DOCSLIB.ORG

Gothic Architecture Church Plan, Structural Developments in France and England with Using Relevant Examples of Church Architecture in Europe – Wooden Roofed Churches

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Gothic Architecture Church Plan, Structural Developments in France and England with Using Relevant Examples of Church Architecture in Europe – Wooden Roofed Churches UNIT IV THE AGE OF CHURCH BUILDING Development of Gothic architecture Church plan, structural developments in France and England with using relevant examples of church architecture in Europe – wooden roofed churches. Early Medieval Europe(c. 500–1000) High Medieval Europe(c. 1000–1300)- Romanesque period Late Medieval Europe(c. 1300–1500) – Gothic period Gothic Architecture ENGLISH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE • Early English(C.1180−1275) - Westminster Abbey Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which • Decorated(C.1275−1380) - Exeter flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval • Perpendicular(C.1380−1520)- Kings college Chapel period. architecture. Gothic Architecture in France GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY •It was preceded by Romanesque architecture and • an initial development of the Cistercian was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. architecture •Originating in 12th century France and lasting into • an "early Gothic" phase (c. 1228-1290) the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known • the "mature Gothic" of 1290-1385 during the period as "the French Style" (Opus Francigenum. FRENCH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE French Gothic architecture is divided into three phases: • EARLY GOTHIC - S. Denis • HIGH GOTHIC - Notre Dame, Bourges, Chartres • LATE GOTHIC - Tower of Chartres, Rose window -Amiens Planning: ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES •Latin cross plan, with a long nave a transverse arm called •Gothic architecture developed some distinct the transept and beyond it, an extension which may be characteristics of its own. called the choir, chancel or presbytery. –Vaulted Arches (Pointed) •The nave is generally flanked on either side by aisles, –Flying Buttresses usually singly, but sometimes double, having clerestorey –Thinner walls and stained glass windows windows which light the central space •The advancements allowed thinner walls and Ex: S.Amiens Cathedral larger windows, which allowed for these new churches to have much more natural light. •The Gothic style was much more serene and self-confident. POINTED ARCHES THE POINTED ARCH The Pointed arch was the technological building unit of Gothic construction •The Gothic imposed an order and system in design of arches •The introduction of the pointed arch as a means of covering a rectangular space •Entire structures were conceived as frameworks of arches •Arches were organized into systems which reduced the structural functions of walls to a minimum. •Flexibility with relation to height and span led to other forms than semicircular arches •The pointed arch is one which has no fixed ratio between height and span •Used in every location where a vaulted shape is called for, both structural and decorative. Gothic openings such as doorways, windows, arcades and galleries have pointed arches VAULT: Rib-Vaulting: vaulting above spaces both large and small is usually supported by richly molded ribs. •Use of quadripartire and sexpartite vaulting •Suitable over a rectangular bay •Introduction of the boss in the intersection of the ribs •Use of pointed arches for the structural bay FLYING BUTTRESSES: •Galleries were dispensed with increase in size of cathedrals was possible due to imaginative use of these buttresses •These provided the same support as galleries but without walls and roofs •Organization of interior spaces was simplified •Possibility to enlarge clerestory windows eg. Chartres cathedral, Cologne, Amiens DECORATION: •Rows of arches upon delicate shafts form a typical wall decoration known as blind arcading. •Niches with pointed arches and containing statuary are a major external feature •The pointed arch leant itself to elaborate intersecting shapes which developed within window spaces into complex Gothic tracery forming the structural support of the large windows that are characteristic of the style. STAIN GLASS WINDOW – ROSEETTE WINDOW Clerestory: •The clerestory is the space, lit by colored glass, where elevation and vaulting meet. •The bundle of slender columns which flank each stained glass window supports the ribs of the vault. •These ribs, used in both transverse and diagonal arches, reinforce the stone canopy, in effect holding the entire structure together. FACADE FAÇADE: •The facade is divided into nine equal portions - vertically by the buttresses, which indicate the interior divisions of the nave, and horizontally by a row of statuary and a series of arcades. •The former marks the transition between the portals and the rose, the latter frames the rose and separates it from the towers. •This triple stratification also reflects the divisions of the elevation into grand arcade, triforium gallery, and clerestory GARGOYLES A Gargoyle functioned as a grotesque. They were meant to scare away evil spirits, but often also acted as water spouts for the churches. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. architecture. Gothic Architecture in France •It was preceded by Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. •Originating in 12th century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as "the French Style" (Opus Francigenum.. • With the term Gothic first appearing during the latter part of the Renaissance as a stylistic insult. Its characteristic features include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. NOTRE DAME-PARIS ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 1. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France . the sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. 2. Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). 