Medieval Architecture
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ScribdTranslationsMedieval Architecture
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ScribdTranslationsMedieval architecture
It is a historiographical expression that encompasses the architectural production of art.
medieval.
In medieval architecture, three main styles developed: The
Byzantine, which influences throughout the period, the Romanesque between the 11th and 12th centuries, and
the Gothic style from the 12th to the 15th century.
Characteristics of medieval architecture
Medieval architecture refers to architectural styles in Medieval Europe,
both in Spain and in the rest of the continent. In fact, architecture has
has undergone several changes and phases during this period, from Romanesque to Gothic.
In general, the architecture of buildings in medieval Europe was
mainly related to the construction of sacred buildings such as the
churches, which were the main structure of the Christian faith.
The architecture in the Middle Ages presents various styles, Romanesque, French and
gothic. Each style has distinct and unique characteristics. The architecture
Romanesque was from 1066 to 1200 and was mainly characterized by arches.
rounds and vaults.
Most architectural structures during these times are
they were characterized by the use of pillars instead of columns. In general, the
medieval builders preferred round arches. However, this could
occasionally vary from time to time, instead, they used bows
slightly pointed. The characteristics of medieval Gothic architecture
included stained glass windows, the use of buttresses, tall spires, gargoyles, and arches that
they pointed instead of being round.
Medieval Philosophy
Medieval philosophy began in the Middle Ages in the year 476 AD.
Cristo receives the name of medieval philosophy due to the fall of the Roman Empire in
the West, until the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453.
It deals with a long period characterized by significant events.
social, political, cultural, and scientific historical.
During the High Middle Ages, Latin scholasticism radically transforms the worldview.
Greek naturalist to whom she was indebted. The Ionians compared the world to a
organism and approximately since the atomists with a mechanism. In the face of this
Scholastics represent the universe as an entity of an evident divine nature.
in itself, therefore, unalterable and absolute. The basic element of this orientation
the religious nature of thought was that the principle of corroboration of hypotheses
find in the indisputable truths of transcendental revelations: the truth is
fruit of the original revelations and the apodictic facts gathered by the
religious tradition. In the practice of architecture, the formalization of this
epistemology led to the sublimation of its theoretical aspects. Boethius compares the executor of a
work of art with a slave and the science that must guide that work with a ruler.
The technical knowledge itself is not what matters, but the absolute (divine) laws in the
that this must be conformed. Therefore, the medieval builder, like the philosopher, does not
I did not intend to create new forms or be original. The architect did not have to invent.
the myth, but to formalize it: "he had to give expression to an image that he shared with
its generation and that had been gradually formed by the long religious tradition of
his town.
The Middle Ages developed a cosmology in which a spatial hierarchy is proposed.
divine order of physical and moral that goes from sin to beatitude, from darkness
to the esteroma.
In architecture, this worldview was manifested with special clarity in the search
of the smallest possible structure of the enclosing walls in order to achieve a
complete identification of the religious space with the most spiritual of the elements, the
divine light, which would be handled filtered to emphasize the idea of transcendence.
The New Science defined space as an infinite entity structured according to laws.
absolutes of mathematics. Authors such as Leon Battista Alberti, Luca Pacioli,
Sebastián Serlio, F. Colonna, Palladio, among others, stated that the nature of the
architecture would be found in the number or in its numerical essence.
Gothic Style
It is an artistic style that predominated in religious architecture, sculpture, and painting.
from Europe between the 12th and 15th centuries, until the emergence of the cultural movement
of the Renaissance.
The term Gothic was chosen derogatorily by classical Italian writers of the
Renaissance, which considered everything that was not classical as ugliness. They attributed it to the
Gothic art to the barbarian tribes that had destroyed the Roman Empire and its classical culture
from the 5th century. Gothic art was valued only from the 19th century and was considered
grandiloquent and imposing.
Characteristics
Among the main features of Gothic art are:
The principle of the aesthetics of light as the foundation of all art. It was able to
represent the centrist idea of the light of God.
