After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe experienced a period of revival before it began to spread its artistic contributions around the world again. Medieval architecture is based on Roman designs, but in different areas of Europe modern building elements were created that made life safer and more pleasant for the inhabitants.
Today, many examples of European medieval architecture are
preserved in nations ranging from Italy to Greenland; they are generally
considered strictly spiritual or secular elements, according to their purpose.
As a result of the rise of Christianity and the settlement
of the Catholic Church, Europeans transformed Roman basilicas into massive
cathedrals. As the Romanesque style gave way to Gothic, cathedrals began to
employ a new design of weight distribution, with pointed arches and buttresses
supporting the interior walls of the cathedral.
The buttresses used in medieval architecture allowed
architects to make the walls of cathedrals thinner, and in this way they could
add colorful stained glass windows to the decoration, creating a romantic and
wonderful atmosphere in the interiors of their buildings.
One of the most renowned Italian architects of the Middle
Ages was Arnolfo di Cambio, responsible for the design of cathedrals, tombs and
sculptures throughout Tuscany and in Rome, including a sculpture of St. Peter
in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Contenido
- Characteristics of Medieval Architecture
- Examples of Medieval buildings
Characteristics of the different types of Medieval Architecture
The main characteristics of the different types of medieval
architecture are as follows:
Romanesque Architecture - 1066 to 1200 - Romanesque
architecture is characterized by semicircular arches, vaults and by the
supplanting of pillars by columns. Some Romanesque architects and builders
generally used semicircular arches and only occasionally slightly pointed
arches were used. Romanesque art was considered a barbaric art (like Gothic in
its time).
Gothic Architecture - 1200 to 1500 - It is sometimes said that Gothic art was born in Saint-Denis (in the Paris region). Gothic architecture is characterized by stained glass windows, gargoyles, floating buttresses, flying buttresses, flying buttresses, towers and pointed arches.
The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris did not initially have flying buttresses,
it is important to note that these were mostly not indispensable and their use was
generally an aesthetic rather than a technical choice.
During the Middle Ages there were many innovative changes in
the architecture of the Middle Ages, passing from the Romanesque to the Gothic
style. Romanesque architecture was the name given to the style of architecture
used in the early Middle Ages when many of these developments were driven by
the Normans and their prolific construction of castles.
Romanesque architecture was replaced by the Gothic, or
Perpendicular style of architecture of the late Middle Ages (1066 - 1485).
Some examples of Medieval Constructions
During the medieval period, Xàbia was a small enclosure delimited
by a 13th century wall, with corner towers, one of them in Cairat, which is
still preserved, and which seems to have been integrated into an earlier
construction.
This important demographic growth that Xàbia experienced
during the 15th century implied an urban development, since the primitive
walled enclosure was already insufficient to accommodate this increase in
population.
By the end of this century or the beginning of the 16th
century, the perimeter of the walls was modified to open up new roads, and a
new route was designed that ran along the main avenues surrounding the town,
with different accesses such as the Portal de San Vicent or de la Ferreria, the
Portal del Clot or de Sant Jaume and the Portal de la Mar.
Continuing with its medieval design, the city continued to
grow around the Church of San Bartolomé. The most emblematic and important
buildings of the bourgeoisie of the time were built around it, who chose the
area around the church to build their homes.
The local merchant bourgeoisie, dedicated to the export of
raisins, and the agricultural owners chose the area around the church to build
ostentatious buildings: Casa dels Bolufer, Casa de les Primícies, Casa Arnauda
(or Casa de la Senyoreta Josefina), Casa Abadía, Casa de Montalbán (Captain of
the fleet of pailebots of the Bolufer family), and the Casa de Tena, currently
CA Lambert.
The latter, built in 1857, which at the beginning of the
20th century housed the pharmacy of the same name, was recently restored for
cultural activities.
In 1805 the fourth gate of the wall, the Portal Nou, was
opened in what is now known as the Plaza de la Marina Alta, however, between
1869 and 1874 the walls were demolished definitively to undertake the expansion
of the town, considering the construction of the Eixample (urban expansion
area).
This involved the construction of wide avenues to facilitate
the movement of goods from the Plaza del Convento, through which the main
regional roads passed, to the port. These are the current Príncep d'Astúries avenues,
where the farmers continued the construction of their houses, enriched by the
raisins, and the Av. D' Alacant, where part of the mercantile bourgeoisie
settled.
To testify to the relevance of the raisin trade, in Xàbia we
find the "riurau", a rectangular structure of common and rough
masonry, with large arches or "ulls", with the purpose of housing the
grapes spread on reeds for drying. Among the largest is the Riurau de los
Català d'Arnauda, which was recently moved from its original location to Montaner
Park.
Although the architecture is still governed by certain basic
guidelines of geometry, the buildings are freed from the previous rational
rigor and thus ensure that their structures endure. In the words of Huyghe, a
Gothic building is understood as a living organism that grows towards the sun.
Finally, medieval Gothic architecture, using the empiricism
of engineering, is to invent innovative tectonic solutions for the creation of
spaces with great height and color. The 13th century way of representing the
Heavenly Jerusalem is to create a space full of light and color.
