architectures helped build the world we live in today.

Thank you!