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165-620: The Sainte-Chapelle ( French: [sɛ̃t ʃapɛl] ; English: Holy Chapel ) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité , the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris , France. Construction began sometime after 1238 and the chapel was consecrated on 26 April 1248. The Sainte-Chapelle

330-647: A pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style, and in the introduction to the Lives he attributes various architectural features to the Goths , whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome, and erecting new ones in this style. When Vasari wrote, Italy had experienced

495-401: A pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his 1550 Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style. In the introduction to the Lives he attributed various architectural features to the Goths whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome , and erecting new ones in this style. In

660-422: A Gothic choir, and six-part rib vaults over the nave and collateral aisles, alternating pillars and doubled columns to support the vaults, and buttresses to offset the outward thrust from the vaults. One of the builders who is believed to have worked on Sens Cathedral, William of Sens , later travelled to England and became the architect who, between 1175 and 1180, reconstructed the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in

825-547: A century of building in the Vitruvian architectural vocabulary of classical orders revived in the Renaissance and seen as evidence of a new Golden Age of learning and refinement. Thus the Gothic style, being in opposition to classical architecture, from that point of view was associated with the destruction of advancement and sophistication. The assumption that classical architecture was better than Gothic architecture

990-634: A court painter in Addai, which becomes a miracle caused by a miraculously-created image supernaturally made when Jesus pressed a cloth to his wet face in Evagrius. It was this last and latest stage of the legend that became accepted in Eastern Orthodoxy, the image of Edessa that was "created by God, and not produced by the hands of man". This idea of an icon that was Acheiropoietos ( Greek : Αχειροποίητη , lit.   ' not made by hand ' )

1155-655: A disciple ( Thaddeus of Edessa ) to heal Abgar (and does so). At this stage, there is no mention of an image of Jesus. In AD 384, Egeria , a pilgrim from either Gaul or Spain, was given a personal tour by the Bishop of Edessa, who provided her with many marvellous accounts of miracles that had saved Edessa from the Persians and put into her hands transcripts of the correspondence of Abgarus and Jesus, with embellishments. Part of her accounts of her travels, in letters to her sisterhood, survive. "She naïvely supposed that this version

1320-420: A hyperbolic beauty on that house of prayer, that, in going into it below, one understandably believes oneself, as if rapt to heaven, to enter one of the best chambers of Paradise. O how salutary prayers to the all-powerful God pour out in these oratories, when the internal and spiritual purities of those praying correspond proportionally with the external and physical elegance of the oratory! O how peacefully to

1485-510: A lantern tower, deeply moulded decoration, and high pointed arcades. Coutances Cathedral was remade into Gothic beginning about 1220. Its most distinctive feature is the octagonal lantern on the crossing of the transept, decorated with ornamental ribs, and surrounded by sixteen bays and sixteen lancet windows. Saint-Denis was the work of the Abbot Suger , a close adviser of Kings Louis VI and Louis VII . Suger reconstructed portions of

1650-858: A later administrative complex known as La Conciergerie ), was built to house Louis IX 's collection of relics of Christ , which included the crown of thorns , the Image of Edessa , and some thirty other items. Louis purchased his Passion relics from Baldwin II , the Latin emperor at Constantinople , for the sum of 135,000 livres . This money was paid to the Venetians to whom the relics had been pawned. The relics arrived in Paris in August 1239, carried from Venice by two Dominican friars . Upon arrival, King Louis hosted

1815-595: A linen cloth and set it upon his visage, and emprinted the very phisiognomy of his visage therein, and sent it unto the king Abgarus which so much desired it. And in the same history is contained how this image was figured. It was well-eyed, well-browed, a long visage or cheer, and inclined, which is a sign of maturity or ripe sadness. The Holy Mandylion disappeared again after the Sassanians conquered Edessa in 609. A local legend, related to historian Andrew Palmer when he visited Urfa (Edessa) in 1997, relates that

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1980-423: A long campaign of restoration began. It was first conducted by Félix Duban , then by Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Émile Boeswillwald , with the young Eugène Viollet-le-Duc as an assistant. The work continued for twenty-eight years, and served as a training ground for a generation of archeologists and restorers. It was faithful to the original drawings and descriptions of the chapel that survived. The restoration of

2145-401: A monumental enclosed stairway from the courtyard on the south side to the upper level. This was damaged by fire in 1630, rebuilt, but finally demolished. Fires in the palace in 1630 and 1776 also caused considerable damage, especially to the furniture, and a flood in the winter of 1689–1690 caused major damage to the painted walls of the lower chapel. The original stained glass on the ground floor

2310-483: A much grander scale, was adapted for Sainte-Chapelle. The two levels of the new chapel, equal in size, had entirely different purposes. The upper level, where the sacred relics were kept, was reserved exclusively for the royal family and their guests. The lower level was used by the courtiers, servants, and soldiers of the palace. It was a very large structure, 36 meters (118 ft) long, 17 meters (56 ft) wide, and 42.5 meters (139 ft) high, ranking in size with

2475-498: A new period of Gothic Revival . Gothic architecture survived the early modern period and flourished again in a revival from the late 18th century and throughout the 19th. Perpendicular was the first Gothic style revived in the 18th century. In England, partly in response to a philosophy propounded by the Oxford Movement and others associated with the emerging revival of 'high church' or Anglo-Catholic ideas during

2640-405: A painter unto Jesu Christ for to figure the image of our Lord, to the end that at least that he might see him by his image, whom he might not see in his visage. And when the painter came, because of the great splendour and light that shone in the visage of our Lord Jesu Christ, he could not behold it, ne could not counterfeit it by no figure. And when our Lord saw this thing he took from the painter

2805-662: A piece of the true cross and other relics related to the Passion, which were brought to Paris in September 1241. Thereafter, on each Holy Friday , the day of the Crucifixion, he conducted a solemn ceremony at Sainte-Chapelle, in which the relic was brought out and displayed to the faithful. The King had a large chasse made to hold and display the sacred objects. This was a case, open on the front, 2.7 meters (8 ft 10 in) long, made of silver and gilded copper. Each of

2970-467: A promise that "no enemy would ever enter the city", was inscribed over the city gate, but does not mention an image. Procopius is sceptical about the authenticity of the promise, but says that the wish to disprove it was part of the Persian king Khosrau I 's motivation for the attack, as "it kept irritating his mind". The Syriac Chronicle of Edessa written in 540-550 also claim divine interventions in

3135-410: A series of scenes showing the rediscovery of Christ's relics, the miracles they performed, and their relocation to Paris in the hands of King Louis himself. The rose window at the west of the upper chapel was made in the late 15th century, later than the other windows. It is a very fine example of the flamboyant Gothic style, named for the flamelike curling designs. It is nine meters in diameter, and

3300-449: A series of tracery patterns for windows – from the basic geometrical to the reticulated and the curvilinear – which had superseded the lancet window. Bar-tracery of the curvilinear, flowing , and reticulated types distinguish Second Pointed style. Decorated Gothic similarly sought to emphasize the windows, but excelled in the ornamentation of their tracery. Churches with features of this style include Westminster Abbey (1245–),

3465-406: A total of 670 square meters (7,200 sq ft) of glass, not counting the rose window at the west end. This was a clever illusion created by the master builder; each vertical support of the windows is composed of seven slender columns, which disguise their full thickness. In addition, the walls and windows are braced on the exterior by two belts of iron chain, one at the mid-level of the bays and

