doc. PhDr. Richard Biegel, Ph.D.
| Email: | richard.biegel@avu.cz |
| Workplace: | Department of Theory and History of Art |
Biegel’s scholarly monographs focus on European architecture of the latter half of 18th century (Between Baroque and Classicism: Changes of Architecture in Bohemia and Europe, 1750–1800, 2012), Baroque architecture (Baroque Architecture in Bohemia, 2015), and the changing historic center of Prague during the 19th and 20th centuries (A City in the Storm: Urban Planning and Architecture of the History Center of Prague, 1830–1970, 2022). In addition to his teaching at AVU, Biegel is also a professor at the Institute of Art History of the School of Liberal Arts, Charles University, and Chair of the Club for Old Prague.
List of Courses
- History of Architecture and the City I: European Architecture from Middle Ages to mid-1700s
- History of Architecture and the City II: European Architecture 1750–1960
- History of Architecture and the City III: Urban Planning and Architecture of European Metropolises
History of Architecture and Urban Design I: European architecture from Middle Ages to 1750
The purpose of this lecture course is to present the changes in European architecture from the beginning of Middle Ages to the mid-1700s. With reference to the key landmarks and their designers, we analyze the breaking moments of history of architecture, such as Romanesque beginnings that build on the legacy of Green and Roman Antiquity; the Gothic synthesis and the creation of a new construction system; varieties of innovation of the Italian Renaissance; as well as Baroque spatial and illusionist experiments. The periods are not conceived of as mutually exclusive and clearly defined chapters in history of art, but as fascinating moments of creative search for various approaches. Thus, our purpose is not to present a „goose step of styles“ but, on the contrary, their mutual interdependence, openness, and especially their inspirational nature across centuries and regions. The survey of European architecture is supplemented with a presentation of architecture in Bohemian Lands that marvelously exemplify the majority of key European phenomena.
History of Architecture and Urban Design II: European Architecture 1750–1960
The topic follows on from the previous course which focused on the architecture from Middle Ages to mid-1700s. Lectures cover the influence of the French Revolution in architecture, Neoclassicism, varieties of historicism in the context of individual architectural and cultural regions, the coming of engineering of architecture, the birth of modern trends and their evolution, and, finally, the onset of the radical avant-garde approaches and their consequences for European as well as Czech architecture. Each phenomenon is presented in a context which makes it possible to understand the circumstances of their origin, and also the reasons why each phenomenon was accepted and developed in its particular way.
History of Architecture and Urban Design III: Urban Planning and Architecture of European Capitals
The purpose of the course is to present, as a follow-up to the previous presentation of history of European architecture, the development of urban planning and architecture of select European capitals (Rome, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London, Prague). Students are led to acquire a complex understanding of individual strata of urban development, as well as connections between the evolution of a particular city, on the one hand, and general trends of urban development across Europe.