Gothic Architecture Research Articles

The genesis and evolution of Anglican ecclesiastical architecture in British Yorubaland: postcolonial reflections

The analysis of Anglican religious spaces created in British West Africa has been neglected in architectural historiography. This article advances knowledge by investigating ecclesiastical architecture in British colonial Yorubaland (South-West Nigeria). A case study method, combining physical documentation of the existing church sites and a review of church compendiums and other documentation, has been employed to explore and explain in detail the history and formation of Anglican religious spaces. Our research produced new knowledge about the genesis and evolution of the typology, morphology, and visual representations of Anglican religious buildings, as well as the motivations and ideals of the people who commissioned, designed, and constructed them. This architectural journey approximately begins in the 1840s with the arrival of missionaries who initiated the construction of churches using the region’s traditional ephemeral mud-and-thatch structures. However, the British clergy on the ground assumed the role of ‘civilising’ the African communities, using the architecture of ecclesiastical space to shape the communal perceptions of architectural propriety. By the 1880s, they introduced brick-walled and iron-roofed hall-type churches. By the first half of the twentieth century, Anglican ecclesiastical architecture in Yorubaland was dominated by the Gothic Revival style in basilica typology, inspired mainly by Early English Gothic architecture. The article reveals how the architectural and technological transfers from the West continued synchronously with evangelism to create the prescribed image of the Anglican church in Yorubaland. This played a significant role in consolidating British imperial power, as happened elsewhere in the British Empire.

Uniqueness of Gothic Style in Cathedral Church of Chirst in No 29 Marina Road, Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria

Every church has its own character that is peculiar to it because churches are compilations of unique signs in form of ornaments. The functions that take place in them are reflected in architectural style adopted in the construction of the church. The significance of architectural features meaning must be planned while interpretation given to the building characters by the Church liturgy in history determined congregants ‘mode of worship. The Church become where symbols of religious language are used to express its faith and dispose all congregants to receive its vision and belief. Symbols are pictorial representations of beliefs. Choice of church forms depends on the liturgical requirements and symbolical architectural characters. The uniqueness in cathedral structures is of the hierarchy of Earth and Heaven and often reveals its meaning through the internal decoration of the building with frescos or mosaics. The aim of this research is to describe the features that distinguished Cathedral Church of Christ in No29 Marina road, Lagos Island, Lagos from other Cathedral Churches in Nigeria. Qualitative research method was used for this study; in-depth interview was conducted through spontaneous questions from the provost of the church and personal observation was conducted in the Cathedral. Place theory and sustainable theory was used to analyzed and presented the data collected. The church features and architectural concept of the cathedral was descriptively obtained from the provost. This study revealed that the cathedral church of Christ in Marina symbolizes the progression of the Christian soul towards Salvation. The cathedral was centrally planned. This study shows how Cathedral Church of Christ speaks volume about the built environment of the existing urban fabric, past historic, spiritual activities and symbolic expression of the church to congregants. This study advocates preservation from the perspective of sustainable principles of historical and socio-cultural practices for better adaptation of resources and concludes by recommending remedies towards conservations of Cultural/National heritage.

Representants and international orders

AbstractThe paper introduces a new explanation of international order that focuses on representants. Representants are practices, artifacts, and language that stand in for the international system's units in international fora. They are crucial for International Relations (IR), given that IR deal with a macro-realm that can never be fully present, but needs to be made concrete in specific localities. Representants have four interrelated effects: (1) they define the units of the international system; (2) they legitimize them; (3) they provide them with differential degrees of power; and (4) they serve as tools for governing. When representants are seriously challenged, orders are in crisis; when new representants emerge, a new order has taken hold. The paper develops a mechanism of change emerging from struggles over representants. It studies the transition from the medieval order of universal monarchy to an order of divine right absolutism. Representants, such as gothic cathedrals, the mass, and coronation rituals maintained the medieval hierarchical order with the pope/emperor at the apex. The Reformation provided the last step in kings' challenge to the medieval order. Kings adapted existing representants, so that they would portray the independence of kings from the papacy/emperor, and simultaneously position kings above feudal lords.

