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Carolingian Architecture. By : Shuhood Hosam Abu Hamad Supervision : Eng Sheren Abd Al rhman. Carolingian Architecture. Introduction
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Carolingian Architecture By : Shuhood Hosam Abu Hamad Supervision : Eng Sheren Abd Al rhman
Carolingian Architecture • Introduction • Carolingian architecture is the style of north European Pre-Romanesque architecture belonging to the period of the Carolingian Renaissance of the late 8th and 9th centuries, when the Carolingian family dominated west European politics. It was a conscious attempt to emulate Roman architecture and to that end it borrowed heavily from Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, though there are nonetheless innovations of its own, resulting in a unique character. • The gatehouse of the monastery at Lorsch, built around 800, exemplifies classical inspiration for Carolingian architecture, built as a triple-arched hall dominating the gateway, with the arched facade interspersed with attached classical columns and pilasters above. • The Palatine Chapel in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) constructed between 792 - 805 was inspired by the octagonal Justinian church of San Vitale in Ravenna, built in the 6th century, but at Aachen there is a tall monumental western entrance complex, as a whole called a westwork - a Carolingian innovation. • Carolingian churches generally are basilican, like the Early Christian churches of Rome, and commonly incorporated westworks, which is arguably the precedent for the western facades of later medieval cathedrals. An original westwork survives today at the Abbey of Corvey, built in 885
Carolingian Architecture • The new architecture, inspired by the forms of antiquity, abandoned the small boxlike shapes of the Merovingian period and used instead spacious basilicas often intersected by vast transepts. In some churches, such as Fulda and Cologne, the central nave ended in semicircular apses. An innovation of Carolingian builders, which was to be of incalculable importance for the later Middle Ages, was the emphasis given to the western extremity of the church. The facade, flanked symmetrically by towers, or simply the exterior of a massive complex (westwork), became the focal point of the structure. The function of the westwork is still debated. It had an elevation of several stories, the lowest a vaulted vestibule to the church proper, and above, a room reached by spiral staircases, which may have served as a chapel reserved for high dignitaries. • The outstanding structure of the Carolingian period still in existence is the palatine chapel at Aachen, dedicated by Pope Leo III in the year 805. It is centralized in plan and surmounted by an octagonal dome. The design of the palatine chapel appears to have been based in part on the 6th-century Church of San Vitale in Ravenna. Other important structures still partly preserved, or known through documentary evidence, include the churches of Corbie, Centula (Saint-Riquier), and Reichenau.
Carolingian Art • The best-preserved artistic achievements of the age are works of small dimensions—manuscript illumination, ivory carving, and metalwork. Besides the imperial court, at Aachen, the leading centers of art were the monasteries in Tours, Metz, Saint-Denis, and near Reims. • The earliest liturgical manuscripts of the Carolingian period, such as the Gospel book signed by the scribe Godescalc (written between 781 and 783), are characterized by a tentative and not always successful fusion of ornamental motifs of chiefly Anglo-Saxon and Irish origin and by figures derived from antiquity. Full-page portraits of the four evangelists were often designed. Later Carolingian miniatures show an increasing familiarity with the heritage of late antiquity and in some instances are perhaps influenced by Byzantine art. The manuscripts owe much of their beauty to the new minuscule form of writing, remarkable for its clarity and form. The most influential work was the Utrecht Psalter, illustrated in a mode of nervous and flickering intensity quite unparalleled in earlier Western art. • Closely allied in style to the miniatures were the ivory carvings, many of them originally part of book covers. Metalwork objects are rarer, although literary evidence shows that goldsmiths and enamel workers were active. The large golden altar of Sant' Ambrogio in Milan (executed in 835), the portable altar of Arnulf (now in Munich), several splendid book covers, and other sumptuously decorated objects provide insight into the artistic accomplishments of the period, which ended in the late 9th cent
Floorplan of Aachen. Features of the structure include barrel and groin vaults as well as an octagonal cloister-vault dome. The main entrance is through the westwork, a Carolingian invention that went on to flourish in Gothic architecture. The westwork often housed a private chapel on the upper floors for the use of dignitaries. At Aachen the upper rooms overlook the atrium of the church
Carolingian Architecture • This beautiful building - the Gate Hall of Lorsch monastery - is one of the few remaining examples of post-Roman but pre-Romanesque architecture in Germany; its style is called Carolingian. Gate Hall Lorsch, west facade
A monastery was established in Lorsch (former Lauresham) in the Rhine valley in 764. It received some popular relics and soon developed into an important place, especially after Charlemagne took an interest in it. The minster was consecrated in 774 in presence of King Charles, the future emperor. Closeup of the mural ornaments
At the beginning of the 9th century, news about construction work in Lorsch come to an end, so we can't say for sure when the gate hall was built, but it seems to date into the 9th century, not the time of Charlemagne. A pity, it would be nice to know he already walked under those vaults. There is one vague mention of an ecclesia varia (a 'colourful church') in the 870ies that could refer to the hall, but we can't be sure Closeup of a pillar
Today, the hall is the only part that remains of the Carolingian building, and the monastery no longer exists. The Gate Hall in Lorsch is part of the World Cultural Heritage.
Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre • This chapel, which belongs to the first carolingian constructions of the beginning of the 10thcentury, is the oldest part of the Mont-Saint-Michel. It has been preserved to support the western part of the nave. • This quadrilateral (11 X 13 m), irregular because of its leaning against the eastern rock, shows two parallel naves separated by a thick wall with two archways and terminated by two small barrel vaulted sanctuaries. The latter is topped by rostrums probably used to show relics to the assembly. • During the construction of the romanesque church, starting in 1023, this chapel was lengthened westward and reinforced to support the last bays of the nave and the front, then was little by little swallowed up by the monastery. It regained its original appearance during the 1960 restoration; leaning against the eastern rock, it was then opened on three sides
Plan of the chapel • It presents all characteristics of the carolingian architecture: thick walls (up to 2 metres), blocks of stone roughly cut, arches made of small bricks (taken from Romans), bare walls without any symmetry (south side windows are not in the axis of symmetry of the central wall arches). We can also find remnants of decoration coatings under the central wall arches. • Constructed to replace the Aubert oratory dating back to the beginning of the 8th century, retaining its site and its structure, it could house a hundred persons. • It has a double sanctuary, one intended to service the cult of archangel Saint Michael, the other one probably dedicated to the Holy Virgin or the Holy Trinity (copy of the Mont-Gargan oratory in Italy, first oratory dedicated to Saint Michael dating back to the 5th century). • Behind the eastern wall of the southern sanctuary, an aperture made in 1961 allows one to gaze on a wall made of a heap of roughly cut stone blocks. This wall is an extension of the rock against which leans the northern sanctuary ; and we can presume that it is a vestige of the oratory built by Aubert in 708
This extraordinary construction of stone blocks that is the Mont-Saint-Michel takes root in this church, piously preserved, and enshrined respectfully during the development of the abbey, as it constituted the connection with the original oratory." Yves-Marie Froideveaux, principal curator of the Mont-Saint-Michel from 1957 to 1983, who directed the restoration of Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre.
