Fun fact! Autocratic political/belief systems often have some sort of architecture associated with them. This is because building big monuments and buildings is a good way to communicate power. For the USSR, the architecture was brutalism, which is when the buildings look kind of like space ships and are vaguely threatening. I like brutalist buildings, personally, but I digress. In the 16th centuries, especially in the Austrian empire, the Baroque style was used by the ruling classes in this way. Baroque architecture reinforced the power of the state and the Church, which at the time was in the process of splitting into Protestant and Catholic groups.
Baroque architecture specifically supports the Catholic (read: State-supported) parts of the split. The style is marked by complicated patterns and significant use of precious materials, which could be interpreted as a response to Protestant complaints about excess. I would assume that a conversation would go something like this:
Protestant: Our church is broken! We waste our money on frivolous decoration when we should take care of the less fortunate!
State Church, actively dumping a bucket of gold on a naked angel baby: Shut up! We’re perfect and you’re going to hell.
Don’t trust anyone who uses religion as a hammer against their dissenters, kids. You probably already knew that, though. The threat of being sent to hell eternally because one disagrees with something is normally enough to keep people in line, and so it is often deployed. The ruler isn’t the highest power, the god is, and the god picked the ruler specifically to be in power, so if you argue with the ruler you argue with the god, and the god always wins. It’s really manipulative and I think that it’s evil since it twists and misrepresents religion in order to control.
Anyway, back to Baroque. Baroque architecture continued the Renaissance trend of imitating Roman and Greek art, which is cool and all, but like most art based on Greek and Roman mythology it romanticized some really gross aspects of the myths in order to support the state agendas of the time. Association with Rome made the ruling powers at the time seem older than they actually were, which makes them seem more important. It’s hard to challenge something that acts like it's been around forever.
I guess this isn’t so much an article about architecture as much as it is about power, control and government. I’m tired, rulers are corrupt, and the world is depressing.
