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ROMANESQUE AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 407 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROMANESQUE AND See also:

GOTHIC See also:ARCHITECTURE IN See also:GERMANY With the exception of the See also:church built at Treves (See also:Trier) by the empress See also:Helena, of which small portions can still be traced in the See also:cathedral, there are no remains of earlier date than the See also:tomb-See also:house built by See also:Charlemagne at Aachen (See also:Aix-la-Chapelle), which, though much restored in the 19th See also:century, is still in See also:good preservation. It consists (fig. 44) of an octagonal domed See also:hall surrounded by aisles in two storeys, both vaulted; externally the structure is a See also:polygon of sixteen sides, about io5 ft. in See also:diameter, and it was preceded by a See also:porch flanked by turrets. It is thought to have been copied from S. Vitale at See also:Ravenna, but there are many essential See also:differences. The same See also:design was repeated at Ottmarsheim and See also:Essen, and a simpler version exists at See also:Nijmwegen in the See also:Netherlands, also built by Charlemagne. Although no remains exist of the monastery of St See also:Gall in See also:Switzerland (see See also:ABBEY), built in the beginning of the 9th century, a valuable See also:manuscript See also:plan was found in the 17th century, in its library, which would seem to have been a design for a See also:complete monastery. It contains features which are See also:peculiar to the See also:early See also:German churches and are rarely found elsewhere, and is therefore of considerable See also:interest, suggesting that some of the accessories of a monastery, supposed to have been the result of subsequent development, were all clearly set forth at this early See also:period. The plan shows an eastern See also:apse with a See also:crypt, and a See also:choir in front; a western apse, See also:nave and aisles, with a See also:series of altars down the latter; and on the See also:west See also:side, but detached from the apse, two circular towers with staircases in them. Unfortunately there are no churches remaining of the same date from which we might See also:judge how far these arrangements were followed; but there are three early churches in the See also:island of See also:Reichenau on the See also:Lake of See also:Constance, in one of which, Mittelzell, is a western apse with staircases (here built up into a central See also:tower), nave, and aisles with altars at the side between every window. The eastern portion has been rebuilt. At Oberzell, at the See also:south end of the island, is a vaulted crypt, which See also:dates from the end of the loth century.

In the third and much smaller church, Unterzell, there was no crypt, but three eastern apses and a western apse, which was destroyed when the See also:

present nave was built. At Gernrode in the Harz is a church with western and eastern apses with vaulted crypts underneath (one of which dates from 96o when the church was founded), and circular towers with staircases in them on either side of the western apse. The church was completed about a century later. In the See also:arcade between the nave and aisles piers alternate with the columns. Alternating piers are found also in Quedlinburg (the crypt of which dates from 936 and the church above about 1030) and many other early churches. Western apses exist at Drubeck, Ilbenstadt, Treves, Huyseberg, St See also:Michael and St Godehard at See also:Hildesheim, See also:Mainz, the Obermunster at See also:Regensburg, Laach, See also:Worms, andat a later date at Naumberg and See also:Bamberg, showing that it was a feature generally accepted in early and See also:late periods. It has, however, one See also:great defect, that of depriving the west end of the church of those magnificent porches which are the See also:glory of the churches of See also:France; the cathedral of See also:Spires (Speyer), the church at See also:Limburg near See also:Durkheim, the cathedrals of See also:Erfurt and Regensburg, being the few examples where a dignified entrance is given; and further, that on entering the church from the side, one is distracted by the rivalry of the two apses, and it is only when turning the hack on one or the other that one is able to judge of the monumental.effect of the interior. The greater number of the churches above mentioned were covered over with open See also:timber See also:roofs or See also:flat ceilings; but the problem at Worms. to be solved in Germany, as well as in See also:Italy, was that of vaulting over the nave, and the cathedrals of Spires, Worms and Mainz (fig. 45) are the three most important churches in which this was accomplished. The dates of their vaults have never been quite settled; that of Spires would seem to have been the earliest built, probably after 1162, when the church was seriously damaged by a conflagration, and the vault is groined only. In Worms (fig.

