The common characteristics of the Gothic Cathedrals

The common characteristics of the Gothic cathedrals are the flying buttress, a great number of stained glass windows, vast amounts of statuary, and many vaulted roofs.

The Flying Buttress was innovated to help reinforce the walls which had a tendency to lean outward under the weight of the massive vaulted ceilings. If the buttresses had not been used the cathedrals would have eventually tumbled down under the pressure of their own mass. The other notable characteristic of these grand old buildings was the "Rose Window"[15].

These buildings had a lot of stained glass which had been in use for many hundreds of years. The western Europeans of France and Germany began adding these complex patterns to their churches. The art form reached its creative zenith in the Rose Window. Rose windows were located over the entry portals, usually above the facial gables. They got their name from the flower and their patterns were formed by the complex stain glass arrays created by the artists and craftsmen who erected and laid them out.

As far as the statuary of these magnificent buildings, it ranges from beautiful depictions of Mother Mary, Jesus Christ, and the multitude of canonized Saints to the horrid and the grotesque, most notably the Gargoyle. Gargoyles served a twofold purpose, first as a ward against evil spirits and secondly as the more practical water spout for the many gutters that lined the huge vaulted ceilings.

The Vaulted Ceilings of the middle ages were some of the most profound endeavors of mankind up to that point. Not only were they a representation of the power of the church and the local bishop that patroned their erection, but they also were a direct homage to the recently accepted God for the pagan Europeans. These vaults also represented a great deal of innovation from the older style temples in the form of the ribbed vault. These were a variation of the older Roman style groin vaults used in many of their temples and public buildings.

A magnificent example of this architecture is the Magna Carta Salisbury Cathedral[16], at Lincoln. This Cathedral is unique to the Gothic's in that it actually started out nearly 300 years ago in 1072 as a church in the Romanesque style. This cathedral kind grew into a gothic over time. In 1121, the old, low, Romanesque roof was damaged by a fire and was replaced with stonework vaults and some of the first of the carved stone friezes depicting damnation were added over the entrances. In 1185, after major damage from an earthquake, the cathedral began its transformation into a properly "Gothic" style cathedral. The construction of the Nave proper was completed in the mid 13^th century and another unique feature of the Early English Style the "double Arcade"[17] was added as well. This feature basically lends the illusion of a passageway over the choir aisles. It was during this time that the distinctively Gothic Flying Buttresses, Ribbed Vaulting, and a good deal of the Intricate Statuary were added. Another point of interesting note is that at one point during the 14^th century the addition of its high central tower actually made it the tallest building in Europe.

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The Renaissance Architecture

Useful terms and phrases

7. Read the following terms and phrases, mind their pronunciation:

new-birth возрождение pillared drum поддерживаемый колоннами барабан купола edifice величественное здание chateau (chateaux) замок town-hall/ guild-hall ратуша engaged column полуколонна, пилястра to clothe оснащать, покрывать to assimilate воспринять, освоить want of organic unity отсутствие единого целого structural sincerity структурная прямота to display faults обнаруживать недостатки delicate tracery ажурная каменная работа keep сторожевая башня stern tower строгая башня pediment основание border  обрамление jamb выступ стены to surmount увенчать curved закруглённый scrolled украшенный завитками to alternate чередоваться to give texture формировать структуру roughness суровость, резкость projecting courses of masonry выступающие слои каменной кладки receding part покатая часть to veil in shadow скрывать в тени The Renaissance Architecture One of the greatest periods of the world's history is called the Renaissance. This period, beginning about the year 1500, produced a new style of architecture which gradually displaced the Gothic. It was called the Renaissance style. But now we will try to see how it came about that a new style should appear. On account of the great accumulation of wealth, men had leisure to study, and their study led them to learn about the Greeks and Romans and the wonderful things they had done in literature, sculpture, and architecture. This study became a world-wide interest, making people of taste imitate the old arts, and doing so, they brought to life the classic beauties of an older time. The new style was called the Renaissance, or new-birth. The men of this time added much to the older civilization. The art of painting, with Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael, revealed a new life to the world, and sculpture almost breathed the breath of the antique work of Greece. Architecture was revolutionized under the influence of Brunelleschi[18], Michaelangelo, Bramante[19], and a few others. In a word, the characteristics of the Renaissance buildings are those of Greece and Rome applied to new and different kinds of buildings. Having studied the Greek and Roman buildings, we can best become acquainted with the Renaissance buildings. First of all, the dome set on a pillared drum and crowned with a lantern, the whole church edifice, was the one great original production of the Renaissance. We see this in the Duomo at Florence[20], and in St. Peter's [21] and St. Paul's cathedrals[22]. The wonderful palaces of Florence and Rome show the old Greek and Roman forms applied in new and beautiful ways. A lot of town-halls and guild-halls of the great European cities were treated in this way and were called Renaissance. The Renaissance style applied to the fronts, or facades of buildings along the fine streets of the time created a street architecture of a noble sort which one may recognize and study in hundreds of cities. We have emphasized the meaning of «structural " in architecture, but, aside from the dome, the Renaissance architects did not do much that was new in structure. In fact they rather ignored structure in their use of columns, which supported nothing, and of engaged columns used only for ornament. Rich ornamentation was one of the chief characteristics of the buildings  of  the  time  and  the  semi-circular  arch  copied  from  Roman  architecture   was  employed everywhere.  Interior  decoration  also  became  very  splendid. What the architects did was, to clothe their own inventions with classic details after familiarizing themselves with the remains of ancient Rome, and assimilating the spirit of Roman art. The form and structure of their edifices was modern; the parts were copied from antique models. A want of organic unity and structural sincerity is often the result of those necessities under which a secondary and adapted style must labor, and thus even the best Renaissance buildings display faults. When the buildings of the new style began to appear, they had no hint of the Greco-Roman styles. The churches were Gothic with high pointed arch and delicate tracery, the castles and keeps were stern towers, the home was a plain building. Then in a hundred years, or even less, we see a complete change. All the new buildings are in the new style, ornamented with columns, entablatures, and pediments. The dwelling houses are no longer poor and mean, but fine, often magnificent. The villa, the mansion and the university have appeared. Except for the great domes of the churches, the new architecture consisted largely in adapted Greek and Roman features, and as these features were mostly present as decorations on cornices, doorways, windows, and balconies, a study of these four features would acquaint us with the appearance of the Renaissance style. The doorway usually had a border around it covering jamb. At either side there were antique columns, or pilasters, while across the top there was the architrave, frieze, and cornice, probably copied from some building of ancient Rome. The whole doorway was surmounted by a pediment or, perhaps by a curved and scrolled variation of it. The windows were similarly treated. Sometimes the curved top or the triangular were used. Often the two would be alternated along a facade. One or both were present in endless variety. We may think of the builders of these facades as of an artist painting a picture. The architect could apply his colors in the colors of his building stones or marbles; he could give texture by the roughness or smoothness of his materials. The chief things were the masses, and the light and shades, which he could apply by means of his windows, doorways, cornices, and moldings, and by the projecting courses of masonry. He could arrange different colored stones and marbles so as to produce a pattern for the sake of decoration, as is so beautifully done on the front of the Doges' palace at Venice[23]. Wherever stones were raised or brought forward, lights would appear, and receding parts would be veiled in shadow. All the rules that govern an artist in composing a picture were applied to the composition of the facade.

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