Examples of neoclassical architecture of the first phase.
The most perfect example of the earliest phase of classicism is Marie Antoinette's palace in the gardens of Versailles called. Little Trianon, built in the years 1762—1768 by the architect JACQUES-ANGE GABRIELA (1696—1782). this building, still possessing some features of Baroque architecture, is characterized by noble simplicity, perfect proportions of the body and unusual moderation in decoration, consisting of only four fluted pilasters topped with Corinthian capitals and a delicate balustrade closing the block at the top.
The building closer to our ideas about classicism is the church of St. Genevieve, patroness of Paris, completed in. 1758 przez JACQUES GERMAIN SOUFFLOTA (1713—1780), and during the great French revolution it was transformed into the Pantheon - the mausoleum of the great French (were buried here. in. Rousseau, Voltaire, later Victor Hugo). Church of St. Genowefy was built on a cruciform plan, it has a majestic portico on the front supported by six columns, and at the crossing of the naves a lofty dome, carried by thirty-two columns. As if this wealth wasn't enough, at the top of the dome, the architect placed a small "lantern". Mimo that, however, this building is of enormous size, thanks to its extraordinary proportionality and harmony, it does not arouse concern with its appearance like baroque buildings, on the contrary, it evokes an impression of peace and order.
Theaters were also built in the spirit of classicism in this period, trying to give them a representative character. Gabriel and Soufflot, known to us, build two theater buildings: Gabriel - Opera at Versailles, and Soufflot, a theater in Lyon. Francois CHALGRIN (1739—1811) builds the Odeon theater in Paris, in whose front façade eight columns with Doric capitals run in the so-called. "in great order" (i.e. through two storeys).
In Poland, the early phase of classicism discussed by us found expression in a number of excellent buildings, whose architectural level and expression withstand all European comparisons. These realizations are related to the reign of Stanisław August, king, and at the same time a patron sensitive to beauty.
W r. 1786 the first royal architect DOMINIK MERLINI (1731—1797) he builds a palace in Królikami near Warsaw, modeled on the above-mentioned Villa Rotonda Palladia, based on the central plan of the Greek cross (isosceles). Today it houses the Museum of. Xawery Dunikowski. Very similar to it and also referring to Villa Rotonda is the palace in Lubostroń, built by the Polish architect STANISŁAW ZAWADZKI (1743—1806). W r. 1783 Merlini with the cooperation of JOHN THE BAPTIST KAMSETZER (1753—1797) at the request of Stanisław August, he remodels Stanisław Lubomirski's baroque "bathroom" into a classicist holiday residence for the king near Warsaw. It is the Palace on the Water in Warsaw's Łazienki park. And today still inside this palace, carefully rebuilt after war damage, in the vestibule and rotunda we find the original baroque form. The whole, however, presents classicism in all the richness of this style: in its harmony, peace and order, in excellent proportions and legible simple divisions of the façade with a deep portico in the middle, supported by four columns, with moderate, a modest decoration in the form of a balustrade at the top, as in the already discussed Petit Trianon in Versailles.
An example of a classicist central building (rotundas) from the early period is the Evangelical church at pl. Małachowski in Warsaw, built in the years 1777—1779 by the architect SZYMON BOGUMIŁ ZUG (1733—1807). The only decoration of this building are four short arms, one of which is a portico supported by columns; it is complemented by circular windows and a dome with a lantern at the top, surrounded by delicate columns (monopter).