2º A BILINGÜE: CLASE DEL 30 DE ABRIL DE 2020

Good morning everybody!

Last Tuesday, we started to study medieval culture during the 12th and 13th centuries. 

Today, we are going to start to talk about architecture and art. You can find it in page 136 of your textbook. 

In our last trimester, we studied the Romanesque, an artistic style that we could still find in buildings that were built between the 11th and 13th centuries. 

However, a new artistic style appeared in France in the 12th century: the Gothic. This artistic style prevailed in Europe until the 15th century. 

ARCHITECTURE

Gothic architecture had some typical feautures: 

1. We can find it in religious buildings, such as churches or cathedrals. However, and contrary to Romanesque, we also can find it in secular buildings like palaces, lonjas, universities or town halls. An example of a Gothic cathedral is the image that you can see above. Now, I give you another example, in this case, of a secular building (the Lonja of Valencia):

2. Building were very high. In this historical period, God was identified with light, so sunlinght should enter in all the place. Buildings had huge windows with stained glass and sometimes rose windows. 

3. The pointed arch was very common and it was supported by columns or pillars with adjoining columns. 

4. They mainly used the ribbed vault which pressure was supported by flying buttresses. These buttresses crowned with pinnacles. 

5. Churches and cathedrals usually had a basilica plan with a nave, various aisles and side chapelsm and two transepts. The chancel was bigger than Romanesque ones and had a large ambulatory and several apses. In the interior of some Gothic cathedrals and churches, there were three floors: the first one was composed of arches; the second consisted of a gallery or triforium; and the last one had the windows. Cathedrals used to have several doorways consisting of doors under pointed arches. There were usually two towers over the main doors on the west façade.