Find the right contractors for your projects! We work with Homeowners, Property Management Companies, Real Estate Execs, General Contractors and Government Agencies to find the right contractors for their projects! Customers Served NATIONWIDE!
Medieval Architecture: Time of Troubles
Medieval architecture is largely based around the erection of
large fortifications – castles, great walls, and towers. Engineers from
medieval times had to understand intimately the lay of the land, the
strengths and procurement of granite and other building materials, and
the limitations of their artistic medium. Medieval architecture owes as
much to ancient buildings like caerns or fortifications as it does to
Roman architecture. Much medieval architecture has a primitive feel to
it, a sort of roughness and untamedness that classical Roman and Greek
architecture did not have.
If you want to visit medieval architecture, its ruins scatter the soft
hillsides of Europe. Many of the churches built by medieval architects
have not survived the years, but a few do. They are distinct from
Gothic churches by their very plainness – medieval design focused more
on practical considerations than on aesthetic. Medieval buildings tend
to be lower in height than either earlier or later forms of
architecture. A medieval building would have had few windows and doors;
the weight-bearing walls were not strong enough overall to handle the
cutting of many holes into them. Medieval buildings were not painted on
the outside; they were sometimes painted on the inside, though, and
often with gorgeous frescoes by old masters. The Last Supper is painted
on the ancient cafeteria wall of a monastery.
Mostly, though, medieval architecture reflects the thickness and
impenetrability of walls built in a time of unrest, when kings attacked
kings to build ever-larger kingdoms. Castles in this period were built
of solid stone rather than earthwork and wood, as previously. Moats
were widely used, and the motte-and-baily invented. Much medieval
design reflects military tactics, such as the double wall, used to trap
an attacker’s army and hold them there to be killed by the castle
defenders. Crenelated walls provided cover for archers to hide behind
on the roof, and arrow slits in tower walls were a vital way for
archers to shoot out while still being protected from enemy fire
within. Overall, medieval architecture’s heavy, dark styles reflect a
time when few were safe.
