Neo-Gothic Style Research Articles

The Memorial Chapel (Formerly Holy Trinity Church) in the Tempio Evangelico Valdese (Florence): Surveys and Characterization of Decorative Plasters for a Conservative Recovery

This study focuses on the Memorial Chapel, a historical site located inside the Tempio Evangelico Valdese in Florence. In 1843, the first Anglican church in Florence, known as Holy Trinity Church, was built by D. Giraldi. Around 1892, G. F. Bodley began the reconstruction of a new building of neo-Gothic style at the same site, which was completed in 1904. This new church had a space dedicated to memory called Memorial Chapel. In 1967, the monumental complex was acquired by the Waldensians, now known as the Tempio Evangelico Valdese. This interdisciplinary investigation aimed to study the most damaged painted walls of the chapel. For this purpose, samples of decorative plaster mortars were collected from various points, after carrying out a digital mapping of the degraded areas. Mineralogical, petrographic, optical, chemical, and microchemical analyses were performed. This study made it possible to highlight the composition and the characteristics of the different layers of the plaster mortars, permitting us also to identify the types of pigments used over time in the paintings; furthermore, it was possible to reconstruct the degradation phenomena on the walls and the events that caused them, providing valuable insight for targeted restoration efforts.

Kyiv St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church: Problems of Restoration And Post-War Renovation of A Unique Monument of the Neo-Gothic Style

St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church is one of the main centers of the Roman Catholic community of Ukraine, an architectural monument of national significance, a neo-Gothic building of the beginning of the 20th century, unique for Kyiv, built in the innovative for that time material of reinforced concrete and experimental structures. As a result of problematic soils, design miscalculations, destructive to the structures of the building city transport communications (vibrations from subway traffic), a catastrophic fire in the building in 2021, deterioration of the stability of the building as a result of the barbaric Russian bombing of the civilian center of Kyiv, the church building is in a critical condition, and currently is no functioning. An urgent survey and restoration is needed to prevent the church ruining. The restoration should apply new practical technological measures to correct the critical situation. This publication sheds light on the current issues of the state of the monument and presents proposals for priority measures for its preservation, highlights the role and significance of St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in the history of Kyiv and in the formation of stylistic architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Problem of Gothic in the Storytelling of Madina Omarova

This article examines the problem of the Gothic in contemporary storytelling of the writer Madina Omarova. Let's imagine that the Gothic style characteristic of Western literature, reflected in the Kazakh prose with an original Kazakh coloring and in the context of synthesis, are analyzed and presented as an ongoing study, building on previous research. To reveal the topic, we use the methodology of modern Kazakh literary studies aimed at studying the author and the methodology of studying mythological-critical hermeneutics, the literary process in the national and international framework. We studied and used the theoretical justification of this problem in the works of Kazakh, Russian, and English literary critics. The initiative of this question was analyzed in the Kazakh literary studies in the article «Gothic expressions in modern Kazakh prose» by Adil Zhakulaev. This was followed by some discussions and work on a project studied on the basis of a grant. Nevertheless, according to the stories of the writer Madina Omarova, we consider it necessary to study the Neo-Gothic style and its artistic activity. Mystical directions, branches of psychologism in traditional Kazakh stories began to be studied in a new way. Therefore, the identification of the Gothic style, its artistic manner through the stories of the writer Madina Omarova becomes the task of the article. This is due to the fact that in Kazakh society the foundations of otherworldly power, negative illusions, mysterious destinies that give the genre character of the gothic are mystically familiar from oral literature. But the embodiment in this gothic style of the struggle between the heroes of the new time reflects the ability of the writer and the new direction in Kazakh literature. From the stories of the writer M. Omarova analyzes the artistic evolution of the gothic genre. The poetic nature is analyzed, the aspiration for the location is expressed. The work on revealing the passive and active element of the gothic in the artistic aspect of the Kazakh narrative is carried out. The process of intertwining elements of gothic and science fiction in the modern Kazakh storytelling is considered.

