The Stupa at Sanchi, 3rd century BCE - 1st century CE

It is a memorial structure/ tomb but there aren't any bodies in it. It is meant to commemorate the dead person. 

Only people who have achieved nirvana get stupa's.

Established by King Ashoka to house the relics of Buddha.

No interior place.

Circumambulation= religious, meditative, walking around in a circular path.

3 Layered structure represents cosmology of 3 realms: realm of desire, relam of form, and formless realm. Last two relams occupied by gods/godessess'. Spirituality rises, materiality at bottom.

Cardinal direction was important, gates mark cardinal direction.    

Chaitya, Early 2nd Century

Karli, Andhra period, rock cut, stone and wood. From Kushan empire.

Rock cut temple, with an interior worshipping space. 

Rectangular hall with circular end. It has a central and side aisle. 

The aisle provides space for circumambulation.  

Bent wood was used for vaulted ceilings. 

The columns look like the ones from Persepolis and Ashokon. 

Inside Chaitya hall there is a stupa (at the end)

Inner arches from wood and side columns from stone imitate wood protoypes are not structural. 

Arches made from heat-bent benter, a technology used in ships. 

Window above entrance modeled after the leaves of Bodhi tree. Also used for extracting the cut stone during construction, as work proceeds from top to bottom. 

Pandava Rath (Five Chariots), 7th century 

It's in Mamallapuram, India.

There are five carved temples dedicated to five different gods. Known as chariot of the god. 

Rock cut temple from a boulder mimicing timber construction. 

The hindu temple "the ratha": meaning- representing old nomadic vedic carts of the gods, and the divine passage of time. Imitation of the popular Ratha procession, orginating in southern funeral rites. Rathas are popular communal events for other wise individual worship. 

Borrowing buddhist motifs. Stupika (a small stupa on top of building) gave unity to all the temples. It's decorative. 

Kandarya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho, 950-1050 CE

Temples made of a series of mandapas with towers rhythmically rising towards shikara.

Inner plan includes circumambulation route lighted by windows above eye level.

Four pavilions and garbha-griha.

Top was relatively abstract bottom had erotic statues.  

Large profile looked like a shikala and it had small shikala's on the facade. Shikala motif. 

Sculptures of sexual acts of almost every kind cover its folding, cascading walls. 

Angor Vat, Cambodia, 12th century 

It was a tomb and sanctuary and it had political and religious purpose. 

Facing west towards Vishnu, who rules western quarter.

Central tower: union of king and divinity, it's seen from miles around. 

Similar to great northern Hindu temple style. 

Devaraja: god- king concept. King was the god, the god was reincarnated into the king. Religion was a personal choice. 

City of Angkor was 90% wooden structure, but it got destroyed over time now only the stone structures remain. 

Axis mundi. 3 layers 3 realms. Cosmic mundola.

shrines (libraries). pools:function. 

heights of the galleries rise toward center. 

Celestial dancers decorated on the walls. Interior wall of 3rd gallery is a low relief of a king and vishnu.

This is a palace, temple, and tomb. After the king died he was buried in the temple because he was the reincarnation of vishnu. 

Mingtang: Han dynasty (202 BCE- 220 BCE). 

The Mingtang: a four winged structure, in which the emperor moves from hall to hall according to the seasons, adjusting the state with the cycles of nature.

Religious center, administrative center, and educational center

Ruler represented as the pivot of the universe: sky-human-earth

Han dynasty: the creation of an orthodox traditional past: systematization of Confusianism and Daoism. Han dynasty version of temple of heaven.

Place for emperor to come to ritual performances.

Sacred realm is a circle representing heaven

Core is solid earth, outside looks like a three story building but it's actualy only two stories.

Earliest royal architectural type- Mingtang ritual complex, palace, ceremonial hall, audience hall, school

four chambers representing four cardinal directions

each month the emperor would go to the different rooms and preform a certain ritual

Before buddhism 

Tang: Foguangsi

Main Hall

875, Mt. Wutai, Shanxi

Middle rank, one of “ten great monasteries of Wutai”

Wudian: pure hip roof

2nd oldest timber structure

in remote mountain

7 bays

middle rank has ceiling

lower ranking temples have different roof styles, less bays, and smaller base

display of hierarchy

3 layer of brackets

Early Monastery Plan, Fogongsi, Shanxi, 11th century

pagoda in center

circumambulation path

relics buried in the ground

huge buddha in front

different from solid mound in middle

Planning of palatial cities, The Forbidden City, Beijing, 1417-1420 CE

Built during Ming dynasty, 1417-1420 CE.

