In the video ambulatory, basilica of St Dennis, Paris 1114the it start by showing the view of these landmark architectural structure from different angles. The first image is a three-dimension view of the structure from a far. Then the next clip is the front view of the basilica. Then the artist takes us inside the building to take us through the various sections of the structure. From inside we see a lot of well-designed and drawn artwork of flowers on the glass windows. This architectural design is the oldest site built in gothic style. Then the video takes as to a map location of the building, which is in a small town of Dennis a few miles from Paris. Then the structural dissection of the various sections of the building is shown. The sections include Narthex at the front of the west wing; nave that run all the way from the west front to alter; Aisle and tower that are the surrounding walls. Other parts include the choir, transept, crossing, porch, chevette, and ambulatory(Beth and Stephen).
The abbot Suger on the abbey of church of St. Dennis and it art treasure translated by Edwin Panofsky Gives a detailed chronology of how the church came into being what it is today. After king Dogbert of Frank, run from his father’s wrath and came to the small town. He learned of the land where several Saint had been buried. It is during one of his visit to the piece of land that this very beautiful man in snow white garments appear to him and talks to him. The incidence makes the king think of building the most beautiful structure in remembrance and reflection of the martyrs laying on the piece of land.
He build the most beautiful basilica and after he had finished building it he fills it with gold and silver treasures hanging them on the walls. The basilica is built with the finest marble column. The columns and the tapestries of the church which the king makes sure he woven with gold and greatly adorn it with a number of pearl to make it stand out among other church at the time.The only thing that the king missed was the size of the basilica. It was so small given the big crowd that flocked the church to adore the Saint.
Due to this size, the writer says that through the power of God they expand the building to accommodate a huge crowd while at the same time maintaining the original architecture by the King. The work started by laying down a strong foundation for the naïve and the pillar. The twin pillars were spiral and built from the strongest stone marbles. The workers and resources were in abundance except for the fact that at first they could not find the correct stone marble to match the original style. However, this is resolved when a nearby query is found to have exactly what they had been looking for (Suger, Abbot Of Saint Denis, and Gerda 85-99).
During the high medieval Europe, Cluny, one of the most important Benedictine monasteries was built in France. Archeologists reveals from the ruins that remains after the monasteries were destroyed during the French Revolution reveals some details of the Cluny’s architecture. The twelfth century Cluny was plain in decoration and consisted of several land holdings and buildings with a layout that resembled that of a palace (Chitty, Derwas).
Work Cited
Beth, Harris and Zecker Stephen. “Birth Of The Gothic: Abbot Suger And The Ambulatory At St. Denis”. Smarthistory.N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.
Suger, Abbot Of Saint Denis, and Gerda Panofsky-Soergel. Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its art treasures.Ed. Erwin Panofsky.Princeton University Press, 1946.
Chitty, Derwas James. The desert a city: an introduction to the study of Egyptian and Palestinian monasticism under the Christian Empire. Oxford: Blackwell, 1966.