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Medieval architecture is a term used to represent various forms of architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
 popular in Medieval Europe
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
.

Latin cross plan, common in medieval ecclesiastical architecture, takes the Roman basilica
Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
 as its primary model with subsequent developments.






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Bogolyubovo
Medieval architecture is a term used to represent various forms of architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
 popular in Medieval Europe
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
.

Secular and religious architecture

The Latin cross plan, common in medieval ecclesiastical architecture, takes the Roman basilica
Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
 as its primary model with subsequent developments. It consists of a nave
Nave

In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and Church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar....
, transept
Transept

Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram.'For the periodical go to The Transept....
s, and the altar
Altar

An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religion, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place....
 stands at the east end (see Cathedral diagram
Cathedral diagram

This article discusses cathedral diagrams in Western ecclesiastical architecture. These floor plans show the sections of walls and piers, giving an idea of the profiles of their columns and ribbing....
). Also, cathedral
Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop. It is a Religion building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christian and some Lutheranism churches, which serves as a bishop's seat, and thus as the central church of a dioc...
s influenced or commissioned by Justinian
Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
 employed the Byzantine style
Byzantine architecture

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to Byzantium....
 of domes and a Greek cross (resembling a plus sign), centering attention on the altar at the center of the church.

Surviving examples of medieval secular architecture mainly served for defense. Castle
Castle

A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territor...
s and fortified walls provide the most notable remaining non-religious examples of medieval architecture. Windows gained a cross-shape for more than decorative purposes: they provided a perfect fit for a crossbow
Crossbow

A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a Bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word Ballista, a siege engine resembling a crossbow in mechanism and appearance....
man to safely shoot at invaders from inside. Crenellated walls (battlement
Battlement

A battlement, in defensive architecture such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet , in which portions have been cut out at intervals to allow the discharge of arrows or other missiles....
s) provided shelters for archers on the roofs to hide behind when not shooting invaders.

Domestic arcitecture

Donington le Heath Manor House Museum
Donington le Heath Manor House Museum

Donington le Heath Manor House Museum is a surviving example of a family home built around seven hundred years ago in Coalville, Leicestershire....
, Leicestershire is a surviving example of a Medieval Manor House dating back to 1280. It is now open to the public as a museum.

Phases


Pre-Romanesque

Santa Maria Del Naranco
Western European architecture in the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages is a period in the history of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 to 1000....
 may be divided into Early Christian
Early Christian art and architecture

Early Christian art and architecture is the art produced by Christians or under Christian patronage from about the year 100 to about the year 500....
 and Pre-Romanesque, including Merovingian
Merovingian art and architecture

Merovingian art and architecture is the art and architecture of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, which lasted from the 5th century to the 8th century in present day France and Germany....
, Carolingian
Carolingian architecture

Carolingian architecture is the style of north European architecture belonging to the period of the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th and 9th centuries when the Carolingian family dominated west European politics....
, Ottonian
Ottonian architecture

Ottonian Architecture evolved during the reign of Emperor Otto the Great . The style was found in Germany and lasted from the mid 10th century until the mid 11th century....
, and Asturian. While these terms are problematic, they nonetheless serve adequately as entries into the era. Considerations that enter into histories of each period include Trachtenberg
Trachtenberg

Trachtenberg is a surname of several notable people, typically an Ashkenazi Jews Jewish surname, especially Ukraine....
's "historicising" and "modernising" elements, Italian versus northern, Spanish, and Byzantine elements, and especially the religious and political maneuverings between kings, popes, and various ecclesiastic officials.

Romanesque


Romanesque, prevalent in medieval Europe during the 11th and 12th centuries, was the first pan-European style since Roman Imperial Architecture
Roman architecture

The Architecture of Ancient Rome adopted the external Greek Architecture for their own purposes, which were so different from Greek buildings as to create a new architecture style....
 and examples are found in every part of the continent. The term was not contemporary with the art it describes but rather is an invention of modern scholarship based on its similarity to Roman Architecture in forms and materials. Romanesque is characterized by a use of round or slightly pointed arches, barrel vaults, and cruciform piers supporting vaults.

Gothic

The style originated at the 12th century abbey church of Saint-Denis
Saint Denis Basilica

The Basilica of Saint Denis is the List of cemeteries of almost all the List of French monarchs since Clovis I . Saved and restored by the architect Viollet le Duc, the basilica is located in Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris....
 in Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis is a commune in France in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.4 kilometres from the Kilometre Zero. Saint-Denis is a sous-pr?fecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis d?partement in France, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis....
, near Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
, where it exemplified the vision of Abbot Suger
Abbot Suger

Suger was one of the last France abbot-statesmen, a historian and the influential first patron of Gothic architecture.Suger was born into a poor family and in 1091 was brought to the nearby Saint Denis Basilica for education....
. Verticality is emphasized in Gothic architecture and features almost skeletal stone structures with great expanses of glass, pointed arch
Arch

An arch is a structure that Span a space while supporting weight . Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture, but their systematic use started with the Ancient Rome who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures....
es using the ogive
Ogive

An ogive is a curved shape, figure, or feature....
 shape, ribbed vaults, clustered columns, sharply pointed spires and flying buttress
Flying buttress

A flying buttress, or arc-boutant, is a specific type of buttress usually found on a religious building such as a cathedral. They are used to transmit the horizontal thrust of a Vault across an intervening space , to a buttress outside the building....
es. Windows contain beautiful stained glass
Stained glass

For the Blackford Oakes novel, see Stained Glass The term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it....
, showing stories from the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
 and from lives of saint
Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
s. Such advancements in design allowed cathedrals to rise taller than ever, and it became something of an inter-regional contest to build a church as high as possible.

Distinctive elements of medieval architecture

Bodiam Castle Fromthe South
*embrasure
Embrasure

The term embrasure, in military architecture, refers to the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle....
  • merlon
    Merlon

    A merlon, in architecture, forms the solid part of an battlement parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures.The word comes from the French language, adapted from the Italian language merlone, possibly a shortened form of mergola, connected with Latin mergae , or from a diminutive moerulus, from murus or moerus ....
  • jettying
    Jettying

    Jettying is a building technique used in medieval timber framing buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below....
    , in which the faces of upper floors project beyond lower ones
  • half-timbered construction


See also

  • Church architecture
    Church architecture

    Church architecture or ecclesiastical architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of Christianity churches. It has evolved over the two thousand years of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to changing beliefs, practices and local traditions....
  • Plan of Saint Gall
    Plan of Saint Gall

    The Plan of Saint Gall is a famous medieval architectural drawing of a Christian monasticism compound dating from the early 9th century. It is preserved in the Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen, Ms 1092....
    , 9th century; the only surviving architectural drawing between the fall of Rome and the 13th century
  • Renaissance of the 12th century
    Renaissance of the 12th century

    File:Koelner_Dom_Innenraum.jpgThe Renaissance of the 12th century was a period of many changes during the High Middle Ages. It included social, political and economic transformations, and an intellectual revitalization of Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots....
  • Medieval fortification
    Medieval fortification

    Medieval fortification is the military aspect of Medieval technology that covers the development of fortification construction and use in Europe roughly from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance....
  • Bastides
    Bastides

    Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony and Aquitaine during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the first bastides....
    , a specific fortified town architecture used in medieval France
  • Gothic architecture
    Gothic architecture

    Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
  • Gothicmed
    Gothicmed

    GOTHICmed is a European Union project carried out within the Culture 2000 programme and headed by the Ministry of Culture of the regional government of Valencia , Spain....


Further reading

  • Braun, Hugh, An Introduction to English Mediaeval Architecture, London: Faber and Faber, 1951.


External links