Answer the topic of this question - Essay Example

The paper "Gothic Cathedrals and Greek Architecture" is a brilliant example of an assignment on architecture. Gothic cathedrals were the ancient arts and architectures that involved secular and religious buildings, stained glass and sculptures. These building existed in Europe in the middle ages. These gothic cathedrals served many purposes but their primary purpose was theology. Cathedrals were built as places of worship and to glorify God, the Creator. Many people viewed them as the New Jerusalem.

These cathedrals symbolized new creations that Christ has ordered to be built by mankind. Aesthetics are placed in these cathedrals through the provision of light that ensured that they were bright and beautiful. Beauty was the value of these cathedrals. Each cathedral had three essential elements i.e. harmony, integrity, and brightness. The light was used to symbolize the essence of God in these cathedrals. Some proclaimed that light was created so to be used to see God and to feel His presence since He is the one who created light.

Without light, it was though humankind will fade away. Therefore, a light was seen as God who controls all creations (Mosse, 74). Gothic cathedrals appeared to be many visitors as some sense of heaven. Many visitors who entered these places were surprised by the architecture and most of them would exclaim ‘wow’. This exclamation, ‘wow’, was taken mean that same as awe which means holy and also a sense of another world (Mosse, 74). An example of a gothic cathedral is the St. Denis. It has stained glasses which convey beauty when light passes through them.

It also has musical art that is used for worship. Paintings and statues in this cathedral represent the told stories in the Bible starting from the church history to the community. These stains and statues are read by visitors in order to understand more about the Bible. Greek art and architecture have evolved for a very long time. These arts and architecture started a very long time ago. There are different styles in the art that were used in by Greeks in painting and pottery. These styles include protogeometric styles, geometric styles, Orientalizing style, black figure, and red-figure style.

All these styles developed at different times (Snodgrass, 45). The earliest type of these Greek art styles was the Protogeometric style. It existed from 1090-900 BC. This design was characterized by the use of circles, wavy lines, and triangles. The next style came in 900-725 BC. This style was called geometric. This involved the use of geometric ceramics in designs. The pots were made from finer products and they had some proportions that were followed. A decoration of vases and pots were made using animal bands like horses and goats.

These decorations were used to represent how rich the owners were. After geometric styles, Orientalizing style came into existence. This style involved composite designs of creatures like chimeras and sirens. This style used less human figures. Palmettes and flowers were the major figures used in this style. Black figure styles came after Orientalizing styles from 620-480 BC. In this style, figures were drawn in black silhouettes. This was achieved by applying wet clay to ten pots. The pots were then fired and the color would change to red.

The lines were then color to purple or white (Snodgrass, 49). Red-figure styles replaced the black figure in 530 BC. This figure was different from the black figure because all pot was made to turn red including the images. The figures were clearer and detailed. However, these changes in styles showed how geek arts were developing with time. People were becoming more creative in their design thus bringing the changes. More improved products’ resources also were found and the quality helped in developing better vases and pots.