Architecture in Western Europe 1066-1399

This course explores architecture over the period of about 400 years that corresponds roughly to the second half of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. The start of the time frame coincides with the conquest of England in 1066 by the Normans who undertook an ambitious building campaign representative of the important architectural advances in Western Europe during the 11th c. From then on, builders would steadily develop ingenious methods of construction that would lead to the creation of architecture of a bewildering scale and refinement. Conventionally, the buildings are called Romanesque and Gothic, but, as will be presented in this course, the story of this architecture, which culminated in the construction of the great Gothic cathedrals, is complex. The end of the time frame coincides with the appointment of experts in Gothic architecture invited to advise on the construction of Milan Cathedral at the end of the 14th c. The corresponding debates indicate the rising skepticism towards Gothic architecture; the practice of building without architectural treatises - or architectural theory – became obsolete. This course on medieval architecture will explore how with chisels and natural stone, with bricks and manually powered lifting machines, and, in particular, how without three-dimensional schemas or plans, the architects of this period created some of the most spectacular and sophisticated monuments in the history of architecture that are still standing.