How did the balconies appear? Interesting Facts

Balcony - a room for us is so familiar that it is impossible to imagine a dwelling house without it. And did you know that the first balconies did not appear for drying clothes?

The first design, which is consonant with the modern name "Balcone", is an Italian defensive structure of the 13th century.

The construction of a monolithic stone was a fenced platform, held by brackets. Mounted above the city gates, the balconies adorned the entrance and opened a safe view of the surroundings, and during the siege provided a tactical advantage.

In the XIV century, balconies lightened and tightly closed by slabs in Romanesque patterns appeared on the facades of Italian public buildings and residential buildings.

The photo shows Juliet's famous balcony from the play of William Shakespeare.

Interestingly: "Juliet balconies" - the idiom of the English language, was born thanks to the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet". Pronounced without qualification, this phrase means a type of balcony, "you can not get out on" and imply a modern "French balcony".

According to one of the versions, the "French balconies" have a rather dirty story, which begins in the palace of the Louvre. In the absence of toilets, at the court, the Parisians celebrated the need for "night vases" or directly to the street, sitting back to the window. The inconvenient and risky pose, daily accepted by noblemen, has led to lengthening of window frames and addition of an external protection.

Having lost its original designation, but retained the original form, the "French balcony" is still present in the architecture of French, Spanish and Italian cities.

In the 15th century in Italy, with the advent of Gothic, the flat balcony base went out of fashion, giving way to the admission rows of lined stones like a basket.

A new type of balcony was used both outside the premises and inside - as a cathedral chair.

In the Renaissance, feudal artisans began to create architectural works of art that exist to this day. The balconies of the 15th-16th centuries were adorned with antique ornaments and human faces.

Architects of the Renaissance did not bypass the forging, filling the fences of the balconies with intricate figures.

In Russia, such pretentious architectural elements met only on the facades of palaces of the XVIII century. Balconies of the Catherine Palace are a wonderful example of Russian baroque.

Thanks to the discovery of cement and cast iron in the second half of the XIX century, the decoration of balconies and loggias became much cheaper and easier: summer rooms were built everywhere.

In the layout of residential buildings of the XX-XXI centuries, the presence of a balcony is provided in terms of fire safety.

Today, a balcony or a loggia is an excellent opportunity to expand living space. If you approach the arrangement correctly, then it is the balcony or loggia that can become a place for a fine tea party, a winter garden, a playground for a child, an office or even a gym. It is unlikely that our grandparents could imagine how we will use these premises. Below are the projects of modern loggias from the company "European Windows". Information about the features of the finishes is well represented on their resource on the Internet.