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Although one can say already some churches in Italy, particularly Rome, in the 1580s began to display a new Baroque style, most of the Baroque in the late 16th century was confined to Italy. It only really began to spread in the early 1600s, when Spain began to create its own Baroque churches, such as the San Isidro Chapel in Madrid. The baroque soon began to change and adapt to local styles as it spread further still. The 17th century, with its hightend tensions between increasingly separated factions of Europe due to religious conflict, increasingly saw art and architecture as expressions of that separation, with the Baroque being a key example. In France, the Classical style was a form of baroque popularised by Louis XIV and XV, where architecture was far more geometric and maintaining simpler forms that were symmetrical being of great focus. The Palace of Versailles built in the 1680s exemplifies the Baroque style used in French architecture. On the one hand, the palace was extremely large and ornate, but the external elements were generally less ornate and more conformed to more geometric proportions (Figure 2). <ref>For more on the spread and influences of Baroque style on different regions, see: Minor, V.H. 2004. <i>Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture</i>. Princeton, N.J.: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. </ref>

In regions such as Germany and Austria, particularly in Bavaria and in southern Germany where many Catholics lived, baroque Baroque became very fashionable from the mid-late 17th century. In fact, it is in Germany where we also see how the baroque Baroque style influenced Protestant regions, forming what was called Protestant Baroque. Palaces such as in Salzburg, Potsdam, Dresden (Zwinger Palace), and Berlin were just some examples of local rulers utilising the baroque style for their own tastes. German baroque, particularly in the Protestant areas, was not as ostentatious as more Catholic areas. One of the most vivid examples of Baroque influences was on Salzburg, where nearly the entire Medieval city was demolished to make way for a Baroque city with new urban layouts, fountains, squares, churches, and official buildings. In Protestant parts of Germany, More use of symmetry and geometric patterns in architecture were used, what would become similar to the Classical style in France.<ref>For more on the Baroque and its influences, including in Protestant regions, see: Maravall, José Antonio. 1986. <i>Culture of the Baroque: Analysis of a Historical Structure</i>. Theory and History of Literature, v. 25. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.</ref>