Compare Chartres Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral - Term Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages The Cathedral statues of the on the right hand are: The statue of Isaiah a prophet, proclaiming that “there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots”7. The flowering stem was hold by him and a figure of Jesse is below the Prophet. The statue of Jeremiah signifying Passion is holding a Greek cross and we can see an attentive follower near him. The statue of Simeon holds the Child. John the Baptist is depicted as a very thin man from fasting and we can see the dragon near his feet. St. Peter represents a pope and Elijah is located the wheels of his chariot and there is a follower Elisha holding his mantle8. The date of South Portal establishment is 1224-50 and is devoted to the New Testament. The main concern of the New Testament is a human-like appearance of Jesus Christ. The sculptures of martyrs and the confessors are surrounding the Christ. The Royal Portal or the West Portal dated circa1150 is devoted to Jesus Christ and Mary. The statues decorating this portal are the statues of the royalty and themes from the Old Testament. This feature signifies an essential shift from Romanesque to Gothic: “the whimsical elongation of the figures reflects the former while the realistic and emotive faces anticipate the latter”9. The statue of Jesus Christ surrounded by the symbols of Four Evangelists depicts the Last Judgment. Both human and divine nature of Jesus Christ is depicted in the sculpture. There is a sculpture of Anne and Joachim, who struggled against infertility before the birth of Mary and this sculpture is often positioned as a potential healer of motherhood and children. The left-hand portal is devoted to the Ascension of Christ10. The right-hand portal is devoted to the themes from the...
The intention of this study are Chartres Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral as historical monuments of gothic architecture. The main features of gothic architecture are perfectly seen in these two cathedrals: intricate architectural images, perplexed structures and many other specific features reflect the specific nature of the middle ages and gothic times. The strain glass windows in Chartres Cathedral and in Canterbury Cathedral reflect the main peculiarity of Gothic architecture. Moreover, these two Cathedrals reflect the transition and mixture of Gothic and Romanesque styles in the architecture. There is a complex craft of the windows: “The rose- window is a consistent feature of the Gothic churches in the France, but not of those in Normandy; and there has been a tendency”. Large rose windows of the Cathedral are also the facts witnessing a Gothic architecture. The interior reflects the Gothic style in architecture as well. There are three parts in Chartres Cathedral interior, such as clerestory, triforium, and arcade. This fact differs from the early Gothic architecture, because in high Gothic style triforium is instead of gallery, and at clerestory, quadripartite rib-vault is instead of sexpartite rib-vault. There are four divisions in the nave of the Chartres Cathedral and the ceiling is higher than sexpartite rib-vault. Consequently, the height of Chartres Cathedral is higher than using sexpartite rib-vault. Therefore, this Cathedral is towering and it is the best evidence of the Gothic style in architecture. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More