It's a historical oddity, when factories, shipyards, skyscrapers and other utilitarian structures surpass them.
The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
31–40 of 114 posts
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#32Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth [1] deals with this subject, the building of a cathedral in the fictitious city of "Kingsbridge" in the middle ages. It is, of course, heavily romanticised and weaves the tale of the construction of the cathedral through with a number of family tales but it nevertheless is an interesting read. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#33It's interesting how much "ceremonial" buildings are important to architectural advancement. Pyramids, towers, temples, churches, cathedrals, palaces. It's a historical oddity, when factories, shipyards, skyscrapers and other utilitarian structures surpass them.
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#34Cathedrals are fascinating storehouses of religious and general historical knowledge. If you're ever in the vicinity of a British cathedral, taking a decent guided tour is well worth the time, as the building will likely have gone through around a thousand years of slow (or dramatic) change, intimately linked to the history of the local area. In Hereford, for instance, the font has a lockable cover to stop locals ste…
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#35Cathedrals are fascinating storehouses of religious and general historical knowledge. If you're ever in the vicinity of a British cathedral, taking a decent guided tour is well worth the time, as the building will likely have gone through around a thousand years of slow (or dramatic) change, intimately linked to the history of the local area. In Hereford, for instance, the font has a lockable cover to stop locals ste…
While you're there, read up about William Walker too. An amazing story.
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#36In order to understand how the architecture of middle ages and modern intertwined between Christian and Muslim worlds, please check this excellent video [1]. It's never ceased to amaze me by the fact that now most of the mosques now look more like Christian's Hagia Sophia and churches now looks more like Muslim Spanish Moors' Mezquita. Also it's often an oblivious fact that Norman also conquered Sicily (after Muslim'…
I've never seen any church that looks like that. The only Eastern architectural plan I can think of as having been exported West is the round style of the Dome of the Rock after it became a Templar headquarter.
>obviously they had learnt a lot from the Islamic architecture that they brought and implemented the concepts to Britain and other parts of Europe
There's nothing obvious about it. I see very little, if anything, in 11th c. Romance architecture (including Norman) that isn't just a spin on previous Carolingian types.
Islamic influence North of the Alps and Pyrenees seems restricted to decorative arts and fashion.
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#37In order to understand how the architecture of middle ages and modern intertwined between Christian and Muslim worlds, please check this excellent video [1]. It's never ceased to amaze me by the fact that now most of the mosques now look more like Christian's Hagia Sophia and churches now looks more like Muslim Spanish Moors' Mezquita. Also it's often an oblivious fact that Norman also conquered Sicily (after Muslim'…
Other than the gothic altar section built square in the middle of the building it is very much a mosque with a completely different floor plan from the typical cross-shaped churches common in Western Europe since Romanic times. Even the typical round arches were already outdated in the West at that point in time.
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Eastern Roman Empire fell in 1453 when the Seljuk Turks conquered Constantinople. The Ottoman Emperor's titles included Kaysar-i-Rum. I can't remember the dates but when the Greeks were conquering Crete their co-linguists described the conquerors as Hellenes while they were Romans. If you go by the criterion of (primary) self-identification there were Romans until the 1800s at least. By unbroken institutional con…
1922? What institutions were that of the Empire?
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Eastern Roman Empire fell in 1453 when the Seljuk Turks conquered Constantinople. The Ottoman Emperor's titles included Kaysar-i-Rum. I can't remember the dates but when the Greeks were conquering Crete their co-linguists described the conquerors as Hellenes while they were Romans. If you go by the criterion of (primary) self-identification there were Romans until the 1800s at least. By unbroken institutional con…
Sure, but if you take an even mildly expansive definition of 'Roman' then Romans just straight up built the Hagia Sophia and the crusaders of the 4th crusade are even less Roman so maybe we're mostly longwindedly agreeing?
Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals
#40In order to understand how the architecture of middle ages and modern intertwined between Christian and Muslim worlds, please check this excellent video [1]. It's never ceased to amaze me by the fact that now most of the mosques now look more like Christian's Hagia Sophia and churches now looks more like Muslim Spanish Moors' Mezquita. Also it's often an oblivious fact that Norman also conquered Sicily (after Muslim'…
Have you never seen a church before??