46) and Mainz there are See also:

diagonal moulded ribs, which suggest a later date. Although of great height and width, the See also:absence of a See also:triforium See also:gallery in these cathedrals is a serious defect, as it deprives the interior of that See also:scale which the smaller arcades in such a gallery give to the nave arcade below and the See also:clerestory above, and of those See also:horizontal lines given by See also:string courses which are entirely wanting in these churches. Seeing that in some of the earlier churches, as at Gernrode, St See also:Ursula (See also:Cologne), and Nieder-Lahnstein, the triforium had already been introduced, and that it was repeated in the later examples at Limburg on the See also:Lahn, See also:Bacharach, See also:Andernach, See also:Bonn, Sinzig, and St Gereon (Cologne), it is difficult to understand why, in the three great typical German Romanesque churches, they should have been omitted. Externally the design is extremely See also:fine, owing to the grouping of the many towers at the west and on either side of the See also:transept or choir. In this respect the cathedral of Mainz is the most superb structure in Germany, and to the cathedral of Spires with its fine entrance porch (fig. 47) must be given the second See also:place. One of the most perfect examples of the Rhenish-Romanesque styles is the church of the abbey of Laach, completed shortly after the See also:middle of the 12th century. The eastern See also:part of the church resembles the See also:ordinary type, but at the west end there is a narrow transept flanked by circular towers, and a western apse enclosed in an See also:atrium with cloisters See also:round, which forms the entrance to the church. The sculptures in the capitals of the atrium are of the finest description and repre- sent the perfected type of the German F1c. 47.-Plan of Cathedral Romanesque See also:style. In addition to the at Spires. two circular towers flanking the west transept, a square tower rises in the centre of the west front, two square towers flank the choir and a crystal See also:lantern crowns the See also:crossing of the See also:main transept, and the grouping of all these features is very fine and picturesque in effect. A small church at Rosheim in See also:Alsace is quite Lombardic in its exterior design, the See also:pilaster strips and arched See also:corbel tables being almost identical.

The same applies to the church at Marmoutier, but the towers flanking the main front and the square tower on the crossing of the western transept produce a See also:

composition which one looks for in vain in the greater number of the churches in Italy. In describing the Lombardic churches of See also:North Italy, reference has been made to the probable origin of the See also:eaves-gallery, best represented in the eastern apse of See also:Santa Maria See also:Maggiore, See also:Bergamo. This feature was largely adopted throughout the See also:Rhine churches, and in the Apostles' church and St See also:Martin's at Cologne receives its fullest development, being in addition to the eastern apse carried round the apses of the north and south transepts, which in these two churches and in St-See also:Mary-in-the-Capitol, also in Cologne, constitute a See also:special treatment. In the Apostles' church, where round towers are built at the junction of the three apses, the effect is extremely pleasing. In the church at Bonn, the single apse is flanked by two lofty towers which give great importance to the See also:east front. The steeples of the same period have a See also:character of their own. They are either square or octangular in plan, arcaded or pierced with windows, and roofed with gables or with spires rising out of the gables. One peculiarity found in some of the German churches, and specially those in the north-east, is that the nave and aisles are of the same height. To these the See also:term Hallenkirchen is given. This type of design is very See also:grand internally, owing to the vast height of the piers and See also:arches. It also dispenses with the See also:necessity for flying buttresses, as the aisles, which are only See also:half the width of the nave, carry the thrust of the vault See also:direct to the See also:external buttresses. The nave, however, is not so well lighted, though the See also:aisle windows are sometimes of stupendous height.

The See also:

