“A little after the year One Thousand, basilicas began to be built throughout the known land, and especially in Italy and the

Gaul territories. And because the majority of them were still in good conditions and were

not lacking in anything, a great spirit of emulation overtook all Christian

populations: each wishing to surpass the next in magnificence. It was as if the world wanted to shake off the old, and cover itself

with a great white cloak of churches".

Romanesque Art 1050-1200

Raul Glaber

Reasons for Revival of Large-Scale Architecture & Sculpture:

• relief over millennium

• replace destruction of 9th & 10th centuries invasions

• rise of towns

• new function of churches – not just for clergy but for laity

• beautify house of God

• PILGRIMAGES

Architectural Goals:

• height (towards heaven)

• light (metaphor for God)

• stone vaulting (1. fireproof 2. accoutstics 3. looks cool)

Medieval Pilgrimage

Routes

RelicReliquary

Ultimate destination was to Santiago de Compostela in Western Spain.

Legendary burial place of St. James; many miracles attributed

Plan for the Monastery at St. Gall, Switzerland,

c. 819

St. Just

CarolingianBasilica

St. SerninPilgrimage Church

Sta. Sabina c. 425 St. Michael, Hildesheimc. 1000

St. Sernin c. 1100

Nave

Transept

Apse

Crossing Square

Bay

Radiating Chapels(Absidioles)

Choir

Ambulatory

St. Sernin, Toulouse, 1080-1120

E

W

St. Sernin, Toulouse, 1080-1120

tribune gallery

nave arcade

transverse arch

compound pier

Barrel Vaulted Nave

Groin Vaulted Side Aisles

Speyer Cathedral,

Speyer, Germany, begun 1030; nave vaults,

ca. 1082–1106

1. Groin Vaulted Nave

alternate support system

La Madeleine, Vezelay, France, c. 1100-1120

St. Etienne, Caen, France, c. 1068-1120 vaulted c. 1115–1120

2. RibbedVaults

sexpartite vault

St. Etienne, Caen, France, c. 1068-1120 vaulted c. 1115–1120

3 Story Elevation:

ClerestoryGalleryNave Arcade

Durham Cathedral, England, begun c. 1093

3. Pointed Arches

Gothic Alert !!

Lateral section of Durham Cathedral

Quadrant Arch

Notre Dame, Paris, 1180-1200

4. Flying Buttress

Amiens Cathedral, c.1220-1270 Gothic Pointed Arch

Nave elevations of four French Gothic cathedrals at the same scale(a) Laon, (b) Paris, (c) Chartres, (d) Amiens.

clerestory

triforium

nave arcade

lancet &ocular windows

80' 107' 118' 144'

Gothic Architecture – 13 th Century

“The Gothic Solution”

• Groin vaulted nave

• Ribbed vaults

• Pointed arches

• Flying Buttresses (only feature not used in Romanesque)

• 3 Story Elevation: nave arcade, triforium, clerestory

Skeletal framework and dissolution of walls