2º A BILINGÜE: CLASE DEL 23 DE MARZO DE 2020

Good morning everybody!

Last Thursday we finished our class talking about the Romanesque art in the Iberian peninsula. 

Today, we are going to study the Gothic architecture and art in Spain, so that we will finish our unit today. 

First of all, we have to learn some characteristics about the Gothic art. This artistic style appeared in France and stayed in Europe between the 12th and 15th centuries. 

This art was developed thanks to the reappearance of the cities during the 11th and 12th centuries. Due to there were even more population, cities needed buildings bigger than those done before. It is because of that there were cathedrals, in order to admit more people to pray. God started to be identifyed to light, so craftworkers started to elaborate stained glass and rose windows, so that light could enter in the cathedrals. 

Not only could we find religious buildings, but also civil buildings.Its appearance was because the new necessities of the cities, such as markets and economic functions; political functions; collect taxes; etc. For example, there are palaces, lonjas, universities or town halls currently that were constructed in this ages. 

The most famous building may be Notre Dame cathedral in Paris: 

Now, let's see what happened here in Spain. There is a scheme where you can find all the information: 

We are going to study deeper the León Cathedral. First of all, you can see this video: 

The plan has three naves and a transept located towards the centre. There is also an ambulatory in the church's head. But the most important characteristic is its colorful interior thanks to the stained glasses. This glasses used to have religious themes in order to teach the people. 

Look now at the sculpture that we can find in the doorways of León Cathedral. It is very different in comparison to Romanic sculpture. The materials are still stone and wood, but the space is worked completedly different. Sculpture was closely linked to architecture, but each figure has its own space. 

The themes are also religious, especially those about Christ and the Virgin Mary. 

These are the royal tombs in the Monastery of Poblet. You can appreciate that the sculpture is much more developed than in Romanesque. There are more details and expression. 

Finally, there is a picture of the miniatures painted in the Cantigas de Santa María. There is not perspective and the lines are very thick, being very similar to Romanesque paintings. However, there is a bit moving and the figures are more stylised and realistic than in the past.