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3630-473: A tributary stream of the Euphrates that passed by Edessa. This flood is mentioned in the writings of the court historian Procopius of Caesarea . In the course of the reconstruction work, a cloth bearing the facial features of a man was discovered hidden in the wall above one of the gates of Edessa. Writing soon after the Persian siege of 544, Procopius says that the text of Jesus' letter, by then including

3795-462: A triforium, Early English churches usually retained a gallery. High Gothic ( c.  1194 –1250) was a brief but very productive period, which produced some of the great landmarks of Gothic art. The first building in the High Gothic (French: Classique ) was Chartres Cathedral , an important pilgrimage church south of Paris. The Romanesque cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1194, but

3960-482: A violent and bothersome mistake, as suggested by Vasari. Rather, he saw that the Gothic style had developed over time along the lines of a changing society, and that it was thus a legitimate architectural style of its own. It was no secret that Wren strongly disliked the building practices of the Gothic style. When he was appointed Surveyor of the Fabric at Westminster Abbey in the year 1698, he expressed his distaste for

4125-573: A week-long celebratory reception for the relics. For the final stage of their journey they were carried by Louis IX himself, barefoot and dressed as a penitent, a scene depicted in the Relics of the Passion window on the south side of the chapel. The relics were stored in a large and elaborate silver chest, the Grand-Chasse , on which Louis spent a further 100,000 livres. The entire chapel, by contrast, cost 40,000 livres to build and glaze. Until it

4290-577: Is 1517, when the nuns were forbidden to exhibit it to avoid competition with the Veronica. Like the Genoa image, it is painted on board and therefore is likely to be a copy. It was exhibited at Germany's Expo 2000 in the pavilion of the Holy See. Historian Rebecca Rist says that devotion to Saint Veronica was encouraged by Pope Innocent III in part to compete with Constantinople's Mandylion and increase

4455-426: Is a collection of hagiographies compiled by Jacobus de Voragine in the thirteenth century, the king Abgarus sent an epistle to Jesus, who answered him writing that he would send him one of his disciples ( Thaddeus of Edessa ) to heal him. The same work adds: And when Abgarus saw that he might not see God presently, after that it is said in an ancient history, as John Damascene witnesseth in his fourth book, he sent

4620-601: Is a separate enrichment of the original legend: similar legends of supernatural origins have accrued to other Orthodox icons. The Ancha icon is reputed to be the Keramidion , another acheiropoietos recorded from an early period, miraculously imprinted with the face of Christ by contact with the Mandylion. To art historians it is a Georgian icon of the 6th-7th century. According to the Golden Legend , which

4785-540: Is also the architecture of many castles , palaces , town halls , guildhalls , universities and, less prominently today, private dwellings. Many of the finest examples of medieval Gothic architecture are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites . With the development of Renaissance architecture in Italy during the mid-15th century, the Gothic style was supplanted by the new style, but in some regions, notably England and Belgium, Gothic continued to flourish and develop into

4950-577: Is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages , surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture . It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France . The style at the time was sometimes known as opus Francigenum ( lit.   ' French work ' );

5115-588: Is believed that somehow because of this, the Shroud made its way to France. A small part of a relic, believed to be the same as this, was one of the large group sold by Baldwin II of Constantinople to Louis IX of France in 1241 and housed in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (not to be confused with the Sainte Chapelle at Chambéry , home for a time of the Shroud of Turin) until it disappeared during

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5280-410: Is clearly marked on the outside by a string-course, the lower walls pierced by smaller windows with a distinctive spherical triangle shape. Despite its decoration, the exterior is relatively simple and austere, devoid of flying buttresses or major sculpture and giving little hint of the richness within. No designer-builder is named in the archives concerned with the construction. In the 19th century it

5445-501: Is composed of eighty-nine separate panels representing scenes of the Apocalypse . The 15th-century glass artists used a new technique, called silver stain , which allowed them to paint on the glass with enamel paints, and to use fire to fuse the paint onto the glass. This allowed them to modify the color, and create shading and other fine details. It was thoroughly cleaned in 2014–15, giving it greater brightness and clarity. Some of

5610-459: Is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture . It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion relics , including Christ's Crown of Thorns – one of the most important relics in medieval Christendom . This was later held in the nearby Notre-Dame Cathedral until the 2019 fire , which it survived. Along with

5775-581: Is known in Britain as High Victorian Gothic . The Palace of Westminster in London by Sir Charles Barry with interiors by a major exponent of the early Gothic Revival, Augustus Welby Pugin , is an example of the Gothic revival style from its earlier period in the second quarter of the 19th century. Examples from the High Victorian Gothic period include George Gilbert Scott 's design for

5940-550: Is one of the reasons why Wren's theory is rejected by many. The earliest examples of the pointed arch in Europe date from before the Holy War in the year 1095; this is widely regarded as proof that the Gothic style could not have possibly been derived from Saracen architecture. Several authors have taken a stance against this allegation, claiming that the Gothic style had most likely filtered into Europe in other ways, for example through Spain or Sicily. The Spanish architecture from

6105-577: Is pictured in an illustration of the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry . He replaced it with another in about 1460, but this spire burned in 1630. It was replaced by another, which was destroyed following the French Revolution in 1793. The present spire was built of cedar wood by the architect Lassus beginning in 1852. The sculpture decorating the spire was designed in 1853 by Geoffroy-Dechaume. The painter-designer Steinheil designed

6270-592: Is said to have come to Edessa , bearing the words of Jesus, by the virtues of which the king was miraculously healed. Eusebius said that he had transcribed and translated the actual letter in the Syriac chancery documents of the king of Edessa, but who makes no mention of an image. The report of an image, which accrued to the legendarium of Abgar, first appears in the Syriac work the Doctrine of Addai : according to it,

6435-519: Is why he constantly praised the classic architecture of 'the Ancients' in his writings. Even though he openly expressed his distaste for the Gothic style, Wren did not blame the Saracens for the apparent lack of ingenuity. Quite the opposite: he praised the Saracens for their 'superior' vaulting techniques and their widespread use of the pointed arch. Wren claimed the inventors of the Gothic had seen

6600-489: The Albert Memorial in London, and William Butterfield 's chapel at Keble College, Oxford . From the second half of the 19th century onwards, it became more common in Britain for neo-Gothic to be used in the design of non-ecclesiastical and non-governmental buildings types. Gothic details even began to appear in working-class housing schemes subsidised by philanthropy, though given the expense, less frequently than in

6765-651: The Byzantine , of course belong more to the Gothic period than the light and elegant structures of the pointed order which succeeded them. The Gothic style of architecture was strongly influenced by the Romanesque architecture which preceded it; by the growing population and wealth of European cities, and by the desire to express local grandeur. It was influenced by theological doctrines which called for more light and by technical improvements in vaults and buttresses that allowed much greater height and larger windows. It

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6930-592: The Chateau of Gaillon near Rouen (1502–1510) with the assistance of Italian craftsmen. The Château de Blois (1515–1524) introduced the Renaissance loggia and open stairway. King Francois I installed Leonardo da Vinci at his Chateau of Chambord in 1516, and introduced a Renaissance long gallery at the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1528–1540. In 1546 Francois I began building the first example of French classicism,

7095-652: The Conciergerie , Sainte-Chapelle is one of the earliest surviving buildings of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité. Although damaged during the French Revolution and restored in the 19th century, it has one of the most extensive 13th-century stained glass collections anywhere in the world. The chapel is now operated as a museum by the French Centre of National Monuments, along with

