History_

Although different types of architectural, structural and decorative details have been defined by Vitruvius [1] and Palladio [2], the “architectural style", as defined today, is a creation of the 19th century [3]. The architectural periods demonstrate greater diversity than any methodology would attempt to group them and this term is now used to categorize and analyze buildings with common standard features, cultural trends depending on the socio-economic factors of the construction period, movements or ideologies.

The impasse in which Baroque [4] came due to the recycling of the same issues, in conjunction with the change in philosophy and poetry, with the emergence of Greek and Latin classics in literature standards as well as significant progress in classical archeology, influenced the world in one turn to Classicism. Also, according to the Enlightenment [5] that dominated the 18th century in Europe, in order to enable humanity to approach integration it should turn to the past, studying antiquity.

The neoclassical language was established in the 1740s at the French Academy in Rome from scholars of the Academy in Paris [6], awarded with the Grand Prix. During the same period Piranesi’s influence over architects of the neo-classical movement and the discovery of the ruins of Herculaneum (1738) and Pompeii (1748) [7], had a defining impact on Neoclassicism.

The development of Neoclassicism began in Italy and France and spread to Germany and gradually to various cities in the world such as Edinburgh, St. Petersburg, Washington, Philadelphia, Sydney. Neoclassicism prevails in Europe from 1750 to the mid-19th century, adopting elements from medieval and Egyptian models as well as elements from the Far East, but they are overshadowed by the strict classical style. The aim is to attempt to illustrate the simplicity, robustness and tranquility made possible by the simplicity of using geometric volumes, decorations and materials. It is established as a pioneering movement and characterizes a whole era. Nowadays, many of the neoclassical buildings that stand the test of time are characterized either as "listed", or as "historical" and constitute part of the living memory of a place at a given timeframe [8].

The main characteristic of neoclassical architecture is the absolute symmetry of the facades of the buildings, with the emphasis being placed on the central part, which is usually the main entrance to the building. The buildings of this period, although having several common morphological features in many cases, differ in their entire structure.

Analyzing the buildings of this period, it is clear that the structure is fully influenced by classical architecture such as Town Hall (1843) in Birmingham and La Madeleine (1842) in Paris. Although they were not built in time, at the beginning of neoclassicism in Europe to have been influenced by the new style, they maintain an autonomous course, without being an evolution of the neoclassical buildings that preceded it. The interest in these cases lies in the fact that there is not a great variety of morphological elements but mainly a repetition of one, the Corinthian column and the dynamic presence of another, the Tympanum. In other cases, emphasis is placed on the temple front surrounded by columns and the crowning is completed with the tympanum (Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Spain and United States Treasury Building, Washington, U.S.A.). There are also examples of buildings with more mild morphological features such as the Altes Museum in Berlin and the Grand Theater of Bordeaux, where their appearance is a strict parallelepiped which is decorated with columns in array. In some cases there is a difference in the size of the building. For example, the Somerset House occupies an enormous expanse in London, but it does not grow particularly high in relation to the Capitol Hill in Washington, known for its dome height.