Walled district facing south, forming the main axis of Beijing.

Axial, symmetrical arrangement of courts and rectangular halls.

Last remaining imperial city because all other palaces are burnt after the change of dynasty Manchu’s overtook the Ming dynasty

city general -> imperial city -> royal

center is in the center not at the top

city a rectangular courtyard and within that is smaller courtyard

southern part closer to main gate is for ceremonial stuff

behind the ceremonial court is the main residence for emperor

two courtyards have similar proportion they both have 3 halls.

They were called front courtyard and rear courtyard

idealized, the rule was laid out 3000 years ago. 5 ceremonial gates. 13 wives.

They weren’t very functional.

South part, with 3 great halls, where emperor conducted state affairs, held ceremonies, received officials.

North part, with 3 back halls, for the emperor’s private residence.

Platforms visualize hierarchy between buildings. Example: The palace of heavenly purity = on 1 terrace +7 bays

The forbidden city is a giant courtyard house.

The strict symmetry of the man made city is dynamically balanced by the meandering Golden Water river, which also functions as a fire carrier

The Garden of the master of nets, Suzhou, created 1140 CE and after

Compression of natural landscape into a constrained space. Richness and variety achieved by dividing space into open and hidden sections, use of twisted, irregular layouts.

Use of screens and walls with openings to frame a series of scenes, and conceal and disclose views.

Walls function as background to capture calligraphic shadows of trees large bodies of water are divided by bridges, rocks and planting obscure the source of the water.

Pavilions provide places of tranquility for observing the garden while being inside it. They fit into the scene.

Plants chosen in respect to time of blossom, corresponding with the Chinese conception of cyclic change the arrangement is empirical and unique for each garden: “there is no definitive way of making scenery you know it is right when it stirs your emotions” -yuan ye

Yingzao Fashi: "State Building Manual"

BUREAUCRATIC STANDARDIZATION OF BUILDING TRADES

construction models

“Treatise on Architectural Methods” or “State Building Standards”

Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) building manual

Wang Anshi Reform (1069-74): how to pay for state building project

talks about construction

rules and regulations for various crafts in building

glossary of technical terms

monetary costs for hiring labor

Ise Imperial Shrine, Japan, 3rd Century

Unifies Japan cultually but not politically

Imperial graves: the keyhole earth-mound tomb

The Ise shrine, most important shinto shrine, is identified with imperial clan.

The shrine is dedicated to Sun goddess and the emperor claimed descendance to sun goddess  

Ise Imperial Ancestral shrine made of two temples:

• Inner Naiku: dedicated to the Sun-goddess Amaterasu (outer shrine in forest)

• Outer Geku: honoring the Goddess of Agriculture (inner shrine)

• Naiku Dates from 5th Century CE systematically renewed every 20 years since 690CE (interuppted for once for 130 years in 15th cent) Two identical precincts located side by side. Once the new shrine is completed, the older one is demolished and the site is covered with white gravel.

Treasuries hold the three sacred treasures of the Imperial household: The Mirror, the sword, and the Magatama jewels. (Symbols are being worshipped). Two of the symbols are bronze. Symbols passed onto emperor from goddess Amaterasu

Access to precinct only for priests and the imperial family on certain dates. only emperor enters the sacred shrine itself. The shrines treasury contains the “esteemed pillar of the heart”, a 5 ft long wood post has no structure importance. The pillar is considered the soul of amaterasu

The Naiku symbolized a rice granary.

Derived from simple utilitarian structures used mainly for storing and protecting harvest from dampness

Dry joint technique, no nails, glue, or knots. Stylization of tying and knotting overlapping wooden members with ropes.

Admired by Modernists

Possible meaning of renewal ritual at Ise

• Functional: renewal of wood structures as they weather and decay in moisture

• Renewal imitates natural cycles of growth and decay- the kami spirit dwells in live material. Wood has to be renewed to manifest these life forces.

• Renewal of institution of Emperor and his relation to the people, ensuring fertility

Origin in imperial mortuary rituals. New emperor passes imperial paraphernalia from old to new residence in a nocturnal ritual.   

• Fertility: Festival of rebuilding known as Shikinen sengu (“the transfer of the god-body to a new shrine in a special festival year”). Ritual happens at night, symbolizing the marriage of the gods. the harvest is their offspring.

• Japanese paradox of the sacred: at once primordial and new. Displays the concept of sacred, cyclical time: the return to the primordial moment of the creation of the world by the gods.