7260-458: The French Revolution . The Portuguese Jesuit Jerónimo Lobo , who visited Rome in 1637, mentions the sacred portrait sent to King Abgar as being in this city: "I saw the famous relics that are preserved in that city as in a sanctuary, a large part of the holy cross, pieces of the crown and several thorns, the sponge, the lance, Saint Thomas's finger, one of the thirty coins for which the Saviour

7425-745: The Notre-Dame de Paris fire on 15 April 2019 and has since been kept in the Louvre Museum . An organ is attested from the beginning; it was replaced in 1493, 1550 and 1762. it was not until July 1791 when the organ was transferred from the Sainte-Chapelle to Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois due to the French Revolution. The organ was built by François-Henri Clicquot, in a case designed by Pierre-Noël Rousset in 1752. However, its Neoclassical style seems to some writers to be too modern for that date. Gothic architecture Gothic architecture

7590-575: The Pantheon, Rome , was one of the first Renaissance landmarks, but it also employed Gothic technology; the outer skin of the dome was supported by a framework of twenty-four ribs. In the 16th century, as Renaissance architecture from Italy began to appear in France and other countries in Europe. The Gothic style began to be described as outdated, ugly and even barbaric. The term "Gothic" was first used as

7755-751: The Vatican Library , contains an 8th-century account saying that an imprint of Christ's whole body was left on a canvas kept in a church in Edessa: it quotes a man called Smera in Constantinople: "King Abgar received a cloth on which one can see not only a face but the whole body" ( Latin : [non tantum] faciei figuram sed totius corporis figuram cernere poteris ). This image is kept in the Church of St Bartholomew of The Armenians in Genoa, Italy . In

7920-600: The defence of Edessa against the Persians in 544. The image was moved to Constantinople in the 10th century. The cloth disappeared when Constantinople was sacked in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade , and is believed by some to have reappeared as a relic in King Louis IX of France 's Sainte-Chapelle in Paris . This relic disappeared in the French Revolution . The provenance of the Edessa letter between

8085-693: The rib vault , had appeared in England, Sicily and Normandy in the 11th century. Rib-vaults were employed in some parts of the cathedral at Durham (1093–) and in Lessay Abbey in Normandy (1098). However, the first buildings to be considered fully Gothic are the royal funerary abbey of the French kings, the Abbey of Saint-Denis (1135–1144), and the archiepiscopal cathedral at Sens (1135–1164). They were

8250-424: The 1250s, Louis IX commissioned the rebuilt transepts and enormous rose windows of Notre-Dame de Paris (1250s for the north transept, 1258 for the beginning of south transept). This first 'international style' was also used in the clerestory of Metz Cathedral ( c . 1245–), then in the choir of Cologne 's cathedral ( c . 1250–), and again in the nave of the cathedral at Strasbourg ( c . 1250–). Masons elaborated

8415-539: The 13th century; by 1300, a first "international style" of Gothic had developed, with common design features and formal language. A second "international style" emerged by 1400, alongside innovations in England and central Europe that produced both the perpendicular and flamboyant varieties. Typically, these typologies are identified as: Norman architecture on either side of the English Channel developed in parallel towards Early Gothic . Gothic features, such as

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8580-511: The 14th century it was donated to the doge of Genoa Leonardo Montaldo by the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaeologus . It has been the subject of a detailed 1969 study by Colette Dufour Bozzo, who dated the outer frame to the late 14th century, giving a terminus ante quem for the inner frame and the image itself. Bozzo found that the image was imprinted on a cloth that had been pasted onto a wooden board. The similarity of

8745-557: The 16th century. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th century England , spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for churches and university buildings, into the 20th century. Medieval contemporaries described the style as Latin : opus Francigenum , lit.   'French work' or ' Frankish work', as opus modernum , 'modern work', novum opus , 'new work', or as Italian : maniera tedesca , lit.   'German style'. The term "Gothic architecture" originated as

8910-480: The 17th and 18th centuries, especially in provincial and ecclesiastical contexts, notably at Oxford . Beginning in the mid-15th century, the Gothic style gradually lost its dominance in Europe. It had never been popular in Italy, and in the mid-15th century the Italians, drawing upon ancient Roman ruins, returned to classical models. The dome of Florence Cathedral (1420–1436) by Filippo Brunelleschi , inspired by

9075-509: The 17th and 18th century several important Gothic buildings were constructed at Oxford University and Cambridge University , including Tom Tower (1681–82) at Christ Church, Oxford , by Christopher Wren . It also appeared, in a whimsical fashion, in Horace Walpole 's Twickenham villa , Strawberry Hill (1749–1776). The two western towers of Westminster Abbey were constructed between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor , opening

9240-431: The 17th century, Molière also mocked the Gothic style in the 1669 poem La Gloire : "...the insipid taste of Gothic ornamentation, these odious monstrosities of an ignorant age, produced by the torrents of barbarism..." The dominant styles in Europe became in turn Italian Renaissance architecture , Baroque architecture , and the grand classicism of the style Louis XIV . The Kings of France had first-hand knowledge of

9405-488: The 1st century and its location in his own time are not reported by Eusebius. The materials, according to the scholar Robert Eisenman , "are very widespread in the Syriac sources with so many multiple developments and divergences that it is hard to believe they could all be based on Eusebius' poor efforts" (Eisenman 1997:862). The Eastern Orthodox Church observes a feast for this icon on August 16, which commemorates its translation from Edessa to Constantinople. The story of

9570-404: The 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Louis . The royal chapel is a prime example of the phase of Gothic architectural style called " Rayonnant ", marked by its sense of weightlessness and strong vertical emphasis. It stands squarely upon a lower chapel, which served as parish church for all the inhabitants of the palace , which was the seat of government. The contemporary visitor entering

9735-600: The Abbey of Saint-Denis , near Paris, the choir was reconstructed between 1140 and 1144, drawing together for the first time the developing Gothic architectural features. In doing so, a new architectural style emerged that emphasized verticality and the effect created by the transmission of light through stained glass windows. Common examples are found in Christian ecclesiastical architecture , and Gothic cathedrals and churches , as well as abbeys , and parish churches . It

9900-640: The Air and Weather; the Coping, which cannot defend them, first failing, and if they give Way, the Vault must spread. Pinnacles are no Use, and as little Ornament. The chaos of the Gothic left much to be desired in Wren's eyes. His aversion of the style was so strong that he refused to put a Gothic roof on the new St. Paul's, despite being pressured to do so. Wren much preferred symmetry and straight lines in architecture, which

10065-578: The Crusaders sacked the city in 1204 and carried off many of its treasures to Western Europe, though the "Image of Edessa" is not mentioned in this context in any contemporary document. Similarly, it has been claimed that the Shroud of Turin disappeared from Constantinople in 1204, when Crusaders looted the city. The leaders of the Crusader army in this instance were French and Italian (from Venice), and it

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10230-405: The Ezekiel window, made the Ezekiel and Daniel windows, as well as the window of the Kings. That work is characterized by elongated forms, and more elaborate and angular draperies. The third artist or workshop is called the Master of Judith and Esther, for the distinct style of those windows, as well as the window of Job. They are distinguished by more subtle details in the faces, and a resemblance to

10395-432: The Gothic style in a letter to the bishop of Rochester: Nothing was thought magnificent that was not high beyond Measure, with the Flutter of Arch-buttresses, so we call the sloping Arches that poise the higher Vaultings of the Nave. The Romans always concealed their Butments, whereas the Normans thought them ornamental. These I have observed are the first Things that occasion the Ruin of Cathedrals, being so much exposed to

