Architecture Archive
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Worlds writ small: four studies on miniature architectural forms in the medieval Middle East
Posted on October 1, 2012 | No CommentsWhile academic discussion of ornament within medieval Islamic art has laboured much over the codification and meaning of certain forms, there has been relatively little research to date on the visual and iconographic function of architecture as ornament in this context...This thesis proposes, first and foremost, that there is significant cultural meaning inherent in the use of architecture as an inspiration for the non-essential formal qualities of portable objects from the medieval Islamic world. -
The medieval peasant house in Bohemia – continuity and change
Posted on September 16, 2012 | No CommentsThe archaeologically resolved theme of the medieval peasant house can be divided into three developmental areas, an understanding of which has various groundings, while yielding diverse results. -
Viking Age architecture in space and time
Posted on September 16, 2012 | No CommentsThere is one house form that is indeed special for this period and this is the boat-shaped longhouse, a house with smooth convex outer walls and it is this type of houses this contribution will concentrate on. -
Master Mateo – Skilled Artist or Medieval Engineer?
Posted on September 8, 2012 | No CommentsMaster Mateo received his contract as superin- tendent of the works of Saint James in 1168. He undertook in the following decades several major changes in the cathedrals design, the most spectacular of which was the insertion of the famous Portíco de la Gloria. -
Masonry Techniques of the Early Sixth Century City Wall of Resafa, Syria
Posted on September 8, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper will present some of our latest insights on the design of the wall and the structural techniques used for the masonry and will compare these features with similar building structures at other sites. -
Construction Methods and Models of Cistercian Abbeys in North-Western Italy between XII and XIII Century
Posted on September 8, 2012 | No CommentsStudies on the so-called bernardine plan (plan bernardin, bernhardinischer Grundtypus), a rigid layout without bending elements (transept with squared chapels on the eastern and western sides, and a rectangular pro- jecting church), and the diffusion of this planning choice in the multiform world of the Cistercian architecture made remarkable progress in recent years, thanks to fine job of collecting and classifying examples of this in different European countries -
Construction evolution of medieval tuscan monasteries: The case of badia San Savino in Cascina (Pisa)
Posted on September 8, 2012 | No CommentsThe most important stage of this preliminary study has been the historical analysis: the history of the S. Savino complex is marked by many alterations and modifications to the original structures, presumably carried out to adapt them to the demands of different (Ceccarelli Lemut and Garzella, 1996 -Pazzagli, 1985- Redi, 1984). ages and different functions -
A missing link: a reappraisal of the date, architectural context and significance of the great tower of Dudley Castle
Posted on August 23, 2012 | No CommentsProminently sited on top of Castle Hill, whence it dominates the adjacent town and priory and the surrounding landscape, Dudley Castle is the most conspicuous medieval monument of the West Midlands conurbation. -
The personnel of English and Welsh castles, 1272-1422
Posted on August 22, 2012 | No CommentsIn England, the role played on the continent by the castellanies would appear to have been performed by the county castle and the sheriff, a post that remained firmly under the king's control in all but a few counties. Instead, a more subtle link between the castle community and political power will have to be found. It will be searched for in the appointment of constables to royal castles, and in grants of ownership of castles, royal or forfeited. It may be found in the building activity that was so common in this period, or in the marriage alliances that created many of the great castle owning estates. -
The Triumphal Way of Constantinople and the Golden Gate
Posted on August 19, 2012 | No CommentsIn Rome the term triumphus referred to an archaic and highly regulated rite that was decreed by the Senate upon the fulfilment of certain strict preconditions. Scholars have disagreed whether the triumphal procession, which could be held only in Rome, always followed the same itinerary, but the chances are that it did -
The Italo-Cretan Religious Painting and The Byzantine-Palaeologan Legacy