Its application in religious architecture, such as monasteries and cathedrals.
The use of the pointed arch that ended in a pointed shape and created a feeling of
great height. It was applied to domes, doors, and windows.
The application of innovative architectural techniques that allowed to achieve the
unique style of high ceilings, flying buttresses, and extensive stained glass walls.
The design of extravagant forms applied both in sculpture and in
architectural decoration.
The decoration with shiny materials and the use of bright colors, to exacerbate
the concept of luminosity.
The application of extensive colored windows that reflected different types
of light towards the interior of the cathedrals and monasteries.
Major Gothic works
Among the main works of Gothic art, cathedrals stand out as a work
architectural par excellence. Among the most representative are:
The basilica of the royal abbey of Saint Denis in France.
The cathedrals of León, Burgos, Toledo, Girona, Barcelona and
Seville, in Spain.
The cathedrals of Cologne and Strasbourg in Germany.
The cathedrals of Gloucester, Salisbury, and Lincoln in England.
The cathedrals of Chartres and Reims, in France.
St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Florence, and the one in Milan, in Italy.
Romanesque Style
It was an artistic style that spread throughout much of Europe between the 11th century and the
early years of the 13th century.
It manifested itself more prominently in architecture, characterized by its
aspect of solidity and by the use of the semicircular arch and barrel and vaults
arista. For this reason, when the style began to be identified and studied in
In the 19th century, it was named "Romanesque" as it was considered a derivation.
of Roman art.
Its development coincided with the expansion of feudalism, the foundation of the order.
Cistercian religious, the reform of the Benedictine order that would give rise to the order of
Cluny, the Crusades, and an intense movement of pilgrimage towards the churches that
they possessed sacred relics.
Characteristics
The main characteristics of Romanesque art are as follows:
It presented a large number of local currents with their own characteristics.
The most important manifestation of Romanesque art was architecture.
religious, especially about churches and monasteries.
The different artistic disciplines, such as painting, sculpture, and mosaic, were
subordinate to the architecture. The walls of the churches were covered by
paintings and reliefs that had a narrative function: to convey to the faithful,
generally illiterate, the principles of Christianity. For this reason it has been called
to the Romanesque churches 'stone bibles'.
The structure of their constructions laid the foundation for the later style, Gothic.
During the Middle Ages, both architecture and sculpture and painting were
considered mechanical arts, that is to say manual, and did not have the same value as
intellectual activities. As a result, Romanesque artists did not have
social relevance and their names have not endured.
Differences between Romanesque and Gothic style
The architecture in the Romanesque style revolves around the work of monasteries,
highlighting therefore the religious character and sidelining the buildings
civilians who at this time lacked much interest. However, during the Gothic period
the opposite happens in which, without detracting from the importance of churches, it predominates
the civil architecture such as palaces, commercial galleries or town halls.
We could say that Romanesque art is predominantly rural given that the
society is made up of peasants, warriors, and monks while the Gothic
its development primarily takes place in cities, marked also by the emergence
of a new social class like the bourgeoisie.
The great architectural differences are mainly found in the elements.
constructive because in the Romanesque style the plans of the Latin or basilica cross will be given
In the Gothic style, the basilica plan will also be present, although larger in size and the
living room plants. Among the supports in Romanesque architecture, we will see the simple and composite pillar.
and in the Gothic style the bundled pillars, with respect to the arches in the Romanesque style
Half-point arches are predominant, and in Gothic architecture, pointed arches.
In addition, in Gothic buildings, especially in the great cathedrals, we will see the
use of flying buttresses to counteract the forces of their tall walls, as they are
buildings characterized by their slenderness, in contrast to what Romanesque architecture gives us
you are used to seeing, since these are buildings of larger dimensions
reduced.
Romanesque is darkness due to the scarcity and lack of openings and windows in its
construction and in Gothic architecture, light will be one of the most outstanding characteristics.
construction of windows.