Module 6 blogpost 2

                When people think of the word Gothic in the modern day they usually think of things that are dark, haunted houses, or people wearing black nail polish, dark clothes, and ripped fishnets. The original Gothic style was actually created to bring sunshine into people's lives. It was mainly used in churches, castles, and other buildings with great meaning. 

               To get past the modern definition of Gothic, it's best to go back to the very start of the word. The Goths were a so-called barbaric tribe who held power in different regions of Europe, between the collapse of the Roman empire and the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire. These people were not known for great achievements in architecture though. 

               The Gothic style grew out of the Romanesque architectural style. From roughly 1000 to 1400, several significant cathedrals and churches were built, particularly in Britain and France, offering architects the chance to work out even more complex and daring designs. The most fundamental element of the Gothic style of architecture is the pointed arch, which is believed to be borrowed from Islamic architecture that would have been seen is Spain at this time. The pointed arch relieved some of the thrust and the stress on other structural elements. It then became possible to reduce the size of the columns that supported the arch. 

              So, rather than having massive columns as in Romanesque churches, the new columns would become more slender. The slimness was repeated in the upper levels of the nave, the central part of the building, so that the gallery would not seem to overpower the lower arcade. The column basically continued all the way to the roof, and became part of the vault. In the vault, the pointed arch could be seen in three dimensions where the ribbed vaulting met in the center of the ceiling of each bay. 

              The slender columns and lighter system of thrust allowed for larger windows and more light. The windows, tracery, carving, and ribs make up a display of decoration that one encounters in a Gothic church. In late Gothic buildings almost every surface is decorated.

 

         


 This picture comes from the east end of the Salisbury Cathedral. The Salisbury Cathedral was formally know as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of early Gothic architecture. The main body took 38 years to be completed and construction on it started in 1220. 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lidded Saltcellar

Image
The artwork shown here is a lidded saltcellar from the 15th to 16th century. It is an example of extraordinarily skilled workmanship and shows an important convergence of cultures. It is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of art in New York, New York. It is 11 and 3/4 inches tall or 29.8 cm.   The material used to make it is ivory and it was made by the Sapi-Portuguese. The Sapi sculptors who made it were working on this piece of art in what is now Sierra Leone. In the second half of the 15th century Portuguese explorers and traders were very impressed with the talent of the ivory carvers along the coast of West Africa. Because of this they were inspired to start making works of their own for their patrons. They combined European and African forms to their artworks. Also during this period, salt and pepper were serious commodities and elaborate containers were considered appropriate for the storage of them in homes. Salt was pretty rare though and only wealthy people were able to...
Read more

Alexander the Great statue

Image
Alexander the Great was born in 356 B.C to King Phillip II and Queen Olympus. Alexander the Great became the king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia at just 20 years old. He established the largest Greek empire that the ancient world had ever seen. He was known as Alexander the Great because he over threw the Persian empire and laid the foundations for the Hellenistic world. Alexander the Great was always depicted as a clean shaven guy in portraits, which was different from previous Greek portraits of statesman and rulers that were shown with beards. Portraits of almost all of the Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors until Hadrian were shown beardless.  This portrait of Alexander the Great is made from marble. It was made in the second to first B.C.E. It is 37 centimeters high and can be found in the Trustees of the British Museum. It was made during the Hellenistic period. The Hellenistic period covers the period of history between the death of Alexander the Great and the e...
Read more