Semester 1 Final Flashcards
Five Points of Faith of Muslim Religion
1) a belief in the oneness of Allah and that Mohammed was his prophet
2) the need to pray five times daily
3) the need to fast from sunrise and to sunset during the month of Ramadan
4) the need to give alms to the poor
5) the need to make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca, if at all possible
Masjid
Idgab
- The masjid: an interior space with a prayer niche for small groups of worshipers
- The idgab: a large, unroofed space with a long prayer wall on one side to accommodate corporate worship for a whole village or town
Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock, 687-691 CE
The interior is richly decorated with polychromatic stone masonry, inlay, and aniconic (non-figural) mosaics.
The Great Mosque, Damascus, Syria, 706-715, is the oldest extant mosque. Its form reflects the combination of likely sources for the typology of the mosque: (1) the House of the Prophet Mohammed at Medina (622), (2) Early Christian churches, and (3) the audience halls of Persian kings, such as those at Persepolis.
The sahn (courtyard) derives from the open courtyard in the House of the Prophet in Medina and contains a fountain for ritual purification as well as a treasury. Four minarets (towers) at the corners of the complex permit a mezuen (caller) to summon the faithful to prayer. The long haram (prayer hall) has a cross-axial element with a wooden dome, much like the crossing bay of a cruciform Early Christian or Byzantine church. This component developed into the maqsura, a special processional area reserved for the retinue of the caliph. In the qibla (or south prayer wall) there are three mihrabs (niches) that indicate the direction of Mecca. A minbar (raised pulpit) to the right of the central mihrab is used for readings, sermons, proclamations and speeches.
Similar Haram to Sant’ Apollinare in Classe, c.549
The Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, 785, 833-988
(1) The first mosque, built in 785, was square and is shown light green in the plan below.
(2) In 833-48, its haram was enlarged by the extension (to the SW) in dark green.
(3) In 951, the sahn was extended to the NE and a new minaret was added.
(4) In 962, the haram was enlarged again to the SW which required a new qibla and mihrab.
Hypostyle haram of 833, with its horseshoe and round-headed arches
Polylobed arches near the qibla wall
Ribbed domical vault of the ‘Capilla de Villaviciciosa’
The Great Mosque of Cordoba, Spain, 785, 833-988
Horshoe arch entrance into the mihrab chamber from the maqsura
Sehzade Mosque
The Sehzade Mosque (1545-1548) was Mimar Sinan’s first major architectural project in Istanbul. Sinan was commissioned by Sultan Suleyman (the Magnificent) to construct a mosque in memory of his son who died at a young age.
The plan consists of two joined squares, one square containing the sahn (open arcaded court with fountain) and the other is the enclosed haram (prayer hall). The joining point of these two squares celebrate two minarets. Inside the haram, the central dome is complemented by four semidomes, with smaller domes and semidomes filling the remaining spaces. The central dome is supported on four elephant pillars, allowing a grand, relatively open plan for prayer to take place.
Along with the sacred function, mosques provided a space for civic functions as well. The mosque’s grounds contain the tomb of Sehzade Mehmet (whom the mosque is named after), a madrasa (school), a hospice for the infirm, and a caravanserai (accommodation and markets for foreign merchants, sometimes referred to as the Sehzade Bazaar).
This mosque was considered Mimar Sinan’s Great “Apprenticeship” Mosque.
Suleymaniye Mosque
The Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent in Istanbul (1550-1557) is another work by Mimar Sinan. This immense mosque complex contains a mosque, cemetery, four madrasas, a primary school, a medical school, a bazaar, a hospital, a community kitchen for the pool, a hospice, public baths, and even a residence for Sinan himself. Sinan was once again commissioned by Sultan Suleyman .
The sloping site on a hill facing the Golden Horn required asymmetrical planning. The arcaded sahn, marked by four slender minarets (two taller, two shorter). The domed haram draws obvious precedent from the Hagia Sophia, having a central dome flanked by two semi domes. Here, the domed aisles allow for the entire building to exist within a square. The interior functions as a single, space expanding volume, with the traditional artistic embellishments we saw in the Sehzade Mosque complex.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque“Blue Mosque”
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul (1609-1616) was built by Sedefkar Mehmed Aga during the rule of Ahmed I. Much like other mosques we looked at, the “Blue” Mosque complex is comprised of a tomb for Ahmed I, a madrasa, and a hospice. Aga, the architect, has synthesized the ideas of his master, Mimar Sinan, aiming at overwhelming size, majesty, and splendor.
The interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles, most giving off a blue hue, hence the nickname “Blue” Mosque.
iwan. The iwan is like a porch: enclosed by walls on three sides and open on the fourth and usually serves as a vaulted entrance to the sahn or to the interior.
Plan, Masjid-i-Shah (now Masjid-i-Imam), Isfahan, Iran, 1611-c.1630, designed by Badi’ al-Zaman Tuni and Ali Akbar al-Isfahani
The new congregational mosque was directly attached to a large public square where the bazaar was located. The square was oriented on a north-south axis, but the mosque is oriented to Mecca and a transition is made at the point of juncture. The mosque includes two winter prayer halls and two schools or Madrasas.
This iwan is the entrance into the sahn from the transitional bay at the end of the public square. Here we see the blue, turquoise, white, and yellow glazed tiled surfaces that decorate the entire mosque with geometric, floral, and calligraphic motifs.
Friday mosque, Fatehpur Sikri, India,
c.1568-71
Jalil al-Din Akbar, the third Mugal emperor (ruled 1569-c1580) built a new capital at Fatehpur Sikri that included this Friday mosque.
Iwan at the southern gateway to the Fatehpur Sikri Friday mosque, built at enormous scale in red sandstone. The mosque is located on a high prominence.
Tomb of Ismail the Samanid, Bukhara, India, c. 900
Mosques often include the tomb of a founder or holy person. Free-standing monuments also exist as in the case of these two examples.
Gur-i-Amir, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, early 15th c (one with columns)
Site plan, Taj Mahal, Agra, 1631-47
Tomb built by Ahmad Lahawri, ‘Abd al-Karim Ma’mur Khan and Makramat Khan
This famous domed tomb in Agra is the apex of a typology begun with the tomb of Humayan, father of Jalil al-Di Akbar. It was built by Shah Jahan for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, using multiple domes, white marble and elegant ornament.
The gardens are reflective of the qu’ranic vision of paradise in their four streams of water and in the lush plantings.
Maidan-i-Shah
(Public Square),
Isfahan, Iran
1590-1602
View of the bazaar at the Maidan-i-Shah in Isfahan
The Alhambra Palace, Granada (Andalusia), Spain, 13th-14th
Built near the end of the Muslim culture in Spain—the Muslims were expelled in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella—the citadel was originally much larger. Over time, buildings have been lost and the Palace of Carles V has encroached on what was the layout of the complex. Much archaeological research is being conducted currently to learn more about the lost elements.
Court of the Myrtle Trees with Hall of the Ambassadors beyond
Muqarna vault in the Hall of the Two Sisters
Although this appears to be a muqarna vault, it is actually suspended from wood beams
True muqarna vault in the Hall of the Abencerrajes
The Sutton Hoo Treasure
In 1939, a ship-burial was discovered at Sutton Hoo, a town near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was in fact the burial of King Anna of East Anglia, who died in 654. He was buried in a cemetery, not in a conventional coffin or tomb but in a ceremonial ship. The treasures that were buried with him are of extremely high quality in their craftsmanship as well as made of precious materials.
Codex aureus (Golden Book) of St. Emmeram, c780: the cover of gold relief and jewels; and the page from the Book of Revelation illustrating the “Adoration of the Lamb.”
Carpet page from the Lindesfarne Gospels, late 7c
Pages such as this were produced on vellum, a prepared layer of mammal skin, commonly sheep, goat or calf.
The design is made up of interlacements, an intricate weaving of tendril-like elements in a geometric framework.
Books were produced by monks in a scriptorium (a studio for the production of books) and were both a way of ennobling the word of God and a meditative activity for the artist.
The Book of Kells, early 9th c (Chi Rho page at right and St. John page)
Sumptuous interlacements and geometry combine with figures and fantasy.