The dendrochronological proof of origin of oak churches located in the Czech Republic

Transcarpathian wooden churches started to dilapidate after World War I. To preserve the architectural heritage, five oak churches were transported from the region to the territory of today's Czech Republic. However, an exact date of their construction and origin of wood have not been specified and evidenced in literature. In this study, 63 samples have been collected and processed using standard dendrochronological methods. Three Baroque churches, coming from the Mukachevo district, were absolutely dated thanks to the preserved waney edge or sapwood tree rings to periods 1734–1744, 1753–1755, and 1783–1795. Two other churches, representing Gothic architecture, were transported from a more eastern part of Transcarpathian Ukraine. One of them was dated to the period after 1655 and the other could not be reliably dated using available reference chronologies. The created mean tree-ring width series representing individual churches showed strong correlations with the reference chronologies for Slovakia and northern Romania whereas correlations with the only Ukrainian chronology (Lviv region) were negligible. This could suggest low Transcarpathian tree-ring coherency and may indicate the need to create a dense network of regional tree-ring width chronologies in the regions surrounding the Carpathian Mountains.

Preliminary report on the effect of room acoustics on choral performance in Notre-Dame and its pre-Gothic predecessor

The study of acoustics as intangible cultural heritage is an active field of research with implications beyond the scientific community. This study examines the influence of the acoustics of the new Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on the medieval singers who pioneered a style of plainchant known as the School of Notre-Dame using interactive virtual acoustic environments (VAEs) and real-time auralization. The experiment compared the approximated acoustics of the prior cathedral (torn down in 1163 CE to make room for Notre-Dame) with Notre-Dame which partially opened in 1182 CE. A speculative VAE of the pre-1163 cathedral was created by modifying a calibrated model of an extant and contemporaneous Roman basilica, while the early Notre-Dame VAE was generated by time-regressing a calibrated model of the modern cathedral to match its earlier state. A choir specializing in historically informed performance practices was studied as they sang Organum Purum and Organum Notre-Dame inside the VAEs of the pre-1163 cathedral and the early cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Musical parameters were extracted from the recordings to examine what influence the different architectures may have had on musicians’ performances.

The Italian American Studies Association at Fifty-Five: 1966–2021

The Italian American Studies Association at Fifty-Five: 1966–2021

Decoding the Urban Plan of the City of Pilsen (Plzen)

The historic centre of the city of Pilsen in western Bohemia, today a region of the Czech Republic, was constructed at the end of the thirteenth century, at a time when Gothic architecture was universal across most of western and central Europe. The Gothic style had emerged and developed during an era when social and economic changes were favouring the development of new urban settlements, and when the translation of ancient Greek natural philosophy, including astronomy, was giving rise to a new intellectual movement. This revival of the natural sciences was inevitably bound up with the Roman Catholic Church, since much of this knowledge had been preserved within monastic institutions and was now being used by theologians/natural philosophers who wanted to apply reason to theology. This paper’s analysis of the urban plan of the historic centre of Pilsen is an attempt to investigate the possible influence that the science of astronomy had on architectural thought and creativity in western Bohemia, and how this was represented in the light of scientific advancement.

