The
Renaissance was a ‘rebirth’ of interest in the art and learning of ancient
Greece and Rome. Many historians say that it marked the end of the Middle Ages
and the beginning of our modern world. It began in Italy, and in the 1400s
spread throughout Europe, changing the way people thought about the world.
The Renaissance began among the scholars, artists and
scientists of Italy. They had new ideas, but also turned to the past,
rediscovering the learning of ancient Greece and Rome. Many old handwritten
books were brought to Italy by scholars fleeing from the city of Constantinople
(the ancient capital of the Eastern Roman Empire), which was captured by the
Ottoman Turks in 1453. With a greater knowledge of ancient science and beliefs,
European scholars were inspired to think again about established religious
teaching.
In literature, great Italian poets such as Petrarch
began to explore and examine the range of human emotions.
By the early 1500s, three painters of genius – Leonardo
da vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael – were bringing a new energy and realism to
art. Architects designed new and elegant buildings that echoed the classical
styles of ancient Greece and Rome.
The Renaissance was fuelled by new technology. Printing
with movable type, developed by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany, made books
cheaper and more plentiful, so new ideas could be read by more people. Some new
ideas were astounding, such as Copernicus’s theory that the Sun and not the
Earth was at the centre of the solar system.
In
1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published an idea that changed
the shape of the entire universe. He put the Sun, not the Earth, at the centre
of the universe. This challenged the established theory of the second-century
Greek astronomer Ptolemy and also the teachings of the Christian Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment