Analysis of World Historical Architecture

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Table of Contents

Bronze Column (Germany), 1015-1022
Moissac (France)
Lindisfrarne Gospels
Sutton-Hoo Ship Burial
Palatine Chapel, Aachen
Works Cited

Bronze Column (Germany), 1015-1022

The St. Michael’s church rests on a piece of land measuring 0.58 ha. It was built in the period between 1010 and 1022 on a proportional plan. This plan had two apses, similar to those of the Ottonian Romanesque art in old Saxony, and the churches interior comprised bronze doors, the Bernard bronze column, painted stucco-work and a wooden ceiling. The church is located in Germany, district of Hanover, state of lower Saxony.

The church was built by Bernward, the bishop of Hildesheim, and had a great impact on architectural developments as one of the important monument of art in the middle ages. The bronze column dates back from the period around 1019. It has a spiral décor that was inspired by Trojan’s column, symbolizing a panorama from the New Testament. Stokstad tells us that the bronze column and the bronze doors, which retrace the occurrences from the book of genesis and the life of Christ, were commissioned by bishop Bernward for St. Michael’s (184).

The elements of interior decoration in the cathedral and church of St. Michael were unique for the Romanesque era. The Carolingian buildings were used as models for the architects who desired to create buildings as splendid as those of the past empires. The use of bronze for sculptures was found to enrich the churches more than ivory or wood. Bishop Bernward borrowed the concept of commemorative columns and carved doors from imperial Rome, and asked his architects to produce the same, using scenes from the bible, based on iconographic deigns of his own making.

The scenes omitted from the bronze doors, which included the earthly life of Jesus from his baptism to entry into Jerusalem were incorporated in the bronze column, which was completed before the death of Bernward in 1022. The doors had an aggressive Ottonian style, whereby huge figures were compressed to fit the narrow space, symbolizing more of power than refinement (Stokstad 185).

The Ottonian artists served a religion that had great focus on spiritual values. They displayed conservativeness in using the arts of past imperial courts as well as innovativeness in the creation of the western imperial style. The arts praised the emperors in their combinations of secular and religious authority, exhibiting a spiritual and intellectual impact. The Ottonian art is a combination of severe forms and complex interconnected spaces, in making a figurative art that displays bodies with both ornamental and narrative functions. The Ottonian artists used a combination of inspiration from past designs and creativity to produce the monumental style for a holy German/roman empire (Stokstad 187).

Moissac (France)

The cloister of Moissac abbey church, which was completed in 100 AD, is located in southwest France. The capitals of the Moissac are skillfully curved; to look like upside down pyramids, though the faces are smashed. There are carvings on all surfaces of the Moissac, including the top, with numerous inscriptions telling the tale of the scene. The sculptures are haphazardly placed without a particular story line. There are 76 capitals, with over 40 portraying prospects from the bible, with about 10 of them depicting the Old Testament (Stokstad 213).

The sculpture at Vezelay is attractive to the eye due to the interaction between linear surface composition and three dimensional forms. There is a saucer like plaque surrounding Christ in the form of a Mandorla, with ripping clouds above and surging molding between lintel and tympanum cast shadows that make the background to appear as if it were moving. The variation of light and shade also produces a magnificent scenery and display of detail. The new church was built in the period between 1115 and 1130, by Roger Abbot. The carvings were of Christ, surrounded by seraphim and the symbols of the evangelists (Stokstad 214).

The vision is symbolically supported by a few prophets like Isaiah, on the door jambs. The size of the figures was dependent on the social scale, such that the image of Christ filled three registers while the prophets filled only one. There are ornamental patterns on the tympanum, with crowns and jeweled borders. The lines of the body of the prophets on the jambs follow the building’s lines. The prophets are elongated to fill the narrow space, whereby the body limbs follow the outward movement of the cusps. There is a rosette pattern on the front face that goes down from the lintel, with pairs of lions crossing diagonally (Stokstad 216).

Lindisfrarne Gospels

The Lindisfrarne gospel refers to the gospel according to St. Mathew the evangelist, one of the four disciples whose writings about Jesus were authorized for inclusion in the Christian bible, in the year 325. According to Stokstad, the manuscript was designed in the late 7^th and early 8^th century, referring to one of the greatest artistic religious treasures, produced by an artistic monk known a Eadfrith, bishop of Lindisfrarne in the period 698-721, living in Northumbria (95). It was written in a turbulent period of British history, with a great design, at a time when time and materials were costly. It was made and used at Lindisfrarne Priory on Holy Island, a major religious community that housed the shrine of St Cuthbert, who died in 687.

The coherence in design of the manuscript is attributed to the fact that it was done by one man, unlike the others that involved teams of scribes and illustrators. His brilliance was seen in the beginning of each gospel, which included a painting of the gospel’s evangelist, a carpet page and an incipit page that had interlacing and spiral patterns of the first letters of the gospels. Stakford tells us that these patterns were manipulated based on enamel and Anglo-Saxon jeweler work, with a broad variety of colors based on mineral, vegetable and animal pigments (97). The manuscript is unfinished in some areas due to his death in 721.

The manuscript, which was written in Latin, depicts a mixture of artistic styles that is different and particular to the history of England. The manuscript depicts a time when there were religious differences in England, due to the native Celtic and roman traditions, during the seventh and eighth centuries. The manuscript by Ethelwald was done in honor of St. Cuthbert, founder of the community. The book was decorated with gold ornaments and jewels by Billfrith, glossed in English. Currently, the book lost its decorated cover though the texts are present, including tables and commentaries. The image of St. Mathew was based on a portrait by a byzantine author, and resembles a portrait of Ezra, in a giant bible copied by Northumbrian scribes about 700.

The similarities were found in posture and chairs and foot stools but there were differences including the two dimensional linear approach in the portrait of St. Mathew, and includes an angel hovering over his head. The difference in concept in the two pieces of work are emphasized by the use of flat colorful patters by the Lindisfrarne artist, and the elimination of legs from the foot stool, making it appear as a rug. The scholarly monk showed his captivation of complex visual abstractions in the Lindisfrarne gospels, which marks the classic moment of the style, balancing ornamental richness and rational control as indicated by Stokstad (97).

Sutton-Hoo Ship Burial

The Sutton Hoo boat was estimated to date back to the year 625, based on the coins and grave goods. The boat contained treasures and equipment necessary for the deceased in the afterlife, which was a practice similar to the Vendel and Viking graves. The ship had a lot of treasure which indicated that the deceased was a royal personage, whereby kings were buried with armor and other valuables. The concept of the ships transporting people to the afterlife is one of the oldest themes in Scandinavian lore. The difference between the two was the rich variety of grave goods, with the king’s Weapons, jeweler and utensils having a Celtic and continental style as indicated by Stokstad (89).

The hinged shoulder clasps had red and gold color, common with royalty. They resembled jutish and continental polychrome-style jewelry. The central composition comprises mainly the checkers, garnets and formal stepped cells. The outer borders in turn depict the Anglo-Saxon artist’s love for animals, with S-shaped serpents incised in gold. Each curved end of the clasp had a pair of boars, displayed in full, from their tasks to their curling tails. The boars create a flat symmetrical pattern due to their intersection on the two-dimensional plane (90).

The strong connection between the Anglo-Saxon workmanship and the Scandinavians was visible in the gold belt buckle, with three circular bosses and two hawk heads in profile punctuating a crawling mass of serpents and dragons, in two dimensions. In addition to this, there were crocodile headed bests, chewing on their neighbors and their slim legs interlocked with pairs of snakes. There are two dragons that gnash their teeth as they attack a dog. The Anglo-Saxon traders also got to gain Christian art in the form of Merovingian coins, which led to the creation of a new artistic climate, leading to the development of a great northern Christian art.

Palatine Chapel, Aachen

The palatine chapel in Germany is also referred to as the palace chapel. Most of the early Christian emperors had churches built within their palaces, for their own use. It is these structures that contributed to the innovation of the palatine chapel in the 12^th century. It combines the characteristics of Norman and Islamic architecture, as it was constructed at Palermo, Sicily, for Roger II, the Sicilian king. The best known surviving palatine chapel is the imperial chapel of Charlemagne. It is currently part of the cathedral in Aachen, Germany. It has an intricately designed core that makes it to be considered a masterpiece of Carolingian architecture.

The Aachen cathedral has elements of the gothic style. The Paletine chapel was constructed in the year 805, on a site that previously had a smaller house of worship. It was supposed to be an imperial church and was designed by Odo of Metz. The chapel got its design from the church in Ravenna, Italy. Part of the Carolingian architecture found in the chapel includes the octagonal domed central area, surrounded by a tall ambulatory with 16 sides. There is also an open-air atrium, twin towers with winding staircases leading to them, and a cupola crowning, on the dome of the chapel. In 1814, the palatine chapel became the resting place for Charlemagne.

Works Cited

Stokstad, Marilyn. Medieval Art, Second Edition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004.

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