Attributes of Japanese Architecture 

Tectonics: Post and lintel rectangular timber construction employing dry joinery. Several types of timber structure use a central load bearing pillar based on a stone foundation for the main support. Central pillars are more resistant to earthquakes.

Pavilion Typology: Simple rectangular structures with projected eaves.

Openness: Summer oriented architecture: bodies, not spaces, are heated in winter. Japenese houses do not have windows or doors as western buildings do. Parts of the wall may be folded or removed. No massive walls/thermal barriers. Walls are moveable paper thin partitions.

Living on the floors: two types of floors, wood and clay. One never walks on te wooden floor with shoes. Common people could not walk on wood floors.

Lightness: Partitions instead of massive, insulating walls: sliding wood and paper screens (fusuma) allow communication with garden; flexibility in interior arrangement. Japanese houses are a single space that can be divided according to need (no rooms).

Modularity: Systematic use of rectangular measures to regulate dimensions of surfaces and rooms by devises such as the standardized floor mat (Tatami) and wall screen (Shoji). Tatami made from rice straw, used for sitting and sleeping. Mats arranged to suppress symmetry and perspectival space. Room size measure in tatami units.

Naturalness: Asymmetrical layouts and unadorned natural materials, reflecting Shinto reverence to nature. Kami dwells in unique trees, stones, or mountains.

Miniaturization: condensation of nature into small spaces or containers. Tsubo gardens measure 3 square meters and contain a condensed landscape of mountains and water.

Buddhist Sanctuaries: Horyu-ji, (Nara, Japan), 670-711 CE

Built by Prince Skotoku and dedicated to memory of his father the Emperor.

Sequence: entry gate, main image hall and pagoda in the middle of a cloistered courtyard, lecture hall at back, and on its sides, a library and belfry. Dormitories and refectory outside the court.

Lecture hall and library made outside

Icon worship became more and more significant instead of relic worship

parameters changed so that now the lecture hall is included in the complex

lecture hall = rise in preaching importance

important because structure survived and it’s the oldest wooden structure in the world

dynamic symmetry

entry gate has columns with entasis, as did Greek temples

Chumon used brackets and tile roof (represents new and more advanced culture)

Five level pagoda with square layout. has a single wooden mast rising from base to the finial.

Structure floating on a stone foundation, can move and regain equilibrium during earthquakes.

On top the seven Chattris symbolizing the upper worlds.

Pagoda= relics structure

Main image hall is the oldest wooden structure, main image hall = kondo

upper level of main hall wasn’t supposed to be used it was just to hold stuff up

The Daibutsu Hall, Todaiji, 749 CE

Houses a giant bronze sculpture (weighting 250 tons) of the Buddha which almost completely fills the building. The roof of Japanese buildings project farther out than Chinese; due, in part, to more abundant supply of timber

Its huge

Brackets that were used in interior temples of china were used on the outside of the Daibutsu hall

Ho-o-do, Byodo-in, Uji, 1053 CE

(Phoenix hall)

Facing east because you worship to the west

Recreate a vision of western paradise

Garden of Ryoanji Temple, Japan, 1480

Gardens used for meditation (zen garden)

“Dry” garden of ryoanji temple, water replaced by sand and mountains replaced

by rocks

‘Dry’ landscape bordered with three walls plastered with clay. Exemplifies the zen concept of MA (emptiness,void)

Recover one's own buddha nature.

Made of 15 outcropped stones arranged in 5 groups surrounded by moss and a mat of raked stone. Employs borrowed landscape technique

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, 692 CE

Jerusalem designated a third holiest city after Mecca and Medina.

Supplement Mecca as pilgrimage site when Umayyads lost the Hejaz region. Commemorates the Foundation Stone, site of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, and the Prophet’s Ascent to the Seven Heaven.

Legacy of umayyads

Muhammad prayed towards jerusalem

Dome of rock meant to mimic kabba

You can circumambulate the dome .  

On temple mount, the site where Abraham was to have sacrificed his son and M embarked on his night journey

Structure recycled elements and design from previous monuments.Stone from arch was taken from preexisting churches

Exterior of dome of the rock has Islamic Art

Rock in the middle of the church was put there to replace Mecca

Great Mosque of Damascus, (Damascus, Syria) ,706- 714/15 CE

On site of walled enclosure of Roman temple (basilica) and the Christian Church of St. John the baptist. Result of Umayyad's Caliphate attempt to solidify their legitimacy.