10560-480: The Greeks. Wren was the first to popularize the belief that it was not the Europeans, but the Saracens that had created the Gothic style. The term 'Saracen' was still in use in the 18th century and it typically referred to all Muslims, including the Arabs and Berbers. Wren mentions Europe's architectural debt to the Saracens no fewer than twelve times in his writings. He also decidedly broke with tradition in his assumption that Gothic architecture did not merely represent

10725-433: The King departed on the Seventh Crusade , in which he was captured and later ransomed and released. In 1704, the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier was buried in the chapel's small cemetery, but this cemetery no longer exists. The Parisian scholastic Jean de Jandun praised the building as one of Paris' most beautiful structures in his "Tractatus de laudibus Parisius" (1323), citing: that most beautiful of chapels,

10890-403: The Mandylion from the 6th to the 13th centuries was in fact the Shroud of Turin, folded in four, and enclosed in an oblong frame so that only the face was visible. Wilson cites documents in the Vatican Library and the University of Leiden , Netherlands, which seem to suggest the presence of another image at Edessa. A 10th-century codex, Codex Vossianus Latinus Q 69, found by Gino Zaninotto in

11055-504: The Mandylion is likely the product of centuries of development. The first version is found in Eusebius ' History of the Church (1.13.5–1.13.22). Eusebius claimed that he had transcribed and translated the actual letter in the Syriac chancery documents of the king of Edessa. This records a letter written by King Abgar of Edessa to Jesus, asking him to come cure him of an illness. Jesus replies by letter, saying that when he had completed his earthly mission and ascended to heaven, he would send

11220-440: The Moors could have favoured the emergence of the Gothic style long before the Crusades took place. This could have happened gradually through merchants, travelers and pilgrims. According to a 19th-century correspondent in the London journal Notes and Queries , Gothic was a derisive misnomer; the pointed arcs and architecture of the later Middle Ages was quite different from the rounded arches prevalent in late antiquity and

11385-437: The Saracen architecture during the Crusades , also called the Religious war or Holy War, organised by the Kingdom of France in the year 1095: The Holy War gave the Christians, who had been there, an Idea of the Saracen Works, which were afterwards by them imitated in the West; and they refined upon it every day, as they proceeded in building Churches. There are several chronological issues that arise with this statement, which

11550-450: The ambulatory and side-chapels around the choir at Saint-Denis, and by the paired towers and triple doors on the western façade. Sens was quickly followed by Senlis Cathedral (begun 1160), and Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1160). Their builders abandoned the traditional plans and introduced the new Gothic elements from Saint-Denis. The builders of Notre-Dame went further by introducing the flying buttress, heavy columns of support outside

11715-408: The apsidal chapels of Amiens Cathedral , which it resembles in its general form, and the Bishop's Chapel (c. 1180s) of Noyon Cathedral , from which it borrowed the two-story design. a major influence on its overall design may have come from contemporary metalwork, particularly the precious shrines and reliquaries made by Mosan goldsmiths. Though the buttresses are substantial, they are too close to

11880-523: The brothers William and Robert Vertue 's Henry VII Chapel ( c.  1503 –1512) at Westminster Abbey . Perpendicular is sometimes called Third Pointed and was employed over three centuries; the fan-vaulted staircase at Christ Church, Oxford built around 1640. Lacey patterns of tracery continued to characterize continental Gothic building, with very elaborate and articulated vaulting, as at Saint Barbara's, Kutná Hora (1512). In certain areas, Gothic architecture continued to be employed until

12045-699: The capital of the medieval kingdom of Armenia concluded to have discovered the oldest Gothic arch. According to these historians, the architecture of the Saint Hripsime Church near the Armenian religious seat Etchmiadzin was built in the fourth century A.D. and was repaired in 618. The cathedral of Ani was built in 980–1012 A.D. However many of the elements of Islamic and Armenian architecture that have been cited as influences on Gothic architecture also appeared in Late Roman and Byzantine architecture,

12210-428: The cathedral at Metz ( c .1235–). In High Gothic, the whole surface of the clerestory was given over to windows. At Chartres Cathedral, plate tracery was used for the rose window, but at Reims the bar-tracery was free-standing. Lancet windows were supplanted by multiple lights separated by geometrical bar-tracery. Tracery of this kind distinguishes Middle Pointed style from the simpler First Pointed . Inside,

12375-507: The cathedrals at Lichfield (after 1257–) and Exeter (1275–), Bath Abbey (1298–), and the retro choir at Wells Cathedral ( c .1320–). The Rayonnant developed its second 'international style' with increasingly autonomous and sharp-edged tracery mouldings apparent in the cathedral at Clermont-Ferrand (1248–), the papal collegiate church at Troyes , Saint-Urbain (1262–), and the west façade of Strasbourg Cathedral (1276–1439)). By 1300, there were examples influenced by Strasbourg in

12540-517: The cathedrals of Limoges (1273–), Regensburg ( c . 1275–), and in the cathedral nave at York (1292–). Central Europe began to lead the emergence of a new, international flamboyant style with the construction of a new cathedral at Prague (1344–) under the direction of Peter Parler . This model of rich and variegated tracery and intricate reticulated rib-vaulting was definitive in the Late Gothic of continental Europe, emulated not only by

12705-469: The ceiling vaults are unusual; the outward thrust of the vaults is counterbalanced by small, elegant arched buttresses between the outer and inner columns, and they are also reinforced by a metallic structure hidden under the paint and plaster. The one-hundred forty capitals of the columns are an important decorative feature; they are from the mid-13th century, and predate the columns of the upper chapel. They have floral decoration of acanthus leaves typical of

12870-635: The central monarch of western Christendom, the Sainte-Chapelle fitting into a long tradition of prestigious palace chapels. Just as the Emperor could pass privately from his palace into the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople , so now Louis could pass directly from his palace into the Sainte-Chapelle. More importantly, the two-story palace chapel had obvious similarities to Charlemagne 's palatine chapel at Aachen (built 782–805)—a parallel that Louis

13035-488: The centuries that followed. A new two-story building, the Treasury of Chartres, was attached to the chapel on the north side shortly after it was completed. It remained until 1783, when it was demolished to build the new Palace of Justice. Another building, which served as a vestiary and sacristy, as well as residence for the guardian of the treasury, was placed on the north side. In the 15th century, Louis X of France built

13200-456: The chapel of the king, most decently situated within the walls of the king's house, enjoys a complete and indissoluble structure of the most solid stone. The most excellent colors of the pictures, the precious gilding of the images, the beautiful transparence of the ruddy windows on all sides, the most beautiful cloths of the altars, the wondrous merits of the sanctuary, the figures of the reliquaries externally adorned with dazzling gems, bestow such

13365-546: The classical columns he had seen in Rome. In addition, he installed a circular rose window over the portal on the façade. These also became a common feature of Gothic cathedrals. Some elements of Gothic style appeared very early in England. Durham Cathedral was the first cathedral to employ a rib vault, built between 1093 and 1104. The first cathedral built entirely in the new style was Sens Cathedral , begun between 1135 and 1140 and consecrated in 1160. Sens Cathedral features

13530-552: The cloisters and chapter-house ( c.  1332 ) of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London by William de Ramsey . The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral ( c.  1337 –1357) and its latter 14th century cloisters are early examples. Four-centred arches were often used, and lierne vaults seen in early buildings were developed into fan vaults, first at the latter 14th century chapter-house of Hereford Cathedral (demolished 1769) and cloisters at Gloucester, and then at Reginald Ely 's King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1461) and

