China

China has the worlds longest continuous civilization as well as the largest population. One of the design features practiced by the Chinese is the stupa which is a mound of dirt were a more permanent structure is built over the mound.

Another architectural achievement of the Chinese was the Great Wall of China. The wall was built as an attempt to keep enemies out of China and is one of the most extensive construction project ever completed. However, the wall never effectively kept out invaders though it did stand as a physiological barrier and remains as a powerful symbol of the countries strength.

EC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23oHqNEqRyo 

The Americas

The Americas consisted of four major groups, the Olmecs, the Myans, the Aztecs, and the Incas. The Olmecs were the first dominant culture in South America and lasted from 2000BC-300AD. Their cities were temple focused and they developed hieroglyphics. Their artwork consisted of jade objects and gigantic heads made of stone.

Social class had influence on the type of home those of this civilization lived in. Elites lived in highly decorative homes while commoners lived in homes made of sticks and mud. 

It is assumed that the Olmec civilization ended around 300 BC because there is no evidence of their existence after this time. It is a mystery what happened to the Olmecs as there have to no graves found to analyze and no concrete evidence of disease, war, famine, natural disaster or relocation, though all of these possibilities have been postulated.

The Mayan civilization began around 300 BC and flourished for about 1800 years. The Classic period of the Maya was the golden age of their civilization during which their civilization grew about 40 cities and the population reached about 2,000,000. They were deeply religious people who worshiped multiple gods. Like the Olmec, the end of the maya is also unknown. Some believe that the Maya exhausted the environment around them while others believe it was warfare with surrounding civilizations that brought an end to the Maya.

EC: 25 unknown facts about the Maya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2sUCcaPkAE

Gothic Period

The Gothic period took place from 1140-1500. During this time, the quality of life was low, as the living conditions were brutal and disease was common, the black plague happened during this time and the population was lowered by about a third. Churches, however, were still the center of city life and Paris was the center of the Gothic world.
Gothic architecture is characterized by:

Saint Denis

•  Height and light
• Pointed arches resulting in higher ceilings and wider vaults (the idea being the height to the church, the closer to God)
• Less concern for accommodation of pilgrimages and more concern for the spiritual experience of visitors 
• Interest in light and windows resulting is less structurally sound walls which led to flying buttresses
• Stained glass windows
• Orientation to the East (Jerusalem)
• Architectural experimentation

One of the first churches during this time was Saint Denis which was a royal church. This church had already previously existed and was reconstructed by Abbot Suger who believed that all churches should be beautiful, expensive places. Abbot Suger was given to a monetary as a baby and eventually because the most trusted individual to the royal family becoming the private confessor of Louis VI and VII.

Another design feature that became prominent in this era was the idea of Lux Nova or 'new light.' This was achieved by creating stained glass windows in the churches. By filtering light into something new it created the idea of noeplatonic ascent which is looking for the divine in immaterial things. One of the more prominent  designs created with stained glass windows was rose windows which were round stained glass windows that were meant to keep track of the the rosary. The stone in the the stained glass windows is called tracery and it's meant to proved strength to support the structure.

There were two styles of churches during this time. The first being Rayonnant style meaning radiant or radiating pattern. This style focused on the Rose window which for this style is more circular and round and meant to aide in praying the rosary. The second style was the Flamboyant style which was meant to to look like flames radiating from the center. This type of style had tracery on the exterior and was not only used in churches.

Rayonnant Style Rose Window

Flamboyant Style Rose Window Interior 

Flamboyant Style Church

Flamboyant Style Rose Window Exterior 

An example of stained glass windows is Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, France (built 1243-1248). It was built int he courtyard of the palace by Louis VII. It was built to house a relic he bought from his cousin, the crown of thrones although it was never proven to be the actual crown of thrones worn by Jesus. The building cost about 40,000 francs to build and more than 6,000 square feet of stained glass can be found in the chapel. Blue and red are the most prominent in this design because blue and red were the most difficult to make and therefore the most expensive.

Current Applications: 

Current use of pointed arches

Current use of pointed arches

EC: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz5YdZdqE44

Islamic

Islamic design was centered on religion. Mosques are models after the Prophet Mohammad's farm in Medina. Important feature of all mosques are the perimeter wall, the vocoder hall of columns that becomes the prayer hall and the courtyard. It is inspired by Indian design. One of the design features of mosques was that the walls were designed to look like carpets. To achieve that, intricate tile work is featured on the walls. This is shown in the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed also known as the 'blue mosque.'



