Page 226 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

architecture 111

The Forum Arch in Rome.

tain of the world. Pilgrim worshippers circumambulated
the building on walkways at two levels, reflecting the
Buddhist belief in cyclical earthly suffering that was only
relieved upon reaching nirvana.

The Middle Ages
In the centuries after the Roman empire, European Chris-
tians supported powerful monasteries, whose builders
turned to bearing-wall construction in limestone, granite,
and sandstone. Master builders maintained the basilican
Western Europe, Christians adopted the multipurpose church form, but ultimately they replaced the simple plan
basilica as the model for their churches, such as Old Saint and trussed roof with more complex solutions to the
Peter’s (begun c. 320 CE) in Rome. This multiaisled problems presented by increasing numbers of pilgrims
building featured parallel stone colonnades that sup- and concerns over fire safety.During the Romanesque Era
ported the masonry walls above.Those in turn held up a (c. 1050–1200), so called due to the revival of Roman
roof structure of wooden trusses, rigid triangular frames (that is, semicircular) vaulting techniques, builders exper-
that resulted in the typical gabled roof form.The glitter- imented with heavy stone-vaulted ceilings and extended
ing glass mosaic surfaces of the interior were hidden by side aisles around the church’s perimeter to improve cir-
a bare brick exterior. Byzantine Christians in the eastern culation for pilgrims. Extensive sculpted ornament in
half of the empire chose Roman vaulted structures as abstracted forms greeted visitors with Christian lessons of
their models, resulting in the Cathedral of Constantino- good versus evil. The French church of Saint-Sernin (c.
ple, Hagia Sophia (532 CE–537 CE), by Anthemios of 1070–1120) in Toulouse exemplified this movement.
Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus. The enormous masonry Structural experiments coalesced in the later twelfth
dome, though it rested on four curved triangular surfaces, century and throughout the thirteenth , during the Gothic
called pendentives, seemed to float unsupported above era, led by northern France, which dominated Europe at
the interior, thanks to the ring of windows at the base of that time. Gothic verticality, aspiring to express divine
the dome and the light-reflecting surfaces of mosaic and loftiness, combined with great visual coherence at
marble throughout the vast interior. Also inspired by Chartres Cathedral (1194–1220), where the minimal
Rome, Islamic builders developed a new building type stone skeleton supported walls of stained glass illustrat-
for communal worship, the mosque.The Great Mosque ing sacred and secular themes.This effect was made pos-
(eighth–tenth centuries CE)inCórdoba, Spain, exhibited sible through the combined use of the structurally
the horseshoe-shaped arches of alternating stone and efficient pointed arch, the framework of arched ribs (rib
brick bands that became typically Islamic, while innova- vaults) that allowed lighter vault panels, and the flying
tively stacking the arches in two levels, thereby creating a buttress that supported the vaults outside the building.
limitless sense of space. Dazzling marble and mosaic dec- The church vaults were protected by broad and steep
oration was limited to stylized vegetation and other non- roofs of innovative wood truss design. A very high level
representational patterns, according to Muslim practice. of roofing technology was also evident in the contem-
Beyond Rome’s orbit, in the Buddhist monastery at porary wooden stave churches of Norway.
Sanchi in India, the dome of the Great Stupa (first cen- Around the same time, builders in South and East Asia
tury BCE–first century CE) enshrined important relics. likewise developed impressively tall structures to house
Protected within a wall featuring four elaborate gateways, images of their gods and to visually connect earth with
the earth-and-rubble-filled dome represented the moun- heaven. Hindu Indians created theVisvanatha Temple to