The Book of Kells: Christ enthroned (left) and the symbols of the four evangelists with strong geometry and interlacements
Book of Kells, page with canon tables of multiple references in the gospels
This page is designed in an architectural form with references to arches supported by columns and with figural forms in the lunettes of the arches and the corner spandrels. Interlacements fill in the shafts of the columns and their bases (shown in plan?) as well as the spandrels of the arches. Angels form the corners above the largest arch.
San Juan de Baños (Palencia, Spain), c661
As in many other locations, in Spain the basilica did not suit small, often rural parishes. Smaller, simpler buildings with separate chambers or compartments became the rule. Fragmented space replaced the unified space of the Early Christian basilica.
San Juan de Baños was founded by King Recceswinth.
The plan of San Juan de Baños near Palencia retains a three-aisled nave, the memory of a transept extending from the aisles to the north and south, but adds two additional chapels on the east at the ends of the extensions. The scale of the building is very small. The nave and aisles are covered by wood trusses.
Typical of Visigothic Christian architecture, this miniature basilica was built of ashlar masonry without mortar and with the use of the horseshoe arch.
San Pedro de la Nave, c 691
This small church is also derived from the Early Christian basilica but, unlike San Juan de Baños, it has a true crossing with a vault above it. There are side aisles in the nave and choir and transepts that terminate in tall vestibules, the same height as the nave and choir. The Sanctuary extends beyond the choir to the east.
Historiated capital (capital with figures and a narrative) from the nave. The subject here is from the book of Exodus: Abraham’s obedience to God demonstrated by his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. The hand of God reaches down to prevent the sacrifice; a ram is caught nearby in a thicket and becomes the sacrifice. This scene was interpreted by the Early Christians as a forecast of the sacrifice of Christ.
Oratory Chapel at Germigny-des-Prés, 806
The oratory was built by Bishop Theodulf of Orléans as part of his palace complex. Theodulf, who was also the abbot of the nearby monastery of St Benoît-sur-Loire, was a Spaniard and one of the most celebrated men of letters in the court of Charlemagne. His palace complex at Germigny-des-Prés was destroyed by the Vikings within a century of its construction—except for the oratory chapel.
The mosaic above the east apse has an unusual subject: cherubim hover over the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s promise to the Israelites. This use of Old Testament imagery accords with certain practices at the Court of Charlemagne, as we will see.
The church at Urnes, Norway, c.1125-40, is the oldest extant example of a stave church.
Stave Churches in Scandinavia: The Legacy of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons
The Vikings (Danes, Norsemen) were a strong and ambitious people whose sea-faring skills brought them into contact with distant lands and peoples. They were alternatively occupiers, extortionists, traders, and terrorizers, with a huge impact on northern Europe and England. They traded with cities as distant as Constantinople and by the early 11th century had explored across the Atlantic to the North American continent (Lief Ericsson).
Their artistic legacy consists in large part of smaller objects, often decorated with interlacements and animals. But after the conversion of the Scandinavians to Christianity by Anglo-Saxons brought back from England by Viking raiders, they began to build small churches based on Early Christian precedent. They depended on native building traditions, both from architecture and ship-building, and produced a characteristic architecture of wood cut into narrow boards and decorated with relief carvings: the stave church.
The church is built above a fjord offering a dramatic landscape setting. The steep roof slopes are functional in terms of shedding snow loads and reflective of the craggy cliffs rising out of the water.
The staves are upright poles made from pine trunks with the bark removed. They are supported on horizontal sills that sit on flat stones beneath the intersections of sills and staves, creating a “chassis.”
A second “chassis” with rounded corner posts sits on the cantilevered extensions of the sills and is enclosed by vertical boards to form the exterior walls. Originally there were no windows.
Stave church at Borgund, Norway, c. 1150, one of the 32 surviving stave churches in Norway, was typically constructed in a sparsely populated and isolated fjord valley village. Similar to the Urnes stave church when it was constructed, this church was elaborated in the 13th century with an external gallery and turret. Crosses and dragons were attached to the ends of the gables to protect the church from the powers of darkness.
The structure on the interior, including the reliefs to the right, were protected from difficult inclement weather (indicated in the image of the outer gallery above) by the replacement of any external staves that had weathered.
The Carolingian Renascence and the new Europe
The reordering of Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire was led in large part by the Franks during the 8th century. Under the leadership of Charles Martel, the Franks stopped an attempted invasion of Europe by a Moslem army, driving it back into Spain in 732. The son of Charles Martel, Pepin, established a strong pact with the papacy in Rome; and his son, known as Charlemagne (lit. “Charles the Great”), proved to be a brilliant military strategist and political administrator. Even more important, Charlemagne was a highly educated, well read, widely traveled, open-minded, forward looking visionary who was also, like his paternal ancestors, a devout and zealous Christian.
Taking over the throne as King of the Franks, Charlemagne widened and strengthened the domain of his rule. He surrounded himself with some of the greatest minds of his time. And he sponsored a major cultural revival that we now refer to as the Carolingian Renascence (“Carolingian” is the adjectival form of the name Carolus, the Latin equivalent of Charles). This period is also known as the Carolingian Renaissance, but the word “renascence” distinguishes if from the Italian Renaissance of the 15th century.
After subduing most of the military threats to the unity of Europe north of the Alps and annexing Italy as well, Charlemagne negotiated an agreement with Pope Leo III that remains unclear. On Christmas Day of the year 800, Leo III crowned Charles Emperor of Rome, something that Charles seemed unsure to have wanted, in part because it effectively gave the Pope the power to determine who would be the secular leader of Europe. Certainly, Leo III desired the protection offered by a strong military leader and may have believed that crowning Charlemagne would assure him of that.
Charles had indeed envisioned his conquest of Europe (and that of his father and grandfather before him) as the reconstruction of the Roman Empire, but with a Christian Emperor. Charlemagne and his family could not inherit the imperial throne by birthright nor by vote of a Senate in Rome (which had not existed for centuries). What he actually created began to be called the “Holy Roman Empire.” This was a new political and administrative enterprise that looked to the past for inspiration and models. However, Charlemagne’s understanding of history was both imperfect and ambiguously mixed with Judeo-Christian history as well as with the ongoing Byzantine court in Constantinople with its strong control over the eastern (orthodox) Church.
In conjunction with his military leadership, Charlemagne did everything in his power to rebuild Europe. In the realm of architecture, he sponsored both new building and the renovation or reconstruction of existing structures. He was fascinated by the architecture of Italy, both in Rome and Ravenna, and he brought artists from Italy and from Constantinople to serve at his court. The result of this eclectic view of history and the resulting admixture of ideas, skills, arts, and intellects was a brilliant culture centered in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) where Charlemagne‘s court was located.
The Gatehouse at the Monastery at Lorsch, late 8th c, was not actually a gate but a ceremonial building based on a Roman triumphal arch such as the Arch of Constantine.
To understand this building, it is important to know that Charlemagne’s court, although centered at Aachen, was actually peripatetic (i.e. nomadic, moving from place to place). He normally used monasteries as the temporary locations for his court, in large part because they had adequate facilities to accommodate Charles and his
The gatehouse at Lorsch has yet another layer of symbolism to it. There is a room above the arched passageway—an “Upper Room”—in which Charlemagne ate a ceremonial meal with the abbot of the monastery and twelve other people, probably equally representative of the monastery and the court. This clearly Christological activity, imitative of Christ’s Last Supper with his apostles, is part of a larger vision that Charlemagne had of his role as king and eventually emperor. This was known in his court as “imitatio,” the Latin word for “imitation.” On the one hand, Charlemagne was imitating Constantine, the first Christian emperor; but he was also imitating Christ, whose vicar on earth he presumed to be. At the same time, he was creating a political as well as spiritual relationship between church and state.
Westwork
The westwerk is a curious but important phenomenon that seems to originate during the Carolingian period and the reign of Charlemagne, although there may be some earlier examples that have been lost.
The drawing to the right is a generic image of a typical Carolingian westwerk. It usually includes twin towers, sometimes a third tower, chapels and tribunes over the entrance, and sometimes spaces for burial, baptism, and other special uses. A baptismal font was sometimes located at the ground level near the west entrance to stress Baptism as the rite of initiation into the Church. Sometimes major relics or the tombs of important people were located in the westwerk.
