The architecture of Andreae's Christianopolis and Campanella's City of the Sun

Thomas More’s Utopia, published in 1516, was immensely influential and stimulated many monographs on the ideal city and society. So influential was More’s Utopia that these societies became known as “utopian.” In More’s Utopia, although he details their religion, attitudes, dress, education, diet, and all aspects of Utopian society, his plan and the architecture of the city are not described in any detail. More’s description of the Utopian architecture is very secondary to the structure of the society. Johann Andreae’s Christianopolis published in 1619 and Tommaso Campanella’s City of the Sun written in 1602 and published in 1623 were both influenced by More; however, in their utopian cities the architecture was an important feature of the society. Both cities are “built” on the concept of utopian Christian societies and both strongly emphasise the importance of science, mathematics and astrology. In both cities the temple is in the centre of the city dominating its surrounds and the geometric pattern of the cities highlights the structure and order of the cities and their societies. The City of the Sun was circular and Christianopolis was square, yet the plan and the architecture of the cities expresses an individual urban philosophy. Both authors gave a detailed description of the architecture and its rationale. This paper examines the plans and the architecture of these two cities to reveal the importance of the city and its architecture in the philosophies of Andreae and Campanella. The paper also demonstrates that although there is influence from Campanella’s city, Christianopolis is a unique city with its own ideals and philosophy.