3. The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. 4. After the construction began and the thinner walls grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. 5. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern. 6. Construction on the cathedral began in 1163. The cathedral was completed by 1345. 7. The Cathedral consists of a choir and apse, a short transept, and a nave flanked by double aisles and square chapels. Its central spire was added during restoration in the 19th century • The interior of the cathedral is 427 by 157 feet (130 by 48 metres) • The clerestory space lit by colored glass windows. in plan, and the roof is 115 feet (35 metres) high. Bundle of slender columns on both sides of the • Two massive early Gothic towers (1210–50) crown the western glass window supports the ribs of the vault. facade, which is divided into three stories and has its doors • These ribs, used in both transverse and diagonal adorned with fine early Gothic carvings and surmounted by a row arches creates sexpertatite vaulting system of figures of kings. reinforce the entire structure together. • The two towers are 223 feet (68 metres) high; the spires with • The stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame are which they were to be crowned were never added. At the very beautiful and a good part of them date from cathedral’s east end, the apse has large clerestory windows (added the 13th century when the cathedral was 1235–70) and is supported by single-arch flying buttresses constructed. • Double span flying buttresses support the nave. These flying • The South Tower houses the cathedral's famous buttresses appeared in the 13th century with the addition of bell, "Emmanuel." The bell weighs 13 metric tons chapels located between the buttresses of the nave. its clapper alone weighs 500 kilograms. • They permit greater natural light in the chapels by transferring • Sculpted between 1200 and 1240, they depict structural support to the outside walls, thus leaving more interior scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, the Last space and allowing larger windows. Judgment, and scenes from the life of St. Anne • Interior originally consisted of 3 levels. An arcade of columnar (the Virgin Mary's mother). piers, a Triforium gallery and large clerestory windows. WEST MINSTER ABBEY 1. West minster abbey is an architectural masterpiece of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and over three thousand people are either buried or memorialised in Westminster Abbey from Medieval Kings and their Queens. 2. The design is based on the geometrical proportion, but its English features include single rather than double aisles and a long nave with wide projecting transepts. 3. The Abbey has the highest Gothic vault in England (nearly 102 feet) and it was made to seem higher by making the aisles narrow without needing massively thick walls.. 4. Supervised by Henry of Reyns, John of Gloucester and Robert of Beverley borrowing the ideas of an apse with radiating chapels, pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, rose windows and flying buttresses from French gothic style 5. The great addition to the Abbey was the construction of a magnificent new Lady Chapel by Henry VII between 1503 and 1519 to replace the 13th century chapel. 6. The length is 161.5 metres and nave width is 22m.the transept measures 62m.the western tower rises to the height of 68m 7. The octagonal chapter house was annexed to the south transept and was approached through cloister on eastern side which is of exceptional architectural purity. 8. The chapter house has eight shafts carries with vaulted ceiling and the sides were covered with blind arcading. 8. The Chapter house was originally used in the 13th century by Benedictine monks for daily meetings. It later became a meeting place of the King's Great Council and the Commons, predecessors of Parliament. 9. The exterior includes flying buttresses added in the 14th century and a leaded covered -lantern roof on an iron frame designed by Scott. The outer walls and circular piers are of 11th-century date, several of the capitals were enriched in the 12th century and the stone altar added in the 13th century. 10. The Abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Sasanian Tradition in ʽabbāsid Art: Squinch Fragmentation As The
    The Sasanian Tradition in ʽAbbāsid Art: squinch fragmentation as The structural origin of the muqarnas La tradición sasánida en el arte ʿabbāssí: la fragmentación de la trompa de esquina como origen estructural de la decoración de muqarnas A tradição sassânida na arte abássida: a fragmentação do arco de canto como origem estrutural da decoração das Muqarnas Alicia CARRILLO1 Abstract: Islamic architecture presents a three-dimensional decoration system known as muqarnas. An original system created in the Near East between the second/eighth and the fourth/tenth centuries due to the fragmentation of the squinche, but it was in the fourth/eleventh century when it turned into a basic element, not only all along the Islamic territory but also in the Islamic vocabulary. However, the origin and shape of muqarnas has not been thoroughly considered by Historiography. This research tries to prove the importance of Sasanian Art in the aesthetics creation of muqarnas. Keywords: Islamic architecture – Tripartite squinches – Muqarnas –Sasanian – Middle Ages – ʽAbbāsid Caliphate. Resumen: La arquitectura islámica presenta un mecanismo de decoración tridimensional conocido como decoración de muqarnas. Un sistema novedoso creado en el Próximo Oriente entre los siglos II/VIII y IV/X a partir de la fragmentación de la trompa de esquina, y que en el siglo XI se extendió por toda la geografía del Islam para formar parte del vocabulario del arte islámico. A pesar de su importancia y amplio desarrollo, la historiografía no se ha detenido especialmente en el origen formal de la decoración de muqarnas y por ello, este estudio pone de manifiesto la influencia del arte sasánida en su concepción estética durante el Califato ʿabbāssí.
