Verified Document

Usage Of Gothic Cathedral Essay

¶ … Gothic Cathedral as Rhetorical Device Usage of Gothic Cathedral

Viollet-le-Duc.

It is one thing to believe that the structure of Gothic cathedrals were a response to a desire to imbue meaning and particularly a manifestation of faith in a building that was functionally a place of worship, gathering, and the seat of local power. It is quite another to posit, as did Viollet-le-Duc, that the ultimate shape assumed by a Gothic cathedral was a mere rational response to solving structural problems. If the Gothic cathedral is thought to be completely rational in its expression, then it may also be thought of as the only possible expression, given the structural challenges it was designed to solve. Viollet-le-Duc sought correspondence between the materials used in a building with the structure that eventually took shape. He particularly believed that the use of stone to build a cathedral was both rational and functional. With stone, an architect could create a structure that would maximize the effect of height and elevation, thereby addressing both the functional and cultural needs of a cathedral. Any decoration applied to contribute meaning and interest to the structure, such as the gargoyles on Notre Dame, should also leave the structure visible. Viollet-le-Duc engaged in the restoration of many historic buildings, including numerous cathedrals. The functions or purposes of the designs were not of significance to him, nor were any design elements that were intended to connote culture.

Contrasting modernist architecture to historical styles, Venturi would argue that historical architecture is deeply and richly meaningful, and that it speaks directly to the cultural significance of the buildings' conceptions and origins. There is, according to Venturi, a place for decoration as an expression of cultural meaning in even the most ordinary and functional of buildings. Venturi's sensibilities were troubled, if not offended, by the ordinariness of modernist architecture. Ordinary, as it were, because it is unrelenting in its plainness and gives no hint of the complex structural problems that had to be solved in order to give such an impression of simplicity. Unlike the Gothic Cathedral that left open to view all the complex puzzles that were solved in order to manifest the concept -- the structure -- that was grand and inspirational. Venturi seeded his work with meaning through the use of subtle historical reference. Where this was perhaps most sensitively executed was in adaptive reuse or renovation. Here Venturi extended contextualization but gave it a new freedom, in that, he gave permission for cultural layering in function, decoration, and the juxtaposition of traditions. There was in his application congruence with Brown's constructs about context, and also alignment with Viollet-le-Duc regarding the importance of letting structure show through, even if the function of the…

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Gothic Cathedrals and Light From the End
Words: 1670 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Gothic Cathedrals and Light From the end of the 12th century for at least two centuries architecture underwent a revolution known as Gothic. Much like classical architecture, changes in building paralleled changes in culture. Gothic works tended to be tall, inspiring, and meant to withstand the ravages of time. Structural improvements were massive, and even though this era only lasted 200 years, it would have a profound effect on any building

Gothic Cathedrals
Words: 2032 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

gothic cathedrals, with a few examples and comparisons of the cathedrals. Gothic cathedrals are some of the most beautiful and enduring buildings in Europe. They have survived for centuries as testaments to the workmen who created them and the architects who designed them. The ornate buildings are as impressive today as when they first grew on the skyline, and they represent a high point in the culture and society

Gothic Period Cultural and Construction
Words: 4930 Length: 17 Document Type: Essay

William of Occam formulated the principle of Occam's Razor, which held that the simplest theory that matched all the known facts was the correct one. At the University of Paris, Jean Buridan questioned the physics of Aristotle and presaged the modern scientific ideas of Isaac Newton and Galileo concerning gravity, inertia and momentum when he wrote: ...after leaving the arm of the thrower, the projectile would be moved by an impetus

Using Market Segmentation to Target Travelers
Words: 3908 Length: 13 Document Type: Essay

Segmentation -- Barcelona Travel Market segmentation is a technique that groups consumers with similar needs and common buying behaviors into segments. These segments become the basis for targeted marketing, which is a more efficient and effective method of marketing than advertising to the masses (Epetimehin, 2011). A feature of market segmentation is the creation of consumer personas or profiles. Consumer personas are pegged to distinct market segments identified through the segmentation

Gothic Light Saint Denis Saint Denis Was
Words: 1251 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Gothic Light Saint Denis Saint Denis was the first cathedral that was constructed in Gothic form and consequently became the prototype of Salish, Chartres and many other cathedrals. [footnoteRef:1] The cathedral is basically a huge medieval abbey church in the city of Saint Denis which is now a prominent suburb in Paris. In the early times, the church was merely a place of pilgrimage and a place where the French Kings would

Gothic the Flamboyant Gothic Is
Words: 616 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

This type of fluidization announces the Renaissance and is probably an expression of the new opening that the society goes through as it comes out of the Middle Ages. A greater creative expression in literature or painting, for example, had to be matched by a similar trend in architecture. Another interesting comparison with the previous Gothic styles is the fact that, in the past, the Gothic style was used almost

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now