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I think private devotional spaces were a way for the upper class to avoid mingling with the common people, and I definitely don’t think going to church was impersonal. Even though the churches were getting larger and more ornate, people who were going to church were celebrating their faith with other people who shared their beliefs, which I think would enhance the experience rather than detract from it. It seems like the upper class were competing with each other on who was the most devote and had the nicest religious items, while the lower class was going to church to actually show their devotion.
Lacey-
Interesting points! It’s interesting that they thought the more they spent on their faith the more faithful they were and more likely to get into heaven. I wonder where that idea started!Gabe-
I didn’t know that the windows were a metaphor for how God enters the earth through Christ, Mary, and the Saints and Prophets. That makes so much senses and explains why they were placed on the windows. Great post! Thank you. I thought the light just represented divinity but didn’t make the connection that it was coming through Christ and Mary.The inclusion of large stained glass windows and high vaulted ceilings is incredibly significant because these features are the defining aspects of gothic architecture. The large windows allowed much more light into the churches, which before these windows, were most likely pretty dark closed in spaces. Most people associate light with divinity and God, so I think the addition of all the natural light may have helped people feel closer to God, and entering the churches with intricate stained windows with light streaming in is incredibly awe inspiring.
During the Romanesque period, churches were built to allow people on pilgrimages to view relics or walk through the church without disrupting Mass. Some churches even had separate areas built that contained the relics so that people could circumvent the church, as to avoid disruption, but still view the religious relics.
Raven-
I love the analogies. Both your posts have been interesting and informative this week, so thank you! I like how you pointed out that the external artwork was to remind people why they were on their journey. I would probably need some reminding after hiking for who knows how long.:)Raven-
Thank you so much for including the pictures! Those are amazing! I also like how you said that churches held the collective knowledge of civilization. That’s very interesting. Great post!!When we looked at the art from the Byzantine era, we discussed how the purpose of their art seemed to change from recreating life to telling a story or relaying a message, and then how that idea was taken to the next level in Medieval times with their illuminated manuscripts. I feel like the turning churches into ‘bibles for the illiterate’ is the next step in this process. Entire stories were depicted with images, like with the ‘The Bayeux Tapestry’. I think it’s interesting that written word started with pictures which progressed to pictographs then to hieroglyphs etc. and now in Medieval times it’s reverting back to pictures in a sense.
I think the illuminated manuscripts from the Medieval era are much more influenced by the Byzantine era than Classical art. People are still represented much less realistically than they were in classical art, and the intention of the illuminated manuscripts was to tell stories and relay religious messages, which was an idea that started in the Byzantine era, and was taken further with illuminated manuscripts. Another thing taken from the Byzantine Era was the avoidance of Graven images, they don’t seem to take it as seriously as the Byzantine people, but the lasting effect of iconoclasm is definitely noticeable.
I totally agree! The Byzantine influence is much more obvious than that of classical art. People are less realistic looking and Graven images are avoided, much like they were in the Byzantine Era.
Interesting points! No one else brought up how it could be referring to the actually darkness of the art. That’s really interesting.
I definitely think the term the “Dark Ages” is a misnomer. I think it may referred to as the Dark Ages be because most of the art from that time period focuses on religion, and there were no radical changes in religion, therefore the subject matter of art and literature didn’t change much. But in my opinion, religion is another form of culture, and just because things weren’t drastically changing doesn’t mean that they weren’t evolving.
Lucas- I was looking around for statues from the Byzantine era online, and it was hard to find them! I wonder why there are less statues. They could have made less realistic statues, and I wonder why they didn’t!
As others have said, I think the art of the Byzantine era became less realistic because the point of the art was to convey messages, emotions, and stories rather than be a perfect image representing a part of a story people already knew. Christianity was still relatively young, so I think people were using art to tell stories, opposed to the Romans who were just depicting parts of stories that everyone already knew because they were so old.
