The Aesthetic Ideas in Furttenbach’s Treatise Architectura Civilis (1628)

Discussion developed in this paper aims to reflect on a particularly important appearance of aesthetic ideas on architecture in the seventeenth century German culture. It seems that in that process one of the leading figures was Joseph Furttenbach, which treatise Architectura Civilis was published in Ulm in 1628. Based on the legacy of the contemporary Italian architecture, it was one of the most important works of this kind written by a German author. The main subject of the treatise—private and public architecture—was discussed in a practical manner, concerning mainly the functional aspects of the art of building. However, in the treatise one can indicate existence of important terms and notions regarding ideas of architectural aesthetics, related to characters and characteristics of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth century thinking in that field.