Germanic culture has cross-pollinated with world culture through the medium of architecture. Like many of the other mediums that the Germans have affected world culture through, the Germans were pioneers in revolutionizing architecture through new methods and ideas yet to be tested. Like literature and cinema, architecture is another classic example of how the Germans did the best job with creating something new. The style of Germanic architecture can best be summarized in one word, modernism. The ideas and images associated with modern architecture are of Germanic origin. .
The first ideas of architecture came out of the first civilization in world history, which was the Greek civilization. The Greeks were directly followed by the Roman civilization that surpassed that of the Greeks, being a much more militarily aggressive empire. But the Romans stole many of the Greek architectural ideas. Hence, the first historical period that classifies architecture is the Classical period that embodies both the Greek and Roman ideas. The next period in architecture is the Romanesque period, which came at the end of the dark ages until the beginnings of the Renaissance in 1410. The Italian city of Venice was an architectural hub during the Renaissance. Next came along Gothic architecture. This period was most noted for church cathedrals with big ceilings and windows. Then, after the Gothic period, there was nothing in terms of architecture until the 1920's. This is when the German modernist period came along. This period in architecture was defined by the Bauhaus, located in Dessau, Germany. Architecture as defined by Bauhaus is simple, quick, and disposable. The Germans in creating this new style were rebelling against the past. 1933 saw the rise of Hitler along with the Nazi regime, which precipitated the spread of these new ideas concerning architecture and hence cultural dialectic, as the German ideas were being shared with the world.