German Gothic Architecture in the Early and Late Medieval Periods - Report Example

German Gothic architecture in the early and late Medieval Periods (1140-1400) List of illustrations Figure 1. Flying buttress and buttress 2. Stained glass 3. Liebfrauenkirchie Cathedral 1233-1283 in Trier, Cologne. 4. Fan vaulting and glass windows at Abbey Church of Saint-Denis in France. 5. Architectural structure of Freiburg Cathedral. German Gothic architecture in the early and late Medieval Periods (1140-1400) The Middle Ages is described as time in Europe when the Roman Empire was on the decline and the revival of letters. According to Marenbon, the period commenced in the 6th century and ended in the 15th century. The era was complex and was as vibrant as any other. Between the 12th and 15th century, Europe experienced a rise in population that brought about social change and political change1. The Medieval Era saw the continuation of trends that had commenced during the late classical antiquity, for instance, population reduction, particularly in the urban centers, increased migration and decrease in trade2. However, later in the period, this trend was reversed which saw the advancement of literary and cultural output. In around 800, the title “Emperor” was actually revived in Western Europe by Charlemagne, whose Carolingian Empire significantly influenced later European social history and structure. The empire consisted of the modern France, Germany, Catalonia, and northern Italy3. Early in the third century, the Germanic people emigrated from south Scandinavia and arrived at the Black sea. They created a formidable confederation that opposed the local Samaritans. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was no single government or state that united the people who were living on the European continent. The Catholic Church was now the single most powerful institution that remained. Queens, kings and other leaders derived most of the power and influence from their alliances with the Church. As a way of showing devotion to the Church, grand cathedrals and other ecclesiastical structures were built. According to Ching, cathedrals were regarded as the largest buildings in the medieval Europe. They were usually found town centers and in cities across Europe4. Between the 10th and 13th century, numerous European cathedrals were actually built in the Romanesque style. They were solid and substantial. This implies that they had thick stone walls, rounded masonry arches, few windows, and barrels that supported the roof. However, around 1200, the church builders commenced to embrace a new architectural style that was known as gothic. The gothic architecture originated from the previous architectural genre known as Romanesque. The gothic structures had stained-glass windows, spires, flying buttresses, pointed vaults and arches. While the Romanesque arches were round or slightly pointed, the Gothic arches were sharply pointed. The structural variations that characteristic of the gothic structures include the rib vault, pointed arch, rib vault, and flying buttress5. First, the pointed arch was beneficial since it redirected weight more precisely permitting the supports that were below to be thinner, and it was also more flexible in its dimensions. Considering that pointed arch climbs are necessary at a sharp angle, its dimensions can be changed more quickly without compromising its structure. This enabled for the development of the rib vault. The spaces that were between these "ribs" were usually filled with a this shell of mortar and stone panels that reduced the vault’s weight immensely, as well as serving as an early warning system for structural problems, should any cracks appear in the shell. Finally, the flying buttress made it possible for the diagonal transfer of weight from the nave wall to the walls of the aisles. According to Kleiner, a buttress is a part of a wall that has been reinforced by thickening. By making a connection between two ordinary buttresses with a flying buttress weight was shifted from the upper to the lower buttress6. While the weight of a Romanesque church was majorly supported by wall and huge interior piers, majority of the weight of the Gothic church was supported by the exterior buttresses as shown in the figure below. Figure 1: Showing flying buttress and buttress. This allowed the nave walls of a Gothic church to be slightly thin, and to contain an abundance of large windows that allowed the art of stained glass to flourish as shown in the figure below. Figure 2: Showing stained glass. The relentless quest by the Germans for intricacy and verticality resulted to the Gothic architecture. The style was famous for its enormous cathedrals, for example, Liebfrauenkirchie 1233-1283 in Trier. In Germany, it is considered as one of the most crucial early Gothic cathedrals. Besides, after Milan cathedral, the Cologne cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral globally. It construction started in 1248 and ended in 1818, although with interruptions, a period exceeding 600 years. It is 86.6 meters long and 144.6 