West Facade Research Articles

San Isidoro in León: Evidence for a New History

In the summer of 1969 I directed a campaign which produced plans, sections and drawings of the older parts of the Collegiate Church of San Isidoro in Leon for a history of that monument.1 The work centered on the Pantheon of the Kings, the mausoleum of the rulers of Leon-Castile in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which is attached as a kind of narthex to the west facade of the church. It is traditionally attributed to 1063, and the assured handling of architectural space and mass one encounters there has been seen as an auspicious introduction of the Romanesque style in northwest Spain. At the same time the walls and vaults of the Pantheon display the major surviving cycle of Spanish Romanesque mural painting outside Catalonia. During the six weeks of the campaign it was possible to become intimately acquainted with the complex (Fig. 1), and to complete a plan of the Pantheon and its adjacent tower and gallery, together with a plan of the tribune and tower on the next level (Figs. 2a and b). Of the lo...

Viollet Le Due's Concept On Historic Preservation.The Egyptian Society Of Political Science, StatisticsAnd Legislation

Viollet Le Due's Concept On Historic Preservation.The Egyptian Society Of Political Science, StatisticsAnd Legislation

'The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century' Revisited

'The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century' Revisited

The Cosmic and Terrestrial Cycles on the Virgin Portal of Notre-Dame

In a recent article in The Art Bulletin I presented evidence for identifying as Philip Augustus and Pope Leo III the two outermost embrasure statues on the Portal of the Coronation of the Virgin on the west Facade of Notre-Dame.1 This present study is primarily concerned with certain enigmas and problems of interpretation involving the reliefs of the terrestrial and cosmic cycles which decorate the trumeau and the outer jambs of the two doors. Though these reliefs belong to the more general category of encyclopedic subject matter, any attempt to solve the puzzles which they pose at Notre-Dame must also, I believe, take into account the more specific relationships of these cycles to the Virgin Mary, an approach that has been largely ignored in the literature on the portal. Much of the Marian subject matter and symbolism on the doorway has of course no connection whatsoever with these cosmological series.” But it is in turn on the figure of Mary as the central theme of the portal that the ultimate significa...

A Banquet Hall at Mycenaean Pylos

Several years ago I published in this journal an article in which the suggestion was made that in addition to the great reception halls of the Piano Nobile along the west facades of the palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, and Mallia' there once existed another great public hall well separated from these that was used as a dining or banquet hall.2 In the latter two palaces this room would have measured rather more than nine by thirteen meters, and it was located on the second floor (i.e. the floor immediately above the ground floor) directly adjacent to the north end of the central court, from which it was reached by a fairly broad flight of stairs (pl. io8, figs. 2, 3). As indicated by the construction of the room or rooms below, the ceiling of the banquet hall was upheld by two rows of columns running with the length of the room.' The evidence for this identification would take too long even to summarize here, but it was in part based on the nature of the small rooms on the ground floor, which were suitable for the storage and preparation of food, partly also on the discovery of considerable quantities of household pottery in some of these rooms. Since the publication of these conjectural identifications' a new palace has been discovered at Kato Zakro and partially excavated by Platon.' The published plan of his 1964 excavations revealed a room of dimensions similar to those at Mallia and Phaistos at the north end of the cen-

Easter in Greece

In Greece Easter is the time for family reunions and the giving of presents rather than at Christmas. Two weeks before the festival coloured eggs, filled with sweets, appeared in the shops and there was great buying of cards and presents. On the Tuesday and Thursday before Easter people hard-boiled and coloured a large number of eggs. One evening during Holy Week as we walked along the busy streets of Athens we noticed that in every church we passed and in this city there are countless churches, many of great antiquity services were in progress. The interiors were brilliantly lighted, though frequently glass chandeliers, Icons and other ornaments were shrouded in black or purple crepe. On the night of Good Friday we were among the large crowd outside a local church in one of the suburbs. The west facade was outlined by electric lights and people passed up and down the entrance steps incessantly. Many in the crowd, ourselves included, held lighted yellow or white candles. Our friends' four-year-old son who accompanied us grasped a long white candle tied with blue ribbons, the Easter colour, given him by his Godmother. On the balconies and in the open windows of surrounding houses were placed many candles and Chinese lanterns. At last a procession issued from the church and started on its way round the parish, those following behind carrying lighted candles. Headed by banners and big candles in glass lanterns a large black wooden Crucifix with a candle on either arm and on top next appeared. Then cantors intoning chants which were taken up by the crowd, were followed by priests in vestments, wearing their tall, rimless black hats. Finally, a huge 'Epitaphius' 269

The North Transept and the First West Facades of Reims Cathedral

The North Transept and the First West Facades of Reims Cathedral

The Twelve Choir Statues of the Cathedral at Reims: Their Stylistic and Chronological Relation to the Sculpture of the North Transept and of the West Facade

The Twelve Choir Statues of the Cathedral at Reims: Their Stylistic and Chronological Relation to the Sculpture of the North Transept and of the West Facade

The Chronology of Chartres Cathedral

THE Romanesque cathedral of Chartres, built in 1020 by Bishop Fulbert, was destroyed by fire on June 10, 1194.1 Only the crypt and the west facade with its two towers remained undamaged. The construction of the present Gothic building was begun as soon as the rubble had been cleared away, and by 1220 the vaults were completed.

Bernini's Elephant and Obelisk

THE last work that Bernini and his assistants undertook for Pope Alexander VII is the monument erected in 1667 on the Piazza della Minerva in Rome (Fig. 1). It displays a small Egyptian obelisk that Bernini placed upon the back of an almost life-size marble elephant, who in turn stands on a high and narrow pedestal. The obelisk is crowned by the insignia of the Pope (Chigi mountains and Chigi star) with the Cross of Christ on top. Two plaques on the plinth bear dedicatory inscriptions. The monument occupies the approximate center of the Piazza, opposite the main entrance of the west facade of S. Maria sopra Minerva, with the axis of the elephant's body facing south.