Medieval architecture
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Medieval architecture was the
pre-Romanesque, Romanesque, and Gothic. The Renaissance marked the end of the medieval period, when architects began to favour classical forms. While most surviving medieval constructions are churches and military fortifications, examples of civic and domestic architecture can be found throughout Europe, including in manor houses, town halls, almshouses, bridges
, and residential houses.
master masons
(Magister lathomorum), and were typically responsible for the structural engineering of their buildings, for ensuring that they were stable, unlike in later periods.
Styles
Pre-Romanesque
European architecture in the
Asturian. Considerations that enter into histories of each period include Trachtenberg
's "historicising" and "modernising" elements, Italian versus northern, Spanish, and Byzantine elements, and especially the religious and political maneuverings between kings, popes, and various ecclesiastic officials.
Romanesque
Romanesque, prevalent in medieval Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, was the first pan-European style since
Roman Imperial architecture
and examples are found in every part of the continent. The term was not contemporary with the art it describes, but rather, is an invention of modern scholarship based on its similarity to Roman Architecture in forms and materials. Romanesque is characterized by a use of round or slightly pointed arches, barrel vaults, and cruciform piers supporting vaults. Romanesque buildings are widely known throughout Europe.
The spread of Romanesque architecture through Europe has been described as "revolutionary"[corbel table and apse.[1]
Gothic
The various elements of Gothic architecture emerged in a number of 11th and 12th century building projects, particularly in the
12th century abbey church of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Verticality is emphasized in Gothic architecture, which features almost skeletal stone structures with great expanses of glass, pared-down wall surfaces supported by external flying buttresses, pointed arches using the ogive shape, ribbed stone vaults, clustered columns, pinnacles and sharply pointed spires. Windows contain stained glass, showing stories from the Bible and from lives of saints
. Such advances in design allowed cathedrals to rise taller than ever.
Functions
Mont Saint-Michel
, Normandy, France.Religious architecture
The
Greek cross
(resembling a plus sign), with the altar located in the sanctuary on the east side of the church.
Military architecture
Surviving examples of medieval secular architecture mainly served for defense.
fortified walls provide the most notable remaining non-religious examples of medieval architecture. Windows gained a cross-shape for more than decorative purposes, they provided a perfect fit for a crossbowman to safely shoot invaders from inside. Crenellated walls (battlements
) provided shelters for archers on the roofs to hide behind when not shooting invaders.
Civic architecture
While much of the surviving medieval architecture is either religious or military, examples of civic and even domestic architecture can be found throughout Europe. Examples include manor houses, town halls, almshouses and bridges, but also residential houses.
Regions
Central Europe
Byzantine Empire
Bulgarian Empire
Kievan Rus
See also
- Medieval Serbian architecture
- List of medieval stone bridges in Germany
- List of medieval bridges in France
References
- ISBN 9780747815327.
Further reading
- Braun, Hugh, An Introduction to English Mediaeval Architecture, London: Faber and Faber, 1951.
- "Building the House of God: Architectural Metaphor and The Mystic Ark," Codex Aquilarensis: Revista de arte medieval (2016)
- ISBN 0-7506-2267-9. Cf. Part Two, Chapter 13.
- Hillson, J., Buchanan, A., Webb, N , Digital Analysis of Vaults in English Medieval Architecture, London: Taylor & Francis (2021).
- Rudolph, Conrad, "Building-Miracles as Artistic Justification in the Early and Mid-Twelfth Century," Radical Art History: Internationale Anthologie, ed. Wolfgang Kersten (1997) 398–410.
- Rudolph, Conrad, "The Architectural Metaphor in Western Medieval Artistic Culture: From the Cornerstone to The Mystic Ark," The Cambridge History of Religious Architecture, ed. Stephen Murray (2016).
- Rudolph, Conrad, "Medieval Architectural Theory, the Sacred Economy, and the Public Presentation of Monastic Architecture: The Classic Cistercian Plan," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 78 (2019) 259–275.
External links
- The stave churches in Norway
- Photographs and Plans of Crusader, Armenian and Byzantine Architecture in Turkey
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