All mosques are a variation of the fundamental dialectic tension between directionality (Qibla) and axiality (Mihrab)

Muslims sealed two ends to get rid of the axis and made an entrance to the courtyard to make a north- south axis.

Interior walls and arches were retained.

Shrine for St. John the Baptist inside the mosque

Arches resting on columns run perpendicular to the Qibla direction, parallel the Qibla wall

Dome above transept in front of Mihrab, resting on an octagon, which stands on a square supported by squinches

Decoration of interior by byzantine craftsmen.

Samarra, (Samarra, Iraq), 836-892 CE

Palaces

Great mosque of al- Mutawakkil (847-861), 848- 852

Largest mosque in the world for many centuries

Double courtyard system (central courtyard and outside courtyard)

Inner courtyard for prayer, outer courtyard for service

Part of a new capital city of the Abbaside caliphate.

2:3 proportion of rectangular prescient; has multiple entrances, including two on side

Malwiya (spiral) 165 ft high

Rise of minaret

Islam absorb local architectural heritage

Built with sun baked bricks

All other mosques mimic the style

The Great Mosque at Cordoba, (Al-Andalus, Spain), 8-10th century

Cordoba becomes the capital of Umayyad refugees, challenges the Abbasid Caliphate based in Baghdad.

Mosque enlarged four times as city grew. In 1523 a cathedral is inserted into the mosque: Charles V visited Cordoba in 1524 and proclaimed : “ You have destroyed something unique to make something commonplace” .

Conception of space ( all are equal (depicted with columns) only hierarchy facing qibla wall)

Structural system. Short spolia columns supporting high timber ceiling with double arches of different width. Upper arch descends with a pier upon the column. Lower arch has a bracing function. Horseshoe arches decorated with alternating bands of red bricks and white stone.

The Domes at the Transept (T Plan) ceiling throughout building is made of timber, with the exception of the transept, where three ribbed domes and interlacing arches mark the mihrab.

Direct passage for Caliph from palace to mosque’s transept.

The Four Iwan Mosque (Royal (Shah) Mosque), (Isfahan, Iran), 17th century 

Courtyard surrounded by two storied arcade. Mosque oriented towards Mecca, with a central dome above the mihrab.

Iwan= huge arch. Arches decorated with muqarnas vaulting system.

There are four Iwans surrounding the courtyard. South iwan- the qibla iwan= wider, taller, paired minarets.

Use of geometric patterns for reflecting and patterning light to create illusion of weightlessness. Brickwork is self supportive avoiding timber scaffolding.

 Bent entrance from maidan (main civic court of city) to adjust direction of mosque towards Mecca.

Safavid dynasty transforms Isfahan into its capital city, connecting Friday mosque with Royal mosque with a covered bazaar and a public maidan (piazza) seconding as a market. Entrance with pointed arch and intricate muqarnas. An elaboration of the squinch vaulting system.

Iwan layout no longer supports a madrasa: it is canonized as a formal mosque typology. Iwans conclude with freestanding walls above courtyard.

Twin minarets flanking entrance. Double dome covered both inside and out with geometric patterns adjusted to curved surface made of simple brick. Domes supported by a concealed wooden structure. (elevated dome with wood)

Interior dome ornamented with geometric patterns adjusted to curved surface.

Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, 1550

Ottoman architects, after the capture of Constantinople (renamed Istanbul), adapt the pendentive system for their mosques.

Prayer hall composed of one large space under a dome.

Minarets of Ottoman mosques situated at corners of complex.

Very regular very symmetrically unlike eastern mosques. Same orientation as Hagia Sophia.

Alhambra, Granada, 14th century

The Citadel at Granada, Spain

Granada was a mountainous islamic enclave that evaded the Christian Reconquista by paying tribute; lasted in isolation for two centuries, until 1492. Haven for Muslim refugees from Re-Christianized provinces.

Originally a defensive fort, the Alhambra (the red fort) was built by the Nasrid rulers in an effort to revive the glories of Cordoba (captured in 1248) A self sufficient city

Complex made of interlocking courts on northward slope.

Plan brick exterior covered with white stucco (oxidation turned it red) and tiled roofs. Function of different rooms unknown.

Patio del Mexuar= place where ruler would meet subjects. Intricate decoration textile like patterns.

Courtyard of the Myrtles= reflective pool colls the patio and the adjacent rooms. Immerses the senses with scent of plants and the sound of water. Walls inscribed with verse by the court poet.