Cognitive Correlation In Gothic: A Semiotic Approach

Semiotics is theoretically used to unravel the meaning by connecting and interpreting different signs and symbols. Evolution of meaning begins from shared to agreed meaning by the interpretation of facts and information. Thus, certain philosophical tradition is concerned with the understanding of how people use different signs and symbols in meaning-making. To understand the correlation of meaning the researchers has taken two short stories of K. Hari Kumar‟s “The Devil‟s Flower and a piece of Rock”, “A Pair of Pale Hands” are analysed in terms of the semiotic approach, namely the triadic model. This triadic model by Charles Sander Pierce is a three-dimensional model whose axes are: Representamen, Object, and Interpretant. In this research paper, the researchers had correlated the process of meaning-making with Setting, Myth and Blood. Each are individually identified in Shakespeare‟s Macbeth and Hamlet in creating its meaning and development in the story. This paper associates Representamen as form, the setting, Object as a referent to myth and blood. In association with the representamen and object, we get interpreted meaning called the Interpretant. This correlating structural process is seen with reference to Jacques Derrida‟s „Model of Parergon‟. Thus, this paper purports to explore the narrative as a structure of interconnected signs and symbols that are organically rooted to the gothic style of writing and deriving its meaning semiotically.

Style and Sense in William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily

<p>A Rose for Emily is a typical Gothic-style novel, intimately associated with the characteristics of Gothic literature: 1. Ghostly and horrible environment; 2. The tone of death; 3. Uncanny character images. Generally speaking, Gothic literature reveals the gloomy, dark, sad and mysterious literary styles, but what fascinates us most is the creation of atmosphere—being horrific, thrilling and intensive, which give people different kinds of sensory touches—Visually, physically and even spiritually. This Gothic style places emphasis on both emotion and a pleasurable kind of terror, thus embodying the senses of a quest for a horrible atmosphere, and an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion as well as the thrills of fearfulness to readers.</p>

Review: Framing the Church: The Social and Artistic Power of Buttresses in French Gothic Architecture

Review: <i>Framing the Church: The Social and Artistic Power of Buttresses in French Gothic Architecture</i>

The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts, edited by David Punter

Reviewed by: The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts ed. by David Punter Aviva Briefel (bio) The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts, edited by David Punter; pp. xx + 520. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019, $195.00, £150.00. In the opening to his monumental anthology on art and the gothic, David Punter signals that there is one question the volume will not answer: “What is the Gothic?” What the book attempts instead is to illustrate how the gothic “has inflected form and meaning across a huge range of cultural discourses, from medieval architecture to contemporary gaming; from graveyard poetry to modern dance; from the eighteenth-century novel to internet fiction” (1). In its content, scope, and form, The Edinburgh Companion to Gothic and the Arts fulfills its promise of capaciousness, which rivals and in many ways exceeds that of Punter’s voluminous A New Companion to the Gothic (2012). His skill as an editor in both volumes is to gather and exhibit an assortment of writings on the gothic that allow the reader to experience as well as learn about the excesses of the genre (or is it a mode? a form? The jury is still out). By the time we exit the book’s gallery of horrors, we have become acclimated to—but are still fascinated by—its collision of genres, historical periods, and interpretations. The volume distributes its thirty-three essays into five sections: Architectural Arts, Visual Arts, Music and Performance Arts, Literary Arts, and Media and Cultural Arts. While there is some slippage between these categories—the gothic, after all, is notorious for not staying in its lane—they provide enough structure for the chapters and sections to build on each other. Each of these sections features stand-out pieces that offer promising new directions for the study of the gothic. These include Sara Wasson’s chapter in the architecture section, “Gothic and the Built Environment,” which contends that “although the built environment is created by human beings, it can paradoxically be deathly to the human, yet simultaneously host to unnatural ‘life’, to an alien and malevolent agency” (36). Wasson traces this idea from Edmund Burke’s concept of the sublime through the Victorian urban gothic of Richard Marsh, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, and Arthur Machen, before moving on to the twenty-first-century writings of Alasdair Gray and China Miéville and to our all-too-current “architectures of incarceration” (46). Another exceptional chapter is Kendra Preston Leonard’s “Gothic and Music: Scoring ‘Silent’ Spectres,” which raises the fascinating question of what ghosts sound like. In pursuing this subject, Leonard takes us through the rappings of the séance to the musical accompaniments of early spectral cinema, including Georges Méliès’s Le Manoir du Diable (1896). The Music and Performance Arts section also contains an excellent piece by Steven Bruhm on the gothic and dance, which begins with a resonant claim that will stay with me for a while: “The Gothic is in large part a choreography. Drawing upon the allegorical feel of the romance tradition whose genre it adopted, Gothic narrative is the stylised spectacle of bodies moving through large emotions or mental states, conveying through grand gestures a limited set of primal, dramatic emotions” (214). Finally, Clive [End Page 431] Bloom’s wonderful essay on gothic melodrama in Victorian theater takes us on a gripping tour of the “excessive staging” and colorful history of this theatrical tradition (354). Bloom’s is one of several essays in the collection that contribute to the ever-growing body of Victorian scholarship on the gothic. These include Tom Duggett’s chapter on the influence of the Lake Poets on John Ruskin and William Morris’s writings on gothic architecture; Kamilla Elliott’s essay on the trope of the gothic portrait in novels including Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist (1839), Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret (1862), and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890); and Jerrold E. Hogle’s essay on abjection and the “Gothic image” in narratives such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Dickens’s Great Expectations (1860). Other chapters position Victorian texts in...