Porta nigra (“Black Gate”), Roman city gate, Trier, Germany, 186-200CE
For unknown reasons, the Porta Nigra (which was the north gate of Trier) was never finished. Although some of its materials were removed and used for other purposes during the early middle ages, the gate was never torn down. It was and remains the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps.
Westwerk, imperial monastery church (Benedictine), Corvey, c873-85
The west front of the imperial abbey (monastery church) at Corvey is the only surviving example of a Carolingian westwerk. It was altered in the 19th century by having its towers built higher, but otherwise is generally intact.
The westwerk is a complex architectural symbol. Its form recalls the towers of a city gate or a defensive fortress. But its imagery extends to the multi-layered urban symbolism of the historical Jerusalem, the capital city Rome, St. Augustine’s City of God, the New Jerusalem at the end of time, and the revival of the Roman Empire as a “holy” institution. Its use was both imperial and ecclesiastical, with liturgies for both church and state.
It is likely that the westernmost space on the central axis at the upper level was an imperial chapel. It is likely also that the space below it was also a chapel. There are no longer any altars in these spaces, but in the 9th century there may have been. The flanking galleries on the west and those on the north and south may have served musical purposes. We know that choirs sang antiphonally in the services of the early medieval church, one or more choirs located near the eastern altar, others located in galleries nearby or at the opposite end of the longitudinal axis, i.e. in the westwerk. So the spaces have symbolic, liturgical, musical and institutional functions.
The St. Gall plan for an ideal Benedictine Monastery, c819-26
This drawing, thought to have been done by a monk known as Haito of Reichenau for an Abbot named Gozbert, is the oldest preserved architectural drawing from the middle ages. It was drawn on five sheets of parchment (second quality vellum) sewn together. The drawing is not meant to guide actual construction but to offer a rationale for how a monastery complex should be organized. It is one of the many pieces of evidence that demonstrate how vitally active and important the Benedictine order was in the development of medieval architecture.
The St. Gall plan (so named because it was discovered in the library of the monastery in St. Gall, Switzerland in 1939) shows the church as a double-ender such as we know existed at the lost church in Fulda. It is organized with a cloister to the south of the nave. The cloister itself is lined with other spaces such as the dormitory and the refectory (dining hall). Does this arrangement remind you of anything you’ve seen before?
What are the sources of Carolingian buildings?
So, what are the sources of these Carolingian buildings?
- Roman architecture,
- Early Christian architecture,
- Northern temperament, decorative art from Migration period
Lorsch Gatehouse: 1. Roman triumphal arch (perhaps Arch of Constatine?) 2. “Impure” Classical details (cf basilicas in Ravenna) 3. Geometric decorative details and interest in color (cf Sutton Hoo burial treasure, monastic metalwork and MS illumination)
The Westwork (Westwerk) 1. Roman city gates with flanking towers (Cf Porta Nigra, Trier) 2. Early Christian basilica and its layered urban imagery 3. Carolingian imperializing liturgies, true also for Lorsch
The “Double-ender” basilica 1. Roman legal basilicas 2. Early Christian basilicas 3. Carolingian concept of “imitatio”
27B.Charlemagne’s Chapel and Palace Complex at Aachen
Plan and model of the Palace complex at Aachen, designed by Odo of Metz and built 790s-814
There is no doubt that it was modeled on San Vitale (the chapel of the Exarch) in Ravenna. In fact, the entire palace complex at Aachen may well have been modeled on the 6th-century Palace of the Exarch in Ravenna. In any case, the relationship between the two churches is striking.
In 957, Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, brother of Emperor Otto the Great, founded a Benedictine abbey next to the Church of St. Pantaleon (870) in Cologne. The archbishop was buried in St. Pantaleon in 965. A year later, in 966, construction began on a replacement church to go with the new abbey. This church had a single nave with flat ceiling beneath a truss roof, a small east apse, a Carolingian-style westwork, and square transepts. It was consecrated by Archbishop Warin of Cologne in 980.
Empress Theophanu (wife of Otto II) expanded the new church by adding a much larger westwerk (seen at right) and an apse with crypt at the east end. The west front was decorated with sculptures, which have not survived. The renovations were complete in 996, five years after the death of the Empress, who was buried in the church.
The Benedictine Monastery Church of St. Michael, Hildesheim, Germany, 1001-1033
Bishop Bernwardus, called in 993 to be bishop of Hildesheim, by 996 had begun to make plans for a new monastery church in Hildesheim for the Benedictine order. This building played an important role in the evolution of German medieval architecture in several ways.
Historiated capitals in the nave arcades
The church is graced by a great simplicity of form, subtle articulation of moldings, impost blocks, capitals, and sturdy shafts. The capitals are especially imaginative variations of Early Christian and Byzantine “basket” capitals, ultimately derived from Roman Corinthian models.
This view of the east apse and transept stresses the stereometric (three-dimensional, volumetric) quality of the form which is reinforced by the smooth ashlar surfaces. Note that the bases of the stair towers are octagonal, surmounted by cylindrical forms capped by turrets.
The principal entrance to St. Michael’s is not on the longitudinal axis but from the side aisles. Although the church was given a new south aisle wall during the Gothic period, the entrance was adorned when the church was built by a set of cast bronze doors. These were one major part of several cast bronze pieces made for the church at that time.
The scenes on the doors are worked out very carefully. The iconography represents a series of correspondences that the Church saw between the Old and New Testaments, i.e. the preparation for the Messiah and the Life of Christ. The rationale for this is in the statement: “That door [to Paradise] closed through the first woman, Eve, is opened by the second Eve, Mary.”
Romanesque Vaulting
The general developments in vaulting during the period between the 11th and 13th centuries can be explained on the basis of the three diagrams below.
European builders first experimented with (1) the barrel vault and (2) the groin vault (which is formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults). The thrust of a barrel vault is evenly distributed along the length of its springing. Builders began to use (3) ribs in barrel vaulting, in order to direct some of the thrust to the piers. Builders also strengthened groin vaults by (4) the addition of ribs located along the groins. Barrel and groin vaults were used in a variety of combinations. Finally, the introduction of (5) the pointed arch played an important role in Romanesque architecture during the 12th century, especially in France and England.
Monastery of St. Martin at Canigou (France), 1001-26
Remote in the Pyrenees and difficult to approach, the Monastery of St. Martin is one of the earliest examples of the Romanesque and has survived in part due to a major 20th-century restoration. Among other things, builders during the Romanesque period looked to the Roman past as a basis for experimentation with stone building for fire-proofing as well as for permanence.
Plan of the complex after its 20th-century restoration and view of the cloister (lower left image)
San Pedro de Roda (Catalonia, Spain), c1035
This monastery church is an early example of experimentation with ribbed barrel vaults in a three-aisled structure without clerestories, i.e. a “hall church.” Much of the continuous thrust of the barrels was accepted by heavy support walls.
The nave of San Pedro de Roda is covered by a stone barrel vault that is reinforced by transverse arches at each pier.
Columns (with capitals derived from the Corinthian order) are placed next to the piers. Those that are on the nave side carry columns that serve as the spring points for the transverse arches in the barrel vault.
Tournus (France), St-Philibert, former Benedictine abbey, reconstructed after a fire: westwork 1002-28, nave 1066-1107 and parts of the choir 12th c
The two major areas of experimentation are (1) the westwork with its St. Michael chapel and (2) the nave with its transverse barrel vaults.
Reconstruction of the Benedictine Reform Monastery at Cluny (“Cluny III”) in Burgundy (1088-1130) This enormous church and complex introduced a triple arcade of clerestory windows above a triple blind arcade in the interior elevation. This was facilitated in part by the introduction of the pointed arch (whose thrust is more downward than the thrust of the round arch) and in part by buttressing.
St-Savin sur Gartempe, choir 1060-75, nave 1095-1115
The nave of St-Savin is covered by a continuous barrel vault without ribs, supported on an arcade with large columns and reinforced by groin-vaulted side aisles with thick walls and salient buttresses. There is no clerestory but the sides aisles are very tall and admit light to the nave.
