Architecture: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Oct. 27, 2026

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The Great Court at the British Museum in London features a large central rotunda surrounded by wide steps and a glass and steel lattice roof, with visitors walking throughout the space.

Ornate courtyard of the Palace of Versailles in France, featuring grand symmetrical facades with gold accents, tall windows, and a black-and-white checkered floor.

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, with its large central dome, smaller domes, and six slender minarets rising above landscaped gardens.

Temple II, also known as the Temple of the Masks, rises in stepped stone tiers with a central staircase at the Great Plaza in Tikal, Guatemala, surrounded by trees and grass.

Chartres Cathedral with its two distinct spires and large rose window rises above nearby rooftops, illuminated by warm sunlight against a partly cloudy sky.

Ornate Buddhist temple Wat Bovil with golden roof details and white columns, centered among palm trees and manicured bushes in Battambang, Cambodia.

Jeanne Gang on the future of architecture

Hear Renzo Piano speaking about his design for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta

See students making various shell structures of frozen fabric made out of ice and fabric

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Examine how the Rookery building symbolized the rise of the modern city from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871

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governmental architecture Western architecture religious architecture Stirling Prize Mesopotamian architecture Iranian architecture Anatolian architecture Indian architecture industrial architecture recreational architecture film dance Printmaking Sculpture Painting Drawing History of photography literature theatre music

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Key People

Jacques Herzog

Swiss architect

Bruce Graham

American architect

Giuliano da Sangallo

Italian architect

Henry Mather Greene

American architect

Antonio da Sangallo the Elder

Italian architect

José Benito Churriguera

Spanish architect

Jacques Androuet du Cerceau

French architect

Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau

French architect

Jean I Androuet du Cerceau

French architect

Pierre de Meuron

Swiss architect

Alberto Churriguera

Spanish architect

Ryue Nishizawa

Japanese architect

Pierre Fontaine

French architect

Robert Venturi

American architect

Joaquín Churriguera

Spanish architect

Onorio Longhi

Italian architect

Kazuyo Sejima

Japanese architect

Antonio da Sangallo, the Younger

Italian architect

Martino Longhi, the Younger

Italian architect

Martino Longhi, the Elder

Italian architect

Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.

Architecture: The Built World

Aerial view of Florence (Firenze), Italy from the campanile of the Duomo, with the gigantic dome (designed by Filippo Brunelleschi) in the foreground. Unidentifiable tourists are visible on top of the dome, which provide a measure of the building s scale.

History of Architecture Quiz

Drawing by Edward Lear for his poem "There was an Old Man in a tree, who was horribly bored by a bee; When they said, "Does it buzz?" he replied, "Yes, it does!" (cont'd)

Everything in Art and Design (Part One) Quiz

Architecture: Quick Facts

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