Peer Review Gothic

Rachael: She gave a really good timeline of events in her post, this paired with the characteristics of Gothic design I feel made for a great post for people to understand the Gothic Design.


Lisa: Her information she presented in her post was I feel the most important that was discussed in class, did a great job!

Gothic

The Gothic era has been probably my favorite era we have covered in this course. Paris is seen to be the center of the Gothic World, while churches were the center of city life. Something that many of us have learned in a history course is the Black Plague which affected the population by killing nearly 1/3 of the population or an equivalent of 75 million people.


Like the Islamic design that I discussed previously, religious expression is the heart of design here in the Gothic era as well. With the larger number of worshipers there became a need for even larger worshiping facilities and with this came the construction of many incredible cathedrals.


Gothic Architecture Characteristics:

• Described as the bridge from Romanesque to Renaissance
• Birthed from the Romanesque era
• Introduced:
• Pointed Arch
• Ribbed Vault
• Fly Buttress
• Cathedrals
• Appeared as if they are weightless
• Tall walls of stained glass allowing floods of light into space

Notre Dame at Chartes

Wells Cathedral

Above are my two favorite Gothic Architecture cathedrals!

Modern Residential Home in Arizona

Gothic Inspired Bed Frame



Click Here to see Very short Clip of a Modern Table with Gothic Inspiration

Peer Review Romanesque and Islamic

Romanesque

Claire: I enjoyed her post it was short and to the point. It had the information we learned in class which I feel was the most important for this era.

Becca: Her format and images she used for this post I feel made it easy for those reading it to better understand the information and about the era.

Islamic

Haley: She began with a short history lesson which I felt was a good intro to the Islamic Design period it gives the reader a great understanding on how the design was impacted and where it gets its inspiration from.

Holli: I really enjoyed the images used in her post, especially the modern day influence.

Islamic

Mohammed is the main man of the Islamic Religion, and the religion of Islam is the foundation for Islamic design. The central facility for prayer and worship is known as a mosque. The first one every created, Mohammad's, is the prototype or building block for others to come.

 

Features of a mosque are:

• Perimeter walls
• Covered hall of columns
• Courtyard

The Taj Mahal was the piece we studied that I felt was the most interesting in many aspects. This is a white domed marble mausoleum. Upon the death of Emperor Shah Jahan's wife he wanted this to be build in her honor. The overall engineer and construction of this building replicates a lot of modern day applications. The foundation of the building used piers that replicate modern caissons which I found to be very cool. Also, they were able to address drainage and other issues that are a common problem. With the video we watched it was very cool to see that he build a "replica" of the Taj Mahol across the lake in Black stone. However, it was actually not a structure but rather a plane of water that reflected the original Taj Mahal, its the symbolism that I loved.

Interior of Taj Mahal

Interior of Taj Mahal

Other structures from this era are: Great Mosque of Cardoba, Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, and The Great Mosque of Kairouan.

Modern Influence

 

Modern Influence

 

 Click here to Watch Clip on the Taj Mahal

Romanesque

During the Romanesque era Charlemagne heavily encouraged that individuals learn scholarly and of the arts, and schools and monasteries were established. The biggest influence and structure we see a lot  of focus on is that of the Romanesque churches. Below is a list of features that they usually have:

• Semicircular Arches and Vaults
• Plans from the Early Christian Basilica
• Nave, Transept, and Apse modifies for better space
• Side Chapel added in the Transept
• Vaulting Present
• Multiple Aisles
• Better Illumination
• Larger Allowing more worship space
• Choir

The roofs of the churches are made of masonry, not the typical wood. The walls are painted in rich colors; Greens, Blues, Purples, and Gold. Also rich tapestries are used throughout the spaces.

Fontenay Abbey

Fontenay Abbey, Pisa Baptistery, and Cluny Abbey are well-known Churches from the Romanesque era.

Interior of Pisa

Something that thought was interesting is the fact that the Leaning Tower at Pisa is not a structure on it own but rather with the Pisa Baptistery!

Caesar's Palace

Caesar's Palace Vegas


Click Here to Watch Short Clip on Why the Leaning Tower is the Way it is

Early Christianity

The Early Christian era lies between 330-800 C.E. Upon the death of Christ Christianity began in ancient Judea, an outpost of the Roman Empire. Because of this new religion it was seen to be a threat in the Roman Empire because it did not declare divinity of the Emperor. With Christianity not being well accepted in Rome, it resulted in it being difficult to study and had to be done in secrecy. The lower class was the group that more prominently practiced this religion "underground."

Finally, in 313 C.E. Constantine recognized Christianity as a valid religion, this was done through the Edict of Milan. He declared this religion as the religion with all rights and privileges as any other religion.

With this validity of Christianity, Christians were able to worship in homes and display artifacts representing and symbolizing characters of their faith. The Emperor believed he had a vision from God during the battle of Milvian were their was a Christian cross.

Since this religion became legal to publicly worship, a need for a proper worshiping facilities become apparent.



Characteristics of Early Christian Architecture:

• Centrally Planned Buildings
• Separate Baptisteries
• Adaptation of Roman Basilica (Church)
• Separation of Interior of Churches into Nave and Flanking Aisles
• Clerestory Windows
• Entrance of Church - Opposite apse
• Towers Flanking the Exonarthex
• Chief goal was to glorify God.



Modern Church



Modern Church

Click Here to Watch a Short YouTube Clip on a "Secret" from Old St. Pete's Bascilla