meters long while its towers measure 157m tall7. Due to its huge twin spires, it also has the biggest façade of any Church internationally. The Church’s choir that is measured between the piers also holds the distinction of having largest width to height ratio of any Medieval religious institution as shown in the figure below. Figure 3: Liebfrauenkirchie 1233-1283 in Trier Gothic architecture was exceeded the Romanesque style since it combined gothic arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaults8. It was significantly influenced by the spiritual background of that time as shown in the figure below. Figure 4: Showing fan vaulting and glass windows at Abbey Church of Saint-Denis in France. During Mediaeval Era, architecture was made to look light and weightless, as compared to the previous Romanesque style. St. Augustine of Hippo relayed teachings that proclaimed that light was an expression of God. As a consequence, architectural techniques were adopted and developed in order to build churches that were a reflection of his teachings. The Liebfrauenkirchie (German for Church of Our Lady) cathedral was constructed in manner that it allowed maximum light to gain entry into the Church. The presence of light also signified the holiness and transparency that is associated with Christ’s heart. This implied that the visitors of the Church have to demonstrate the pureness of the heart9 . The colorful glass windows made an improvement to the spirit of lightness. Since color was much rare during the Medieval Era than it is today, it may be assumed that these skillful works of art had actually an awe-effect that was inspired on the common man on the street. On a religious perspective, the movement towards heaven was portrayed through high-rising intricate ribbed and fan vaultings. The Lord’s veneration was also exhibited through the significantly large size of these structures. Therefore, the elevated gothic cathedral invited the visitors to elevate themselves spiritually as well as demonstrating their greatness to God. The Gothic architecture was very successful in the high and late Medieval Eras from approximately 1140 to 1400 in the Holy Roman Empire. The style was renowned for its enormous structures. In that respect, the German Gothic architecture was popular for its huge towers and spires. In some instances, they were so large that they were left unfinished until the modern times. The spires were different from the English pires since they were produced from lacy ‘openwork.’ There are numerous hallenkirke (hall-churches) that were devoid of clerestorey windows. The middle portion of the church and the aisle were approximately of the same height10. After the Liebfrauenkirchie cathedral 1233-1283 in Trier, the other most crucial German cathedral is the Freiburg Cathedral. It was built in three stages. The first stage began in 1120 under the leadership of the Dukes of Zagringen. The second stage commenced in 1210 whilst the third stage was in 1230. Currently, only the foundations of the original building still exist. The cathedral is notable for its 116-metre tower that is almost square at the base as well as the dodecagonal star gallery at its centre. Above this gallery, the tower is tapered and octagonal, in addition to the top having a spire. According to Marenbon, a spire is a tapering structure that is built on a tower or a roof, particularly as one of the core architectural features of the cathedral roof or church. Friesburg Cathedral is the only Gothic Church that was not affected y the November 1944 raids that destroyed all the structures in the West and north side of the market11. Figure 5: Showing the architectural structure of Freiburg Cathedral. The construction of the gothic Churches was accompanied by the building of the rising bourgeoisie, of town halls and guild houses. The best example is the Gothic Town Hall that was built at Stralsund in the 13th century. Besides, there is also the Bremen Town Hall that was built in 1410 as well the reconstruction of city hall Munster from 1350. The structures from this medieval period were majorly constructed from timber frames, and this can still be seen in Goslar and Quedlinburg. Quedlinburg is regarded as being one of the oldest timber houses in Germany. This mode of construction was used extensively for town houses in the medieval periods, and lasted to the 20th century12. Brick Gothic (Backsteingotik) is a certain style of Gothic architecture that was common in Northern Europe, particularly in Northern Germany as well as the regions that were around the Baltic Sea, which had no natural rock resources where the buildings are built, more or less, by making use of only bricks. St. Nicholas Church and the Stralsund City Hall are good examples of this style. Cities such as Wismar, Lubeck, Rostock, Greifswald, and Stralsund were shaped by this regional style. A model for numerous North German churches was Saint Mary's in Lübeck that was built between 1200 and 135013. The Medieval religious arts were also very different; mosaics and Frescoes were used to decorate the interiors of the church, and