Architecture

Barumini, Chiesa di Santa Lucia. Foto di Comune di Barumini, da sardegna Digital Library

The first examples in Sardinia of what we usually call “architecture” date back to about 4000 BC, and are related to the culture of Bonu Ighinu. These are the first “artificial cave” tombs, which unequivocally testify to the manifestation of the need to modify the natural space in which human beings lived.
With the subsequent culture of Ozieri, this need is manifested in an even more striking form, with the so-called domus de janas, the 'allées couvertes', the megalithic circles, the dolmens and the menhirs.
In the Nuragic era, at the end of the ancient Bronze Age, the first protonurages appeared, while during the Middle Bronze the first real nuraghi began to be built, consisting of a tower with a circular plan and with a profile that narrows upwards. In the recent and final Bronze Age, the shape of the nuraghe evolved and real fortresses were built, around which villages developed. Nuragic architecture also elaborates the tomb of giants, sanctuaries and well temples.
With the arrival of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, the first urban civilization was born in Sardinia, with buildings built not only of stone, but also with raw bricks and mud mortar. Sacred architecture is represented in Sardinia by numerous testimonies, as is funerary architecture (chamber tombs).
During the period of Roman domination, the main cities of the island discovered the architectural types related to public, civil and religious buildings typical of the Roman world (forum, theater, temples and baths), as evidenced by the examples of Cagliari, Nora, Tharros and Turris Libisonis (Porto Torres).
The architecture following the crisis of the Roman Empire is essentially represented by a building activity linked to the sacred environment, as evidenced by the early Christian and Byzantine churches.
From the middle of the eleventh century, when the island was now divided into the four judicial kingdoms, Romanesque architecture began to flourish, with the construction of churches and monasteries made with local lithic material (limestone, vulcanite, granite, basalt, sometimes combined to create chromatic contrasts).
With the entry of Genoa and Pisa into Sardinian history, the island's cities were enriched with walls, towers and bastions, while from the 14th century, with the conquest of the island by the Aragonese, Gothic-Catalan forms were introduced.
This language persisted for a long time, intertwined with mannerist and baroque forms, until the advent of neoclassical architecture in the 19th century. These are the premises for the eclecticism of styles, which characterized the early twentieth century.
During the fascist twenty years, important examples of rationalist buildings were mentioned. In the post-war period, regardless of the interventions dictated by the urgency of reconstruction, examples emerged dictated by an intelligent enhancement of urban spaces and by the most modern architectural research.

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Arte e civiltà della Sardegna nuragica

XXXX Ogni epoca ed ogni cultura si caratterizzano, tra le altre cose, per la propria capacità di elaborare peculiari espressioni di ciò che chiamiamo "arte".Ciò vale anche per la civiltà nuragica che seppe esprimere la propria identità anche attraverso la forma artistica.Come già per l'età prenuragica, anche per età nuragica abbiamo una serie di prodotti di cultura materiale che testimoniano il manifestarsi di un articolato senso estetico.Tale senso estetico si espresse nella sua forma più semplice innanzi tutto sulle superfici delle produzioni vascolari ceramiche, manifestandosi in due modi: sia con la "presenza" (due esempi: la decorazione "metopale" e la decorazione "a pettine") sia con l'"assenza" di decorazione vascolare.Per "assenza" intendiamo proprio la totale mancanza di elementi decorativi che caratterizza diverse tipologie vascolari di età nuragica, soprattutto nelle fasi più antiche.Non è, come potrebbe sembrare, inappropriato segnalare come pertinente alla dimensione estetica tale assenza: essa infatti manifesta chiaramente il gradimento da parte delle genti nuragiche di una scelta estetica che non teme di offrire alla percezione visiva la pura forma funzionale degli oggetti d'uso quotidiano e questa non è affatto un'evidenza banale dal punto di vista culturale.Passando alle produzioni artistiche in senso proprio, dobbiamo ricordare le piccole sculture in bronzo (i "bronzetti") e la grande statuaria in pietra (i "giganti" di Monti Prama).

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