Hall of Ambassadors

Courtyard of the Lions

Teotihuacan

THE MOON PYRAMID, 200-400 CE  Mexico

Mesoamerican architecture is oriented towards visible elements in the landscape, aligned with natural forces identified with deities. The main South-North axis terminateswith an extinct volcano behind the Moon Pyramid (Volcano lost its cone in an eruption in the 1490s). Platforms defining the plaza fronting the pyramid  employ the Tablero and the Talud section

Main religious center of valley of Mexico 100 BCE-700CE At its height, had a population of 125,000

Dedicated to the Great Goddess of the Earth and the Storm-war god, presiding over violent weather and water.

Grid city layout extending miles beyond the city itself. Important production of obsidian

“Avenue of the Dead” name given by Aztecs who appropriated the  ruined site as a place for pilgrimage 700 years after its abandonment.The Tablero and the Talud Section

Basic building unit of Teotihuacan sacred architecture.  The vertical tablero sits on the sloping talud.

Feathered Serpent Pyramid CA 100 CE: Dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, celebrates warfare. 200 bodies of sacrificed victims found at foundation. Tablero decorated with painted serpent masks.

Pyramids made of an earthen and volcanic interior covered with concrete and cut stone surface.

Pyramid of the Sun ca 100 CE:  temple is the biggest temple and it’s located in the middle. Built over a natural,sacred cave, believed to commemorate the emergence of ancestors from caves. Establishes the East-West axis of the city. Largest building in the Americas until the 20th century. Mexican stepped pyramids were ascended by a monumental staircase, had a temple at top which did not survive.

Mayan Architecture: Palenque, Mexico, 600-750 CE

TEMPLE OF INSCRIPTIONS

Palenque emerged as a royal and religious center organized on a rolling topography along a river. ‘Campus layout’ includes informal grouping of temples, palaces, and a ball-court. Ceremonial court surrounded by temple of the sun, palace, and temple of inscriptions.

Palenque: Temple of Inscriptions

The temple, in the shape of a pyramid, contains the burial chamber of the Mayan king Pacal. The 9 levels of the pyramid correspond with the structure of the underworld, while the 13 corbelled chambers covering the staircase descending to the burial chamber correspond with Mayan belief that the heavens have 13 level. Pakal’s tomb at the base of the pyramid. Cover of sarcophagus depicts the king descending the trunk of the world-tree into the underworld, incarnated as the maize god.  

Shrine at top of pyramid with mansard roof mimics in stone the form of the humble Mayan hut, a typical feature of Mayan architecture.

Incan Architecture: Machu Picchu, Peru, 1450 CE

Located a three day travel distance from Cuzco, at a defensible location aboce a strategic river, Not conquered by the Spanish conquistador. ‘ Discovered’ by Hiram Bingham in 1911

Archeologists agree that the complex was a Royal Estate not a city. Used for retreat and for religious and court activities.

Interplay between the organic and the geometric: inca civilization represent royal power by sculpting nature. sloping terrain modified using terraces and retaining walls

Water system. inca engineers channeled a spring half a mile away in the compound to create a series of 16 ritual fountains.

complex made of 150 residences grouped in 14 gated complexes.

The intihuatana stone complex had as many as 20 building devoted to ritual function as well as unique open air altars.

Temple has the elliptical shape of a rainbow, one of the main deities of the Inca, communicates with the sun. During summer solstice, sun shines through window upon the rock outcrop enclosed the wall.

St.Vitale, Ravenna, 525-547 CE

Combines circular symbolism of ascendance to heaven with longitudinal progress of the liturgy.

Exterior building in plain exposed brick

Two rooms on side of apse used by the Greek orthodox church- one for the preparation of the meal, the other for the donning of the bishops robe

Octagon space surrounded by an ambulatory (circumabulation) and a gallery which are interrupted by the apse.

Arcaded exedras between eight wedge-like peris producing an effect of swelling space, bursting into the ambulatory.

The opening towards the apse is accentuated by being wider and interrupting gallery. Ornament detached from structure- its pictorial

The iconographic program of the church. (jesus everywhere)  

Column capitals with Dosseret, an impost block of stone above the capital; supports the arches in Byzantine architecture. Capitals are notstandardized. Laced with geometrized floral motifs, subsuming structural expression. (aka geometric)

Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, 532-537 CE

Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) built days after destruction of original church during Nika riots in 532 CE.

Designed by the physicist Isidore of Miletus and mathematician Anthemius of Tralles.

Unification of centralized domed type with basilica processional axis.

Main entrance through an atrium and double narthex.

Interior with circle in square structure, symbolizes heaven and earth.