Sculpture of the Christ of Sorrows from Belarus

The article discusses the history and style, the levels of the addition of the cult of the statue of the Christ of Sorrows (also known as the Man of Sorrows) from the Holy Trinity Church in the town of Ros’ in Belarus (Grodno Region). This church is a well-known sanctuary of Christ of Sorrows, a place of worship for believers from all over Belarus and other countries. Based on the analysis of archival documents, the issue of dating the sculpture within the boundaries of 1611–1618 has been resolved and its Neo-Gothic style, which developed in the symbiosis of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, with the Neo-Gothic accent characteristic for the early 17th century, which was considered the “new style” in Northern Europe at that time, has been determined. The sculpture was a reflection of the concept of Andachtsbild — a specific genre of art, the purpose of which is to excite the pious thoughts and intentions of the believer. Today, a sufficient number of sculptures of the Christ of Sorrows are known in museums and the existing churches of Belarus. There are even more indications of their presence in archival documents, both in Catholic and Orthodox shrines. This material is intended to show the meanings that affirm the obligatory nature of the images of the Christ of Sorrows in Eastern European art and the inevitability of its appearance (acceptance) at certain points in a large area from Western Europe to Eastern Europe in historical time. Sculpture in Ros’ is that unique example of a transitional time, when the art of Eastern Europe turned to the creation of early Baroque forms, synthesizing the forms of Gothic and Renaissance (Mannerism) in a certain conceptual direction of internal meditative practice, personal prayer.

The Narrow Mausolea at Conchada Cemetery as Part of Portuguese and European Architectural Heritage

Over millennia, death was the origin of great funerary constructions that have come down to us. These constructions aimed at ensuring eternity and perpetuating memory. Funeral art thus appears not in the service of death, but in the service of memory. In the modern age, funerary constructions do not have the dimensions and grandeur they did in ancient times, but there are still constructions with relevant architectural interest, built to perpetuate the memory of important families. In Conchada Cemetery, located in Coimbra, Portugal, a vast and diverse funeral heritage exists. Possessing various architectural styles, almost all built with limestone from the region, the narrow mausoleums stand out from this heritage. This work presents a study carried out on the architecture and construction of two types of narrow mausoleums, existing in the Conchada Cemetery, both of the Neo-Gothic style: one with an entrance from the front, and another from the back. As it is not possible to present the photographs of the burial vaults, since it would represent an intrusive approach to the families, the authors have resorted to representing them through Indian ink and watercolor illustrations.

London and Budapest: A Tale of Two Parliaments

Abstract The Houses of Parliament in London (1835–1860) and the Parliament in Budapest (1885– 1902) are related in many ways. It was due to former Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy’s personal commitment that a riverside site and the Neo-Gothic style were selected for the Hungarian edifice. While the New Palace of Westminster represents the late-medieval English variant of the Gothic style, its Hungarian counterpart is an amalgamation of various Gothic features marshalled into a heterogeneous synthesis. Inevitably the issue of a national style emerged, as well as the representation of royalty on the exterior and in the interior of the building. The Parliament in Budapest was meant tobe a national monument and project the (illusive) image of a Hungary on equal footing with the world’s major countries.

Starting From and Beyond Matteo Ricci

Between 1500 and 1600, the Jesuit Ricci carried out a real process of inculturation of Christianity in China. Subsequently, he operated according to acculturation: a form of colonialism. This process consisted also in the construction of churches, which were built in the neo-Gothic style. In 1926 dom Gresnigt was sent to China with the aim of creating a new Sino-Christian style, supported by Bishop Costantini and the new missionary policy. These attempts at architectural inculturation, however, focused on stylistic issues. We must act according to an intercultural dialogue. Starting from a textual translation of the liturgical books and the ritual action, this dialogue can provide the architect with images of experience that can be implemented as places and movements within the horizon of the sacred. Metaphors must be found, and even better affordances must be constructed to increase the effectiveness of ritual actions, making even those that can only be imagined emotionally perceptible.

Seismic assessment of metallic neo-gothic church: Deterioration and safety of early structural design

The San Sebastian Basilica, located in Manila in Philippines, consists of a unique architectural monument in the area, representing the colonial neo-gothic style of the 19th century. The site where the church is constructed is characterized by high seismicity, and as an attempt to make it earthquake resistance, it was constructed by steel, after multiple collapses of previous versions of the church. The aim of this study is to assess the safety of the Basilica, by integrating an in-situ diagnostic campaign. More specifically, the investigation works performed in the last decade are enriched by experimental dynamic identification tests. After obtaining the dynamic properties of the church, a detailed numerical model is constructed and calibrated to match the experimental results. The final model is then employed and several non-linear static analyses are performed in order to assess the capacity of the church. A number of numerical and methodological issues are highlighted throughout the process, before concluding about the safety, the damage state and the main structural vulnerabilities of the Basilica.

