College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 1996 - Dell Upton - November 12
I. ETHIOPIA. Ethiopia's strategic position and distinctive geography makes it both a crossroads and an isolated place at various times in its history. The Axumite state, 1c CE-, with major port at Adulis and capital at Axum. Ethiopian building traditions already in evidence at Axum: "palaces" (exs.: Enda Mika'el, "Dongur Mansion," ca. 7c CE) with indented plans, stepped bases, "sandwich construction"; stelae (Stelae elevation; Stalae exterior); monolithic stone building. Conversion to Coptic Christianity ca. 333 under King Ezana makes church building an important state enterprise of the post-Axumite Ethiopia. The Zagwe dynasty (12-13c), with its "mobile capitals" and its holy city at Roha, renamed Lalibala. Monolithic stone churches: Bet Giorgis/Saint George, ca. 11-13c, Lalibela. Note construction techniques, decoration, cruciform plan, tabot. (Lalibala, Beta Giyorgis: Plan; Exterior).
II. NORTHERN EUROPE. The importance of migrations in cultural change. The migration period of the 1st millennium. Major "barbarian" groups: Germanic peoples, Celts, Slavs, Scandinavians (after c. 800, seafaring Scandinavian raiders are usually called Vikings). Similarities among the northern cultures.
A. Houses. Pit houses vs. above-ground housing made of timber. The tradition of timber building unites houses of many different northern groups. (English and Continental house types).
B. Elite Life. Stratification in northern societies. Nobles' halls (ex.: 5-6C hall at Cadbury [Camelot?], England). Fondness for fine jewelry, weapons, pottery. Northern decoration. Writing. Boat burials (exs.: Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, Eng., M7C Anglo-Saxon burial; Viking burial at Oseburg, Norway). The importance of seafaring.
C. Military Construction. Ring forts (cashels, raths, and crannogs), Ireland; circular fortified houses and villages of the Slavs; Viking military camps. (ex.: Trelleborg, Denmark, 10-11C). Walls: Offa's Dike, 8C, England; Danevirke, begun 737, Denmark.
III. NORTHERN CHRISTIANITY. Pagan religions in the north; the Norse gods: Odin, Thor, Frey, Freya. The Christianization of northern Europe. Irish monasticism: small monasteries in remote places: Skellig Michael, Co. Kerry, 8-9C (corbelled stone cells/clachains), Gallarus Oratory, Dingle (8C). Other elements of the Irish monastery: scriptoria, defensive towers (ex.: St. Kevin's tower, Co. Wicklow). Christian/pagan synthesis: post-in-the-ground construction (ex.: St. Andrew, Greensted-juxta-Ongar, Essex, Eng., 845) and Norwegian stave churches. (Stave Churches: Plan; Exterior). Principal exs. shown: Lund cathedral, 12C, Lund, Norway; Bergund Church, Sogn, Norway, 12C.