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The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

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Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#11

Post by erk__ »

Don't know if anything similar exist in the UK, but the Danish national museum have a website where you can read about every single church in Denmark. [0] It is mostly scans for books released through the years, but they give a lot of nice information like what old things the church process and what kind of church it is. An example could be this 220 page pdf about the Holmen church. [1]

They also have a interesting webpage about chalk paintings in Danish church a lot of images from all over [2]

[0]: http://danmarkskirker.natmus.dk/

[1]: http://danmarkskirker.natmus.dk/koebenhavn-by/holmens-kirke/

[2]: https://natmus.dk/salg-og-ydelser/museumsfaglige-ydelser/kir...

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#12

Post by hef19898 »

One thing that always amazes me was how these cathedrals were build. The techniques were amazing, even more so for the time. And then there is the way those specialized workers and architects were treated and paid. Some of that resembled modern workers rights, e.g. free weekends, limited working hours, safety. I guess it always helps to be part of very skilled, very limited group of workers that is very high demand.

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#13

Post by ycombinete »

bencollier49 wrote: post #9
KingOfCoders wrote: post #5

I've studied in a city with the tallest (christian) church tower (Ulm [0]). I regularily went up the tower, there was a place where you could sit and read and contemplate. I loved it. And because there were a lot of steps, not too many people went there. The most impressive inside of a church to me was Sagrada Família which looks like being in a forrest (or in some Elven structure from Tolkien). [0] https://en.wikipe…

I thought the Sagrada Familia looked better when it was unfinished. Now it's painted, it looks like something halfway between a particularly elaborate Christmas cake and a Terry Pratchett cover from the 1990s.

It looks like it’s been carved out of bone

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#14

Post by srcreigh »

pvg wrote: post #10
srcreigh wrote: post #2

The cathedral with the highest nave (ie height of ceiling in the main worship area) is the Hagia Sophia. Its nave is ~7.5m/25ft higher than any other cathedral. Although it still stands, it is technically not a church anymore. The Romans took it for a while and then the Turks. It had been a museum and last year became a mosque again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

The Romans took it for a while Do you mean the conquest of the 4th crusade? Those people weren't romans, arguably nobody was by the 13th century - perhaps if anyone, the locals had a better claim to it than the conquerors.

There was a thing called the Holy Roman Empire. [0] An Orthodox seminary professor remarked that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire - so you may be onto something. Although I took a history of Christianity course in uni, it was taught by a RC priest, and there were no lessons about the crusades. You did get me curious though, maybe I'll get a book about that whole situation at the time.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#15

Post by yesenadam »

srcreigh wrote: post #14
pvg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Romans took it for a while Do you mean the conquest of the 4th crusade? Those people weren't romans, arguably nobody was by the 13th century - perhaps if anyone, the locals had a better claim to it than the conquerors.

There was a thing called the Holy Roman Empire. [0] An Orthodox seminary professor remarked that it was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire - so you may be onto something. Although I took a history of Christianity course in uni, it was taught by a RC priest, and there were no lessons about the crusades. You did get me curious though, maybe I'll get a book about that whole situation at the time. [0]: https://en.wik…

from that page:

> In a famous assessment of the name, the political philosopher Voltaire remarked sardonically: "This body which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#16

Post by Tomte »

hef19898 wrote: post #12

One thing that always amazes me was how these cathedrals were build. The techniques were amazing, even more so for the time. And then there is the way those specialized workers and architects were treated and paid. Some of that resembled modern workers rights, e.g. free weekends, limited working hours, safety. I guess it always helps to be part of very skilled, very limited group of workers that is very high demand.

I heartily recommend all Macauley books, but in this context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_(children%27s_book)

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#17

Post by [deleted] »

teleforce wrote: post #7

In 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'…

[deleted]

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#18

Post by tannhaeuser »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #5

I've studied in a city with the tallest (christian) church tower (Ulm [0]). I regularily went up the tower, there was a place where you could sit and read and contemplate. I loved it. And because there were a lot of steps, not too many people went there. The most impressive inside of a church to me was Sagrada Família which looks like being in a forrest (or in some Elven structure from Tolkien). [0] https://en.wikipe…

When was that? I distinctly remember the Ulm cathedral tower stairs in late 1970s to have a dangerous spot with missing railings on either side of narrow and worn brick stairs running along a pane-less window, truly for believers only, and outright unthinkable by today's standards for public trespassing areas. Going all the way to the top of eg Freiburg Münschter also has a thrill to it for those scared of height.

Re: The biggest churches in the world: Anglo-Norman eleventh-century cathedrals

#20

Post by hagbard_c »

Ken 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

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