Gothic: Notre Dame Cathedral

http://www.romanes.com/Paris/Notre_Dame_de_Paris/Notre_Dame_de_Paris_0003_en.html
Here is a photo of Notre Dame. The flying buttress are very apparent in this photo. The flying buttresses were designed to balance the weight of the nave, and which the nave was created higher in the cathedral.I think the flying buttress gives emphasis to the center and an open, kind of airy feel to the cathedral. For this research I looked at photos of Notre Dame, which were all from the history link above and I watched a video on youtube. Here is the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFQDuQUY-XM I found out Notre Dame's construction had begun 1163 and finished 182 years later. Also the high alter was created during the time. There are a lot of statues included on this Gothic cathedral. The final judgment is within the designs. There are also a lot of stain glass windows. I am glad Victor Hugo wrote about the cathedral as mentioned at the end of this video. The book made people interested in the building again and wanted to redeem it. Though, I have heard from friends that Hugo goes into long passages of describing Notre Dame and should have just made a book for Notre Dame. I think I would like to see Notre Dame on my Dream trip to France.

Chartres Cathedral

In Southwest of Paris it demonstrates the passage of time from past to future with art. I found it interesting that in the video they had said the west represents the end of the world or the last judgment. On one of the colorful stain glass windows I thought the blue on Mary was a nice hue. It is a cool idea to have stories illustrated on glass and hung up as windows. The sun narrates the illuminated pictures. I wonder how long it takes to finish one stain glass window.  

Early Medieval Book of Kells

During class the slide show had pictures of the gospels from the book of Kells. I thought they looked very detailed and ornate. The drawings of the people concerning the illustration were stylized, which matched the stylized loopy, interclocking, and overlaping lines. The lines filled the space and created an atmosphere, possibly pertaining to each stroy/gospel.
The book of Kells could have been created on the coast of Scotland and then in Meath, which is in Ireland, but it was said that it was finished at Kells. The book of Kells was a gospel book with illustrations. The pages are filled with many twisting patterns and colors. The images were to illustrate from the gospels. Most of the gospels start with an ornate letter and sometimes drawings are swirling around the letter. In the book of Kells they had pages that were completly covered with the twising lines. It almost seems like the artist had to put them in the pages for obsessive reasons.
I really wanted to just look at the drawings so I did:
   There seems to be patterns withing the shapes that form the creatures head. The blue from the angels eyes help compromise with the creatures blue head. So many repeated lines. Lines within lines.
 This one really appealed to me. The bright yellow and rustic colors give off a nice warm theme, though the hidden blue helps balance the warm colors. The square shapes and ornate design remind me of Persian carpets.
Sources:

Fritz, Donald W. "Origin And Meaning Of Pattern In The Book Of Kells." Journal Of Analytical Psychology 22.4 (1977): 343-353. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

http://www.medievalscript.com/images/may07/kells.jpg

http://www.fontcraft.com/artype/kells/page1.gif

Vezelay: Church and Hill

Vezelay is a medieval town that was a holy pilgrimage town for Christens. It was built in 10^th century. Vezelay is located in the central of France. There were, I think cement shells, which were called St. James shells. The shells had become a symbol of pilgrimage. I wonder how many people still do the pilgrimage.

Santa Maria Maggiore: early Christian and Byzantine

For early christian and byzantine research I looked up Santa Maria Maggiore. It is in Rome and was created in 5th century A.D., while the Pope Sixtus III was still alive. It said the mosaics date back also to the 5th centuy and some mosaics were created later on as well. The Santa Maria Maggiore was restored during the 18th century. The video from the art history link described Santa Maria Maggiore as a symbol of authority and there would be a judge or the emperor inside the building. There was an alter for the goddess of knowlege. There were mosaics of the Madonna which were the oldest in the building. The mosaics tell the stories from the old testament and new. Some were framed with ornate golden frames. There also is a very high alter that has a Byzantine picture of Jesus and Mary behind it. Jesus is crowning Mary and I thought that was very powerful. They said the pope was to give mass besides it. In the video they described the piece by pointing out some art elements, like the folds in the seated figures garments had deep lines, which gave depth. Also, because the way the two were seated there appeared to give off the illusion of weight.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/santa-maria-maggiore.html?q=santa-maria-maggiore.html
http://05varvara.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/01-jacopo-torriti-the-coronation-of-mary-st-maria-maggiore-roma-italy-1294-mosaic.jpg?w=1200&h=840

Zeugma Mosaics

When I went on the Archaeology Magazine website for an article to blog about I saw an image of a Roman mosaic on the home page. The Roman mosaic was of a girl and it was familiar to me, because my family had purchased a mosaic picture from an art show in Lawernce, KS. The purchased art looked very similar to the piece on the site, so now I know that the artist who did the mosaic must have been inspired by the ancient Zeugma mosaic.
The article on the site was talking about a flood that occured in the year 2000, which had effected anicent Zeugma. Many people wanted to protect the ancient city and have been saving mosaics from the area. There is a museum of mosaics from Zeugma.
Zeugma was orignally named Seleucia, created by one of Alexander the Great's Commanders. Seleucia had been a military colony on the western side of the river. He also established another city, which was named Apamea. The second city was on the eastern side of the bank and was connected to Seleucia by a bridge. Later on the Romans conqueared Seleucia and renamed it Zeugma. In ancient Greek, Zeugma meant "bridge." Though, the bridge and Apamea did not survie.
In the imperial period the city Zeugma had became important to the Romans. Zeugma was a large and economical border city. Zeugma did not last too long, because it was attacked in A.D. 253.
The article said that the mosaics were important part of the houses attitude or the mood. In each room a mosaic told a story. It also said the mosaics reflected the owner of the houses interests or art taste.
I have always kind of liked mosaics, because mosaics can be compared  to the art style of pointillism or maybe puzzles. Mosaics seem to have movement in them. If the tiles are altered in a certain way like a line it brings life to the piece.
Here is the photo of the moszic:

The mosaic my family owns is not as vivid or deep in color and contrast as the orignal. Also the one at home is more stylized and simple. I guess not as realistic as this one.
I got all the information and picture from this site: http://www.archaeology.org/1211/features/zeugma_turkey_belkis_roman_mosaics.html

Instanbul, Turkey: Hagia Sophia

Hagai Sophia was a great church which was created in the early 6th centureies. The church was created in the Byzantine style. I like the dome shapes. It is interesting that the video compared the building as a shell. The church has now been turned into a museum. It is a shame that the old Christian art was covered up.Years before it was a building for different religions. I guess the only way a building could survive is by being conquered and transformed as different symbols throughout time.