    [Show full text]
  • Aynemateriality, Crafting, and Scale in Renaissance
    Materiality, Crafting, and Scale in Renaissancealin Architecture a ayne Alina Payne Materiality, Crafting, and Scale in Renaissance Architecture1 Alina Payne 1. This article draws from a series of lectures given at the INHA and EPHE, Paris in June 2008 and will form a part of my upcoming book on the Materiality of Architecture in the Renaissance.Iam On the whole twentieth-century Renaissance architectural scholarship has paid grateful to Sabine Frommel who first gave me the little attention to architecture’s dialogue with the other arts, in particular with opportunity to address this material by inviting 2 me to Paris, and to Maria Loh and Patricia Rubin sculpture and the so-called minor arts. The fact that architects were also for inviting me to develop this argument further. painters, sculptors, decorators, and designers of festivals and entries, as well I am also grateful to David Kim, Maria Loh, and as makers of a multitude of objects from luxury items to machines, clocks, the anonymous reviewers who offered very useful measuring and lifting instruments, in many different materials has also comments to an earlier draft. dropped out of attention. Indeed, broadly involved in the world of objects – 2. Among the last publications to take a holistic large and small, painted or drawn, carved or poured – architects were view of Renaissance architecture was Julius Baum, Baukunst und dekorative Plastik der fru¨heren highly conversant with a variety of artistic media that raise the question as to Renaissance in Italien (J. Hoffman: Stuttgart, what these experiences contributed to the making of buildings. For example, 1926).
    [Show full text]
  • The Old Deanery Garden and King's Orchard and Cloister Garth
    The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Medway The Old Deanery Garden and King’s Orchard and Cloister Garth, Rochester January 2015 The Old Deanery Garden and King’s Orchard and Cloister Garth Rochester, Kent TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE SITE DESCRIPTION LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Boundary map - Cloister Garth FIGURE 2: Boundary map – The Old Deanery Garden and King’s Orchard FIGURE 3: Key views map FIGURE 4: Aerial photograph FIGURE 5: OS Map 1st Edition 25” (1862-1875) FIGURE 6: OS Map 2nd Edition 25” (1897 - 1900) FIGURE 7: OS Map 3rd Edition 25” (1907 - 1923) FIGURE 8: OS Map 4th Edition 25” (1929 - 1952) FIGURE 9: The Deanery Garden Rochester, a watercolour by George Elgood in Gertrude Jekyll, Some English Gardens, Longmans, Green and Co. 1904. FIGURE 10: Precinct Garden and Old Deanery 2014. FIGURE 11: Entrance to Old Deanery through the teahouse at the east end 2014. FIGURE 12: Old Deanery garden looking towards the City wall at the SE end of the garden 2014. FIGURE 13: King's Orchard and City ditch 2014 FIGURE 14: Very old Medlar tree in King's Orchard with City wall beyond 2014 FIGURE 15: Cloister Garth facing Frater doorway 2014. FIGURE 16: Cloister Garth from the NW. Spring 2014. FIGURE 17: Looking through the Chapterhouse site to the Cloister Garth 2014. Planted with roses in Dean Hole's time. FIGURE 18: Lower level of the Cloister Garth at the East end 2104. FIGURE 19: Copper Beech tree adjacent to the Cloister Garth facing the Refectory doorway 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • Commerce and Exchange Buildings Listing Selection Guide Summary