13695-583: The collection of the National Museum of the Middle Ages in the Musée de Cluny . The goal of the two principal architects of the 19th century restoration, Durban and Lassus, was to recreate the interior, as much as possible, as it appeared in the 13th century. They collected traces of the original polychrome paint from the columns, and in 1842 presented a comprehensive plan for interior decoration. In

13860-637: The collegiate churches and cathedrals, but by urban parish churches which rivalled them in size and magnificence. The minster at Ulm and other parish churches like the Heilig-Kreuz-Münster at Schwäbisch Gmünd ( c .1320–), St Barbara's Church at Kutná Hora (1389–), and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche (1407–) and St Martin's Church ( c .1385–) in Landshut are typical. Use of ogees was especially common. The flamboyant style

14025-719: The competition. Work began that same year, but in 1178 William was badly injured by falling from the scaffolding, and returned to France, where he died. His work was continued by William the Englishman who replaced his French namesake in 1178. The resulting structure of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral is considered the first work of Early English Gothic . The cathedral churches of Worcester (1175–), Wells ( c .1180–), Lincoln (1192–), and Salisbury (1220–) are all, with Canterbury, major examples. Tiercerons – decorative vaulting ribs – seem first to have been used in vaulting at Lincoln Cathedral, installed c .1200. Instead of

14190-602: The courtyard of the Royal Palace would have been met by the sight of a grand ceremonial staircase (the Grands Degres ) to their right and the north flank and eastern apse of the Sainte-Chapelle to their left. The chapel exterior shows many of the typical characteristics of Rayonnant architecture—deep buttresses surmounted by pinnacles, crocketted gables around the roof-line and vast windows subdivided by bar tracery . The internal division into upper and lower chapels

14355-527: The coverage of stained glass windows such that the walls are effectively entirely glazed; examples are the nave of Saint-Denis (1231–) and the royal chapel of Louis IX of France on the Île de la Cité in the Seine – the Sainte-Chapelle ( c .1241–1248). The high and thin walls of French Rayonnant Gothic allowed by the flying buttresses enabled increasingly ambitious expanses of glass and decorated tracery, reinforced with ironwork. Shortly after Saint-Denis, in

14520-458: The crown for 135,000 livres , which went primarily to Venetian bankers, to whom he had mortgaged the crown to pay for the defence of the city. By purchasing the crown, Louis gained the prestige of funding the conquest of Constantinople, as well as displaying his personal devotion. The crown arrived in August 1239 and was placed in the earlier royal chapel of St. Nicholas, near the palace. Two years later, he made an additional purchase from Baudouin of

14685-481: The decoration of the chapel, was created by Geoffroy-Duchaume between 1854 and 1858. The primary decorative themes of the sculpture, columns and murals are the Fleur-de-Lys emblem of Louis IX and a stylised castle, the coat of arms of Blanche of Castile , the mother of Louis IX. The lower chapel is only 6.6 meters (22 ft) high, with a six-meter wide central vessel and two narrow side aisles. The supports of

14850-411: The design of upper and middle-class housing. Image of Edessa In the tradition recorded in the early 4th century by Eusebius of Caesarea , King Abgar of Edessa wrote to Jesus, asking him to come cure him of an illness. Abgar received a reply letter from Jesus, declining the invitation, but promising a future visit by one of his disciples. One of the seventy disciples , Thaddeus of Edessa ,

15015-514: The early stained glass that was removed from Saint-Chapelle is now found in the other museums, including the National Museum of the Middle Ages, or Musee de Cluny , in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Most of the sculpture of the portals was destroyed during the French Revolution, but between 1855 and 1870 the sculptor Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume was able to recreate it, using 18th century descriptions and engravings. One of

15180-549: The east end of the church, which typically had a half-dome. The lantern tower was another common feature in Norman Gothic. One example of early Norman Gothic is Bayeux Cathedral (1060–1070) where the Romanesque cathedral nave and choir were rebuilt into the Gothic style. Lisieux Cathedral was begun in 1170. Rouen Cathedral (begun 1185) was rebuilt from Romanesque to Gothic with distinct Norman features, including

15345-443: The environs. The next stage of development appears in the Doctrine of Addai [Thaddeus], c. 400, which introduces a court painter among a delegation sent by Abgar to Jesus, who paints a portrait of Jesus to take back to his master: When Hannan, the keeper of the archives, saw that Jesus spoke thus to him, by virtue of being the king's painter, he took and painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints, and brought with him to Abgar

15510-534: The façades of Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (1370s) and choir Mont-Saint-Michel 's abbey church (1448). In England, ornamental rib-vaulting and tracery of Decorated Gothic co-existed with, and then gave way to, the perpendicular style from the 1320s, with straightened, orthogonal tracery topped with fan-vaulting . Perpendicular Gothic was unknown in continental Europe and unlike earlier styles had no equivalent in Scotland or Ireland. It first appeared in

15675-699: The figures in illuminated manuscripts. Despite some damage the windows display a clear iconographical programme. The three windows of the eastern apse illustrate the New Testament, featuring scenes of The Passion (centre) with the Infancy of Christ (left) and the Life of John the Evangelist (right). By contrast, the windows of the nave are dominated by Old Testament exemplars of ideal kingship/queenship in an obvious nod to their royal patrons. The cycle starts at

15840-526: The first buildings to systematically combine rib vaulting, buttresses, and pointed arches. Most of the characteristics of later Early English were already present in the lower chevet of Saint-Denis. The Duchy of Normandy , part of the Angevin Empire until the 13th century, developed its own version of Gothic. One of these was the Norman chevet , a small apse or chapel attached to the choir at

16005-503: The front and back side of the façade. The new High Gothic churches competed to be the tallest, with increasingly ambitious structures lifting the vault yet higher. Chartres Cathedral's height of 38 m (125 ft) was exceeded by Beauvais Cathedral's 48 m (157 ft), but on account of the latter's collapse in 1248, no further attempt was made to build higher. Attention turned from achieving greater height to creating more awe-inspiring decoration. Rayonnant Gothic maximized

16170-623: The image with the Veil of Veronica suggests a link between the two traditions. This image was kept in Rome's church of San Silvestro in Capite , attached to a convent of Poor Clares , up to 1870, and is now kept in the Matilda chapel in the Vatican Palace . It is housed in a Baroque frame added by Sister Dionora Chiarucci, head of the convent, in 1623. The earliest evidence of its existence

16335-467: The individual objects had its own case of precious metal with jewels. This was originally placed above the altar, but between 1264 and 1267, it was placed atop a high tribune in the apse of the church, where everyone could see it. In 1306, a new sacred relic was added: a portion of the skull of Louis himself, since he had been declared a saint. During the French Revolution, the Chasse and the vessels holding

16500-402: The king, his master. And when Abgar the king saw the likeness, he received it with great joy, and placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses. The later legend of the image recounts that because the successors of Abgar reverted to paganism, the bishop placed the miraculous image inside a wall, and setting a burning lamp before the image, he sealed them up behind a tile; that the image

16665-628: The late appearance of this legend, has increased the scepticism of scholars. A cloth believed to exist today in the Vatican is supposed to have been brought back to Italy at the time of the Crusades . The Veil of Veronica ( Latin : Sudarium , 'sweat-cloth'), often called simply "The Veronica" and known in Italian as the Volto Santo or Holy Face (but not to be confused with the carved crucifix