The Imperial Cathedral Basilica of Speyer, 1030-1106
The Cathedral of Speyer was begun in 1030 during the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II. It became the burial church for several lines of emperors and kings and is representative historically of imperial power. It replaced an earlier basilica on the site which is just above the Rhine. It became one of the most ambitious building projects in the Middle Ages, equal in importance to Santiago de Compostela and Cluny III in many ways.
Although not quite completed, the cathedral was dedicated in 1061. At that time, it was a three-aisled basilica with a westwerk, transept, and choir, all covered by a wood truss roof, except for groin-vaulted aisles. However, in 1082, Conrad’s grandson, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, decided to rebuild and enlarge the building. During this extensive building campaign, the east end of the church was demolished and replaced, twin towers were added, the foundations were dug deeper, the floor of the nave was raised about 15’ and the nave was vaulted—an extremely complex task that required strengthening the piers with pilasters and engaged columns as a form of internal buttressing.
A heavy pilaster and a large respond were added to every other pier in order to carry the groin vaults above the nave. This created an alternating support system.
The exterior of Speyer employs “Lombard arcades” and a lombardesque gallery just below the roofline on the apse and the north and south flanks.
Cathedral of St. Marin and St. Stephen, Mainz (Germany), North flank, c1037-1130?
West end seen from the SW, reconstructed after a fire, c.1031-51
East end, looking west, c.1100
The red sandstone and the general style stand under the influence of the larger imperial cathedral at Speyer. The stereometric volumes descend from the Ottonian period (cf. St Pantaleon, Cologne; St Michael’s, Hildesheim); and the detailing comes from Lombardy (to be seen later)
The Plan of the Cathedral of Mainz is based on precedents set at Speyer as well as during the Carolingian and Ottonian periods. It is a double-ender, but with the principal end at the west, perhaps in imitation of Early Christian basilicas in Rome. The choir at the east is the secondary choir, although it is raised over a crypt. It is clear that some precedents set by Charlemagne had been preserved but transformed, probably due to the demise and the subsequent revival of the Holy Roman Empire under the Ottonians.
The Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach, Rhineland, Germany, 1093-1177
The abbey was the gift of Heinrich II (Count Palatine of the Rhine) and his wife Adelheid, who had no children and invested what would have been a dowry in the founding of a monastery across the lake (“Laach”) from their castle. Although it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas, it was called “Abatia ad lacum” or the Lake Abbey. It was secularized and disbanded in 1802 but was later acquired by the Jesuit order, who named it “Maria Laach.” It is an excellent example of the 11th-century German monastic Romanesque.
Maria Laach is a similar to a double-ender in the Carolingian and Benedictine traditions, but has a westwork and an atrium court. There is a crossing tower and twin towers at the east end as well as a central tower over the westwork with flanking cylindrical towers to the north and south.
The plan of Maria Laach shows in greater detail that the building commenced in 1093 at the east end with the choir and crypt, moved on 1120-1140 through the transept and nave to the westwork that was added 1140-56, followed by the atrium court.
Florence, San Miniato al Monte, 1062-1090
San Miniato al Monte stands on a hill above the city of Florence and represents the strong persistence of the early Christian tradition in central Italy. San Miniato derives its form in part from the early Christian basilicas found in Ravenna. It has no transept and no twin towers. Its ornamentation is derived almost exclusively from classical architecture, even if sometimes misinterpreting the model.
The façade of San Miniato is articulated with an arcade of five arches, surmounted by a temple-like motif. The basilican cross-section of the interior is revealed in the shape and organization of the facade. The entire facade plane is covered in marble revêtement except for a small area of mosaic above the tabernacle in the upper story.
The Cathedral of Pisa, 1063ff
The Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) in Pisa is the location of the Baptistry, the Campanile (“Leaning Tower”) and the Cathedral of Pisa. The complex is laid out generously and the buildings are excellent examples of Italian Romanesque architecture. The five-aisled cruciform basilica is covered with a coffered ceiling finished in gold leaf. Groin vaults cover the side aisles.
The façade is characterized by open arcades carried on slender colonnettes. At the ground level, the exterior uses blind arcades and elegant polychrome marble revêtement.
Milan, Abbey Church of Sant’ Ambrogio 1080-1128
The Abbey Church of Sant’ Ambrogio in Milan preserves the atrium court of the early Christian basilica tradition and also uses twin towers to flank the principal facade which is designed with two levels of open arcades. The atrium is surrounded by an arcade as well. Although the church has a basilican cross-section with aisles and galleries flanking the nave, the nave has no clerestory. The cross-section is only loosely revealed through the facade.
Dating of the abbey is disputed. The church seems to have been started in 1080 (or as late as 1099) but the vaults were probably not started until 1140. This is one of several churches in the area of Lombardy in northern Italy where ribbed vaults were constructed during the early 11th century.
Sant’ Ambrogio is a good example of a church that uses “Lombard arcades” as seen in these two images. The brickwork, as Stalley points out, is not particularly refined, yet the arcades clearly accent the horizontal band above the narthex arcade.
The crown of the ribbed vault is taller than the transverse and lateral arches because all rib members are cut as round arches.
The ciborium (open architectural canopy) over the “Golden Altar of Sant’ Ambrogio”
The Golden Altar was made in 835 by an artist named Vuolvinius who was active 824-859.
The floor surrounding the ciborium appears to be modern.
The Basilica of St. Mark (1063ff) sits at the east end of a large piazza (Piazza San Marco) and is the focus of the space.
Although the building has undergone several changes in its lifetime, it remains an essentially Byzantine work, related to San Vitale in Ravenna but especially to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and its legacy in the Byzantine cultural realm.
A rood screen between the congregational space and the choir replaces the visually impenetrable iconostasis found in Byzantine churches.
Behind the high altar stands one of the greatest treasures of the Basilica: the Pala d’Oro (lit. “gold palette”). It is the retable of the high altar. It is covered in gold enamel images surrounded by gold filigree and studded with precious and semi-precious jewels and other ornaments.
The Church of Ste-Foye at Conques, 1050-1130
The plan of Ste-Foye shows a three-aisled basilica with transept and crossing surmounted by an octagonal lantern on squinches. The eastern end includes an ambulatory with three radiating chapels and two chapels on the east sides of the north and south transepts. The arrangement of aisles and ambulatory permitted pilgrims to enter the church and circulate through it without disturbing the larger central spaces, especially the monastic choir. The chapels held altars with relics and other items for devotion that the pilgrims came to visit.
The very tall interior space is lit only by light borrowed from the galleries and aisles. There is no clerestory except in the tripartite (three-part) elevation of the choir.
The Basilica of St-Sernin, Toulouse, 1077 or 1080 to 1120
Built on the site of a 4th-century basilica dedicated to the first bishop of Toulouse, St. Saturnin, the Romanesque Basilica contained numerous relics given in the late 8th or 9th centuries by Charlemagne. The plan of St-Sernin is an elaboration of the plan of chuches such as Ste-Foye at Conques and much larger.
The plan of St-Sernin is an expansion of the smaller church at Conques. There are now five aisles, an extended transept (4 bays on either side of the crossing) with four apsidal chapels on the east side, an extended apse with five radiating chapels, and a continuous aisle and ambulatory circulation route. Additional entrances are located at the east and west ends of the transept.
Porte de Miègeville (c.1110)
The subject is the Ascension of Christ. Christ is born up as well as accompanied by angels in the tympanum while the apostles gaze skyward from the lintel (horizontal band beneath the tympanum and just above the door).
In the region of Catalonia in Spain, a number of churches built during the 11th century suggested the direction that ecclesiastical architecture would take.
One of them is the Church of Santa Maria in Ripoll, 1020-32, a Benedictine monastery church founded in 888.
Inside the porch, the portal is enframed with a large cycle of sculpture that projects out from the west wall. It includes jamb and archivolt figures but no tympanum. (Jambs are the supports on the sides of the portal; archivolts are the moldings that enfrance the arch.) The figures conventionally found above the entrance proper are now distributed across the plane of projection in six horizontal registers.
continuous barrel vault without ribs.