    Commerce and Exchange Buildings Listing Selection Guide Summary Historic England’s twenty listing selection guides help to define which historic buildings are likely to meet the relevant tests for national designation and be included on the National Heritage List for England. Listing has been in place since 1947 and operates under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. If a building is felt to meet the necessary standards, it is added to the List. This decision is taken by the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). These selection guides were originally produced by English Heritage in 2011: slightly revised versions are now being published by its successor body, Historic England. The DCMS‘ Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings set out the over-arching criteria of special architectural or historic interest required for listing and the guides provide more detail of relevant considerations for determining such interest for particular building types. See https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications/principles-of-selection-for-listing-buildings. Each guide falls into two halves. The first defines the types of structures included in it, before going on to give a brisk overview of their characteristics and how these developed through time, with notice of the main architects and representative examples of buildings. The second half of the guide sets out the particular tests in terms of its architectural or historic interest a building has to meet if it is to be listed. A select bibliography gives suggestions for further reading. This guide treats commercial buildings. These range from small local shops to huge department stores, from corner pubs to Victorian ‘gin palaces’, from simple sets of chambers to huge speculative office blocks.
    [Show full text]
  • Borrowing Images of Empire: the Contribution of Research on The
    Medieval Studies, vol. 22, 2018 / Studia z Dziejów Średniowiecza, tom 22, 2018 Piotr Samól (Gdansk Univeristy of Technology) https://orcid.org/ 0000-0001-6021-1692 Piotr Samól Borrowing Images of Empire: The contribution of research on the artistic influence of the Holy Roman Empire on Polish Romanesque architecture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries1 Borrowing Images of Empire… Keywords: Romanesque architecture, Poland, Ostrów Lednicki, monumental stone buildings Although knowledge concerning Romanesque architecture in Poland has developed over many years, most cathedrals and ducal or royal seats have not been comprehensively examined. Moreover, a substan- tial number of contemporary scholarly works have erased the thin line between material evidence and its interpretation. As a consequence, the architectural remains of Polish Romanesque edifices are often considered the basis for wider comparative research. Meanwhile, fragmentarily preserved structures of Romanesque buildings have allowed scholars to conduct research on their origins and models, but they have rarely provided enough information for spatial recon- structions of them. This means that one might investigate the process of transposing patterns from the Holy Roman Empire to Poland instead of the influence of Polish masons’ lodges on each other. Therefore, this paper has two aims. The first is to look at how imperial pat- terns affected the main stone structures (cathedrals and collegiate 1 Originally, my paper entitled ‘In the Shadow of Salian and Hohenstaufen Cathedrals: The Artistic Influence of the Holy Roman Empire on Polish Romanesque Architecture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries’ was given at the ‘Borrowing Images of Empire’ seminar during the Medieval Congress in Leeds in July 2014.
