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Gothic architecture?
In some of my research the Gothic period wasn't very appreciated because they took the greek and roman architecture and completely destroyed it. Is this true? What is with the Gothic Architecture? It's hard to get this cleared up because every research site says something different.
Public Comments
- Gothic architecture is reall beautiful. I really believe that it came long after the Gothic period. I have read nothing about Gothic destroying Greek or Roman. Pleanty of that remains. Of course, there is always a lot of damage during wars, but I doubt intentional culture destruction.
- The reason Gothic was not appreciated is because it was considered very dramatic. Lots of tall structures, sharp angles, wide spaces etc. It was also very often decorated with foliate carvings, gargoyles, green men etc. To the church at the time, it was almost heretical (and many people also regard it as drawing on Pagan and/or Islamic influences). No-one's really sure where it came from, but it appeared suddenly in Europe in the late 12th to early 13th centuries, which may indicate some kind of influence from the Arab countries brought to Europe by the crusaders. I have heard that the dimensions are influenced by Arabic mathematical and philosophical principles from people like Avicenna (Arabic philosopher). Ultimately, there are lots of different theories, so you'll never get a final answer to this. Its almost as mysterious as asking from where did the Robin Hood legends come from or what is the Holy Grail - what is strange is that these things all emerged in Europe at the same time, more or less. And if you read the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, while ignoring all the crap about Mary Magdalene and Jesus's bloodline, you'll find something else very interesting - The Knights Templar were founded in 1118, again, around the same time all this was going on. Hmmmm..............