The goal of pilgrims traveling from France into Spain was usually the huge Basilica of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. Begun sometime between 1070 and 1075, the basilica has a large crypt that serves as a lower church that is the same size as the conventional upper church.
The plan of the basilica expands and enlarges the design of Sta. Maria in Ripoll by (1) extending the choir by two bays and thus moving the apse further to the east; (2) by the addition of five radiating chapels around the apse and four apsidal chapels on the east side of the very long transept; and (3) by the use of a continuous aisle and ambulatory system to facilitate circulation through the building
The interior of the Basilica at Santiago de Compostela was remodeled during the Baroque period. However, the nave and transepts are mostly in their original form.
The gallery above the arcade is subdivided into two arched openings supported by colonnettes. The responds (the very long columns engaged in the piers and walls) support ribs in the continuous barrel vaults that cover the nave, choir, and transept.
“Puerta de las Platerias” or “Portal of the Silversmiths” because the Guild of Silversmiths funded it.
The Third Abbey Church at Cluny in Burgundy, 1088-1121
A Benedictine abbey was founded at Cluny by William of Aquitaine in 909. The Benedictine Order was the oldest and the dominant monastic order of the western church until the 10th century when it fell into corruption, its stringent rules having become lax. A great reform movement was initiated by Odo, the second abbot of Cluny who served from 927 to 942. The successful reform increased the power and influence of Cluny and many other Benedictine houses followed its lead. Eventually over 1450 houses from England to Asia Minor became Cluniac dependencies. In the 11th century, Abbot Hildebrand of Cluny was elected pope and took the name Gregory VII. This put Cluny in a prestigious and advantageous position.
The abbots of Cluny were always well connected with the royal house of Spain which may partially explain their independent position. However, the Cluniac Order emphasized many other important qualities in its monastic community that gave it internal consistency and strength. The order was very interested in learning. The daily lives of Cluniac monks included required reading for intellectual improvement as well as for religious instruction. The 12th-century inventory of the Cluny library totaled 500 books, an enormous collection at that time. Such a stress on reading brought with it an emphasis on book production, including manuscript illumination (the painted illustration and decoration of book pages) and metalsmithery for the fabrication of book covers.
The third church at Cluny was built from 1088 to 1121, a project initiated by Abbot Hugh of Semur who became abbot in 1049 at the age of 25 and ruled for 60 years. He died in 1109 before the church was completed. Abbot Hugh secured formal separation of Cluny from the Benedictine Order and gained independent status for it from Pope Urban II. Having achieved this, he decided to build the finest abbey in the world. His architect was named Gunzo, but little is known about him. The importance of Cluny politically and monastically is indicated when Pope Urban II came to Cluny to consecrate the high altar in 1095.
two transepts with ten apsidal chapels and an apsidal termination with five radiating apsidal chapels. The
The Priory Church of Paray-le-Monial, 1090-1110
The influence of Cluny III was felt among its dependencies as well as in cathedral architecture in Burgundy. The image above is a view of the priory church at Paray-le-Monial, a sort of “vest-pocket” version of Cluny: almost identical to Cluny III except in size.
The plan of Paray-le-Monial has all the features of Cluny III: an elaborated chevet with radiating chapels around the apse and apsidal chapels on the east side of the north and south transepts. The aisle and ambulatory bays are covered with groin vaults.
Roman Gates: Porte d’Arroux (above), Porte St-André (below), Autun, 1st c CE
The nave elevation at Autun is not only indebted to the precedent of Cluny III but also to the presence of two Roman gates in Autun
The main difference between Autun and its predecessors is the stronger interrelationship of horizontal and vertical elements.
The figure of Christ is placed within a mandorla (almond shaped aura). All the surfaces of the garments of Christ are striated (delineated with lines), giving the impression of subtle movement. This is accentuated by the flipping of the hemline into a nervous curvilinearity around the feet.
The words on the edge of the mandorla say: “I alone dispose of all things and crown the just./ Those who follow crime I judge and punish.” It should be remembered that courts of law sometimes took place in the church and that judgments were sometimes pronounced on the steps of the church beneath the tympanum.
Cistercian Abbey Church at Fontenay, 1139-47
The facade plainly conveys the cross-section of the interior as fairly low and without much decoration, whether architectonic or sculptural.
In 1098, Robert of Molesme founded the Cistercian Order, in part as a reaction against what he perceived to be the sumptuous excess of the Cluniac Order. Given the construction of Cluny III at just that moment, it is easy to understand that many would have perceived the Cluniacs as having fallen into the same laxity and worldliness of which Odo of Cluny accused the Benedictines in the 10th century. Cistercian architecture followed the structural and plan elements of the Cluniac churches but at a much more modest scale and with virtually no decoration. Cistercian churches had no elaborate programs of sculpture and no tall, attenuated spaces, no sensuously curving ambulatories or radiating chapels. A good example is the Cistercian church at Fontenay in Burgundy.
Although Fontenay was later enlarged during the Gothic period, the church is reminiscent of the plan of Sta. Maria in Ripoll, Spain, but with square rather than apsidal chapels extending eastward from the transept.
Although Fontenay was later enlarged during the Gothic period, the church is reminiscent of the plan of Sta. Maria in Ripoll, Spain, but with square rather than apsidal chapels extending eastward from the transept.
The Pilgrimage Church of La Madeleine (St. Mary Magdalene), Vézelay, was originally a Cluniac dependency until the monks emancipated themselves and declared the monastery independent some time before 1161
The west façade, as restored by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1840 (with his unfortunate addition of a new Last Judgment relief over the central portal); and the chevet, (the apsidal chapels being Romanesque, the clerestory level being Gothic with flying buttresses added to support the choir vaults)
The narthex was added c.1140-50 after the completion of the new nave in 1132.
Plan and south flank after the fire of 1120 and the reconstruction of the nave 1120-32
The Narthex with its three portals
Added in 1140-50, the Narthex sculpture pre-existed the Narthex itself because the reliefs decorated the three western portals of the church. The Narthex may have been planned from the outset, but was not built until after the nave was completed in 1132.
The tympanum above the central portal is one of the great achievements of Romanesque art. Unlike the majority of Romanesque tympana, this one does not contain a scene of the Last Judgment. Rather, it contains a scene representing the event of Pentecost when, according to the Book of Acts, the Apostles of Christ received the Holy Spirit and were sent out into the world to convert all people. To understand the importance of this iconography, we need to know something about the history of Vézelay in the 11th and 12th centuries.
Vézelay was a very prominent monastic foundation. It stood at the beginning of one of the four routes that led to the Church of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Thus, many pilgrims came to Vézelay to start their journey by venerating the relics (thought to be those of St. Mary Magdalene, which were in the possession of the monastery) before leaving for Compostela.
On Easter Sunday 1146, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the well known Cisterican abbot and critic of Cluny, preached a sermon at Vézelay invoking Christians to embark on the Second Crusade to the Holy Land. King Louis VII was in attendance at the mass where St. Bernard delivered his sermon. Later, Richard I of England and Phillip II of France met at Vézelay before they embarked on the Third Crusade in 1190. Somehow, the Pentecostal theme seems to have reinforced the resolve of many Europeans to take back the Holy Land from the Muslims.
This extraordinary tympanum relief was also carved by Gislebertus, who began his career at Cluny, moved to Vézelay, and then moved on to Autun. Where the hand of Gislebertus is not actually involved, his style nevertheless has influenced the shop of sculptors who worked after he left. His influence is also seen elsewhere in other Burgundian Romanesque churches, such as the church at Saulieu.
South Portal in the Narthex: Scenes from the Nativity of Christ
Below (l-r): (1) Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, (2) Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth,
(3) Annunciation to the Sheherds,and (4) the Nativity
Above: the Visitation of the three Magi
The Abbey Church of Notre-Dame at Jumièges, 1037-67
The abbey church at Jumièges indicates how desirable interior height was for Romanesque builders and patrons. The plan of Jumièges is a three-aisled basilica but the transept is filled with vaulted aisles and galleries instead of being a large transverse space the full height and width of the nave and choir.
Alternating supports of the nave and the remnants of the gallery above
Note the difference between the columnar supports that are engaged in the piers of the arcade and those that are free-standing.
