Die binneplaas kunshistories gesien

Inaugural lecture--Faculty of Art History, Rand Afrikaans University, 13 April 1976@@The inner court of the new R.A.U. campus at Auckland Park occasioned an examination of this building form from some 4000 B.C. to the present day to establish it particular significance. In its earliest form it appears as a kraal and windbreak. Egyptian and South American architects first used the inner court in dwelling houses, temples and palaces. Some 3000 B.C. its main functions could already be distinguished, namely those of a defensible space, connection between different rooms. courtyard and inner garden. Thereafter its appearance is examined in the Greek and Roman peristiliumhouses. Early Christian Church architecture and cloisters of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance palazzo's and lastly in its decline during the Baroque. Before the R.A.U. Campus is discussed, the inner court's revival in modern architecture is referred to.