Posted on August 19, 2012 | No CommentsThe paper aims to introduce the last significant school of painting, which was nurtured by the Byzantine sources, the so-called Italo-Cretan school, whose presence and influence lasted for more than 300 years. Its works are perceived not just as mere objects of veneration but have also high artistic and marketing value. -
How Many Tower-houses were there in the Scottish Borders? A few observations
Posted on August 17, 2012 | No CommentsThe question of how many tower-houses there were in the Scottish Borders crops up from time to time, but nobody has yet been able to give a definitive answer. -
The Construction of the Two Palaces: The Composition of the Song of Digenis Akritas and the Claim for the Anatolic Hegemony of Alexius Komnenos
Posted on August 15, 2012 | No CommentsThe arrival of the Komnenos-Doukas faction at the imperial throne, with the rising of Alexius Komnenos in 1081, represents a strong change in the rhetoric and sharing of power in Byzantium. -
The Rise of the Anti-clockwise Newel Stair
Posted on August 15, 2012 | No CommentsThe European origins of the spiral stair are discussed by way of introduction, and the earliest examples of each technical or stylistic development are pinpointed. -
The Planning and Building Instruments of Architects in the Late Middle Ages
Posted on August 15, 2012 | No CommentsThe development of building techniques in the architecture of the late Middle Ages, which is considerably different from that of the previous centuries, seems to be the result of a natural evolution of building techniques rather than a continuous search for improvements to apply to better and more logical workmanship. -
Cultural Complexity in Medieval Sicily
Posted on August 12, 2012 | No CommentsSicily under Norman rule, dating from 1091 to 1266, embodies a multi-cultural society that produced some of the most eclectic architecture of the middle ages -
Comparing Pilgrim Souvenirs and Trinity Chapel Windows at Canterbury Cathedral
Posted on August 5, 2012 | No CommentsThe story begins with two tin pilgrim ampullae2 made before 1220 in Canterbury, England, that were found centuries later, one in France (now in the Cluny Museum) and one in Norway (now in the Historical Museum in Bergen, Norway). -
Divine Constructions: A Comparison of the Great Mosque of Cordoba and Notre-Dame-du-Chartres
Posted on August 3, 2012 | No CommentsHowever different the two buildings may be the impulse to create them was the same. The glittering stained glass windows of Chartres share something with the elegant Kufic inscriptions in Cordoba. -
The beginnings of Florence Cathedral. A political interpretation
Posted on July 19, 2012 | No CommentsThat the Cathedral project emerged in the context of the complex struggle between elite and popolo in 1293-95 already suggests its heavily politicized origins. -
Ring-givers and Romans : the cultural roots of Anglo-Saxon church architecture
Posted on July 17, 2012 | No CommentsThe stone churches of pre-Conquest England are markedly different from those of their continental contemporaries and Norman successors, yet generations of historians have viewed these differences as inferior attempts to replicate continental forms. -
Medieval Houses in Brittany: Questioning Reconstructions
Posted on July 15, 2012 | No CommentsOur knowledge of medieval houses in Brittany is therefore mediated by archaeological research, a project that began in earnest in Brittany in the 1970s. -
Reassessing the Roles of Women as ‘Makers’ of Medieval Art and Architecture
Posted on July 12, 2012 | No CommentsThis two-volume set proposes a renewed way of framing the debate around the history of medieval art and architecture to highlight the multiple roles played by women. -
The Commemoration of Saints at Late Medieval York Minster
Posted on July 5, 2012 | No CommentsIn what way are hagiographic texts, the liturgical commemoration of saints and the depiction of saints lives on the late medieval stained glass windows of York Minster related, how did they influence each other, and what role does the community of York Minster play in this? -
Eve and Her Daughters: Eve, Mary, the Virgin, and the Lintel Fragment at Autun
Posted on June 28, 2012 | No CommentsThe lintel fragment of Eve from the Cathedral of St. Lazaire at Autun (Figure 1) has been praised by art historians as one of the greatest monumental figural works of the Romanesque period. -
St Andrews Cathedral in Scotland recreated online
Posted on June 25, 2012 | No CommentsPeople can now explore St Andrews Cathedral, Scotland’s largest medieval church, as it looked in the Middle Ages, through a new online portal created by the University of St Andrews.
