Renovatio Urbis ─ Architecture, Urbanism and Ceremony in the Rome of Julius II

The material here first appeared in his 2001 PhD dissertation, says Temple (architecture, U. of Lincoln, England), then again as a series of research papers in various cities as he tested his ideas and gauged responses from other academics. Here he regroups the tempered and battle hardened ideas back into a unified treatise. He shows how the proposals for new ceremonial streets, bridges, public squares, and building during the pontificate of Julius II (1503-13) were motivated by a desire to remap and so transform the topography of the ancient and medieval city. This, he argues, was part of a larger scheme by humanists and artists in the papal court to promote Rome as another Jerusalem and a renewed imperial city. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Nicholas Temple is Professor of Architecture at the University of Lincoln, having previously taught at the University of Liverpool, Nottingham University, the University of Pennsylvania and Leeds Metropolitan University. A Rome Scholar (1986-88), his previous publications include Disclosing Horizons: Architecture, Perspective and Redemptive Space and co-editor of The Humanities in Architectural Design (Routledge 2006 and 2010).