Ticket to Heaven
To the modern viewer, the word Gothic may suggest darkness, but to the medieval viewer, the innovation of Gothic architecture allowed villagers to escape their lives of toil and to enter a spiritual realm, a Heaven on Earth. Previous medieval architecture was characterized by thick walls which did not allow light to come into the building. In Gothic cathedrals, light was used as a building material. The walls of cathedrals were no longer made from stone, but from glass. Stained glass windows were intended for an illiterate audience. The message of the North Rose window at Chartres Cathedral in France is conveyed through intricate colors, symbols, and figures in panes of glass, the circular pattern, and the sacred mathematical code hidden within, which come together to reveal a biblical story dedicated to the Virgin Mary. …show more content…
The 1194 cathedral was built on the reminisces that was once a Romanesque church around 1145. People would travel miles to pay homage to the relic of the tunic of the Virgin Mary, which was thought to have spiritual power. When the church burned down, the villagers thought they had lost the tunic. When it was discovered in the crypt below the church, it was seen as a miracle. The villagers now believed that the Virgin Mary intentionally got the old church out of the way to make room for Chartres Cathedral in France. By this time, architecture had transformed to a more Gothic style. The innovations of the pointed arch, the flying buttress, and the ribbed vault all worked together to redirect the stress line to the ground, which allowed Gothic engineers to open the walls of the church and capture light through stained
To the modern viewer, the word Gothic may suggest darkness, but to the medieval viewer, the innovation of Gothic architecture allowed villagers to escape their lives of toil and to enter a spiritual realm, a Heaven on Earth. Previous medieval architecture was characterized by thick walls which did not allow light to come into the building. In Gothic cathedrals, light was used as a building material. The walls of cathedrals were no longer made from stone, but from glass. Stained glass windows were intended for an illiterate audience. The message of the North Rose window at Chartres Cathedral in France is conveyed through intricate colors, symbols, and figures in panes of glass, the circular pattern, and the sacred mathematical code hidden within, which come together to reveal a biblical story dedicated to the Virgin Mary. …show more content…
The 1194 cathedral was built on the reminisces that was once a Romanesque church around 1145. People would travel miles to pay homage to the relic of the tunic of the Virgin Mary, which was thought to have spiritual power. When the church burned down, the villagers thought they had lost the tunic. When it was discovered in the crypt below the church, it was seen as a miracle. The villagers now believed that the Virgin Mary intentionally got the old church out of the way to make room for Chartres Cathedral in France. By this time, architecture had transformed to a more Gothic style. The innovations of the pointed arch, the flying buttress, and the ribbed vault all worked together to redirect the stress line to the ground, which allowed Gothic engineers to open the walls of the church and capture light through stained