principal examples are those of the church of St See also:Stephen, See also:Vienna, where both nave and aisles are carried over with one vast roof; at See also:Munster, the Wiesenkirche at See also:Soest; St See also:Lawrence, See also:Nuremberg; St Martin's, See also:Landshut; See also:Munich cathedral, and others. St Gereon (1200-1227) and St Cunibert (1205-1248), in Cologne, besides churches at See also:Naumburg, Limburg and See also:Gelnhausen, in which the pointed See also:arch is employed, are almost the only transitional examples in Germany, and See also:respond to See also:work of a century earlier in France. Toward the end of the 13th century the Romanesque style was supplanted by a style which in no way See also:grew out of it, but was Scale of Feet 9 to xo ~o 4O 5O t4- at Aix-la-Chapelle. at Mainz. rather an See also:imitation of a See also:foreign style, the earliest examples being in the Liebfrauenkirche at Treves (1227-1243), and the churches at See also:Marburg (1235-1283) and Altenberg (1255-1301). In the latter church is a See also:French See also:chevet with seven apsidal chapels. This brings us to the great typical cathedral of Germany at Cologne (fig. 48), which had the advantages of having been designed at the best See also:age and completed on the See also:original design, so that with small exceptions a uniformity of style reigns throughout it. It was begun in 1270 and apparently based on the plan of See also:Amiens, the transepts however having an additional See also:bay each, and the two first bays of the nave having thicker piers so as to carry the enormous towers and spires which flank the See also:chief See also:facade. The principal defect of the See also:building is its relative shortness, owing to its disproportionate height. This has always been See also:felt in the interior, and now that the lofty buildings all round have been taken down, isolating the cathedral on all sides, it has the See also:appearance of an overgrown See also:monster. The length of the cathedral is 468 ft., 17 ft. less than the cathedral at See also:Ulm, the longest in Germany.

The height of the nave vault is 155 ft., and as the width is only 41.6 (about one in four) the proportion is very unpleasing. There is also a certain See also:

mechanical finish throughout the design, which renders it far less poetical than the great French cathedrals. Where, however, it excels is in the extraordinary vigour of its See also:execution, the See also:depth of the See also:mouldings, and the See also:projection given to the leading architectural features; and in this respect, when compared with St Ouen at See also:Rouen, about fifty years later, the latter (which is even more mechanical in its setting out) looks See also:wire-See also:drawn and poor. The twin spires of the facade rise to the height of 510 ft.; they were completed only in the latter part of the 19th century, and would have gained in breadth of effect if there had been some See also:plain surfaces See also:left. In this respect the See also:spire of See also:Freiburg cathedral, which is See also:simple in outline and detail, is finer, and gains in contrast on See also:account of the simpler See also:masonry of the See also:lower part of the tower. The spire at Ulm cathedral, only recently terminated, rises to the height of 530 ft. In both these cases the single tower is preferable to the See also:double towers of Cologne, when elaborated to the same extent, as they are in all these examples; and perhaps that is one of the reasons why the spires of See also:Strassburg and See also:Antwerp cathedrals are more satisfactory, as the twin towers were never built. The front of Strassburg cathedral (1277-1318), by Erwin von Steinbach, is too much cut up by See also:vertical lines of masonry, owing to the See also:tours-deforce in See also:tracery of which the German See also:mason was so fond. On the whole the most beautiful of German spires is that of St Stephen's at Vienna, and one of its advantages would seem to be that its transition from the square See also:base to the octagon is so well marked in the design that it is difficult to say where the tower ends and the spire begins. The strong horizontal courses under the spires of Strassburg or Freiburg are defects from this point of view. In domestic architecture nothing remains of the See also:palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, but at I.orsch near See also:Mannheim is the entrance gateway of the See also:convent which was dedicated by Charlemagne in 774. It is in two storeys, in the lower one three semicircular arches flanked by columns with extremely classic capitals.

The upper See also:

storey is decorated with what might have been described as a See also:blind arcade, except that instead of arches are triangular spaces similar to some windows found in Saxon architecture; the whole gateway being crowned with a classic See also:cornice. The palaces at See also:Goslar (1050) and Dankwarderode in See also:Brunswick (1150-1170) still preserve their great halls, and in the palace built (1130-1150) by the See also:emperor See also:Frederick I. at Gelnhausen there remain portions extremely fine and vigorous in style, and showing a strong See also:Byzantine See also:influence. The largest and most important See also:castle is that of the See also:Wartburg at See also:Eisenach, which is in complete preservation. To sum up, the German Complete Gothic is essentially See also:national in its complete character. It has many and obvious defects. From the first there is conspicuous in it that love of lines, and that See also:desire to See also:play with geometrical figures, which in See also:time degenerated into work more full of conceit and triviality than that of any school of See also:medieval artists. These conceits are worked out most elaborately in the traceries of windows and panelling. The finest early examples are in the cathedral at See also:Minden; a little later, perhaps, the best series is in the See also:cloister of Constance cathedral; and of the latest description the examples are innumerable. But it is See also:worth observing that they rarely at any time have any See also:ogee lines. They are severely geometrical and See also:regular in their See also:form, and quite unlike our own late Middle Pointed, or the French Flamboyant. In See also:sculpture the Germans did not shine. They, like the See also:English, did not introduce it with profusion, though they were very prone to the representations of See also:effigies of the deceased as monuments.

