Richardsonian Romanesque

One building that was interesting that imitated the neo-gothic style over the many years I lived in Lowell was Saint Patrick’s church in Lowell, Massachusetts. The local church had a historical tie to the city's Irish American population to support the Irish workmen who had moved to Lowell and who are also the ones that worked on the Pawtucket and Merrimack Canals. The current stone structure dates to 1853 and the Saint Patrick's church used to be in a wooden design but a fire in 1904 caused…

Greece and Rome, was the Gothic cathedrals these “stone bibles” were so elaborate that construction literally took ages.Builders used pointed arcs and to increase the reality and illusion of height, cathedral exterior had carved Biblical tales.The Romanesque style made way for the Gothic style and in most are the two merged into one style. French architects during the thirteenth century developed the pointed arch, piers and the flying buttress which is a support or brace that counteracts the…

Sacred geometry connects natural patterns, designs, and structures to an overall sacred origin. This inseparable relationship between complex solidified values and generalized faithful concepts appears to be the unlikeliest duo. This mysterious relationship proved to be a huge attraction to many mathematicians, including Plato, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Leonardo da Vinci, and Johannes Kepler. However mathematicians today continue to seek evidence that complies with Plato’s cosmology, and “theory of…

rebuilding of the Basilica of Saint Denis, Sugar used multiple architects. This is evident in the contrast of styles of the eastern end to the western end. On the initial portion of the western section of the church are conventions that reflect Romanesque capitals and moulding endowed with rich detailing. A second…

1. Describe the impact pilgrimage routes had on Romanesque art and architecture. Include a discussion of a “pilgrimage type” church and a reliquary from this week’s PowerPoint. The pilgrimage routes impacted the Romanesque art and architecture by being visited and created by people from all over Europe. Pilgrims came from different locations, which increased the number of people coming and going to visit these churches and increase their interest in them. The pilgrims that were interested would…

Marvin Trachtenberg, “Suger’s Miracles, Branner’s Bourges: Reflections on “Gothic Architecture” as Medieval Modernism”, Gesta, 39.2 (2000)m 183-205. In his article, Marvin Trachtenberg aims to redefine our understanding of words like “modern” and “historicism” in regards to Gothic architecture. To prove his point, he uses Suger’s St. Denis along with Bourges Cathedral as examples, but he begins with a lengthy investigation into the language we use to describe Gothic architecture, including the…

from barbarians who were addressed as goths. Therefore, Gothic stood out for a title behind the architecture. 3) List at least three innovations or techniques of Gothic cathedrals that were not used in Romanesque or earlier buildings. The main innovations of gothic cathedrals that many Romanesque or earlier buildings are the styles of pointed arches, flying buttress, and…

While Pirenne exaggerated Gregory while explaining a strong Merovingian poetic tradition, he takes Gregory’s writing too literally when he describes 6th century Frankish architecture and makes a claim contrary to archeological evidence concerning Merovingian architectural prowess. The Frankish city Clermont, according to Pirenne, was “marked by Byzantine luxury,” (Pirenne, 134). In this case, Gregory agrees with Pirenne, describing the church walls as, “adorned with many kinds of marble,”…

In this chapter of Murray’s book, he examines gothic cathedrals as objects of desire and the relationships between these objects and their agents of its creation. Using Saint Denis as its main example, Murray uses the writings of three principle agents: the ecclesiastical patron, artisans and financers. For his example of Saint Denis, he focused on the writings, illustrations, and correspondence of Abbot Suger, Gervase of Canterbury, and Villard de Honnecourt. He begins by reflecting on how a…

Religion has been tied to art long before our society even had a word for it. Since ancient times art has been used to promote the ideas and beliefs of many different religions to the world. Pictures of half human half animal beings paint the walls of Paleolithic caves the Egyptians hieroglyphics and statues depict their gods and the Greeks built temples and reliefs to worship and tell the stories of their gods the medieval ages were no different. The middle ages brought the rise of the…