    [Show full text]
  • The Capital Sculpture of Wells Cathedral: Masons, Patrons and The
    The Capital Sculpture of Wells Cathedral: Masons, Patrons and the Margins of English Gothic Architecture MATTHEW M. REEVE For Eric Fernie This paper considers the sculpted capitals in Wells cathedral. Although integral to the early Gothic fabric, they have hitherto eluded close examination as either a component of the building or as an important cycle of ecclesiastical imagery in their own right. Consideration of the archaeological evidence suggests that the capitals were introduced mid-way through the building campaigns and were likely the products of the cathedral’s masons rather than part of an original scheme for the cathedral as a whole. Possible sources for the images are considered. The distribution of the capitals in lay and clerical spaces of the cathedral leads to discussion of how the imagery might have been meaningful to diCerent audiences on either side of the choir screen. introduction THE capital sculpture of Wells Cathedral has the dubious honour of being one of the most frequently published but least studied image cycles in English medieval art. The capitals of the nave, transepts, and north porch of the early Gothic church are ornamented with a rich array of figural sculptures ranging from hybrid human-animals, dragons, and Old Testament prophets, to representations of the trades that inhabit stiC-leaf foliage, which were originally highlighted with paint (Figs 1, 2).1 The capitals sit upon a highly sophisticated pier design formed by a central cruciform support with triple shafts at each termination and in the angles, which oCered the possibility for a range of continuous and individual sculpted designs in the capitals above (Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Pevsner's Architectural Glossary
    Glossary pages new extra text:Layout 1 10/9/10 16:22 Page 1 PEVSNER’S ARCHITECTURAL GLOSSARY Glossary pages new extra text:Layout 1 10/9/10 16:22 Page 2 Nikolaus and Lola Pevsner, Hampton Court, in the gardens by Wren's east front, probably c. Glossary pages new extra text:Layout 1 10/9/10 16:22 Page 3 PEVSNER’S ARCHITECTURAL GLOSSARY Yale University Press New Haven and London Glossary pages new extra text:Layout 1 10/9/10 16:22 Page 4 Temple Street, New Haven Bedford Square, London www.pevsner.co.uk www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk www.yalebooks.co.uk www.yalebooks.com for Published by Yale University Press Copyright © Yale University, Printed by T.J. International, Padstow Set in Monotype Plantin All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections and of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers Glossary pages new extra text:Layout 1 10/9/10 16:22 Page 5 CONTENTS GLOSSARY Glossary pages new extra text:Layout 1 10/9/10 16:22 Page 6 FOREWORD The first volumes of Nikolaus Pevsner’s Buildings of England series appeared in .The intention was to make available, county by county, a comprehensive guide to the notable architecture of every period from prehistory to the present day. Building types, details and other features that would not necessarily be familiar to the general reader were explained in a compact glossary, which in the first editions extended to some terms.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: the Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry Versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry
    Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture Volume 5 Issue 2 135-172 2015 The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: The Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry Nelly Shafik Ramzy Sinai University Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons Recommended Citation Ramzy, Nelly Shafik. "The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: The Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry." Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture 5, 2 (2015): 135-172. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol5/iss2/7 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art History at Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture by an authorized editor of Digital Kenyon: Research, Scholarship, and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ramzy The Dual Language of Geometry in Gothic Architecture: The Symbolic Message of Euclidian Geometry versus the Visual Dialogue of Fractal Geometry By Nelly Shafik Ramzy, Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Sinai University, El Masaeed, El Arish City, Egypt 1. Introduction When performing geometrical analysis of historical buildings, it is important to keep in mind what were the intentions
    [Show full text]
  • The Digital Nature of Gothic
    The Digital Nature of Gothic Lars Spuybroek Ruskin’s The Nature of Gothic is inarguably the best-known book on Gothic architecture ever published; argumentative, persuasive, passionate, it’s a text influential enough to have empowered a whole movement, which Ruskin distanced himself from on more than one occasion. Strangely enough, given that the chapter we are speaking of is the most important in the second volume of The Stones of Venice, it has nothing to do with the Venetian Gothic at all. Rather, it discusses a northern Gothic with which Ruskin himself had an ambiguous relationship all his life, sometimes calling it the noblest form of Gothic, sometimes the lowest, depending on which detail, transept or portal he was looking at. These are some of the reasons why this chapter has so often been published separately in book form, becoming a mini-bible for all true believers, among them William Morris, who wrote the introduction for the book when he published it First Page of John Ruskin’s “The with his own Kelmscott Press. It is a precious little book, made with so much love and Nature of Gothic: a chapter of The Stones of Venice” (Kelmscott care that one hardly dares read it. Press, 1892). Like its theoretical number-one enemy, classicism, the Gothic has protagonists who write like partisans in an especially ferocious army. They are not your usual historians – the Gothic hasn’t been able to attract a significant number of the best historians; it has no Gombrich, Wölfflin or Wittkower, nobody of such caliber – but a series of hybrid and atypical historians such as Pugin and Worringer who have tried again and again, like Ruskin, to create a Gothic for the present, in whatever form: revivalist, expressionist, or, as in my case, digitalist, if that is a word.
