Rules about old church construction?

January 15, 2006 10:29 AM

Were there rules or guidelines dictating the construction or details of churches during the 12th century? More specifically, how can someone find information on Vatican instructed church architecture or design in the 12th century?
posted by MightyNez to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

My understanding (and this is just from talking about it with a few art historians) is that there was not much actual control from Rome. However, everyone was building churches that looked like famous, established churches thereby making the Church's architectural program appear centralised. As an example - the basilica: this was a roman architectural form that was developed as a warehouse. The Church repurposed some of these buildings and it was eventually adopted as an ecclesiastical morphology. The ideal, then, wasn't necessarily innovation, but following a successful cannon. Of course this is only a single example (and it may be the outlier, at that) and may or may not be representative of church construction in the 12th c.
posted by jmgorman at 11:33 AM on January 15, 2006

I don't remember the time period off the top of my head, but for a very strictly rigorous church/monastery building program, you should look into the Cisterican order. They outlawed stained glass and any carved or painted ornamentation altogether. Their buildings are very austere and striking. I have a little pet theory that they inspired Le Corbusier (particularly at Notre Dame du Haut) -- he wrote a foreword to a book of photographs of Cistercian monasteries.

I'm afraid I don't have any great web resources for you -- my research was done largely pre-Web.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:31 PM on January 15, 2006

I asked my mom, who is a Professor of medieval art history, with a specialty in early Christian chapel architecture and decoration, and she says:

"Re your question .... i don't think so! I think lines of influence radiated out along a) pilgrimage routes b) Cistercian monastic connections c) In Italy, especially, tradition-dictated models such as St Peter's in Rome. Basics such as the altar in the East remained constant, though. I recommend relevant chapters (Part 4, Romanesque Art, ch. 15 16 & 17, in Medieval Art by James Snyder, NY 1989"
posted by Rumple at 10:36 PM on January 15, 2006

Maybe this could help
posted by hortense at 10:56 PM on January 15, 2006