Universal skill of saxophonist as phenomenon modern of musical-creative practice

The purpose of the article is to select practice-approved ways to the combinatorial presentation of the componentі of the musical expression, in which, on the base of the general beliefs about music-rhetorical base inventio tax ways of the joining to speech liberty of the combinatorial use the music material. The methodology consists of riverbed intonation approach that is to say by means of beliefs about the unity of process factors in music and speech, as this bequeathing in works of B.Asafiev and his followers in Ukraine, unrolled specified interdisciplinary generalization, on example text books A.Losev, R.Ingarden, E.Nazaykinkij, E.Markova and others. The scientific novelty of the work is based on original and the practically-creative approved the idea of joining in mechanism rhetorical inventio, practical persons, combinatorial collation fragment and holistic music that-image, which the sequence forms the speech continuum of the music. Conclusions. The made analysis of the theoretical life lengths from the theory of the improvisation and theoretical positions of the rhetoric has allowed formulating the concrete operations cortical music operations of inventio as a way of the semantic join generalising value that-symbol with author's and out author’s thematic acquisition in straightening of acquisition "spoken creation of the music". The last one meets the terms modern performance art with his "neo-gothic style" discharge from priority to composer activity.

КЛАСТЕРНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ РЕЗНЫХ ТЕРРАСНЫХ ОКОН ВОТКИНСКА

Terraced windows, along with frames, are a unique element of Russian wooden architecture. But if in the major cities of the Pre-Urals, the old wooden quarters were demolished for serial building in the middle of the 20th century, the center of Votkinsk retained its almost original appearance of the mid-19th century. As a result, the carved terraced windows are no longer so massively represented in other cities of Udmurtia and the Urals. Nevertheless, due to economic activity, the private sector of Votkinsk is actively being built up, and the owners of wooden houses that are not architectural monuments everywhere are replacing carved terraced windows with plastic windows that are more comfortable in everyday life. As a result, it is likely that in a couple of decades such an expressive element of Russian wooden architecture as the Votkinsk carved terrace windows can be lost forever. Therefore, the objective of this work consisted, firstly, in photo fixing windows still available in Votkinsk, and secondly, in their cluster analysis to identify typical signs. Their definition is necessary, for example, if, with the improvement of the production technology of serial windows, it again becomes possible to return this element of architecture, then the starting point can be not only simple imitations of preserved monuments of wooden architecture, but the existing database in all its richness of forms. In 2013-2015 the authors surveyed 35 terrace windows of Votkinsk were surveyed, mainly central streets: Kirov, May 1 and Lenin, which are presented in the appendix. During cluster analysis, it was revealed that the most common type of window consists of three modules with an arched completion with the same width of modules. As a rule, the upper part of the window consists of three elements, divided by straight partitions. The ornament of the window itself, as a rule, has axial symmetry and consists of two parts. The presence of elements that are difficult to manufacture, including semicircular and parabolic ornament lines, testifies to the high production culture and craftsmanship of the workers who made the terrace windows, the production technology of which was possible only in the workshop or artel conditions. Undoubtedly, the influence on the windows of the neo-Gothic style, which could have been brought to Votkinsk by invited foreign experts. Local culture also had a great influence. But Udmurt motifs are extremely limited, as evidenced, for example, by the lack of asymmetric parts built on the principle of rotation. In addition, obviously Orthodox motifs have been found, for example, the use of the triptychiconostasis form, ornaments in the form of a “forked” cross superimposed on the silhouette of an Orthodox church cloth. In general, Votkinsk terrace windows can be considered as a unique cultural phenomenon on the territory of Udmurtia, which is so massively not found now.

