What I found most interesting about the Crusades was the amazing art and architecture that came out of the time. The book did not go into detail about it, so I did a little research on my own and came up with some key points. From the Crusades, two essential art periods came about in Europe.
The Romanesque Period:
Romanesque architecture was a combination of features from Roman and Byzantine structures. The Romanesque churches had thick walls, close set columns and small windows.
In the West, there was a revival of monumental stone sculptures. Romanesque sculpture was commonly carved in relief and it was an integral part of the architecture to the church it belonged to. (Remember the Crusades were a "holy war" to spread Christianity throughout Europe, so some magnificent churches were constructed).
The Gothic Period:
The Gothic period was characterized by religion, philosophy and art. Most representative of the Gothic period was the soaring cathedrals. A typical Gothic cathedral would consist of flying buttresses, stone beams extending from the walls. These beams helped take the weight off the walls, thus the walls could be thinner allowing space for stained-glass windows that were adored with religious images. Narrow pointed stone arches extended from tall pillars allowed higher ceilings to be built, unlike the rounded arches of the Romanesque period.
And in keeping with the theme of blogging, here are a couple of blogs I found about Romanesque and Gothic art. Check em out, it's pretty interesting.
http://www.romanesqueart.net
http://www.arthistoryspot.com/2010/02/gothic-sculpture
Lovely! Thanks for adding a visual element to the material.
ReplyDeleteI love looking at the old architecture. When I went to New York last year, I was mesmerized with the architecture of some of the old churches. Soon I hope to visit Europe so I can see some of the earlier architecture.
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