16830-567: The left and those damned on the right. Sculpted Biblical scenes from the Old Testament fill the panels on lower walls, including the Creation and Noah's ark. They were made by Geoffroy-Dechaume in 1869–70. While most of the sculpture on the exterior dates to the 19th century, the apse of the upper chapel contains a number of original 12th century statues, which, unlike the exterior statues, were polychrome. Traces of color were found during

16995-592: The life of the Virgin Mary, surrounded by grisaille glass, while the apse has more elaborate and colourful scenes from the Virgin's life. All the windows were designed by Steinheil during the 19th century restoration. The lower chapel originally had a doorway to the sacristy on the left lateral traverse. Since it could not have a window, it was decorated in the 13th century with a mural of the Annunciation . This

17160-464: The major works he recreated was the tympanum over the portal of the upper chapel, with a figure of Christ giving a blessing, with the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist alongside him. Two angels are behind him, holding the crown of thorns and the cross, the most famous relics of the chapel. On the lintel below, the sculpture depicts Saint Michael weighing the souls of the dead, with those sent to heaven on

17325-406: The messenger, here called Ananias, was also a painter, and he painted the portrait, which was brought back to Edessa and conserved in the royal palace. The first record of the existence of a physical image in the ancient city of Edessa (now Urfa ) was by Evagrius Scholasticus , writing about 593, who reports a portrait of Christ of divine origin (θεότευκτος), which effected the miraculous aid in

17490-413: The most holy God the praises are sung in these tabernacles, when the hearts of those singers are by the pleasing pictures of the tabernacle analogically beautified with the virtues! O how acceptable to the most glorious God appear the offerings on these altars, when the life of those sacrificing shines in correspondence with the gilded light of the altars! The chapel underwent considerable modification in

17655-544: The most noticeable example being the pointed arch and flying buttress. The most notable example is the capitals, which are forerunners of the Gothic style and deviated from the Classical standards of ancient Greece and Rome with serpentine lines and naturalistic forms. Architecture "became a leading form of artistic expression during the late Middle Ages". Gothic architecture began in the earlier 12th century in northwest France and England and spread throughout Latin Europe in

17820-407: The nave and apse of the upper chapel, which date from the mid-13th century, as well as the later rose window (put in place in the 15th century). The stone wall surface is reduced to little more than a delicate framework. The thousands of small pieces of glass turn the walls into great screens of coloured light, largely deep blues and reds, which gradually change in intensity from hour to hour. Most of

17985-447: The nave was divided into by regular bays, each covered by a quadripartite rib vaults. Other characteristics of the High Gothic were the development of rose windows of greater size, using bar-tracery, higher and longer flying buttresses, which could reach up to the highest windows, and walls of sculpture illustrating biblical stories filling the façade and the fronts of the transept. Reims Cathedral had two thousand three hundred statues on

18150-659: The nearby Conciergerie , the other remaining vestige of the original palace. Sainte-Chapelle was inspired by the earlier Carolingian royal chapels, notably the Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne at his palace in Aix-la-Chapelle (now Aachen). It was built in about 800 and served as the oratory of the Emperor. In 1238 Louis IX had already built one royal chapel, attached to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye . This earlier chapel had only one level; its plan, on

18315-476: The new Gothic cathedrals in France. In addition to serving as a place of worship, the Sainte-Chapelle played an important role in the political and cultural ambitions of King Louis and his successors. With the imperial throne at Constantinople occupied by a mere Count of Flanders and with the Holy Roman Empire in uneasy disarray, Louis' artistic and architectural patronage helped to position him as

18480-442: The new Gothic style. Sens Cathedral was influential in its strongly vertical appearance and in its three-part elevation, typical of subsequent Gothic buildings, with a clerestory at the top supported by a triforium , all carried on high arcades of pointed arches. In the following decades flying buttresses began to be used, allowing the construction of lighter, higher walls. French Gothic churches were heavily influenced both by

18645-412: The new Italian style, because of the military campaign of Charles VIII to Naples and Milan (1494), and especially the campaigns of Louis XII and Francis I (1500–1505) to restore French control over Milan and Genoa. They brought back Italian paintings, sculpture and building plans, and, more importantly, Italian craftsmen and artists. The Cardinal Georges d'Amboise , chief minister of Louis XII, built

18810-588: The new palace begun by Emperor Charles V in Granada, within the Alhambra (1485–1550), inspired by Bramante and Raphael, but it was never completed. The first major Renaissance work in Spain was El Escorial , the monastery-palace built by Philip II of Spain . Under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I , England was largely isolated from architectural developments on the continent. The first classical building in England

18975-490: The new style were Burghley House (1550s–1580s) and Longleat , built by associates of Somerset. With those buildings, a new age of architecture began in England. Gothic architecture, usually churches or university buildings, continued to be built. Ireland was an island of Gothic architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the construction of Derry Cathedral (completed 1633), Sligo Cathedral ( c.  1730 ), and Down Cathedral (1790–1818) are other examples. In

19140-425: The old Romanesque church with the rib vault in order to remove walls and to make more space for windows. He described the new ambulatory as "a circular ring of chapels, by virtue of which the whole church would shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty." To support the vaults he also introduced columns with capitals of carved vegetal designs, modelled upon

19305-501: The old mediaeval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with every thing that was barbarous and rude, it may be sufficient to refer to the celebrated Treatise of Sir Henry Wotton , entitled The Elements of Architecture , ... printed in London so early as 1624. ... But it was a strange misapplication of the term to use it for the pointed style, in contradistinction to the circular, formerly called Saxon, now Norman, Romanesque, &c. These latter styles, like Lombardic , Italian, and

19470-424: The original colours were much brighter than those favoured by the 19th-century restorers and would have been closer to the colours of the stained glass. The quatrefoils of the dado arcade were painted with scenes of saints and martyrs and inset with painted and gilded glass, emulating Limoges enamels, while rich textiles hangings added to the richness of the interior. The most striking aspect and original feature of

19635-479: The original panels are found today in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. The stained glass was removed and placed into safe storage during World War II. In 1945 a layer of external varnish had been applied to protect the glass from the dust and scratches of wartime bombing. This had gradually darkened, making the already fading images even harder to see. In 2008, a more comprehensive seven-year programme of restoration began, costing some €10 million to clean and preserve all

19800-455: The original traces of paint from before 1845. The principal relics for which the chapel was built were the crown of thorns, believed to have been worn by Christ during his Passion , and a small piece of the cross on which he was crucified. These were found Constantinople, which had been captured by the Crusaders in 1204, and was then ruled by Baudouin II of Cortenay. Baudouin agreed to sell

19965-459: The other at the top of the lancets; these are hidden behind the bars holding the stained glass. Additional metal supports are hidden under the eaves of the roof to brace the windows against the wind or other stress. Furthermore, the windows of the nave are slightly higher than the windows in the apse (15.5 meters, 51 ft compared with 13.7 meters, 45 ft), making the chapel appear longer than it actually is. There are two small alcoves set into

20130-530: The others, continued to use six-part rib vaults); and Beauvais Cathedral (1225–). In central Europe, the High Gothic style appeared in the Holy Roman Empire , first at Toul (1220–), whose Romanesque cathedral was rebuilt in the style of Reims Cathedral; then Trier 's Liebfrauenkirche parish church (1228–), and then throughout the Reich , beginning with the Elisabethkirche at Marburg (1235–) and

20295-634: The period of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy: There can be no doubt that the term 'Gothic' as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture was used at first contemptuously, and in derision, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the Grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. But, without citing many authorities, such as Christopher Wren , and others, who lent their aid in depreciating

