The building is more like a palace inside than outside.In the middle of the inside is an open courtyard which has balconies around it.There is a big banqueting hall，a library，and other finely furnished rooms.This Renaissance building is called the Riccardi Palace because Riccardi was the name of the family who bought it from the Medici family who built and lived in it first.And now is a good time to notice a great big difference between Gothic and Renaissance buildings.In Gothic buildings most of the lines are up and down.The eye is carried from the ground straight up to the top of the building.But in Renaissance buildings most of the lines are lengthwise—horizontal.In the Riccardi Palace your eye notices the horizontal lines of stones，the windows all in line，the horizontal ledges under the windows，and the long，straight cornice.
Several famous Renaissance architects followed Brunelleschi.One，named Bramante，made a plan for a great cathedral to be built in Rome for the Pope.It was to be the largest church in the world.And was to be called St.Peter’s.But Bramante died before much work had been done.Several other architects worked on this big building，until it was finally given into the care of the mighty Michelangelo，who was the greatest Renaissance sculptor as well as a great painter，poet，and wonderful architect.Michelangelo was an old man，but he pushed the work forward on St.Peter’s so that it was almost finished at his death.Michelangelo’s plan was to have the church built in the form of a Greek cross，with a magnificent dome over the middle.
No.79-1RICCARDI PALACE，FLORENCE（佛罗伦萨里卡尔迪宫）Courtesy of The University Prints
No.79-2PLAZA OF ST.PETER’S，ROME（罗马圣彼得大教堂广场）Michelangelo made everything about St.Peter’s so tremendously large that thecathedral doesn’t look as large as it really is.That sounds funny，I know.You’d think the bigger a thing was，the bigger it would look.That isn’t always so.It depends on something called scale.If you take a photograph of a tree，you can’t tell from the photograph how big the tree is unless there is a man or a dog or a house or something near the tree to give you some way of measuring.（It is，the same with a map：you can’t tell whether a town is thirty miles away or three hundred miles unless there is a scale to measure by.）The windows of St.Peter’s are about four times as tall as a man.So unless you see a man near them you would naturally think they were about four times as small as they are，because most windows are about as tall as one man.That is the great trouble with St.Peter’s.It lacks scale.
Long after Michelangelo had died，anotherNo.79-3PLAN OF ST.PETER’S ROME
（罗马圣彼得大教堂平面）
Courtesy of The University Prints
architect added a new front to the cathedral，and this cut off the front view of Michelangelo’s wonderful dome.This architect also made the church a Latin cross by extending the front.Then still later another man named Bernini added twocolonnades，or rows of columns，to the front.These rows of columns are built around two sides of a great circular open space out in front of the cathedral.
The colonnades by Bernini are beautiful，but they haven’t anything to help us judge their size by，any more than the cathedral has.They lack scale，.just as the cathedral itself lacks scale.Look very closely at the picture and you will see some people in the square.When you measure the cathedral by them，you get some idea of how big it really is.
Look at the plan of St.Peter’s，showing the cathedral itself and，at the top of the plan，the arrangement of the Bernini colonnades.
Gothic columns were never very much like Roman columns.But the Renaissance architects used the Roman capitals on the columns of their buildings.Sometimes they even pulled down Roman buildings and used the columns for new Renaissance buildings.Notice，too，the columns，which are like Roman columns.
There were many famous Renaissance architects in Italy and they have left many famous buildings，but we’ll have to skip over some of them to tell you about a mannamed Palladio.Palladio made famous a special use of columns.The columns run from the ground up past two or three stories.This is called the Palladian style，because Palladio wrote a book about it which architects in other countries as well as in Italy found very useful.The front of St.Peter’s shows columns running past two stories.
Renaissance architecture spread from Italy to other countries and has been used ever since.All styles of architecture grow out of earlier styles.The Renaissance architecture grew by looking backward toward Rome，but its use came at a time when the world was looking forward to greater things.Explorers，scientists，thinkers were showing the way to modern times，though they were getting some of their ideas from studying ancient ways.They were looking backward but moving forward.
【中文阅读】
1492年，哥伦布发现了美洲。每个人都知道那个日子。所以要想记住文艺复兴式建筑在意大利开始的时间也就不难了。因为文艺复兴式建筑在意大利开始的时间与1492年哥伦布发现美洲同处一个15世纪。某些在15世纪初期建造的文艺复兴式建筑是最好的。下面有一幅佛罗伦萨里卡尔迪宫的图。它看起来不像宫殿，倒更像是一座堡垒，从外表看，它真的是一座堡垒。
那时佛罗伦萨战火连连，宫殿都不得不建成堡垒的样子。看到下面的窗户都配了铁栅栏吧。再注意一下底层用的，都是大块的粗石。这种砖式结构叫做“粗石式”。粗石的夹缝中再补石头，凸凹不齐，使建筑物看上去坚不可摧。
建筑物顶端的墙壁周围凸出来一圈壁架。这种壁架叫做飞檐。飞檐使建筑物看起来就不会像个死板的大盒子跺在那儿。飞檐是连接建筑物顶端的造型，与柱头和柱子的连接处是一样的。窗户上的拱门呈圆形，不像哥特式的尖拱。
建筑物的内部比外部更像是宫殿。殿内中央有一个露天庭院，还围有阳台。内设大型宴会厅、图书馆和其他精装房。这座文艺复兴式建筑物叫做里卡尔迪宫。虽然它最初是由美第奇家族建造并入住，但后来里卡尔迪家族从美第奇家族买下了这座宫殿。
现在我们来好好地比较一下文艺复兴式建筑与哥特式建筑的区别了。哥特式建筑的大部分线条都是纵向的，让视线从地面直上屋顶；而文艺复兴式建筑的线条都是延伸状的——即水平式的。看里卡尔迪宫你会注意到块块水平状的石头、排列整齐的窗户、窗下的水平式壁架，以及笔直修长的飞檐。
布鲁内莱斯基之后又出现了好几位著名的文艺复兴式建筑师。其中一位叫布拉曼特，他为教皇要在罗马建造的大教堂作了设计，计划建成世界上规模最大的教堂，也就是圣彼得大教堂。但布拉曼特在开工没多久就去世了。这项大工程就落到了其他几个建筑师头上，直到最终由伟大的米开朗基罗来接管。米开朗基罗是文艺复兴时期最伟大的雕刻家，同时也是伟大的画家、诗人和杰出的建筑家。当时的米开朗基罗虽已垂垂老矣，但在他的促使下，圣彼得大教堂得以在他去世时大致完成。米开朗基罗本来打算按希腊式十字形来建造，并在教堂的中央建一个大圆顶。