Nineteenth Century Style, Ornament and Colour The Contribution of James Cavanah Murphy (1760-1814) as a Gothic and Moorish Revival Pioneer

James Cavanah Murphy (1760-1814), one of Ireland’s foremost antiquarian architects, is considered as a protagonist of the Gothic and Moorish Revival. His work was a catalyst on reception and dissemination of architectural styles in continental Europe. Murphy’s essay on the origins of Gothic architecture set the stage for his monograph,Royal Monastery of Batalha(1795). Murphy’s monumental opusArabian Antiquities of Spain(1815) was an exponent of Moorish Revival architecture. A material source for Owen Jones’sPlans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambraproduced from 1836 to 1845. This paper sets out to locate Murphy as a pioneer of developing style, ornament and colour in the Nineteenth century.

Reviews Spring 2021

De Raedt, N. A Review of Fabrizio Nevola, Street Life in Renaissance Italy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2020.Sands, F. A Review of Matthew M. Reeve, Gothic Architecture and Sexuality in the Circle of Horace Walpole. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2020.Campbell, E. A Review of Carla D’Arista, The Pucci of Florence: Patronage and Politics in Renaissance Italy. Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2020.Vanden Berghe, V. A Review of Louise Campbell, Studio Lives: Architect, Art and Artist in 20th-Century Britain. London: Lund Humphries, 2019.

Accreditation Requirements and the Global History of Architecture

Accreditation Requirements and the Global History of Architecture

The Role OF the Gothic Art in Localization of the Holy

Art has a significant impact on intellectual influence, or what is known as intellectual wars, which promoting politician's ideas and persuading society to act in the best interests of a specific group of people. However, the policy did not adopt the same methodology towards art but dominated in its all forms.A realistic symbolic style guided the development of Gothic art. Besides, the majority of European kings at the time were religious, so the clergy had the most power in deciding its Features. Medieval arts generally aimed to fulfill a variety of functions, the most important of which was documenting the power of temporal power as an entity and strengthening Catholic power structures, to embody the power of the Church and the historical justifications for its supreme power. The Gothic style was not just an expression of theological differences from era to era, but it was related to the types of scenes and characters that their patrons wanted. Although art until then had been a form of praise of divine glory, a renewed desire to guide the public made it a way of resistance to any hazardous thought.

Pastophorium in the Church of St. Catherine in Handlova in the Context of the Morphology of Gothic Pastophoria of Slovakia

Abstract The project Geometric Analysis of Architectural Elements of Gothic Architecture in Handlová and its surroundings was dedicated to the documentation of stone Gothic elements of sacral buildings. The aim was to make photographs and drawings for the needs of maintenance and restoration of monuments and also to process geometric analyzes of suitable stone elements. Knowledge of the geometric construction, which is the basis of the design process, can help the correct renewal and presentation, possibly with the addition of missing parts or correction of previous inappropriate interventions. The article is focused on one type of element - pastophorium - niche, a box for storing sacral objects and the Eucharist hosts and its forms in the Gothic churches of Slovakia. The various forms of Gothic pastophorias in terms of the shape and context of the supporting wall of the temple and the stone decoration of the niche / box are briefly pointed out. Geometric analysis of one of the studied pastophores - in the church of St. Katarína in Handlová - forms the conclusion of the article.