Jumièges could afford to rise to such an impressive height because it was covered by a light wood truss roof, not by vaults.
However, the transept at Jumièges, which typifies Norman architecture, was built as a kind of double shell wall construction with an arcuated network of support. The later manipulation of this technique by Norman builders permitted numerous experiments to achieve successful vaulted interiors
(destroyed during the French Revolution)
The Abbey Church of St-Étienne, Caen, 1065ff; nave vaults 1115-1120
The large twin towered westwerk of
St-Étienne is consistent with the verticality and attenuation found at Jumièges. The church was one of two in Caen patronized by William of Aquitaine as penance for having married a cousin named Mathilda
When it was originally covered by a truss roof, the nave had alternating supports supports. The piers in the nave elevation with their alternating a-b-a rhythm were thus ready to carry transverse and diagonal ribs. The gallery openings are very large. The clerestory windows at the top level are set back to create a passageway for servicing the building that transforms the upper walls into a system of layers.
The nave vaults built at Caen were created out of a skeletal structure of six unequal ribs between two transverse arches. Two pairs of ribs spring diagonally across the bay while a third pair span the width of the nave. The crossing of the three pairs of ribs forms a six-field or sexpartite vault. Because the diagonal span is greater than the transverse span, round arches could not be used in all cases. Therefore, a combination of stilted and depressed arches form the skeleton. This skeleton is then filled in with thin vault fields, creating a much lighteThree kinds of arches are used in the ribs of the six field vaults: round, depressed, and stilted, in order to maintain a consistent height along the center axis.r vault than a groin or barrel vault.
Three kinds of arches are used in the ribs of the six field vaults: round, depressed, and stilted, in order to maintain a consistent height along the center axis.
In 1066, William the Conqueror (Duke William II of Normandy) defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings and brought French rule to England as King William I. The Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England was commemorated in a work of art known as the Bayeux Tapestry, a linen cloth about 230 ft in length with fifty scenes of the battle embroidered with woolen yarns.
The Cathedral of St. Cuthbert, Durham, 1093-1133, an example of the Norman style in England.
The cathedral cloister, including a later gothic arcade at ground level
The location of aisles, galleries and clerestories can be determined from the fenestration. The walls are simple and undecorated, articulated mainly with string courses and salient (low relief) buttresses.
The interior of the nave at Durham shows alternating supports: clusters of colonnettes on the major supports with pillars in between as minor supports. The galleries are set deep within a system of layered arches in the upper wall. Transverse arches spring from colonnettes on the major supports beginning at the floor. Diagonal ribs spring from responds on the major supports and from console brackets positioned over the minor supports at the clerestory level.
Perhaps the most important innovation at Durham was the decision to eliminate vaulting over the galleries and to build walls with half-arch openings at the points of the alternating supports. This directs the thrusts of the vaults over the aisles into the thick outer walls with their salient buttresses. Although these buttresses are enclosed by a wood roof for protection from weather, they effectively precurse the flying buttresses that would develop in Gothic architecture before the end of the 12th century.
The west façade of St-Denis (1140) as it looks today (above) and as it looked just before the French Revolution (right). The tri-partite composition derives from the twin-towered facades of the Norman Romanesque.
The new west end of St-Denis was the prelude to a much more important decision: the removal of the Carolingian choir and the construction of a new enlarged crypt and pilgrimage choir. In the first quotation from Suger’s book, we learn that the old abbey was crowded and congested on feast days when the pilgrims were jammed into the “narrowness of the space.” Whether the women actually did run to the altar “on the heads of the men as upon a pavement” (!) we cannot confirm; but from the popularity of pilgrimages and the fact that there were apparently many beautiful objects on display at St-Denis, the need for a new choir cannot be surprising.
However, the kind of choir that Suger wanted did not yet exist. He wanted not just a pilgrimage choir in the functional sense but one that accorded with his notions about the symbolism of light and the idea that the building should express. He had also heard many reports about the splendors of Constantinople and especially of the Hagia Sophia that continued to be an awe-inspiring spectacle for European visitors in the 12th century. Suger seems to have been fascinated both by what he understood of the space and the light that characterized the Justinianic basilica; and these reports only further fanned the passions that he already had for light symbolism and mysticism. He wanted to elevate the worshiper, to transport the believer to a state beyond the material realm. And, frankly, he wanted to create an environment that was at least equal if not superior to that of the Hagia Sophia.
Sens, Cathedral of St-Étienne, 1130/40-1164
The tripartite division of the façade stresses the verticality of the composition, derived in large part from the Norman Romanesque churches. The unfinished north tower gives the façade a somewhat truncated look. The north tower is reminiscent of St-Denis in the lower stories. The wheel above the central portal is not a window but blind tracery (the non-load-bearing, self-supporting, frequently geometric decorative stonework in windows and certain other locations in the church). Tracery is generally used to hold stained glass in place, but may be left as open work as well.
The nave elevation with its system of alternating supports derives from the Norman Romanesque.
The sexpartite vaults are similar to the vaults of St-Etienne at Caen, but are “cleaner.”
The clerestory windows at the top of the elevation are fairly long, but leave wall plane on either side.
Lateral arches spring as stilted arches from slender colonnettes that stand on the innermost respond of the cluster on the nave side.
Noyon, Cathedral of Nôtre Dame
Choir begun 1145/50
South transept c1160-65
West façade c 1205
The west façade of Noyon has a tripartite vertical organization with a porch added at the ground level in the 14th century and towers that were left incomplete in the 13th century. The use of open arcades at the level of the gable became increasingly popular in the 13th and 14th centuries.
The buttresses at the clerestory level of the chevet at Noyon originally looked like those between the chapels at the lower level.
The four-part elevation includes a triforium (the narrow gallery at the third level) in the choir and nave; but the order is changed in the transept so that more light will be admitted from the long windows in the very shallow gallery.
Noyon has a cruciform plan with a three-aisled nave and an expanded five-aisled choir. The use of apsidal terminations for the transepts lends this plan the name “trefoil” (i.e. three-leaved). The trefoil plan appears at Tournai cathedral in Belgium (below) in the mid-12th century.
Ribbed vaulting is found throughout Noyon. Construction proceeded from the east end to the west end at the arcade level; and then moved from west to east at the upper levels and vaults. When construction reached the crossing, the sexpartite vaults used over the nave were given up for more up-to-date quatrepartite vaulting for the transepts and choir.
Laon, Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame, begun 1160, façade begun 1190
The twin towers of the west façade were supposed to have been echoed on the transepts and complemented by a tall tower over the crossing to create a seven-towered silhouette. Unfortunately, three of the towers were never completed.
Paris, Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame
Choir, crossing, and original transepts 1163-82
Nave as far as the westernmost double bay 1180-1200
Flying buttresses added to the nave after 1180
West façade lower story 1208
First double bay from the west 1210-20
Addition of chapels between the buttresses and enlarging of the transepts 1236
Nave elevation rebuilt with new flying buttresses after 1220s (and again in 19th century under Viollet-le-Duc)
Plan of Nôtre-Dame, showing the original layout (lower half) and the addition of chapels on the outer aisle and ambulatory in the 13th century (upper half) and the extension of the transepts with new facades.
Note the alternation of monocylindrical (minor) supports and clustered (major) supports in the inner arcade of the nave side aisles, a change from the appearance of the clustered supports in the first bay of the choir aisles
Because Paris is a five-aisled basilica, the sloping roofs that protect the vaults of the outer aisles rise particularly high and prevent the gallery windows from being very large. This same situation was true at the triforium level where the bottom of the clerestory windows was above the springline of the vaults.
The Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame, Chartres
West Façade:1135-1155; Choir, Nave, and Transepts: 1194-1221
Among the most beloved and storied examples of the High Gothic, the Cathedral of Chartres is often argued to be the most beautiful, typical, and important of all.
The city of Chartres is an old site, known in Roman times (and mentioned in the writings of Julius Caesar) as a druid mystery center in which the cult was devoted to a “virgo paritura” or a virgin about to give birth. It was one of the earliest Christian sites in France. A cathedral was erected before the 8th century.
