churrigueresque means relating to a Spanish baroque architectural style that started in the late 17th century to the early 18th century; characterized by flamboyant ornamentation.
Why “churrigueresque” is a great word
An extravagant, flamboyant style of Spanish Baroque ornamentation from the late 17th to early 18th century, deriving from the surname of the Spanish architect and sculptor José Benito Churriguera (1665–1725) and the suffix -esque (meaning 'in the style or manner of'), first attested in English 1835–45, from French < Spanish churrigueresco. Unlike Plateresque, with its silversmith-like delicacy, or Neoclassical, with its sober geometry of restraint, Churrigueresque is architecture as fever dream: stone convulsing into writhing saints, gilded altarpieces swallowing the nave in a blaze of glory, and swollen columns dissolving under their own decorative pressure. It is the last, delirious gasp of devotion before the chill of reason returned—a style that understood beauty not as proportion but as excess, pressed into the body like a palm on burning marble.
Etymology
Named for José Benito Churriguera (1665-1725), a Spanish architect and sculptor. See -esque.
adj
- Relating to a Spanish baroque architectural style that started in the late 17th century to the early 18th century; characterized by flamboyant ornamentation
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- baroque 82% match — From or characteristic of the Baroque period. vs churrigueresque →
- flamboyant 78% match — Showy, bold or audacious in behaviour, appearance, style, etc.; ostentatious. vs churrigueresque →
- culteranismo 78% match — A literary style during the Baroque period of Spain, characterized by a very ornamental, ostentatious vocabulary and a message that is complicated by a sea of metaphors and complex syntactical order. vs churrigueresque →
- mannerism 77% match — A style of art developed at the end of the High Renaissance, characterized by the deliberate distortion and exaggeration of perspective and especially the elongation of figures. vs churrigueresque →
- strapwork 77% match — A stylized representation of strips or bands of curling leather parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings and often interwoven. vs churrigueresque →
- pilaster 76% match — A rectangular column that projects partially from the wall to which it is attached; it gives the appearance of a support, but is only for decoration. vs churrigueresque →
- grandomania 76% match — An obsession with grand architecture or ornamentation. vs churrigueresque →
- muqarnas 76% match — A type of corbel used for decoration in Islamic and Persian architecture. vs churrigueresque →