    [Show full text]
  • Renaissance Architecture History of Architecture
    Renaissance Architecture History of Architecture No’man Bayaty Introduction • The Renaissance movement was a grand scale movement in art, literature sculpture and architecture. • The time in which it spread between 15th century and 17th century, was a time of movement in philosophy, science and other ideas. • At this time Europe was made of many small states united or trying to get united under larger kingdoms. • The Italian cities were independent, each with its special culture. • The Holy Roman Empire was quite weak, and the so were the Popes. • Local cultures were rising, so were local national states. • Europe lost Constantinople in 1453 A. D. but got all of Spain back. Introduction • Scientific achievements were getting more realistic, getting away from the mystical and superstitious ideas of the medieval ages. • The Christian reformation led by Martin Luther in 1517 A.D. added more division to the already divided Europe. • Galileo (1564 – 1642 A. D.) proved the earth was not the center of the universe, but a small dot in a grand solar system. • Three inventions had a great influence, gunpowder, printing and the marine compass. Introduction Introduction • Renaissance started in Italy. • The Gothic architecture never got a firm hold in Italy. • Many things aided the Italians to start the Renaissance, the resentment to Gothic, the discovery of new classical ruins and the presence of great Roman structures. • The movement in art and sculpture started a century before architecture. • The movement was not a gradual development from the Gothic, like the Gothic did from Romanesque, but was a bit more sudden and more like a conscious choice by artists and architects.
    [Show full text]
  • Laon Cathedral • Early Gothic Example with a Plan That Resembles Romanesque
    Gothic Art • The Gothic period dates from the 12th and 13th century. • The term Gothic was a negative term first used by historians because it was believed that the barbaric Goths were responsible for the style of this period. Gothic Architecture The Gothic period began with the construction of the choir at St. Denis by the Abbot Suger. • Pointed arch allowed for added height. • Ribbed vaulting added skeletal structure and allowed for the use of larger stained glass windows. • The exterior walls are no longer so thick and massive. Terms: • Pointed Arches • Ribbed Vaulting • Flying Buttresses • Rose Windows Video - Birth of the Gothic: Abbot Suger and St. Denis Laon Cathedral • Early Gothic example with a plan that resembles Romanesque. • The interior goes from three to four levels. • The stone portals seem to jut forward from the façade. • Added stone pierced by arcades and arched and rose windows. • Filigree-like bell towers. Interior of Laon Cathedral, view facing east (begun c. 1190 CE). Exterior of Laon Cathedral, west facade (begun c. 1190 CE). Chartres Cathedral • Generally considered to be the first High Gothic church. • The three-part wall structure allowed for large clerestory and stained-glass windows. • New developments in the flying buttresses. • In the High Gothic period, there is a change from square to the new rectangular bay system. Khan Academy Video: Chartres West Facade of Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France (begun 1134 CE, rebuilt after 1194 CE). Royal Portals of Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France (begun 1134 CE, rebuilt after 1194 CE). Nave, Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France (begun 1134 CE, rebuilt after 1194 CE).
    [Show full text]
  • The English Claim to Gothic: Contemporary Approaches to an Age-Old Debate (Under the Direction of DR STEFAAN VAN LIEFFERINGE)
    ABSTRACT MARY ELIZABETH BLUME The English Claim to Gothic: Contemporary Approaches to an Age-Old Debate (Under the Direction of DR STEFAAN VAN LIEFFERINGE) The Gothic Revival of the nineteenth century in Europe aroused a debate concerning the origin of a style already six centuries old. Besides the underlying quandary of how to define or identify “Gothic” structures, the Victorian revivalists fought vehemently over the national birthright of the style. Although Gothic has been traditionally acknowledged as having French origins, English revivalists insisted on the autonomy of English Gothic as a distinct and independent style of architecture in origin and development. Surprisingly, nearly two centuries later, the debate over Gothic’s nationality persists, though the nationalistic tug-of-war has given way to the more scholarly contest to uncover the style’s authentic origins. Traditionally, scholarship took structural or formal approaches, which struggled to classify structures into rigidly defined periods of formal development. As the Gothic style did not develop in such a cleanly linear fashion, this practice of retrospective labeling took a second place to cultural approaches that consider the Gothic style as a material manifestation of an overarching conscious Gothic cultural movement. Nevertheless, scholars still frequently look to the Isle-de-France when discussing Gothic’s formal and cultural beginnings. Gothic historians have entered a period of reflection upon the field’s historiography, questioning methodological paradigms. This
    [Show full text]