SACRED ARHITECTURE GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

INTRO
1. church combines elements: structure, contents, cultural meanings
  1. Christian understanding of world shaped/represented by visual and material surroundings
    1. medieval church = combo between visual arts and devotional performance
1 EARLY GOTHIC AT ST DENIS
1. pointed arches - taller- Gothic (from German)
  1. royal burials - coronation regalia - relics of Saint Denis
    1. SUGER - wanted light + furnishings - best materials- effects rather than building itself
      1. enhance worldy and spiritual power - route to divine - use of building = metaphor (St Paul) - apostles and prophets = foundations, JC = cornerstone
        earthly world to spiritual world - enlightnement
      2. gold, semi precious stones/gems - stained glass
2. rebuilt from 1130s
2 METHODS AND THEORIES FOR UNDERSTANDING MEDIEVAL GREAT CHURCH ARCHITECTURE
1. group 'great' churches of similar style - share architectural forms - 'formal analysis' - enable comparisons between buildings
2. widen context for evidence on decision making during building - cult of a saint to support Kingship of England
3. evidence doesn't focus on uses, forms and especially meanings of a building
  1. holistic approach - how building made to work for communities (religious and secular) they served - political, secular needs and interests of patrons and communities
    1. Historian Lindsay Jones - 3 uses of sacred architecture: ORIENTATION - helps with understanding rel of universe and earth COMMEMORATION - memorial or home of relics/homage to saint (miracles) RITUAL CONTEXT - performance, contemplation, propitiation (pleasing the saints/god/jesus by offerings/confession), sanctuary
4. Secular elements: heraldry - carved into stone - presence of donor families or civic involvement: political hierarchy and authority
SUGERS COMMISSION - NEW END OF SAINT DENIS
1. chevet -
  1. semi-circle behind altar - ambulatory - chapels - made wider in rebuild due to previous overcrowding
    1. exterior shows flow of chapels - Suger may have told builders what building should DO rather than what it should LOOK LIKE
      1. names of builders not recorded
        Suger did not record evolution of building
        amalgamation of different masons, master carvers ideas and opinions rather than 1 single concept
  2. east end spiritually powerful - high altar - JC due to return from the east
OTHER EXAMPLES
1. AUXERRE- rebuilt from 1215 - compete with others around - accommodate growing congregations - prestige for bishop/patrons - building not sacred but acquired sacred purpose
  1. REIMS - similar details to Westminster Abbey - important for master builders - Henry de Reynes had worked on it - rebuilt 1211 - 1250s
3 THE GREAT GOTHIC CHURCH: FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS
1. chapels (chevet), altar, crossing, transepts, nave, choir, screen, aisle, arcade, ambulatory
  1. based on latin cross - some predictable relationships eg nave = 2x width of aisles - altar faces east - main door west - variations = crossing may have tower above- choir in non-monastic churches - screen separates clergy from laity
2. clerestory, triforium, main arcade, springing, shaft
  1. extra windows and height = more light - higher ceilings (roman churches darker, lower)
3. areas separated by pillars - vaulted ceilings with ribs - decorated west exterior -
4. Furnishings
  1. fixtures or fittings - screens to subdivide areas (sep. clergy from laity) - laity not able to go further than nave - lots of altars for different saints - endowed by individuals or guilds or institutions - donors buying speedy route to heaven - each altar had art - stained glass, altar retable, frontal, textiles, metalwork, vessels
4 WESTMINSTER ABBEY
1. Saint Ed the C;s shrine behind altar - royal tombs - ambulatory - monastic buildings and cloisters to south -
  1. rebuilding 1246
    1. St Peters - consecrated 1065 - Edward the Confessor - Harold II - William the Conq 1066 - Henry III (1216 - 72)
      1. Henry III rebuilding begun 1246 with Henry de Reynes
2. SIGNIFICANCE OF ROYAL PATRONAGE
  1. paid for by Henry III - most "lavishly finished church of 13th C - coronations - shrine to Saint Edward (ex king) - repository for royal regalia - royal burial place
    1. although monastic, most important uses = secular main uses
3. FRENCH AND ENGLISH GOTHIC AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY
  1. Gothic dominant 1100 - 1500 - DECORATED GOTHIC= 13th C England = window tracery - effects of light - apparent lack of load bearing walls - definiing G characteristics
    1. 'rayonnant' = radiating - re complex tracery of rose/round windows from 1230 plus arched windows
      1. design resulting from masons travelling in Europe and sharing/experimenting for different patrons
4. AESTHETIC PROPERTIES OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY
  1. high nave - chevet - rose window - height ratio of arcade:triforium;clerestory same as at Amiens
    1. tracery in gallery like Sainte-Chapelle Paris
      1. relics of Christ - crown of thorns
5. MULTIPLE MEANINGS AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY
  1. Henry III au fait with French court culture (M Eleanor of Provence) - poss wanted to emulate Fr. cathedrals - set on total effect rather than particular style distinctions - aware of Louis IX's influence in Paris
    1. material and spiritual seem to be considered of equal importance
6. ROYAL POWER AND WESTMINSTER ABBEY

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