Earthquake Baroque
Baroque architecture intended to resist earthquakes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Earthquake Baroque, or Seismic Baroque, is a style of Baroque architecture found in the Philippines and in Guatemala, which were Spanish-ruled territories that suffered destructive earthquakes during the 17th and the 18th centuries. Large public buildings, such as churches, were then rebuilt in a Baroque style during the Spanish colonial periods in those countries.[1]
Similar events led to the Pombaline architecture in Lisbon following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and Sicilian Baroque in Sicily following the 1693 earthquake.
Top to Bottom: Panay church entrance with view of façade Pilasters, Paoay church buttresses.Characteristics
In the Spanish East Indies, the destruction of churches from frequent earthquakes made subsequent church designs to have lower and wider proportions. Side walls were made thicker and heavily buttressed for stability during tremors, while upper structures were made with lighter materials.[2] In other cases, thinner walls were introduced by progressively decreasing their thickness to the topmost levels.[3]
Bell towers are usually lower and stouter than those in less seismically active regions of the world.[4] Towers are thicker in the lower levels, progressively narrowing to the topmost level.[2] In some Philippine churches, aside from functioning as watchtowers against pirates, some bell towers are detached from the main church building to avoid damage in case these would collapse in an earthquake.[citation needed]
Anini-y Church, Antique
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See also
- Baroque Churches of the Philippines
- List of Baroque churches in the Philippines
- List of Catholic churches in the Philippines
- Church architecture
- Spanish Colonial architecture
- Churrigueresque – Baroque architecture style in Spain
- Plateresque – Artistic and architectural movement