734 – the first cathedral was burned down by Hunald, Duke of Aquitania and reconstructed by Bishop Adventus
858 – the second cathedral was burned by the Danes, reconstructed by Bishop Gislebert
962 – the third cathedral was destroyed by fire, reconstructed by Bishop Fulbert
1134 – a fire in the town of Chartres attacked buildings adjacent to the cathedral; a new west end with carved portals was begun by 1135, completed about 1155.
The new west façade at Chartres (1135-1155) is related to the new west façade at St-Denis (1135-40), both of which descend from the Norman Romanesque. The strong vertical organization of both façades into three sections is similar, but the larger wheel and lancets in the central bay at Chartres is notably progressive.
The “Portail Royal” (Royal Portal) on the west façade of Chartres gets its name from the jamb sculptures which represent an unidentifiable group of kings and queens. Above the jambs with their historiated capitals, each portal has sculptures in the lintel, tympanum and archivolts.
In 1194, another fire in the town of Chartres destroyed the Romanesque cathedral of Bishop Fulbert. Although the new west façade was saved from destruction, the people of Chartres were extremely depressed and wondered if the loss of the cathedral were somehow a punishment. However, when someone brought the major relic of the church—a tunic of the Virgin Mary—out of the crypt, completely unharmed by the fire, they took this as a sign that the Virgin Mary wanted an even better and more beautiful shrine; and they immediately
The first master (1194-96) was responsible for rebuilding the crypt and beginning the new cathedral at the east end on the foundations of the Romanesque church, preserving the general configuration of the Romanesque pilgrimage choir. on building a new cathedral.
The second master (1196-1217) was the most important. He recognized the implications of the flying buttress as it had been introduced at Nôtre Dame in Paris and carried it to more advanced design. On the interior, he eliminated the gallery, which was no longer needed for support, and created a three-part elevation with arcade, triforium, and clerestory. He also created the great wheel window of the west façade whose form was related to the form of the flying buttresses.
The third master (1217ff) took over after the presumed death of the second master and was responsible for the north and south transepts and their wheel windows.
Reims, Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame, 1210ff
Choir by Jean d’Orbais (?)
Other masters: Gaucher de Reims, Jean de Loup, Bernard de Soissons
As St-Denis was the burial site of French royalty, Reims was the coronation cathedral—where Joan of Arc would one day bring the Dauphin to be crowned Charles VII (15th c).
By 1210, when Reims was begun, Chartres was far enough along that the Reims architect could appraise the Chartrain achievement and make his design a constructive criticism of its model.
The small bud-like forms on the tops of the arches are called crockets. The ornament at the top of the pointed caps on the towers are called finials.
This over-life-size group on the left jambs of the central portal shows the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary (left figures) and the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist (right figures)
The Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame at Amiens
1218: the old cathedral burned down
1220: new cathedral begun at the west end under Robert de Luzarches (until 1236)
1236: Thomas de Cormont becomes master of the
The Cathedral at Amiens has a large cycle of sculpture around the west portals: jambs, archivolts, and tympana as well as a gallery of figures beneath the rose window. Note the increased penetrability and transparency of the façade in general.
The elevation of Amiens is based on Reims and Chartres. Round responds applied to each pier extend from the nave floor to the transverse arches. Two smaller responds rise from the impost on either side of the foremost respond to support the diagonal ribs.
By the time construction reached the upper Choir, the master builder had figured out how to lower the roofs over the aisle/ambulatory vaults in order to glaze the triforium.
A comparison of the elevations of Laon, Paris, Chartres, Reims, and Amiens at the same scale indicates the development from transitional to High Gothic in the Ile-de-France and the appetite of patrons and builders for taller, grander, more complex, and better articulated structures. Note particularly the increase in the amount of glazing through the development.
The Cathedral of Beauvais, 1225ff; Transept, 1500-48; nave, left unbuilt
Construction of the choir of the Cathedral of St-Pierre at Beauvais began in 1225. The choir was completed in 1272 in two building campaigns, interrupted in 1232-38 by a funding crisis.
During the subsequent administration of Bishop Guillaume to Grez, 4.9m was added to the height of the vaults in order that Beauvais would have the highest interior anywhere (48m as opposed to 42m at Amiens). This work was interrupted in 1284 by the collapse of some of the recently completed choir vaults. The structure was analyzed and changes were introduced to provide additional support to the vaulting. The collapse symbolically marked a turning point in the history of Gothic architecture, after which smaller churches became more common for a variety of reasons
The unfinished cathedral is still attached to its predecessor Romanesque church where the Gothic nave should have stood.
La Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, consecrated 26 April 1248
The construction of Sainte-Chapelle has an interesting history. King Louis IX—later canonized by the church as St. Louis—was a deeply pious as well as ambitious man. Two Dominican monks from Venice brought him a relic of the Passion of Christ–the crown of thorns—which he had purchased from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople at great cost. This he added to a large collection of relics of Christ he had already assembled and to which he later added wood from the true cross.
King Louis walked to the gate of the city of Paris to receive the relic and carried it barefoot into the city.
He chose to build the Sainte-Chapelle next to the royal palace on the Île de la Cité—the island in the River Seine where Nôtre Dame is located. It became his palace chapel but it is more important as a repository for the relics of the Passion for which he built it. Louis IX had great political ambitions and would like to have become the Latin emperor of Constantinople. The Sainte-Chapelle was built as a counterpart to the Hagia Sophia, which also served as the chapel of the emperor in Constantinople.
As was the case for so many medieval monuments, the Ste-Chapelle was renovated by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century. Much of the stained glass had been lost and was replaced according to his designs. Some of the interior polychromy may also have been re-designed by Viollet-le-Duc.
The interior of Sainte-Chapelle actually achieves the Gothic aesthetic ideal: the elimination of walls through the skeletalization of the structure and the complete transformation of space by colored light.
Lincoln Cathedral was built after an earthquake of 1185 destroyed its Norman predecessor. It was begun in 1192 under Bishop Hugh of Lincoln (who was French).
Lincoln plays an important role in the development of the English Gothic. It was the first large building to follow the construction of Canterbury cathedral and follows the Canterbury model by using two transepts, a three-part interior elevation, and some features that later disappeared during remodeling: a separate axial chapel at the east end and sexpartite rib vaults.
But the master mason at Lincoln was ambitious, curious, and experimental, using a lot of different forms, perhaps to keep from repeating any. This attitude turned Lincoln into a laboratory that had a huge impact on the future of the English Gothic.
The earliest tierceron ribs are found in “St. Hugh’s Choir” of 1192ff
South transept of Lincoln showing the original sexpartite vaults (and a wheel window of later date). Note the ridge rib in the vaults.
The “crazy vaults” of St. Hugh’s choir at Lincoln use the earliest known tierceron ribs (1210).
Tierceron: a rib that rises from one of the main springers to the ridge rib but is not a diagonal cross rib.
Salisbury Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Mary), 1220f The west façade was completed by 1265. The spire (+1320) is the tallest in England at 404’. Typical of many English Gothic cathedrals, Salisbury is very long and has a double transept with a retrochoir and a Lady Chapel at the east end, seen on the plan in the following slide. Typical of English usage, this was both a monastic and a cathedral church. The monastic functions of the church were housed mostly in the choir and presbytery.
Terms to know and use:
• Double transept
(main transept and eastern or choir transept)
• Presbytery (location of the high altar)
• Retrochoir (extension of the choir beyond the principal choir and choir transept)
• Lady chapel (Chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and often located at the east end of the
longitudinal axis)
• Chapter House (meeting place of the monastic chapter and/or the cathedral chapter of canons)
• Note the Plumbery in between the cloister and the nave: this was the site of the cathedral stone mason’s shop where work was done to maintain the building after it was constructed.
Exeter Cathedral 1280- (east to west); Nave, 1310 (Thomas of Whitney)
West façade: 1329-42
The Early English style (1170-1240) can be considered a transformation of the Norman style (which originated after the 1066 invasion of William the Conqueror) through the introduction of certain French Gothic elements. This can easily be seen in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral and in Lincoln Cathedral, for example.