The quatrefoil motif and its probable origins in Sakha folk ornamental art

The quatrefoil motif is a popular ornament in Sakha decorative and folk arts and crafts. It is popular not only in Yakutia, but all over the world. Until now, however, there have been no generalized works on this ornamental motif. Its symbolic signs have not been studied. Our study has revealed that the quatrefoil motif in ornamentation and decorative art dates back to the Neolithic period in the Halaf culture of Mesopotamia around 5765 BC. A number of researchers believe that this motif was a symbol of male fertility. We hypothesized that the quatrefoil motif probably appeared in the seals of Caucasian persimmon merchants and depicted the quatrefoil of its calyx. Thanks to the growing influence of trade, this motif has spread around the world. The oriental persimmon, as an important product for the well-being of the ancient Chinese population, became an image of the quatrefoil motif, which was adopted by the Xiongnu as a symbol of protection and resurrection. From them, the motif probably spread widely among the Turkic peoples. The Sakha apparently borrowed this motif from the Xiongnu, as indicated by the abundance of ornamental forms and the presence of archaeological, anthropological, and genetic data, which show the existence of sufficiently close links with the Xiongnu culture. The quatrefoil motif similar to the decorative forms of Gothic cathedrals was probably introduced to the Middle Lena by representatives of the Chaatas and Tyukhtyat cultures in Khakassia.

Cinema as a form of composition

Cinema as a form of composition

Garrison Gothic: Timber Con(I)fers the Anglo-Canadian Subject

Gothic Revival architecture projected a sense of unity throughout the British Empire, even though the materials used to construct such architecture varied by available resources, geographic location and climatic conditions. In Canada, this led to the proliferation of wooden churches during the mid-nineteenth century, including William Hay’s Anglican “Garrison Church” for Toronto. The resulting forms allowed Anglo-Canadians to participate in a global discourse of Britishness while laying claim to local materials. However, the contested legality of local lands disrupts timber’s ability to ingrain Anglo-Canadian identity. Instead, I speculate that the transformation of local forest growth into timber-constructed designs is haunted by an uncanny act of appropriation, and I use the “garrison mentality” of a Canadian gothic novel to discuss the unstable boundaries between the demonised Indigenous peoples of Canada’s mostly coniferous forests and the would-be civility of Anglo-Canadians sheltered behind the wooden walls of Hay’s Garrison Church.

Tas-de-charge – An Essential Part of Gothic Vault

Gothic architecture can be viewed from several perspectives, including stylistic aspects, architectural theory, and structural analysis.As Gothic architecture is a skeletal construction, it is essential to achieve an equilibrium with the multiple loads and forces. Medieval master masons' architectural knowledge was firmly based on empirical learning, which stimulated the dynamic development of structural innovations.This paper emphasises and describes a particular type of vault springer, one of the most complicated and sensitive parts of Gothic construction. Known as tas-de-charge, it became especially characteristic of high Gothic architecture. According to its principle, the springer's lower courses contain the merged vault nerves and are carved from one single stone block in each course. The beds of these courses are not radial as those of the average voussoirs, but horizontal. Without the concept of tas-de-charge, the development of late Gothic vaults could not be imaginable. This particular solution made possible the creation of elegantly narrow imposts supporting the vault ribs, the double arch and the formerets. So far, tas-de-charge has not been a focus of interest in the historiography of Hungarian medieval architecture; however, it appears that it was commonly applied in our late Romanesque and early Gothic monuments.