Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Religion Les Cathedrales Les Cathedrales Les Cathedrales are an important part of almost any society. They provide the communities in which they stand with an amazing sense of prosperity and pride. The term cathedral derives from the Latin word Cathedra, which means throne for the bishop. A cathedral is the bishops church, the administrative center of the dioceses and the spiritual center for the entire region. In le moyen age cathedrals also served as the focus of city life. The construction of these important cultural edifices was a long, tedious and extremely painstaking process. The building of these immense structures took anywhere from thirty to almost 90 years. The main architectural types used during the time period were Romanesque and gothic. These two architectural types were somewhat similar but had some very noticeable differences. Romanesque architecture bloomed between 800ad and 1100ad. It was the start of a new era for the building of cathedrals. Some of the defining characteristics of the Romanesque age were the rounded arches in the ceiling patterns and the limited height of the buildings. The Romanesque type cathedral was built more for function than style. The heavy roof was supported by interior-columns and immensely thick strong walls. The windows of Romanesque cathedrals were very small and un-patterned. The windows were kept small because the walls needed to be kept large and thick to support the roof of the cathedral. La facade and le portail of a cathedral contained some form of statuary. In a Romanesque cathedral floral designs, spiral designs (especially of leaves), animal designs and horrible creatures were often displayed in the statuary. They were used to display the pagan fetish, however it was not to glorify it but to reject it. The statuary of people was very unrealistic. The people were elongated, with no expression or movement shown in their bodies or on their faces. The folds in their clothes were stiff, rigid, and flat. It may also be noted that in the time of Romanesque architecture children (such as Baby Jesus) were often portrayed to look like small men. They were molded and shaped in the same manner as a full grown adult, only to a much smaller scale. Above le portail was a form of statuary especially important during the Romanesque time period. In le tympanum, which is the area above the door of the cathedral, a seated Christ was placed. This was done in mostly every cathedral during Because so many of the Romanesque and early gothic cathedrals were done on such a large scale, it was rare to have seen one artist or stone-mason complete the job himself. However, this is what was done by a very important artist of the time named Gislebertus. Gislebertus is one of the only stone-masons given credit for the work he did because during that time, most of the cathedrals were known by who inhabited it, not by who decorated it. Gislebertus’ style was a rarity for le moyen age because he usually carried out a whole design by himself. Most master-masons did the relief over the main portal and left the rest of the job to their assistants, however Gislebertus did the entire job himself, by hand. That was an remarkable accomplishment for that time period. It was so amazing that Gislebertus hoc fecit became a popular phrase during the time, meaning As the Romanesque era of architecture began to fade out, a new period in architecture, known as the gothic period began. The gothic period occurred between the 1100s and 1300s. There were a number of ways in which the gothic period differed from the Romanesque time period. First being that the ceilings an roofs of the gothic churches went to a point instead of the curved style of the Romanesque time period. Also the entire building style of the gothic cathedral was different. Gothic cathedrals were immensely tall and contained many large windows. This was made possible by the architectural developments of un contrfort (buttress) and un arc-boutant (flying buttress). The buttresses and flying buttresses were used to push the weight of the roof away from the walls so that larger windows could be used. The large windows that were put in were stained glass windows. The purposes of these large, colorful, and utterly beautiful windows were to tell pictorial stories, that of the Catholic faith, and that of the workers and donators of the le cathedrale, and also let in the divine light of God. This light was made even more beautiful by the splendid detail and magnificent color of each piece of glass. The statuary of gothic cathedrals was also different from that of Romanesque cathedrals. There were no spiral designs, floral designs, or horrible creatures in the statuary of gothic cathedrals. Instead the focus was on saints, bible stories and people involved in the building and funding of the cathedral. The people of gothic cathedrals were very realistic and natural looking. They had natural length, a natural expression, natural looking folds, and a curved or twisted shape which was meant to imply movement. One of the most famous architects of that time period was Abbot Suger. He designed the Abbey of St. Denis, and for it is remembered at the “father of gothic architecture”. The Abbey of St. Denis was the first time that all of the gothic elements had been captured together all in one place and therefore is considered the “birthplace of Gothic Architecture”. Some of the most famous Gothic cathedrals in France are Chartres, Bourges, Reims, Amiens, Laon, and Notre Dame de Paris. All of these cathedrals took between 30 and 90 years to complete. Not only was the architecture of les cathedrales important, but what they contained remained just as substantial. Inside almost every cathedral is a relic, which is a tangible artifact that is supposed to be proof of the stories of Christianity. Relics ranged from things such as the finger-bone of a Saint, to the cloak of the Virgin Mary. These priceless relics were kept inside of a reliquary which was an extremely ornate holding for the relic. Reliquaries are covered with jewels and usually made out of gold and silver. Cathedrals not only held tangible items of importance, but they held on to a faith that derived from so long ago. They stand as a constant place to believe in and a reminder to all people of the Catholic faith that there is always somewhere to turn to and Bibliography: Word Count: 1085
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