EC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocyyxHkCvm8

Romanesque

The Romanesque period was a time modeled after the Roman period starting with Charles the Great who was the emperor in 800 AD. He encouraged building using the technology of Roman structures as well as preserved and copied Roman literature. The religious movement during this time was strong, over 1500 churches were built between 1000 and 1100. There were three main reasons of the influx of churches being built. First, the movement into towns and cities created a need for more churches. Second, there was a wildly felt relief and thanksgiving that the world had not ended as many had feared, and lastly there was a major increase in pilgrimages giving which led to towns feeling the need to build ever grander churches.

Romanesque architecture is characterized by:

• thick heavy walls to support stone roofing
• a blocky earthbound appearance
• the introduction of radiating chapels
• dark interiors due to massive walls and few windows
• growing sophistication in vaulting - barrel, groin, and ribbed

Ribbed Vault

One of the churches built during this time was the Cathedral Complex in the Pisa, Italy (Piazza dei Miracoli) or more commonly know as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This is a basilica planned church that like the Early Christian period, used spolia to create it. 

EC: Why the leaning tower of Pisa leans: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trZgC8icFVU

Byzantine

By the time of the Byzantine Empire, Christianity had come the official religion and any pagan worship was banned. Justinian was the first emperor of this empire, he was not only able to push out the ostrogoths, but keep them out throughout his lifetime. During this era, triumphal arches were no longer really used. Instead they would build churches as 'victory' monuments.

One thing that influenced the interiors of churches during this time was the idea of the 'mysticism of light.' They believed that light came from the good and that light was the visual image of God. Because of this belief, the churches during this time tended to be very well lit, with lots of windows. One way they would achieve this was by adding pendentives which are set domes on top of an arch and in the dome, they would add windows. This was first shown on the church Hagia Sophia.

One event that affected this era was Iconoclasm which means 'image breaking.' Basically, they found this quote in the bible, 'thous shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them' (Exodus 4-5) and decided that because of this, no one should own or display any image of any divine being (Jesus, Mary, or any saint). This was a major event because icons were import to the people of this time and because of this, the cities were purged of all divine images and a lot or artwork of this era was destroyed. 

Most of what did survive was hidden in the the monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, Egypt. Artwork was more likely to survive Iconoclasm here because it's located on a mountain and therefore difficult to get to. One of the paintings that survived in this monastery was 'Christ the Savior' or 'Christ Pantocrator'. When constructing the face of Christ, artists during this time would purposefully corrupt the face as an act of humility showing that they are human and therefore do not have the ability to create the perfection of Christ's face. 

EC: Information on Hagia Sophia :                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRPp3jzv1Tw

Early Christian

Statue of Constantine 

The early Christians were poor and hold no social status in Roman society because it was illegal to be Christian. This changed during a civil war and the night before the battle of Maxentius vs. Constantine, Constantine had a dream of an angel with a Christian symbol. The next day during battle, Constantine bears a flag with a Christian symbol on it and wins the battle. This leads to the legalization of Christianity. Constantine is titled as the first Christian and eventually converts to Christianity on his deathbed.

Arch of Constantine

Because of his victory over Maxentius and ending the civil war, Constantine was gifted and arch - the Arch of Constantine as a 10 year anniversary present of the defeat. The arch was placed in Rome and is made entirely of marble. On of the interesting features on this arch, is the use of spolia. Spolia is taking decorative elements from one building and using them on another, it is a practice that is used throughout history.

These images show all the decorative parts that were taken from another building and added to the arch. 

Santa Sabine Exterior 

Santa Sabine Interior 

After the legalization of Christianity, Christians were able to to gather publicly. the goal of the churches was to make them both functional and spiritual. Santa Sabine was the first Christian church built it is a Basilica-plan church. It's built of brick to show that they were humble and the interior is rich with spolia- the columns were taken from the temples and used to create a traffic flow.


A basilica-plan church was one of the two types of  churches built. Basilica-plan churches were shaped like a cross. The other type of church is a central-plan church. Central-plan churches were more circular.

An example of a central-plan church is Santa Costanza . It was built in Rome was originally built as a tomb for Costanza, Constantine's granddaughter who later became a saint. A lot of the mosaics that once decorated the interiors walls of this church were torn down during WWII because of the bombings near the site. The grape vines on the ceiling symbolize Christ. 

EC: 

Facts on Santa Costanza: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-XgWhlJA5E

Video of the interior of Santa Costanza: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IlpKALsRnk