Quiz 5 mostly materials from lectures 17 19 but include some review of major themes of the quarter Lecture 17 Gothic Architecture in France What were the intentions of the 12th and 13th century builders of French Gothic cathedrals What light do the words of Abbot Suger shed on this question pun intended Roman achievements space o Romans applied great technology arches and focused on building great interior o Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine Pantheon slide 4 Tall Great interior space o What happened with the dissolution of the Roman power is the loss of building vs Hagia Sophia the dome of it is higher than the dome of the Pantheon Hagia Sophia Byzantine achievement skills o Arches Roman Amphitheater Nimes Ste Foy Conques o Romanesque achievement Palatine Chapel St Foy Cluny III Lots of stones Heavy architecture Wall based architecture Wall being the main support of the weights Comparison Gothic buttresses are the main support of the thin walls Clear articulation of parts Columnar form IIe de France o Area centered around Paris o The heart of France including the land surrounding Paris Questions What did Abbot Suger introduce at Saint Denis that marks this as the start of Gothic 16 00 o Suger brought God s light into the church o Saint Denis Royal burial place Religious center the church was built so that people can feel the presence of God How does Gothic structure compare with earlier church construction especially of the Romanesque period 17 20 o Gothic Large windows Wall of glass Castle like structures o Romanesque church Small windows Massive walls How do the structural systems of Amiens and Chartres cathedrals compare 18 55 o Amien o Chartres One of the tallest cathedrals in the world Long delicate flying buttresses Each buttress weighs only 1 3 of those in Chartres One of the first Gothic cathedral Massive buttress Flying buttresses are rather timid How did the builders determine their structural systems 20 30 o The medieval builders were extremely careful and knowledgeable o They used their own buildings as a model checking each part as it is finished What brought people and money to the cathedral 29 00 o Relics brought people to the cathedral and the people were housed in the cathedral and brought revenue Relics objects associated with saint o The greater the cathedral the greater the power of the relics housed What was the relationship between the cathedral and its town between business and religion 31 50 o The cathedral charter was owned by merchant o Problems between the bishop and the townsman Bishop got hauled and killed by the people o Peasants were funding the cathedral heavy taxes not purely religion there were a lot of economic issues involved o The support of the cathedral is not from the patron itself but from the city Typical Gothic cathedral o What are some of the elements that make the architecture distinctive Flying buttresses key element Flyers connecting to the wall from the buttress Ribbed vaults There s a point where the wall is connecting to the rib vault Flying buttresses is supporting part of the weight from the walls Lots of windows and light Stain glass glass painted with patterns The supporting structures mentioned above made great openings for windows possible Part of the supporting system were moved to the exterior Exterior buttressing The skeletal system that s supporting the wall is moved outside o New key term Triforium slide 12 Rayonnant style A triforium is a shallow arched gallery within the thickness of inner wall which stands above the nave of a church orcathedral It may occur at the level of the clerestory windows or it may be located as a separate level below the clerestory French building style 13th century that represents the height of Gothic architecture During this period architects became less interested in achieving great size than in decoration which took such forms as pinnacles moldings and especially window tracery The style s name reflects the radiating character of the rose window Other features include the thinning of vertical supporting members the enlargement of windows and the combination of the triforium gallery and clerestory into one large glazed area until walls became largely undifferentiated screens of tracery mullions and glass Amiens Cathedral 1220 70 is cited as its earliest manifestation Especially fine achievements include Notre Dame de Paris the church of Saint Urbain in Troyes founded 1262 and the extraordinary Sainte Chapelle Paris consecrated 1248 Louis IX s palace chapel Adopted from http www britannica com EBchecked topic 492572 Rayonnant style Tracery Abbey of St Denis o Patron of the re building Abbot Suger o Invention of the Gothic Provided an architectural model for cathedrals and abbeys of northern France England and other countries From https www boundless com art history textbooks boundless art history textbook gothic art 20 french gothic art 133 the abbey church of saint denis 550 8283 o Heavy fa ade with three openings has connection to the Romanesque form square form o Intended to have two towers but only one was built o Plan Narthex Nave Chevet Vaulted ambulatory with radiating chapels elements found in Romanesque architecture but expressed in a different form o Intending to bring in light manifestation of God o Pointed arches brought great flexibility for the ribbed vaulting Pointed vaulting allows changes to be made without changing the height Allows the suspension of large stained glass With biblical stories painted on o Lots of the elements are not new to architecture they are Romanesque elements but are expressed in a different form Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame o Notre Dame dear mother infers Virgin Mary o Later period of Gothic o The higher tower on the left were not fully built until o The building was rebuilt o There was an element that took centuries to finish partly have to do with the patrons and the money needed to build it o Unified building Lighted interior vs Durham England Durham was built in a short span of time Verticality Visual continuity Divisions very tall upper level clerestory dark middle band gallery space very tall nave arcade down at the bottom and more with the stained glass window Colonnette term for the small columnar element that rises and becomes the rib of the ribbed groin vault o Chartres nave wall Tall arcade Short gallery Tall clerestory Colonnettes Gothic church elements o Thin nave wall o The trianglular section where the gallery is yellow