Description
Book SynopsisThis volume tells the story of European architecture in the middle ages' from the destruction by northern barbarians of Rome and the urban society it had fostered to the rediscovery of Classical values and the rebirth of humanism in 15th-century Italy.
This period saw the evolution of feudalism, with its patterns of dependency and obligation, the establishment of monasticism in its varied forms, and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire. The art and architecture that emerged alongside this profound social reordering is known as Romanesque. Based on the legacy of ancient Rome, it included elements from Carolingian, Ottonian, Byzantine and northern European traditions. This synthesis produced some of its most powerful monuments in the glorious abbey churches that a period of prosperity and political stability fostered in unprecedented numbers.
Romanesque architecture was succeeded by the Gothic, a movement that originated at the abbey of S. Denis in France in the 12th century
Table of Contents
Part 1: Renovation of Gravitas Prologue 1.1. Empire Regained and Relapsed 1.2. The Centre: Holy Roman Empire 1.3. The East: Towards the Third Rome 1.4. The West: Post Carolingian Diversity Part 2: Refraction of Light Introductions to the Gothic Age 2.1. Light Into Stone: The Gothic Cathedral 2.2. Secular Building in the Gothic Age Part 3: Revival of Classicism Introduction 3.1. Cataclysm and Classicism at Large Epilogue: From Medieval Towards Neo-Classical Abroad Conclusion Glossary Further Reading Index
