Analyzing seventeenth- and eighteenth-century architecture

Neoclassical art and architecture came about in Europe hand in hand with the philosophical era known as the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. Just as the Enlightenment reacted against Catholic Christianity and embraced reason over emotion, Neoclassical artists sought to go back to antiquity, to a "pre-Christian" era. Thus, Neoclassical architecture brought back the chief elements of Roman architecture, like columns, domes, and collonades.