Gothic Cathedrals
Chartres cathedral 1145-1220: light as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment through the intellect.
In the “Gothic” period, from about 1150, the cathedral dominated the town both physically and in terms of economic and political influence. “Gothic” was a term applied to the new style that flourished first in northern France, spreading to neighboring lands during second half of the twelfth century and the following two centuries. The art of the period of Gothic expansion (1150-1280) was primarily conceived for the embellishment of cathedrals. The cathedral was
the urban monument – the ziggurat of the medieval Europeans. Its rise went hand in hand with the revival of the episcopate and the expansion of the towns. The cathedral was the center of culture, housing as it did the episcopal school, which sometimes became a university, as in Paris. Among all the new wealth, the cathedral worksite occupied an essential place. Enormous resources were needed, which came from the surrounding rural area as well as taxes on townspeople. New building techniques allowed for windows, and the installation of stained glass windows that captured light transformed the cathedral into an expression of religious thought. In contrast to the monastery, where order was expressed in sound, in the cathedrals it was expressed in the geometrical dividing of space. One feature of the Gothic cathedral in particular captured the character of the new ethos of learning. The sophisticated use of vaulting and buttresses permitted the opening up of bays where windows could be built – windows which reflected the quest for luminosity, the burst of understanding, the dramatic “breakthrough.”
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