Longitudinal axis terminates at the apse which projects from the rectangular frame. Centralized and axial (like basilica)

Space swells with a system of vaults of mounting heights

Aisle separated with a screen wall.

The original flat dome collapsed, then they made another one

Pendentives were used.

The perfect symmetry of the square is internal. on the outside it becomes a rectangle because the side arches are thickened

Anti classical interior, structure is not expressed, Columns gallery level not aligned with those on the ground level.

The Medieval City: Siena, Italy

THE PALAZZO PUBBLICO (Town Hall), 1297

Housed Siena’s Republican government, known as “The Nine”. Good government and civic pride expressed in laws governing appearance and maintenance of public space, and the construction of monumental urban squares.

In medieval Italian cities, each noble family fortified itself in a palace compound with a watchtower that represented its power.

With the rise of a Republican mode of government internal barriers and towers removed, city hall dominates the skyline.

The Piazza del Campo

Fan shaped public square, previously a market. Bordered by houses of important families and wealthy merchants.

Architectural unity achieved through use of uniforms brick and laws governing height.

Nothing taller than the city hall.

Cistercian Monastery at Fontenay, France, 1139

Life of simplicity and self denial; physical hardship as means for closer union with God.

Monasteries established in rugged, unpopulated and inhospitable regions.

Cistercian architecture purges the unessential and the decorative.

Bare unadorned walls. Plain facade with bare walls, exhibits restraint, purity and clarity of proportions.

Functional architecture, the same expression for prayer halls and workshops.

Dormitory located above chapter house, with easy access to the church. exterior is plan and austere.

Self-sufficient

Romanesque pilgrimage church: Sainte- Foy, France, 1130

Massive, thick stone masonry walls to support weight of vaults, punctured with small

windows.  Surface articulated with piers and blind arches.Towers accentuate the entrance and crossing of nave and transept.

Adjustment to aisle from previous churches. The aisle goes all the way to the back.

Relics are placed in shrines along the wall.

Soaring stone barrel vault with decorative ribs.

Undecorated interior

Vertical ascent stressed with engaged shafts

Gallery windows divided into two, a common Romanesque device to integrate galleries

Lateral thrust of cylindrical vault over nave balanced with a leaning half barrel vault. Light filters into the nave through tribune (gallery above aisle).

Octagon tower with ribbed vault and clerestory lighting above the crossing.  

The tympanium= religious carvings

Substitution of wooden basilica roof with stone vaults for fireproofing and acoustics. Use of a variety of vaulting methods for spanning the nave: the barrel vault, the groin vault, the ribbed vault and hemispheric dome. Visual integration of structural elements with the compound pier, engaged shaft and ribs.

Gothic: St. Denis, France, 1144 CE

St. Denis is the patron saint of France. Kings buried in church’s crypt.

The Abbot Suger initiated two projects—writes first history of France which stresses the divine role of the king, and rebuilds St. Denis in a new manner.

Relics were paraded to unite King and lords to combat German invaders. When Germans retreated, the Saint was credited with the ‘miracle’ victory.

King endows Abby with a charter to run an annual religious fair in honor of the relics.

Construction financed by revenues from land owned by Abbot, gifts of King and pilgrims, and profits from the fair.

The ambulatory

The identity of St.Denis was confused with the neo-platonic philosopher, Denis the reopagite, who espoused the doctrine of Christ as the true light.

The chapels are merged into a second ambulatory, bringing light into the apse.

Slender, wedge-like buttresses substitute walls.

Gothic Cathedral: Chartes, France, 1194- 1260 CE

Chartres was pilgrimage destination of the Cult of the Virgin Mary, a compassionate mediator with the divine.

Church held the tunic that Mary wore at the nativity. The relic, beside its miracle inducing properties, protected the city: attackers withdraw out of fear of offending God.

In 1130s a new facade was built

Labyrinth (11-circuit labyrinth is walked as a pilgrimage)

Height of clerestory windows equal to that of the lower arcade. Width of nave equals two bays, forming an imaginary square.

Piers alternate between square and cylindrical shafts, two bays are read as one unit

Ribbed groin vault and flying buttresses.

Roof is separate from interior ceiling. Roof built before the vault, is structurally self sufficient; used for lifting materials during construction, thus saving on expensive and time consuming scaffolding.

Salisbury, England, 1220

English cathedrals usually have cloisters, as bishops resided in monasteries, not cities.

The English cathedral has a double transept, and is longer than the French.

Double transept, and highest main tower

Does not have strong verticality

Ribs developed into a web