Magnificent churches, fountains, and palaces attested to the renewed strength of the popes in Rome, while architects also gave new forms to churches for the Protestant and Russian Orthodox liturgies.
The Baroque rapidly developed into two separate forms; the strongly Roman Catholic countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Flanders, Bohemia, Southern Germany, Poland and Austria) tended toward freer and more active architectural forms and surfaces ; in Protestant regions (England, Netherlands, Northern Europe) architecture was more restrained and developed a sober, quiet monumentality impressive in its refinement. Baroque architecture, though extremely popular on the European continent, had only a brief flowering in England, spanning only a few decades from 1690-1730. Yet in this time the new style produced several of England's most important architectural treasures, notably Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. Both of these buildings are the work of Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). Vanbrugh's designs are striking in their use of mass; his work does not relay on the embellishment or decorative touches so common in continental Baroque, but on size and scope to overawe the viewer.
Buildings of the period are composed of great curving forms with undulating facades, ground plans of unprecedented size and complexity, and domes of various shapes, as in the churches of Francisco Bromine, Guarino Guarini, and Baithasar Newmann. Many works of baroque architecture were executed on a colossal scale, incorporating aspects of urban planning and landscape architecture. This is most clearly seen in Bernini's elliptical piazza in front of St. Peters in Rome, or in the gardens, fountains, and palace at Versailles, designed by Louis Le Vau, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, and Andre Le Notre.
The plans use of geometric forms create domes of various shapes and sizes producing a three dimensional experience that produces a strong consciousness of the mass of the building and the space enclosed within.