However, the English never completely accepted the French Gothic, even where they incorporated French elements. Moreover, they frequently added to Norman buildings without replacing them, so that many English cathedrals are composites of several styles, including Norman and one or more stages of the Gothic.
The Decorated Style (1240-1330) is the second phase of the English Gothic, somewhat equivalent to the French Late High Gothic in date, but not in form. The French High Gothic, as we have seen, idealized total skeletalization of the elevation and the dissolution of the wall. The English never gave up a preference for the wall. This meant that flying buttresses were less necessary and therefore less popular in England and that the ornamental detailing of the interior became a primary focus.
Cathedral of St. Andrew at Wells, Somerset, begun 1186/90
Early 13th c: Choir, Transepts, part of Nave
1225-40: west façade and its sculpture
Retrochoir: 1285f
Chapter House: early 14th c
The choir as completed in the 14th c in the Decorated style with lierne ribbed vaulting
Left: net vault using lierne ribs in the Lady Chapel of the Retrochoir
• Tierceron rib: a rib that rises from one of the main springers to the ridge rib but is not a diagonal cross rib.
• Lierne rib: a rib that neither rises from the main springer nor connects with a ridge rib
Right: Tierceron and ridge ribs in the Retrochoir vaults
The Screen Facade
While many English cathedrals have fairly simple schemes for the west façade, there are also many examples of screen façades. Screen facades are constructed as elaborate compositions in which towers may be either incorporated or alternatively upstaged by the architecture and the sculptural program.
Two really good examples of the screen façade are Wells and Peterborough.
Facing the cathedral green, the screen façade of Wells was dedicated along with the whole building in 1239. In this exemplary English screen façade, the sculptural program is very extensive and lays out the history of Christian salvation, including the Last Judgment. In addition, the façade played a huge role in the liturgical practices of the cathedral, becoming a backdrop for elaborate processions with singers and instrumental musicians located both in view and in concealed spaces, so that, as one historian puts it, “the whole façade would begin to resound and become a speaking tableau of the Heavenly Jerusalem.” (Ute Engel)
Peterborough Cathedral west façade (c.1180-1238)
In an aerial view, the relationship of the screen façade to the main body of the building becomes clearer. The screen façade of Peterborough (unlike that of Wells) is a dramatic, deep composition of three large arches arranged in front of the west wall. Note that there is another pair of towers behind the screen façade that were part of the original Norman structure. Clearly, the screen façade was part of a Gothic remodeling of an earlier Norman building.
The three arches are surmounted by gables with small wheel windows and are bracketed on the north (left) and south (right) by slender towers with pointed stone spires. Where the richness of the screen façade of Wells was accomplished by sculptural and architectural layering, at Peterborough, richness is achieved by bold architectural choices and the creation of a deep porch across the entire front of the cathedral.
This aerial view of Gloucester cathedral shows the full extent of the church. During the 14th c remodeling, a Lady Chapel was added to the east end.
The plan of Gloucester shows that the Norman transepts were blocked off by the monastic choir.
Radiating chapels around the east end of the original ambulatory were converted into Gothic form ; and chapels were added to the east sides of both transepts.
The eastern wall of the choir in the remodeling was given a slightly polygonal shape to conform to the general character of the circular ambulatory.
The Lady Chapel replaced a smaller chapel and opens up to the desired width with angled walls.
In this image, we see the tracery veneer applied to the east wall of the south transept. It incorporates not only the earlier Norman arches but also the buttresses that were part of the support for the crossing tower. From these pictures, it is easy to understand how this new style of Gothic architecture later received the name “Perpendicular Style.”
Similarly, in contrast to the very regular, even sober quality of the wall treatment, the lierne vaulting overhead is a dramatic canopy above the choir.
Using three parallel ridge ribs, the network of ribs introduces possibilities that many architects would exploit well up into the 16th century, long after the Italian Renaissance had already spread out of Italy into other parts of Europe.
Interior of the Lady Chapel looking west. As a new construction, the Perpendicular Style determines the elevation of the Lady Chapel. With no side aisles, the Lady Chapel becomes a glass box, much more skeletalized than is typical of the Early English or Decorated Style.
Winchester Cathedral, new nave, 1360-94
Master mason: William Wynford
The entire surface of the west front is covered in Perpendicular Style paneling. The west façade is divided by two strong vertical buttresses into three sections covering the nave and aisles. The low porches project in front of windows covered in Perpendicular tracery, the center window resembling precedents set at Gloucester and Canterbury. The central porch opens through a tudor arch, defined as an arch with four centering points. ❉
Both images reveal the use of multiple bosses at the joints of the lierne ribs and the ridge rib and almost every other junction of ribs. The use of a larger cross-section for the transverse ribs is also visible.
Fan vaulting in the cloister at Gloucester cathedral (1360-70)
The image in this slide shows the use of Perpendicular Style paneling on the inner wall of the cloister. The patterns there reflect the tracery in the fenestration of the opposite wall. What appears as blind tracery in the wall paneling is in fact carved out of horizontal courses of masonry. The fans overhead are conoids—inverted half-cones cut flat at the very top. The ribs and tracery that decorate the vaults are not actual ribs but patterns cut out of the courses of masonry that build the faces of the fan shapes.
In this image, it is easy to trace the joints of the horizontal courses in the masonry of the conoids and see that the “ribs” and “tracery” are homogenous with what appears to be the “webbing.” Fan vaulting could therefore have been just as easily named “panel vaulting.”
The Lady Chapel at Peterborough Cathedral
1496-1508
Master Mason:
John Wastell?
The Lady Chapel at Peterborough Cathedral was added to the east end of the Norman polygonal apse between 1496 and 1508, replacing an earlier Lady Chapel of c1260. It is often referred to now as the “new building.”
By extending the north and south choir aisles by two bays the Lady Chapel could then be built across the full width of the choir. The plan shows that the builder (probably John Wastell) used fan vaulting as a way to emphasize the importance of this chapel and to distinguish it both structurally and ornamentally.
The Lady Chapel shows a remarkable and impressive set of fan vaults. The Perpendicular paneling of the lower walls is carried up into the bar tracery of the windows as well as repeated in the forms of the conoid vaults themselves.
The flexibility of the fan vaulting can be seen from this corner vantage point: the corner fan is more than a half-cone: it is a three-quarters cone that projects more on the right side than on the left. In this way, fan vaulting can “turn a corner.”
King’s College Chapel
1466-1515
Founded by Henry VI in 1446 as a royal institution, King’s College was from the outset an important part of Cambridge University.
The Tudor arch has four centering points as shown in the diagram above.
Through three different building campaigns, one plan was followed consistently. The plan reveals a long hall church with no transepts and no architectural division between the choir and the nave, although a rood screen divides the space. Perpendicular Style dominates the structure and the Tudor arch is present in the fenestration of the side spaces.
The vaulting in King’s College Chapel was finished by John Wastell, the same builder who designed the fan vaulting for the Lady Chapel at Peterborough.
At King’s College Chapel, the span of over 41’ is covered with fan vaulting in which the entire system is composed of paneling built up as inverted half-cones that are supported by transverse arches. Paneling fills the spandrels between the cones above the clerestorey. The spandrel panels at King’s College weigh 1.5 tons apiece. This is definitely a tour-de-force of masonry.
Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, 1503-09
The final chapter in the expansion of virtuosic vaulting in England takes us to Westminster Abbey. The addition of a new Lady Chapel was intended as a burial place for Henry VII and his wife. James I is also buried there. It is an example of the Perpendicular Style par excellence; but its vaulting goes beyond anything we have seen up to this point
The fan vaults can be conceived as a combination of arches along the wall and larger, transverse arches bridging across the chapel around which conoids are constructed. The curved panels, extending from the same point on the wall, are spaced equidistant from each other, forming the conoid shapes. The resulting conoids, however, require great compressive forces to keep shape. Spandrels usually provide pressure along the upper edge of the conoids.
The pendants are cut from single stones and inserted as wedge stones in the transverse arches. By combining with the transverse arches, the pendants do not require additional structural support and can further support a share of the conoids.
In the Henry VII Chapel, spandrel panels are replaced with additional hanging pendants. The pendants still provide the compression necessary to support the conoids and add complexity to the aesthetics of the room.