20460-442: The period. Each of the gilded leaves corresponds with a slender colonette above, which rises upward to support the vaults. The columns are painted with alternating floral designs and the castle emblem of Castile. The red, gold and blue painting dates to the 19th century restoration. The original stained glass of the lower chapel was destroyed by a flood in 1690; it was replaced by colourless glass. The present glass depicts scenes from

20625-437: The plan is the nearly total absence of masonry walls in the upper chapel. The walls are replaced by pillars and buttresses, and the space between is almost entirely glass, filling the upper chapel with light. The lower chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was used by the non-royal inhabitants of the neighbouring Royal Palace. The portal of the chapel represents the Virgin Mary as a column statue. The portal, and almost all

20790-588: The prestige of Rome and its pope by claiming a similar acheiropoieta, the Veil of Veronica . In later Western European tradition the main likeness of the face of Jesus not made by human hand (i.e., an acheiropoieton ), became the Veil of Veronica, supposedly the cloth offered by Saint Veronica to Jesus so he could wipe his face on the way to his crucifixion. That the name "Veronica" may derive from "true image" (alternatively pherenike ("bearer of blessing" in Greek), and

20955-477: The reconstruction, laying wreaths at the Archangel's feet. Saint Chapelle, built to house a reliquary, was itself like a precious reliquary turned inside out (with the richest decoration on the inside). Although the interior is dominated by the stained glass (see below), every inch of the remaining wall surface and the vault was also richly coloured and decorated. Analysis of remaining paint fragments reveals that

21120-459: The relics were taken apart and melted down for their jewels and precious metals. The fragment of the cross was transferred first in 1793 to a collection of antiquities, then given to the Bishop of Paris. A new reliquary of gold and crystal was made for the crown of thorns. Since the Concordat of 1801 , it was displayed in the treasury of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris , but it was saved from

21285-614: The restoration in the 19th century, and the statues were restored to include those colors. The arches of the tribune in the apse at the east end, where the case of sacred relics was placed, is ornamented with the original polychrome angels from the 13th century. The upper chapel walls also displayed a group of sixteen statues of the Apostles, which date to about 1240. Some portray the apostles in simple classical costumes and bare feet, while others are polychrome and have much more elaborate clerical costumes. Some of these statues are now found in

21450-447: The roof, decorated with interlaced fleur-de-lys emblems placed by Charles V of France . On either side of the porch are towers which contain the narrow winding stairways to the upper chapel, and which also hide the buttresses. The spires of the towers are also decorated with royal fleur-des-lys beneath a sculpted crown of thorns. This decoration dates to the 15th century, and was restored in about 1850 by Geoffroy-Dechaume. The portal of

21615-484: The sculpture at the base of the spire, and his face appears as two of the apostles, Saint Thomas and Saint Bartholomew . Above the gables are statues representing angels carrying the instruments of The Passion . Above the chevet is a statue of the Archangel Michael slaying a dragon. Around the feet of the archangel are sculptures, also designed by Geoffroy-Dechaume, of eight persons, portrayed by workers of

21780-437: The second quarter of the 19th century, neo-Gothic began to become promoted by influential establishment figures as the preferred style for ecclesiastical, civic and institutional architecture. The appeal of this Gothic revival (which after 1837, in Britain, is sometimes termed Victorian Gothic ), gradually widened to encompass "low church" as well as "high church" clients. This period of more universal appeal, spanning 1855–1885,

21945-519: The siege, but does not mention the Image. Some fifty years later, Evagrius Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History (593) is the first to mention a role for the image in the relief of the siege, attributing it to a "God-made image", a miraculous imprint of the face of Jesus upon a cloth. Thus we can trace the development of the legend from a letter, but no image in Eusebius, to an image painted by

22110-480: The soubassements, the lower portions where no traces of original color were found, they used a neutral tone, to avoid conflicting with the colors of the stained glass windows. For their palette of colors on other decoration, they drew upon the illuminations of a 13th-century book of Psalm from the Royal Library. They systematically repainted the forty-four 13th-century quadrilobe medallions on the stone arches of

22275-478: The soubassements, which depicted the martyrdom of saints presented against a gilded background. In 1845 Steinheil continued by repainting all of the medallions of the nave, with the exception of those in the two royal alcoves, following the original compositions. In 1983 the Service of Historic Monuments cleaned four of the medallions which had not been restored, and un-restored two which had been repainted, to study

22440-711: The square courtyard of the Louvre Palace designed by Pierre Lescot . Nonetheless, new Gothic buildings, particularly churches, continued to be built. New Gothic churches built in Paris in this period included Saint-Merri (1520–1552) and Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois . The first signs of classicism in Paris churches did not appear until 1540, at Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais . The largest new church, Saint-Eustache (1532–1560), rivalled Notre-Dame in size, 105 m (344 ft) long, 44 m (144 ft) wide, and 35 m (115 ft) high. As construction of this church continued, elements of Renaissance decoration, including

22605-436: The stained glass was a parallel project, which lasted from 1846 until 1855, with the goal of returning the chapel to its original appearance. It was carried out by the glass craftsmen Antoine Lusson and Maréchal de Metz and the designer Louis Steinheil. About one third of the glass, added in later years, was removed and replaced with medieval glass from other sources, or with new glass made in the original Gothic style. Eighteen of

22770-412: The stained glass was broken or dispersed, but nearly two-thirds of the glass today is original; some of the original glass was relocated in other windows, The sacred relics were dispersed although some survive as the " relics of Sainte-Chapelle " in the treasury of Notre-Dame de Paris . Various reliquaries, including the grande châsse , were melted down for their precious metal. Between 1803 and 1837,

22935-498: The stained glass, clean the facade stonework and conserve and repair some of the sculptures. Half of the funding was provided by private donors, the other half coming from the Villum Foundation . Included in the restoration was an innovative thermoformed glass layer applied outside the stained-glass windows for added protection. The restoration of the flamboyant rose window on the west facade was completed in 2015 in time for

23100-477: The story of the Virgin Mary but also, in a small corner of each window, illustrating the crafts of the guilds who donated those windows. The model of Chartres was followed by a series of new cathedrals of unprecedented height and size. These were Reims Cathedral (begun 1211), where coronations of the kings of France took place; Amiens Cathedral (1220–1226); Bourges Cathedral (1195–1230) (which, unlike

23265-682: The system of classical orders of columns, were added to the design, making it a Gothic-Renaissance hybrid. In Germany, some Italian elements were introduced at the Fugger Chapel of St. Anne's Church, Augsburg , (1510–1512) combined with Gothic vaults; and others appeared in the Church of St. Michael in Munich, but in Germany Renaissance elements were used primarily for decoration. Some Renaissance elements also appeared in Spain, in

23430-410: The term Gothic was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance , by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity . The defining design element of Gothic architecture is the pointed arch . The use of the pointed arch in turn led to the development of the pointed rib vault and flying buttresses , combined with elaborate tracery and stained glass windows. At

23595-476: The towel or burial cloth ( منديل mendil ) of Jesus was thrown into a well in what is today the city's Great Mosque. The Christian tradition exemplified in Georgios Kedrenos ' Historiarum compendium is at variance with this, John Scylitzes recounting how in 944, when the city was besieged by John Kourkouas , it was exchanged for a group of Muslim prisoners. At that time the Image of Edessa

23760-476: The upper chapel is located on the balcony of the upper level. The original sculpture of the west portal was smashed during the Revolution. It was restored by Geoffroy-Dechaume between 1854 and 1873. The current spire, thirty-three meters (108 ft) high, is the fifth to be built at Sainte-Chapelle since the 13th century. The appearance of the first is unknown, but the second, built in 1383 under Charles V ,

