If we divide the introduction to French Gothic into two separate phases as we should, the first step of the journey is Burgos Cathedral: the first of the Gothic Cathedrals in Spain. Most scholars reference the journey of Bishop Maurcio to collect Elizabeth of Swabia for her wedding to Ferdinand III of Castile as the catalyst for the style. Though we have no surviving evidence, it is believed that Maurcio encountered gothic cathedrals while traveling through France and took note of what he saw. It is also believed that he studied in Paris for a time, thus prolonging his exposure to the Cathedrals being build in that region. From its first conception, the King held a special interest in Burgos Cathedral despite the fact it was never made the official church of the crown. It was decided to construct the cathedral on the same location as an older, Romanesque building. Building of the cathedral happened at a rapid pace, with the first stones being laid in 1221 and consecration taking place in 1260. Restoration and additions would be made throughout the next hundreds of years, but the basic Gothic structure was erected in a considerably short period of time compared to other cathedrals. With the construction of Burgos Cathedral, we see the introduction of standard Gothic elements: the ribbed vaults, flying buttresses and pointed arches. Though Gothic architects were not the first to utilize these elements, the combination of the three have become key to identifying the gothic
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 Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City was built between 1573 and 1813 by the architect that designed this building was Claudio de Arciniega. He designed this building from taking inspiration from gothic cathedrals in Spain. The focus of this cathedral was Spanish gothic, with the influence of the renaissance. Claudio de Arciniega was born in 1520 and died in 1593. There was not a lot found on him. Per Jimenez article, he was a carver in Madrid and after a while, moved to New Spain in 1555. He did some work in America like the Viceregal Palace and the Santo Domingo (Jimenez). He also did some work in Mexico till he died. The last building, he was working on was the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City right before he died.
It's critical that Gothic engineering was fundamentally given to the working of religious abodes. Gothic design is known for the utilization of curves that point strongly upward and flying supports, which allude to structures that hold up substantial dividers. Flying braces make the rich, vertical upward line of Gothic engineering and take into account bigger windows, which Gothic specialists used to showcase splendid recolored glass windows. Renaissance engineering included more Romanesque structures (fabricating a home around a yard, for instance), regularly based around circles rather than the vertical, upward development of Gothic design. In the Renaissance, figure was much more imperative than engineering. Figures, for example, Michelangelo's David demonstrated amazing naturalism and a grasp of the bare human
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.
Robert A. Scott wrote The Gothic Enterprise in an attempt to give readers a bit of insight into the world of cathedrals. He moves from topic to topic, explaining how Gothic Cathedrals came to be, how they were constructed, and who ran them. Two course themes very applicable to Scott’s text are “How Technologies Develop” and “Technology and the Environment.” Over the nearly 500 year period of cathedral building, technologies to make the process easier were developed. For example, the windlass were used to hoist the heaver timbers up to the roofs of the cathedrals. Flying buttresses were also put in place after wind started to become a problem with the building of the spires. This environmental problem, along with others such as flooding at the
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.
Some of those main characteristics of the Gothic Architecture are the pointed arcs, ribbed vaults and flying buttress, stained glass windows, complex decoration, towers and some other details. The origins of the pointed arcs used in gothic Architecture come from the pre-Islamic and Islamic Architecture. Two-barrel vaults intersecting in a perpendicular way compose the ribbed vaults; this would give more strength to the building allowing for more windows at higher places. Flying buttress has to purpose to resist horizontal forces, by redirecting to force to the ground. The stained glass windows were ecclesiastic windows that allow light from the highest points of the building. Some of the complex decoration refers to the amount of detail such as statues, paints, and scripts on the walls.
Gothic Style is some of the most beautiful works of art that man have ever made. It originated with the Romanesque style of building which lasted for about one hundred years before it was replaced by Gothic styles. The founder of the Gothic style was a man by the name of Abbot Suger. Notre Dame de Chartres cathedral was built in France between 1145 and 1513 and is Gothic architecture. Another Gothic architecture is the Bourges and it is located in Bourges France. Both of these works of art are very similar with many different features.
Gothic architecture a new style developing from an old style of architecture with similar characteristics and in a way different. Architects wanted to build bigger buildings with stronger walls something that could not be found elsewhere. The old buildings did not have windows they were dark places that in order to get light they needed many candles. Not even the candles could give the right amount of light the buildings needed. The middle ages architects wanted big windows on the buildings and this new style made their wish come true. Architecture during the Middle Ages became a new style with new problems to solve and a new kind of extraordinary buildings to build.
The Gothic style, dating between the 12th century and 16th century, began in France and eventually spread throughout the rest of Europe. An example of the first true Gothic church was St. Denis of Paris. Now, it is considered one of our finest artistic periods, but at the time, the term “gothic” did not exactly hold the same meaning it does today. The name came from the Goths and was used rather negatively when describing this style of architecture as they considered it to be similar to the works of the barbarians from which the name was derived.
I decided to research St. Michael’s Church as well as Sainte-Chapelle because both churches are very different compared to the other, yet both are beautiful works of architecture that depict the artistic advancements for their time periods. St. Michael’s building represents the Romanesque artistic style of the Holy Roman Empire during the early middle ages. In contrast, La Sainte-Chapelle exemplifies the qualities and extravagance of the Gothic artistic era.
In Germany the gothic expression was slow to evolve. This evolution from the beginning was a mesh of pieces borrowed from the French.
Gothic art flourished from the 12th century to the 16th century in Europe in response of the Byzantine and Romanesque tradition. Although Gothic is associated with arts, its most prominent use is in architecture, mainly for its pointed arch and flying buttress. To this day, the Gothic style is taken as a ‘label’ for visual arts such as concept art designs, yet the meaning stray from the original context, thus becoming rarely accurate.
After Charlemagne’s death in 814, a terrible and dark period of cultural decline and terror ensued. It took a long time for the terror to end and the conquerors of various parts of Charlemagne’s empire to come together and create conditions for peace. With that peace came the Romanesque architecture movement. Now it can be hard to distinguish what exactly Romanesque architecture was
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