Le Parlement hongrois – construction, décoration, idéologie

The Hungarian Parliament – construction, decoration, ideology. The Hungarian Parliament in Budapest (1885–1902) was one of the largest buildings of its time in Europe. As home to the nation’s legislature, it also had to serve as a veritable monument glorifying the country’s history and its newly-acquired status within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Following an architectural competition, Imre Steindl, a professor at the Budapest Technical University, received the commission to realise his plan. In fact, Count Gyula Andrássy, a highly influential aristocrat and statesman, had picked his entry due to its style, analogous to the Neo-Gothic style of the London Houses of Parliament. Though historicist in appearance and opulent in terms of materials and decoration, modern technology also played a considerable role in its construction. The statues in the rotunda and on the exterior of the building were meant to immortalise Hungary’s great historical personalities, even if their moderate size, uniform style and subordinated position curtailed artistic expression. The relatively small number of mural paintings, highlighting outstanding events of Hungarian history, were virtually overwhelmed by the wealth of colourful decoration. All in all, Steindl wanted the whole structure to be a single work of art bearing his mark. The Hungarian Parliament ranks high among parliament buildings on the international scene.

BIONIC INNOVATIONS BY ANTONIO GAUDI IN ARCHITECTURE OF BOTINES AND CALVET TENE-MENT HOUSES

The article is devoted to the creative heritage of Antoni Gaudi y Cornet, the outstanding Catalan architect. The reviewed two tenement houses were made according to his design, in the tradition of Neo-Gothic style, Baroque and Catalan art Nouveau. Town-planning aspects, spatial structure and design solutions of these houses are studied. A special attention is paid to the architectural and compositional decision of their facades and decorations, in which, along with secular and religious motives, some of bionic principles were implemented. In these projects, A. Gaudi have only just begun to form basic features of the unique creative style. He revealed them in his later projects of House Batllo and Casa Mila tenement houses in Barcelona.

Washington National Cathedral as the Main Spiritual Landmark of America

Washington National Cathedral, located in Washington, D.C., is one of the major landmarks of the United States. Formally, it belongs to Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. Informally, it is the spiritual center of the nation.The article discusses a number of factors contributing to this status of the Cathedral. Most of the Founding Fathers of the US were Episcopalians, as well as Episcopalians were the US presidents who played key role in the nation’s political history (George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Bush, Sr.).Episcopalian Church belongs to the Anglican community of Protestant churches. This branch of Christianity combines different doctrines of Protestantism, being divided into High Church, Broad Church, and Low Church. With teaching and appearance, High Church borders with Catholicism, whereas Low Church is close to Congregationalism. Thus, Episcopal Church encompasses the whole spectrum of Christianity represented in North America, being acceptable to the widest parts of society. Built in Neo-Gothic style, located between Chesapeake to the South, the historical citadel of Anglicans and Catholics, and New England in the North, the stronghold of Puritans, Washington National Cathedral symbolizes the harmony and interrelationship between different spiritual doctrines, one of the facets shaping the worldview of society of the United States of America.

Washington National Cathedral as the Main Spiritual Landmark of America

Washington National Cathedral, located in Washington, D.C., is one of the major landmarks of the United States. Formally, it belongs to Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. Informally, it is the spiritual center of the nation. The article discusses a number of factors contributing to this status of the Cathedral. Most of the Founding Fathers of the US were Episcopalians, as well as Episcopalians were the US presidents who played key role in the nation’s political history (George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Bush, Sr.). Episcopalian Church belongs to the Anglican community of Protestant churches. This branch of Christianity combines different doctrines of Protestantism, being divided into High Church, Broad Church, and Low Church. With teaching and appearance, High Church borders with Catholicism, whereas Low Church is close to Congregationalism. Thus, Episcopal Church encompasses the whole spectrum of Christianity represented in North America, being acceptable to the widest parts of society. Built in Neo-Gothic style, located between Chesapeake to the South, the historical citadel of Anglicans and Catholics, and New England in the North, the stronghold of Puritans, Washington National Cathedral symbolizes the harmony and interrelationship between different spiritual doctrines, one of the facets shaping the worldview of society of the United States of America.

Unusual Rebuilding Method of Historic St Mary’s Cathedral in the Capital of Western Australia

St Mary’s Cathedral is the Archbishop church of the Archdiocese in Perth in Western Australia. The presented sacral building was built in neo-Gothic style during the years 1863-1865. Cathedral was officially dedicated and opened for the service on 29<sup>th</sup> January, 1865. In 1973 was proclaimed the Marian Sanctuary and now represents one of the largest religious facilities in Perth. In 2005, the city authorities, together with the Archdiocese took a collective decision on the necessity of a comprehensive renovation of this sacred object. The renovation was due to the technical condition and the lack of usability of the object. The author of the paper had the opportunity to experience these problems by visiting this place several times, first time in 1989 and next years. Thus, the renovation of the present Cathedral was in its assumption not only to perform maintenance of the building and its specific architectural elements but also to increase its functional features - usable for the faithful and tourists. Reconstruction of St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth can be a good example increasing the wider functionality of such facilities while keeping their antique and historical qualities. In this paper the above-mentioned issues will be more widely developed by the author.

Neogothic Orthodox Churches and Chapels Built Near St. Petersburg and in the Russian Province (the Second Half of XVIII – the Early XIX Centuries)

The article is devoted to the development of religious buildings of Neogothic style and their stylistic features in the second half of the XVIII century. During the preromantic period the hobby for a Neogothic style in Russia has been connected with idealized idea of customers about the Middle Ages. The gothic style attracted them with exotic shapes. The desire of customers to create illusion of travel to the past over the different countries, typical for a sentimentalism era. was one of the reasons for the emergence of neogothic constructions in the Russian Empire.

Religious Buildings of the Period of an Early Russian Neogothic Style (the Second Half of XVIII – the early XIX centuries)

The article is devoted to the development of religious buildings of Neogothic style and their stylistic features in the second half of the XVIII century. Each new building of this period has an unusual combination of new compositional techniques that illustrates the continuity of architects creativity who wanted to create something new and different, but at the same time causing the association with the Middle Ages.

Ny arkitektur for nordmenn i Iowa. Arkitekt C.H. Griese, Luther College og kirker i 1860-årene

<p>The Norwegian Evangelical-Lutheran Church in America decided in 1861 to build their first college close to the western frontier of The Upper Midwest. The site chosen was a bluff above Upper Iowa River, highly visible from Decorah, a small town founded only 12 years earlier, few years after the first settlers arrived. The college building became a relatively vast structure erected between 1862 and 1865, completed to its originally planned symmetrical composition in 1874. The building style and its composition were common among American colleges and universities further east in the US. It is also demonstrated how the Luther College building façade in composition and detailing shows clear influences from a specific German building. This particular building has been designated as especially typical of the German <em>Rundbogenstil</em> (<em>S</em>tyle of the Rounded Arch) with its great mix of various stylistic elements.</p><p>The architect was known as C. H. Griese from Cleveland, Ohio. He is identified as Charles Henry Griese (1821–1909), who immigrated from Germany about 1850 and was known as a mason and contractor, from now on also as an architect. In 1869, Griese also designed the three Norwegian Lutheran churches of Washington Prairie, Stavanger and Glenwood in rural Decorah. They represented a Neo Gothic style which was new to the area, and had an evident architectural character contrasting the more ordinary vernacular churches in the area. They signify a change of style and, like the college building, they demonstrate architectural ambitions new to these Norwegians, giving insight also into the general architectural and vernacular development in the area.</p>

Neo-Gothic style in Argentina: Shaping British national identity in exile

The British community established in the Argentine Republic during the course of the nineteenth century privileged the construction of churches and schools as settings that would relate to and preserve its cultural traditions. Buildings were erected in an architectural style then currently in fashion in Great Britain, namely Neo-Gothic, a revivalist movement representative of contemporary British culture and evocative of the homeland’s historic and contemporary architectural landscape. Neo-Gothic, together with the Neo-Tudor movement and the picturesque, defined the character of some of the Argentine localities where British settlement took place.

Gothic revival in Mexico: French theory, English practices and the Stonemason’s craft

In recent years scholars have begun to recognize that the Neo-Gothic style enjoyed a much greater presence and acceptance in Mexico than the country’s architectural historians have cared to admit. From the late nineteenth century through most of the twentieth, the style was most often employed for ecclesiastical buildings, but it was also used for schools, residences and public buildings. In Mexico, the Gothic Revival style was practiced by three distinct groups of designers: trained architects working in a French or Italian mode, untrained master masons who imaginatively combined Gothic elements with classically inspired forms, and trained and mostly foreign architects practicing an English version of the Neo-Gothic style.