23925-529: The upper chapel was turned into a depository for the archives of the Palace of Justice next door. The lower two meters (6 ft 7 in) of stained glass was removed to facilitate working light. Some of the glass was used to replace broken glass in other windows, and other panes were put on the market. Beginning in 1835, scholars, archeologists and writers demanded that the church be preserved and restored to its medieval state. In 1840, under King Louis-Philippe ,

24090-408: The vault to counter its side thrust. Metal elements such as iron rods or chains, able to support tension, were used to replace the flying buttresses of previous structures. The west front is composed of a porch two levels high, beneath a flamboyant Gothic rose window installed in the upper chapel in the 15th century. At the top is a pointed arch an oculus window, and a balustrade around the bottom of

24255-441: The walls connected by arches to the upper walls. The buttresses counterbalanced the outward thrust from the rib vaults. This allowed the builders to construct higher, thinner walls and larger windows. Following the destruction by fire of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, a group of master builders was invited to propose plans for the reconstruction. The master-builder William of Sens , who had worked on Sens Cathedral, won

24420-512: The walls on the third traverse of the chapel, with archivolts or arches richly decorated above with painting and sculpture of angels. These were the places where the King and Queen worshipped during religious services; the King on the north side, the Queen on the south. The most famous features of the chapel, among the finest of their type in the world, are the fifteen great stained-glass windows in

24585-493: The western bay of the north wall with scenes from the Book of Genesis (heavily restored). The next ten windows of the nave follow clockwise with scenes from Exodus, Joseph, Numbers/Leviticus, Joshua/Deuteronomy, Judges, (moving to the south wall) Jeremiah/Tobias, Judith/Job, Esther, David and the Book of Kings. The final window, occupying the westernmost bay of the south wall brings this narrative of sacral kingship right up to date with

24750-450: The windows were put into place between 1242 and 1248. The names of the glass artists are unknown, but the art historian Louis Grodecki identified what appear to be three different ateliers with different styles. The windows in the apse and most of the windows on the north wall of the nave are made by one workshop. These works are known for supple forms and costumes, with simplified features. The second workshop, named by Grodecki as Master of

24915-407: Was also influenced by the necessity of many churches, such as Chartres Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral , to accommodate growing numbers of pilgrims. It adapted features from earlier styles. According to Charles Texier (French historian, architect, and archaeologist) and Josef Strzygowski (Polish-Austrian art historian), after lengthy research and study of cathedrals in the medieval city of Ani ,

25080-578: Was assumed (as with so many buildings of medieval Paris) to be the work of the master mason Pierre de Montreuil , who worked on the remodelling of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis and completed the south transept façade of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris . Modern scholarship rejects this attribution in favour of Jean de Chelles or Thomas de Cormont, while Robert Branner saw in the design the hand of an unidentified master mason from Amiens . The Sainte-Chapelle's most obvious architectural precursors include

25245-448: Was characterised by the multiplication of the ribs of the vaults, with new purely decorative ribs, called tiercons and liernes, and additional diagonal ribs. One common ornament of flamboyant in France is the arc-en-accolade , an arch over a window topped by a pinnacle, which was itself topped with fleuron , and flanked by other pinnacles. Examples of French flamboyant building include the west façade of Rouen Cathedral , and especially

25410-525: Was completed in 1248, the relics were housed at chapels at the Château de Vincennes and a specially built chapel at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye . In 1246, fragments of the True Cross and the Holy Lance were added to Louis's collection, along with other relics. The chapel was consecrated on 26 April 1248 and Louis's relics were moved to their new home with great ceremony. Shortly afterward,

25575-399: Was keen to exploit in presenting himself as a worthy successor to the first Holy Roman Emperor. The presence of the fragment of the True Cross and crown of thorns gave enormous prestige to Louis IX. Pope Innocent IV proclaimed that it meant that Christ had symbolically crowned Louis with his own crown. Sainte-Chapelle, in the courtyard of the royal palace on the Île de la Cité (now part of

25740-457: Was later found again, after a vision, on the very night of the Persian invasion, and that not only had it miraculously reproduced itself on the tile , but the same lamp was still burning before it; further, that the bishop of Edessa used a fire into which oil flowing from the image was poured to destroy the Persians. The image itself is said to have resurfaced in 525, during a flood of the Daisan,

25905-532: Was more complete than the shorter letter which she had read in a translation at home, presumably one brought back to the Far West by an earlier pilgrim". Her escorted tour, accompanied by a translator, was thorough; the bishop is quoted: "Now let us go to the gate where the messenger Ananias came in with the letter of which I have been telling you." There was however, no mention of any image reported by Egeria, who spent three days inspecting every corner of Edessa and

26070-722: Was not owed to the Goths but to the Islamic Golden Age . He wrote: This we now call the Gothic manner of architecture (so the Italians called what was not after the Roman style) though the Goths were rather destroyers than builders; I think it should with more reason be called the Saracen style, for these people wanted neither arts nor learning: and after we in the west lost both, we borrowed again from them, out of their Arabic books, what they with great diligence had translated from

26235-407: Was rediscovered during the 19th century work, and restored by Steinheil. The upper chapel is reached by narrow stairways in the towers from lower level. The structure is simple; a rectangle 33 by 10.7 meters (108 by 35 ft), with four traverses and an apse at the east end with seven bays of windows. The most striking features are the walls, which appear to be almost entirely made of stained glass;

26400-402: Was removed, and the floor raised. The original ground floor glass was replaced by Gothic-style windows in the 19th century. Sainte-Chapelle, as both a symbol of religion and royalty, was a prime target for vandalism during the French Revolution . The chapel was turned into a storehouse for grain, and the sculpture and royal emblems on the exterior were smashed. The spire was pulled down. Some of

26565-624: Was sold, the sacred portrait, the one that Christ Our Lord sent to King Abagaro, the sacred staircase on which Christ went up and down from the Praetorium, the head of the holy Baptist, the Column, the Altar on which Saint Peter said mass, and countless other relics." Three images survive today which are associated with the Mandylion . Author Ian Wilson has argued that the object venerated as

26730-456: Was swiftly rebuilt in the new style, with contributions from King Philip II of France , Pope Celestine III , local gentry, merchants, craftsmen, and Richard the Lionheart , king of England. The builders simplified the elevation used at Notre Dame, eliminated the tribune galleries, and used flying buttresses to support the upper walls. The walls were filled with stained glass, mainly depicting

26895-647: Was taken to Constantinople where it was received amidst great celebration by emperor Romanos I Lekapenos , who deposited it in the Theotokos of the Pharos chapel in the Great Palace of Constantinople . Not inconsequentially, the earliest known Byzantine icon of the Mandylion or Holy Face, preserved at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt , is dated c. 945. The Mandylion remained under Imperial protection until

27060-455: Was the Old Somerset House in London (1547–1552) (since demolished), built by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , who was regent as Lord Protector for Edward VI until the young king came of age in 1547. Somerset's successor, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland , sent the architectural scholar John Shute to Italy to study the style. Shute published the first book in English on classical architecture in 1570. The first English houses in

27225-412: Was widespread and proved difficult to defeat. Vasari was echoed in the 16th century by François Rabelais , who referred to Goths and Ostrogoths ( Gotz and Ostrogotz ). The polymath architect Christopher Wren disapproved of the name Gothic for pointed architecture. He compared it to Islamic architecture , which he called the ' Saracen style', pointing out that the pointed arch's sophistication

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