In one or two respects, however, Germany is still possessed of a See also:

wealth of medieval examples, such as is hardly to be paralleled in See also:Europe. The vast collection of See also:brick buildings, for instance, is unequalled. If a See also:line be drawn due east and west, and passing through See also:Berlin, the whole of the plain lying to the north, and extending from See also:Russia to See also:Holland, is destitute of See also:stone, and the medieval architects, who always availed themselves of the material which was most natural in the See also:district, built all over this vast extent of See also:country almost entirely in brick. The examples of their See also:works in this humble material are not at all confined to ecclesiastical works; houses, castles, See also:town-halls, town walls and gateways, are so plentiful and so invariably picturesque and striking in their character, that it is impossible to pass a harsh See also:verdict on the architects who left behind them such extraordinary examples of their skill and fertility of resource. This development is largely due to the fact that all these countries in north-east Germany were connected and very much influenced by the See also:confederation of the Hanse towns, and hence the similarity in the design of all their buildings. Although some of the earliest buildings date from the 12th century, the chief development took place in the 14th and 15th centuries, and in the 16th century formed the basis of the transitional works of the See also:Renaissance. The principal Hanse towns are See also:Hamburg, See also:Lubeck and See also:Danzig. The chief buildings in Hamburg were destroyed by the See also:fire in 1842, and it is in Lubeck that the most important churches are to be found. The church of St Mary (Marienkirche), 1304, is the most striking on account of its dimensions, 346 ft. in length, the nave being 123 ft. high, with two western towers 407 ft. high. Great scale is given to the building in consequence of the small material (brick) used, and some of the windows in this or other churches are nearly See also:loo ft. in height, with lofty mullions, all in moulded brick. The Dom or cathedral of Lubeck, though slightly larger, is not so good in design, but has a remarkable north porch in richly moulded brick, with See also:marble shafts and carved capitals. In the church of St See also:Catherine the choir is raised above a lofty vaulted crypt, similar to examples in some of the See also:Italian churches.

The Marienkirche at Danzig (1345-1503), built by a grand See also:

master of the See also:Teutonic knights, to whom the chief development of the architecture of north-east Germany is largely due, is one of those examples already mentioned as Hallenkirchen. The nave, aisles, side chapels, transept and aisles, and choir with square east end, are all of the same height; as the church }s 28o ft. See also:long and 125 ft. wide, with a transept 200 ft. long, the effect is that of one stupendous hall, but as the See also:light is only obtained through the windows of the side chapels, the interior, though impressive, is somewhat gloomy. The same is found in the choir of the Franciscan church at See also:Salzburg, where five slender piers, 70 ft. in height and Oft. in diameter, carry the vault over an See also:area i6o ft. long by 66 ft. wide. Right up in the north of Germany, in See also:Pomerania, are many fine examples in brick and sometimes of great See also:size, such as those at See also:Stralsund, See also:Stettin, See also:Stargard, See also:Pasewalk, and in the island of See also:Rugen. The Marienkirche at Stralsund, owing to its massive construction and picturesque grouping, is an interesting example. Its western transept or See also:narthex with tower in centre is a See also:common type of the churches in Pomerania, and though very inferior in design is a version of those which in See also:England are seen in See also:Ely and See also:Peterborough cathedrals. In the entrance gateways to the towns and in domestic architecture north Germany is very See also:rich ; the palace of the grand master of the Teutonic See also:Order at See also:Marienburg is a vast and imposing structure in brick (1276-1335), in which the See also:chapter house of the grand master, with its See also:fan-vaulted roof, resting on a single See also:pillar of See also:granite in the centre, and the entrance porch of the church richly carved in brick, are among the finest examples executed in that material. (R. P.

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