Enrio Rico Evangelista
Professor Rui de Sousa
Medieval Civilization Section 11
18 November 2015
Abbot Suger of St. Denis and the Rise of Gothic Architecture Religion has always been a part of our identity. Today, the population wander around the world seeing these wonderful churches and religious buildings all around us. The architectural style of the Middle Ages was very prominent: high stone vaults, internal elevations of multiple stories, rounded arches, and thick walls. This was characterized as Romanesque architecture. Suger revolutionized everything. He reworked these ideas and introduced, to the world, what is now known as the Gothic architectural style. Although Gothic architecture played a prominent role during the Renaissance,
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One of Suger’s first advice was to eliminate the so called robber baron. Louis VI did this in a violent and harsh way but he eventually succeeded. According to one of Suger’s monk, William, wrote the life of his master in the priory of St-Denis (Bradbury 131). It was said: “He was ‘little in body and little in race,’… his great heart in a frail body. Suger lived simply, sleeping on a straw and occupying a bare cell. He was a careful and able administrator and a hard work” (Bradbury 129). As influential as he is, he had priorities that he wanted do accomplish. He retied religion and Capetian kings together again by making the pope and the king form a bond (Pacaut …show more content…
People were criticizing the new building and was not very keen of the idea of renovation. Suger still pushed for his project and fulfill his dreams to glorify the church. He began to rebuilt the church in 1137. One of the reasons behind this construction was that he was not contended with the dark and sinister style of Romanesque architecture. He wanted the church to be an expression of modernity and enlightenment. (Verdon and Dally 190-191). Suger considered it as modern because it was not heavy looking and inspiring. His critics, including Bernard of Clairvaux, called it “Gothic” because it was unrefined, barbaric and non-Roman (Bradbury 295). These criticisms were all wrong because it was completely renewed and this symbolized the top achievement of the medieval civilization. However, they were right that it was completely not Roman. This building represented the apex of achievement because, after centuries of being under the influence of the Roman empire, Suger gave birth to something new, something extravagant and
In this excerpt, von Simson looks at how the writings of intellectuals influenced the development of Gothic architecture. He begins by looking at the writings of St. Augustine and his love for music and how the importance of measurement found in music also applies to architecture. He then goes on to address two important schools of thought that influenced the formation of the Gothic style: The Platonists with their focus on cosmology, and the monks at Clairvaux, including St. Bernard, who focused on spirituality. In this section, von Simson focuses on the former and the connection between the cosmos and the Gothic cathedral. He argues that these medieval scholars saw God as an architect and the cosmos as his cathedral. In his study of both St. Augustine and the Plantonists, von Simson works to identify the ways in which these intellectual schools of thought influenced Gothic architecture.
The shift brought the transformation of thick columns to much thinner and “lighter” columns (Blankenbehler). However, before this architectural movement can begin, Abbot Suger struggled to reconstruct and synthesize the style of the ancient building with his ideas of modern designs. He knew that the freshness of these new designs would bring beauty and spaciousness. He wanted people to be amazed at the transformation of the once small, but soon to be large and wide feel of the basilica. To create the wide feel, Abbot Suger issued the ceiling to have a complicated web of interlocked and pointed vaults. He also chose to have arches with points so that the basilica would not need thick walls to support the arch. Thick walls would make the interior look crowded and small, something Suger did not want. By having the pointed arches, those would take the weight of the ceiling and distribute the weight across rather than being pulled down. This allowed for thin and elegant looking columns, for they were able to support the ceiling because the weight of it was dispersed. He envisioned the structure to have high ceilings, which would be supported with thinner columns (Birth of the Gothic: Abbot Suger and the Ambulatory at St. Denis). Suger also brought in the idea of having tall towers so that the building would look like it was reaching for the heavens. By reaching the heavens, it brought this concept of being closer to God and reassuring the people’s
Much of the architecture in the Romanesque era evolved into Gothic architecture. The Gothic era ran from the 12th century into the 16th century. There wasn’t necessarily a clean break from Romanesque to Gothic styles of architecture, but rather a gradual shift in design. The main characteristics of Gothic architecture are the pointed ribbed vaults and arches, flying buttresses and, in place of solid walls, a cluster of columns. Due to the vertical emphasis of the design, the archways could be redesigned and stretched or pointed. Four main Figure 5 – The depressed arch supported by fan vaulting at King’s College Chapel, England.
While the Contrasts focused and differences and similarities between the two historical periods, Pugin’s next book True Principles focused on the Gothic as being a true Christian architecture (Richardson, McKellar, Woods, 2008, p.128).
Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis(1081-1151) helped define and popularize two things in his lifetime: the Gothic architectural style and the peacekeeping and feudal mission of the Capetian monarchy, which enabled their ascension to dominance in medieval France. Suger has been regarded as the first person to recognize, describe, and analyze the socio-political structure of Capetian France as a feudal hierarchy, a pyramid of tenure with the king at its top (Grant 3). He is also commonly seen as an influential ideologist, a man who glorified the Capetian monarchy. Suger is best known for his architectural reconstruction of the Saint Denis abbey church, of which the renovations’ purpose were not only for the monks’ benefits, but also for the populace
When Abbot Suger created the Gothic style he had in mind to create a church to pay respects to God by illuminating light with stained glass.
The 12th century Gothic builders were the first to discover how to construct great buildings were their stability depended upon knowing how to transmit the thrust through specific parts of the structure, the buttresses that formed its skeletal and the ribs not upon the thickness of their walls. The result was a dynamically stable architecture capable of building
The Romanesque and Gothic architecture period both occurred during the Middle Ages with the Gothic period taking place during the later half. Gothic and Romanesque architecture were related in many ways, but they also contrasted in style too. Over time, masons began to test the waters and push the limits. They thought of new ways to add lighting and ways to allow more height to the building without it being to heavy and weak. Many of the reasons for the change in styles had a lot to do with society and the changes it faced. There was a greater intensity occurring in piety and literature. The Gothic style embodied this new urban society. Romanesque and Gothic shared similar characteristics, but Gothic architecture was a greater departure
I also thought it was interesting to learn that the abbey church of Saint Dennis was the first introduction of Gothic architecture. Another interesting thing that I wanted to point out was, that many of the churches, including the abbey church of Saint Dennis and the Chartres Cathedral, "had lengthy construction histories" (Kleiner 379). But, one church, in particular, had a fairly quick construction time frame. The Laon Cathedral, pictured below, is an example of a church that began construction around 1160 and the construction was quickly completed, by 1200. Besides, Gothic architectural features, the Laon Cathedral also demonstrates some Romanesque features, including, "nave bays with large sexpartite rib vaults" (Kleiner 379). The textbook
Gothic was first used as a term of contempt during the late renaissance. The Goth's were barbarians- which leads to many theories as to why "Goth" was the chosen title for a style that required extreme engineering as well as technical and artistic know how. Since then vast efforts have been made to rename the style with a term that better encompasses the idea of gothic style.
Gothic architecture began in the 12th century and continued well into the 16th century as an attempt to reconcile Christian theology with Greek philosophy. Gothic architecture was deeply rooted in the previous architectural genre, the Romanesque, but architects this time around no longer desired to recapture the ‘classical’ and ‘antique’. If we focus on the Gothic cathedral, we’ll find that a Gothic cathedral had a unified and unbroken space that included the apse, rather than separating them like the Romanesque architects did. The main characteristics of Gothic style cathedrals included the groin-vault. Barrel-vaults had become too difficult to make and too heavy to install and so the Gothic architects decided to pull away from them and utilize groin-vaults instead. The ribs in the groin-vaults were conveniently aligned to form a diamond pattern on the ceilings. Atop these vaults was the second main characteristic of
Fire is viewed as destruction by many, but it helped to produce growth in Gothic architecture. Many of Christianity’s beliefs are reflected in different aspects of art. The stained glass and verticality of Gothic churches is a key change from Romanesque style churches. The Gothic church found creative ways to illustrate images of important events in history through tapestry. Even the general shape and design of the Romanesque churches versus Gothic churches show Christians values. The sculptures outside of churches have evolved over time to correspond with Christian’s beliefs of Homo faber. The change in design of Romanesque churches to the new architecture of Gothic style churches shows how Christian’s incorporated their religion into churches. Christianity’s beliefs and values are directly reflected through the changes of architecture and style from Romanesque to Gothic churches along with visual and literary art.
With these great gothic style building appearing in Europe, there had to be architects behind the projects. Some of the most famous architects of the early gothic (1140-1194), high gothic (1194-1300), and late gothic (1300-1500) are, Jean D’Orbais, Jean Le Loup, Gaucher De Reims, Bernard De Soissons, and Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis. The patron, and client, for the first Gothic style building - Abbot Suger, wrote his views on the symbolism, at St. Denis, built between (1140-1144), but did not record the architect’s name. Jean D’Orbais' designed the first tracery rose window, and was a major milestone in church construction. Considering we don't
The research paper, shall be concerned with discussion Gothic architecture in Europe-namely England, France, Germany, and Italy starting from 12th to the 16th Centuries. Architecture was the most original and lasting form of art during the Gothic Period, which lasted for four centuries starting from the mid 12th century. The impetus for this architecture was the Roman Catholic Church, which sought to portray their houses of worship as something which transcended the realm of mankind. It is interesting to note that many of the Northern European areas were predominately pagan, and only recently brought into the Church. The imagery provided by Gothic structural design was something these peoples could more readily understand, as they
There were two main types of architecture during the middle ages, the Romanesque style and the Gothic style. The Romanesque period took place approximately between 1096 and 1270 (the eleventh and twelfth centuries) and the Gothic period took