Along the Camino Trail: A Religious Stop of Note

Ambulatory and radiating chapels, abbey church, Saint-Denis, France, 1140-1144, Early French Gothic, Gothic Europe

The Gothic style cathedral with its ribbed groin vaulting, lancet and rose windows, soaring towers, and enormous mass, replaced the barrel-vaulted basilica as the Christian’s building of choice. The new plans with their expansive height, super wide aisles, ambulatories and radiating chapels were better suited to accommodate the throngs of pilgrims who made their far-reaching treks from across Europe to visit the holy relics stored in various cathedrals. These larger, grander cathedrals holding sway over medieval villages and towns were not “distortions of the classical style but images of the City of God.”

In Saint-Denis, rebuilt under the guidance of the abbot Suger, we see the realization that this church should not only accommodate the growing number of pilgrims, but it should serve as the official church to the French kings. As such, Suger felt in its 1122 state, it lacked the grandeur and opulence due the kings. A massive undertaking, managed by Suger, was begun to alter the church for these purposes. In 1135, Suger had a new west façade with sculptured portals installed. And, in 1140 work began on the east end. Unfortunately, Suger passed away before the dedication of the new nave, but did live to see the dedication of the new choir, ambulatory, and radiating chapels.

In his quest to rebuild a grand cathedral worthy of a King, he pioneered the innovative rib vaults, which rested on pointed arches (also known as ogival arches), which enclosed the ambulatory and chapels. These new vaults were lighter than previous groin vaults and enabled the builders to eliminate various supporting walls opening the radiating chapels up within and made possible thinner outer walls by adding windows. Here is Saint-Denis, we see the use of lancet stained glass which as Suger said, allowed light to pour into the chapels. He dubbed this wondrous light, “lux nova” or new light. Suddenly, churches transformed from dark basilicas, lit only by what light filtered through clerestory windows high above the nave, to illuminated centers of religious worship. Saint-Denis shares a circular ambulatory with several churches from previous eras. For example, while certainly not Gothic in design, you can see from the interior of the Palatine Chapel, the seat of Charlemagne’s power, the same type of division of space. Also, too, note how the Palatine chapel was the first vaulted structure of the middle ages north of the Alps. Architects were experimenting with known building methodologies; looking for ways to make churches even grander. Even earlier than the Palatine Chapel, is the Ravenna, Italy, church of San Vitale. Built almost 700 years before Saint-Denis, we see a centrally planned church, which served as the seat of Byzantine dominion in Italy. Again, built in honor of the current ruler, Theodoric, again, by a man of the cloth, Bishop Eccleisus. Built in an octagon with ample clerestory lighting, this completed building features a dome, versus the vaulted ceilings to come. The interiors of both the Palatine and San Vitale are heavy, with thick columns and piers. Space is consumed by architectural support leaving less room for the faithful. In contrast, Saint-Denis, is open and airy; a rather inviting space.

During the Gothic building era, intellectual and religious life would migrate from the countryside situated monasteries to the urban centers. Merchants and guilds brought wealth and growth to these centers following the population depleting Black Plaque. A new age of prosperity was fostered by the combination of new money and fewer people to provide for. While the church was still extremely powerful, and worship was still at the center of most inhabitants’ lives, for the first time the life of the laity took on a more scholastic bent. The first universities were established. Writing and reading were no longer instruments solely of the monks. Merchants began to use writing to record their profits and losses. And, with their new money, pen books as well too. Religion began to be patronized by the wealthy. And, monuments, books, and sculpture were erected honoring their contributions to the church.

Throughout the Gothic period, cathedral building transformed from low, squat basilica-like structures, to soaring representations of God. Elaborate tracery became the norm. Architectural sculpture expanding from presentations of the Old Testament and life of Christ, to include the Virgin Mother as well too. Kings and queens, as well as other people of note, were immortalized in portal sculpture. First as columnar figures, which later took on the look and feel of classical sculpture with the reintroduction of contrapossto and model figuring.

French Gothic cathedrals soared. From the smallest Loan (nave vaults 80 feet) to the tallest, Amiens (at 144 feet). To support this growth toward the heavens, buildings employed external buttressing, different from the internal buttresses we saw earlier in the building of the Durham Cathedral, begun in 1093. As French Gothic expanded across Europe, it took on more regional nuances, as in the Cologne Cathedral in Germany with its elaborate exterior tracery. And, in the churches of England we see the introduction of the Perpendicular style, which included fan vaults with lacelike tracery and hanging pendants. Nowhere else is this more evident than Westminster Abbey in London.