the artists panted devotional images of saints, Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The craftsmen in the monasteries designed illuminated manuscripts; handmade secular and sacred books that had colored illustrations, silver and gold lettering, as well as other adornments. Some of these books such as psalters, books of hours and other prayer books were sold to the wealthy individuals. The French gothic Differences between French and English styles architecture commenced in 1140 and ended in 1500. The early gothic structures were characterized by pointed arch. In order to ensure that the walls were heightened, the builders utilized four tiers namely arcade, clerestorey, gallery, and triforium. Later on, the wall elevation was modified from 4 to only 3 tiers: arcade, clerestory and triforium. The piers coronations were made small so as to avoid stopping the visual upward thrust. The clerestorey windows were changed to two windows that were united by a small rose window. The distinctive characteristic of French Cathedrals was their impression of verticality and their height. The French cathedrals had a tendency of being stylistically unified in appearance as compared to the English cathedrals that had showed significant diversity in nearly all the buildings. Besides, the structures were compact with a little or no projection of the subsidiary chapels and transepts. Besides, the west fronts were extremely consistent, with three portals surmounted by two towers and a rose window. The east end is polygonal in addition to having ambulatory, and in some instances a chevette of radiating chapels14. In England, the most distinctive characteristic of their cathedrals is their extreme length and an internal emphasis which is on the horizontal that was emphasized visually more than the vertical lines. The windows were designed to become very large, with slimmer stone mullions. This allowed for greater scope for stained glass craftsmen. The windows’ mullions were carried vertically up into window’s arch moulding. The upper part was subdivided by additional transoms and mullions forming rectangular compartments that referred to as panel tracery. The vault was designed in way that it produced intricate multipartite lierne vaults that culminated in the fan vault15. All English cathedrals had an extraordinary level of stylistic diversity compared to the Italian, French and German cathedrals. In England, every part of the buildings may have been built in a different century and style, yet there was no attempt to come up with stylistic unity. Unlike the French cathedrals, the English cathedrals sprawled across their sites, with double transepts strongly projecting. In relation to the west front, the doors were not as conspicuous like in the French cathedrals. The usual congregational entrance was through a side porch. Furthermore, the west front had two towers similar to the French cathedrals. There was always a tower at the crossing that was very large and surmount by a spire. Another distinctive feature of the English Cathedrals is that their east end is square. Besides, both the internal and external stonework was richly decorated with carvings, especially the capitals16. England is also associated with the decorated period in architecture. The decorated architecture was associated with its window tracery. Elaborate windows were sub-divided by closely spaced parallel vertical bars of stone up to the level where the arched top of the window started. They then branched out and crossed, intersecting to fill the window’s top part with a mesh of elaborate patterns. The interiors featured tall columns of more elegant and slender form. They also adopted more elaborate vaulting for both structural and aesthetic reasons. The arches were equilateral. Reference List Ching, Francis D.K. (2012). A Visual Dictionary of Architecture (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 6. Clifton-Taylor, Alec (1967). The Cathedrals of England. New York: Thames and Hudson. Bony, Jean (1983). French Gothic Architecture of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. Berkeley: University of California Press. Honour, H., and J. Fleming, (2009) A World History of Art. 7th edn. London: Laurence King Publishing, p. 376. Marenbon, John Early Medieval Philosophy (480-1150): An Introduction. London: Routledge.1988. Karl Frederick Morrison, Tradition and Authority in the Western Church, 300-1140. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2005. Marcia L. Colish, 1997. Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition: 400-1400. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Hinks, R.P. Carolingian Art; A Study of Early Medieval Painting and Sculpture in Western Europe. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. 1962. Caecilia Davis-Weyer, Early Medieval Art 300- 1150, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1986. Leslie D. Ross, Artists of the Middle Ages. New York: Greenwood Publishing, 2003. Fred S. Kleiner.The Middle Ages by NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Cengage Learning,1979. Read More