Department of the History of Art and Architecture                                                         University of Pittsburgh

Spring Term 2005 (05-2)                                                                            Thursdays 6:00--8:30 p.m., Frick 203

Professor Franklin Toker                                                                                             HA&A 0221, CRN 40022

 

Syllabus for

 

MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE

 

Welcome!

Oddly, perhaps, for someone who has worked with and excavated medieval architecture for almost forty years, I've never taught medieval architecture in a one-shot course before.  It's something I've wanted to do for years, but I was always held back by the absence of a good text that would cover the whole of the Middle Ages and amply illustrate its architecture besides. Now that book exists, in your required course text, Robert Calkins's Medieval Architecture in Western Europe, and it comes with a CD that illustrates literally hundreds of buildings.

As I wrote in the abstract to this course, medieval architecture takes many forms over its 1200-year lifespan, but there are many links among the four main divisions: Early Christian and Byzantine (approximately 300 to 600); Early Medieval (includes Carolingian and Ottonian, 600 to 1000); Romanesque (1000 to 1150, with overlaps); and Gothic (1150 to 1500, with overlaps).  These links will make the subject comprehensible to us, and the masterpiece buildings we will be studying (Old St. Peter's, S. Vitale, Hagia Sofia, Torhalle at Lorsch, Palace Chapel in Aachen, Tournus, Cluny, Toulouse, Notre-Dame in Paris, Amiens, S. Croce and Florence Cathedral, to name a few) will make it all worthwhile.

The class is your doorway into a fabulous territory.  Like the Hobbit, or maybe Harry Potter, there are a few talismans or passwords to get through this territory: keep up with the readings, don't miss the lectures (attendance is mandatory, anyway), and keep fitting the pieces together all term long, not just when the midterm and final show up. Enjoy yourself! 

--Frank Toker

 

 

Class meetings:

Please note: class members need to read the cited chapter in Calkins, Medieval Architecture in Western Europe, before coming to class.  Our lectures and the chapter divisions in Calkins will be closely similar (though not identical), so you need to read the chapters in Calkins in their entirety.  All but a half-dozen of the "key works" are illustrated in the Calkins book, on or following the page number given below.  The CD that comes with the Calkins text gives you an unparalleled chance to get to know the key buildings well, with up to 30 detailed views of the same structure.  About 90% of the "key works" are on the CD, but beware that Calkins also includes scores of buildings on the CD that are mentioned nowhere in the text, which can get confusing. Also occasionally confusing is the way Calkins abbreviates his image filenames.  On the CD they are alphabetical, but sometimes by building name [SVITALE], most often by town [AMIENS], and occasionally by acronym [GDP for the oratory at Germigny-des-Pres].  I have attempted to track these names, especially the counterintuitional ones, in brackets next to its listing below. I also mark NCD to mean "not illustrated in the CD," but I may have missed a few.

 

 

Week 1. (6 January) Physical and social context for medieval architecture; characteristics of the Late Antique style [read Calkins chapter 1: pp. 1--13]

 

key works:

3. Rome:  Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, 307-312 NCD

3. Rome: Pantheon, ca. 118-128 NCD

7. Tivoli: Hadrian's Villa: the so-called "Piazza d'Oro," 125-133 NCD

9. Tivoli: Hadrian's Villa: the so-called "Triconch [misprinted as Treconch] Dining Hall," 125-133 NCD, but the Serapheum in Tivoli is SERAPH1, the Canopus is CANOP2/3 and VESTIB1

11. Spalato (Split, Croatia): Diocletian's villa, ca. 300: plan, with peristile or courtyard, the Porta Aurea, and the palace facade NCD

13. Trier, Germany: Constantine's Aula Palatina/ Imperial Basilica (audience hall) ca. 300-310  (assumed patronage) NCD

 

works in context:

Palestrina (ancient Praeneste), near Rome: Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, ca. 80 BC

Rome:  Arch of Constantine, 312-317

 

Week 2. (13 January) Constantine and the Invention of the Christian Basilica [Calkins chapter 2: pp. 14--33; readings for tonight:

01) Turpin C. Bannister: "The Constantinian Basilica of Saint Peter at Rome"; 02) Gregory T. Armstrong: "Constantine's Churches: Symbol and Structure."]

 

key works:

16. Dura Europos, Syria: Christian house-church (domus ecclesia), 231 NCD

17. Rome: "Old" St. Peter's, begun possibly 319-22 or 326 NCD

19. Ravenna: S. Apollinare Nuovo, ca. 495--504 (proportions changed) SAPOLLN2

21. Rome: Baptistery of the Basilica of St. John [in] the Lateran, 312, rebuilt 430

29: Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulcher, ca. 326; Anastasis Rotunda added ca. 350.

31. Bethlehem: Church of the Nativity, complete by 333

31. Qalat Siman, Syria: monastery of St. Simeon in Styletes, ca. 480-490

31. Der Tourmanin, Syria: monastery ca. 500.

 

works in context:

16. Dura Europos, Syria: synagogue, rebuilt mid-3rd century AD

Rome:  Lateran Basilica, begun ca. 313 NCD

31. Qalb Louzeh, Syria, aisled basilica, ca. 500 NCD

Florence: S. Reparata, ca. 500 NCD

 

 

Week 3. (20 January) Justinian and the Byzantine tradition: the return of imperial magnificence [Calkins chapter 3, pp. 34--49; reading: 03) Joan R. Branham: "Sacred Space under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches"]

 

key works:

24. Rome: Sta. Costanza, late 4th or early 5th century NCD

21. Ravenna: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, 421 PLACID1

25. Milan: S. Lorenzo, completed by 378 MILAN1--4

34. Constantinople [=Istanbul], Turkey): Saints Sergius & Bacchus, ca. 527 and before 536 SERGB1--4

35. Ravenna, S. Vitale, 548 SVITAL1--5

38. Constantinople: Haghia Sophia, 532--537; architects: Anthemios of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus HS1--19

 

works in context:

27. Bosra [more commonly: Bostra], Syria, s. of Damascus: Cathedral, 512.

50. Hosios Lukas: Katholikon, early 11th c.

 

 

Week 4. (27 January) Northern and western neighbors: "Dark Ages" buildings in Germany, France, Spain, and England [Calkins chapter 5. pp. 56--65; chapter 8, pp. 91--99; first part of chapter 12, pp. 151--154; reading: 04) Richard Krautheimer: "Introduction to an 'Iconography of Mediaeval Architecture'"]

 

key works:

21. Ravenna: Tomb of Theodoric, ca. 500 THEOD1/2

58. Montecassino, founded by St. Benedict ca. 520; rebuilt by Abbot Desiderius ca. 1075 NCD

64. Poitiers: Baptistery of St. Jean, seventh century POIT1/2

93. Cordoba, Spain: mosque/cathedral, late 8th through 11th centuries CORDOBA1--5

96. Oviedo, Spain: palace chapel now Sta Maria de Naranco, ca. 842 NARANC1--4

98. San Miguel de Escalada, Spain: church, 913 NCD

151. