Similarities between Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic church architecture

¶ … BYZANTINE, ROMANESQUE & GOTHIC STYLES:

SIMILARITIES IN ARCHITECTURE

According to most art historians, the transition from Early Christian to Byzantine art, circa 600 C.E., was neither quick nor definite and at times defies an accurate definition as to exactly what Byzantine art encompasses. Around 539 C.E., the Byzantine general Belisarius conquered the city of Ravenna in northern Italy for his emperor Justinian which set the stage for the city's most important artistic growth. As part of the Eastern empire, Ravenna remained the "sacred fortress of Byzantium for more than two hundred years until its conquest by the Lombards and the Franks" (Demus, 2004, p. 345); thus, during this time, Ravenna and the Eastern Empire experienced their greatest cultural and artistic prosperity. Three architectural structures from this period stand out above all others -- the Church of Hagia Sophia, built between 532 and 537 C.E., the Church of San Vitale, dedicated in 547 C.E., and the Church of Saint Apollinare, located in the city of Classe and consecrated in 549 C.E.

Following the Byzantine period, a new form of architectural expression came into being known as Romanesque, a term "first used in the 19th century to designate buildings that were suppose to be developing toward a perfected 13th century form called Gothic" (Kubach, 2005, p. 256). Architecturally, these buildings with their round arches and blunt, heavy walls were meant to bear a resemblance to ancient Roman architecture and although this style varies widely and expresses a number of provincial differences within its two-century span, most art historians now regard Romanesque as complete within itself and "not as the imperfect antecedent of the later Gothic style" (Kubach, 2005, p. 257). Thus, Romanesque architecture, especially related to its churches and cathedrals, is easily recognizable and is the first architecture that truly belongs in the Middle Ages. Three outstanding examples from this period includes the Church of Saint Sernin at Toulouse, ca. 1080 to 1120 C.E., in the south of France, the Cathedral of Speyer in the German Rhineland, begun in 1030 C.E., and the Church of Saint Ambrogio in the city of Milan, Italy, constructed between the 10th and the early 12th centuries C.E.

After the Romanesque period, some of the most highly-regarded and beautiful of all architectural wonders appeared during the Gothic period which encompassed much of Europe from about 1140 to 1500 C.E. As Alain Erlande-Brandenburg notes, at the mid-point of the 13th century C.E., the Gothic style "represented the summit of artistic achievement in a unified Christian Europe" and symbolized via its architecturally massive and awe-inspiring churches and cathedrals "the triumph of the papacy and the successful synthesis of religion, philosophy and the arts" (2001, p. 261), especially through three prominent examples -- the Church of Saint Denis, constructed between 1140 and 1144 C.E., the Laon Cathedral (1160 to 1205 C.E., and the famous Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Built by the architects Anthemius and Isidorus between 532 and 537 C.E., the Church of Hagia Sophia, remains today as one of the supreme achievements in the history of world architecture. Its dimensions are about 240 by 270 feet; the dome is 108 feet in diameter with a crown some 180 feet above the ground. This structure rivals the Pantheon and the Basilica of Constantine and with its exterior view, the great dome dominates the entire structure. Interiorally, one first encounters the huge narthex with its many entrances and then the open, tremendous space far above, where the dome seems to "ride on a halo of light provided by windows in the dome's base" (Demus, 2004, p. 347). This dome rests upon four pendetives which in effect are four smaller domes forming four arches whose planes bound a square. Certainly, the quality of the light inside had a great effect upon early visitors, so much so that Demus declares that the dome appears "to be suspended by a gold chain from Heaven" (2004, 349).

The Church of Saint Vitali is basically an octagon extended by exedra-like semi-circular bays and covered by a round dome. The symmetry of this design is broken by the extension of one bay into a rectangular sanctuary and apse that projects through one of the octagonal sides of the shell. Circular chapels with rectangular altar spaces occupy both sides of this apse projection. Undoubtedly, the images which adorn the walls of Saint Vitali are most impressive, especially that of Theodora on the south wall of the apse who carries a golden chalice studded with jewels which represents "an offering for the Mass and as a gift for of great value for Jesus Christ" while Theodora herself, "her head adorned with a huge pearled crown and a golden halo" (Demus, 2004, 352) appears fixed in place as if she was a holy image.

With the Church of Saint Apollinare, a narthex entrance spans the full width of the ground floor and a long, tall nave with a clerestory ends in a semi-circular apse with side aisles flanking the nave. Inside, nothing interferes visually with the movement forward from the entrance to the raised sanctuary which extends directly from a triumphal arch opening into the semi-circular apse. There are also many images here, much like at Saint Vitali, such as conch mosaics of human and animal figures in a "stylized landscape with many levels of meaning"

(Demus, 2004, p. 355). A jeweled cross with the face of Jesus Christ at its center symbolizes the Transfiguration, being Jesus' revelation to his disciples of his divinity. Also, the hand of God reaches down from glowing clouds, along with figures of Moses and Elijah.

As compared to the churches of the Byzantine period, the Church of Saint Sernin of the Romanesque period, constructed in the Cluniac-Burgundian style, is of extreme regularity and geometric precision. The crossing square, flanked by massive piers and marked off by heavy arches, is known as a square schematism, wherein "each nave bay measures exactly one-half and each square in the aisles one-quarter of a crossing square" and so on throughout the building (Kubach, 2005, p. 258). Certainly, this structure is a full-blown representative of the first genuinely Medieval architectural style known as Romanesque, due in part to its separate chapels which provided more space for worshippers and for liturgical processions at the height of the church's popularity some eight hundred years ago.

Likewise, the Cathedral of Speyer is one of the earliest fully-vaulted Romanesque churches in Europe, while its exterior "preserves the Ottonian tradition of balanced groups of towers east and west" (Kubach, 2005, p. 259). The large groin vaults covering the nave, most probably designed by German stonemasons, represents one of the most daring and successful vaulting enterprises of the time with the nave being 45 feet wide and the crowns of the vaults some 107 feet in height. Also, the interior of this structure demonstrates "the artistic striving for height and has about the same compartmentalized effect as seen at Saint Sernin" (Kubach, 2005, p. 261). Similarly, the Church of Saint Ambrogio in the city of Milan is just as remarkable a structure as that of Speyer, due to having an astonishing atrium, a two-story narthex pierced by arches on both levels, two immense towers joined to the building itself and over the east end of the nave, an octagonal tower "that recalls the crossing towers of many Romanesque churches built in Germany" (Kubach, 2005, p. 263).

With the Gothic period, we find three outstanding examples of architectural mastery and sophistication. First, the Church of Saint Denis represents the ultimate application of the ribbed vault, identifiable by the presence of crossed or diagonal arches under the groins. These arches form the armature which serves as the framework for Gothic skeletal construction and can be distinguished from other ribbed and arched vaults by its use of the pointed or broken arch, thinly vaulted webs or severies and crowns. Structurally, this "allows for the predetermination of the alignment and concentration of thrusts to be buttressed" on the exterior (Erlande-Brandenburg, 2006, p. 275).