DEPARTMENT of ARCHITECTURE  College of Environmental Design

ARCH 170A  Fall 1997  S. Tobriner

Study Aid 24: November 20

LECTURE 25: MASONRY STRUCTURES IN EUROPE: ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC 

Revival of Monumental Church Architecture
St. Michael's Hildesheim, Germany, c. 1000.  Built under reign of Prince Otto, Ottonian period by Bishop Bernard.  Non-vaulted ceiling, number of modules in ground plan and elevation.  Modified double-ender.  Crypt, ambulatory, multiple towers.  Column and doors:  first bronze casting for architecture since antiquity. [exterior, interior view nave, painted wood ceiling]

Romanesque Architecture:  Experiments in Vaulting:

S. Martin du Canigou, France, 1001-26.  Simple barrel vault, barrel vault with column supports. 

Different solutions:  S. Savin sur Gartempe, France, 1060-1155, more Roman solution, columns hold up barrel vault.  S. Font, Perigueux, 1120, Byzantine influence, S. Miniato al Monte, Florence, Italy, 1062-90, early Christian basilica influence. 

S. Philbert, Tournus, France, c. 950-1120.  Vaulted church which illustrates the experimental nature of this period.  Tied barrel vaults in westworks narthex chapel, groin vaults in narthex and side aisles, transverse barrel vaults in nave.  Ambulatory, chevet. 

St. Foy, Conques, c. 1050-1120 and S. Sernin, Toulouse, France, c. 1096.  Pilgrimage church. [Pilgrimage routes, Pilgrimage church plans] Vaulted ribbed barrel vaults buttressed by walls of side aisles.  Ambulatory, chevet, double aisles for circulation.  Module planned.  Westwork.  Part of sculpture in architecture.[interior nave, section]

Norman churches:  St. Etienne, Caen, France, begun 1065 Note Three-part division of elevation, prominent vertical facade;  Durham Cathedral, England, 1093-1130 Note rib vaults, internal buttress system, pointed arches. 

Gothic Architecture in Northern France

Origin of the word Gothic as term of derision.  What is Gothic architecture?  Structural hallmarks are pointed ribbed groin vault [Romanesque vaults] and the flying buttress.  Many of the innovative features of Gothic architecture had been pioneered in Romanesque buildings.  Romanesque buildings:; St. Sernin, Toulouse, France, consecrated in 1096; The origins of Gothic building.  Abbot Suger (1081-1151) and his renovations of the Abbey of St. Denis, Paris:  west front (finished 1140) and choir (finished 1144).  Note rose window, double ambulatory, pointed ribbed groin vaults in choir; column figures.  Architecture and light. [plan (1140-1144), apse plan]

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