Roman Pool Essay -- Architecture Structure History Essays

roman Pool The private residence built by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in San Simeon, California is quite a target to behold. Originally named La Cuesta Encantada it is at present often referred to as Hearst Castle. It is located on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The estate took 28 years to build and includes the primary(prenominal) house, guest houses, two pools, and acres of gardens, terraces and walkways. Its rooms and gardens are decorated with an impressive collection of antiques from around the world. One particularly inte alleviation building is the roman print Pool.The popish Pool at Hearst castle is a tiled indoor pool decorated with eight statues of roman print gods, goddesses and heroes. The pool appears to be styled after an antique Roman bath such as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome c. 211-17 CE. The mosaic tiled patterns were inspired by mosaics found in the 5 C. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy (K astner, p. I-261.) They are to a fault representative of traditional marine monster themes that can be found in ancient Roman baths (Strong, p. 124.) The statues are blunt copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues. One such copy represents the Apoxyomenos. Statuary was used on a considerable scale in the Baths of Caracalla (Strong, p. 124.)The pool and adjoin room, which were built from 1927-1934, can be compared to an ancient Roman bath. The pool, like the baths, is located indoors. Its water was heated as in a tepidarium. However, in Hearsts complex thither were no hot or cold baths as there were in the ancient complex. The Roman Pool complex was designed to contain an exercise room, sweating baths, a handball court and bandaging rooms (Cohn/Kastner p. I-258.) The Baths of Caracalla covere... ...ing fingers of the outstretched hand. We will never know what Hearst was thinking when he created his Roman Pool. Was he hoping to accurately depict an ancient Roman bath, or did he j ust like Roman art? Overall he kept to a romanticized 1930s version of the Roman theme, with decorations that span trinity centuries. Looking at the rest of his castle leads one to believe that Hearst combined whatever he thought was impressive. This pool is truly impressive. Works CitedBoardman, John. Greek Art. brisk York Frederick A. Praeger, 1964.Cohn, Leslie and Kastner, Vicki. Roman Pool. (Information from Hearst Castle P.R. Department)Hutton, Edward. The bill of Ravenna. London J.M.Dent & Sons, Ltd, 1926.Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1995.Strong, David. Roman Art. Harmondsworth, England Penguin Books, Ltd, 1976. Roman Pool Essay -- Architecture Structure History EssaysRoman Pool The private residence built by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in San Simeon, California is quite a site to behold. Originally named La Cuesta Encantada it is now often referred to as Hearst Castle. It is located on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The estate took 28 years to build and includes the main house, guest houses, two pools, and acres of gardens, terraces and walkways. Its rooms and gardens are decorated with an impressive collection of antiques from around the world. One particularly interesting building is the Roman Pool.The Roman Pool at Hearst castle is a tiled indoor pool decorated with eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses and heroes. The pool appears to be styled after an ancient Roman bath such as the Baths of Caracalla in Rome c. 211-17 CE. The mosaic tiled patterns were inspired by mosaics found in the 5 C. Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy (Kastner, p. I-261.) They are also representative of traditional marine monster themes that can be found in ancient Roman baths (Strong, p. 124.) The statues are rough copies of ancient Greek and Roman statues. One such copy represents the Apoxyomenos. Statuary was used on a considerable scale in the Baths of Caracalla (Strong, p. 124.)The pool and surrounding room, which were built from 1927-1934, can be compared to an ancient Roman bath. The pool, like the baths, is located indoors. Its water was heated as in a tepidarium. However, in Hearsts complex there were no hot or cold baths as there were in the ancient complex. The Roman Pool complex was designed to contain an exercise room, sweat baths, a handball court and dressing rooms (Cohn/Kastner p. I-258.) The Baths of Caracalla covere... ...ing fingers of the outstretched hand. We will never know what Hearst was thinking when he created his Roman Pool. Was he hoping to accurately depict an ancient Roman bath, or did he just like Roman art? Overall he kept to a romanticized 1930s version of the Roman theme, with decorations that span three centuries. Looking at the rest of his castle leads one to believe that Hearst combined whatever he thought was impressive. This pool is truly impressive. Works CitedBoardman, John. Greek Art. New Yor k Frederick A. Praeger, 1964.Cohn, Leslie and Kastner, Vicki. Roman Pool. (Information from Hearst Castle P.R. Department)Hutton, Edward. The Story of Ravenna. London J.M.Dent & Sons, Ltd, 1926.Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1995.Strong, David. Roman Art. Harmondsworth, England Penguin Books, Ltd, 1976.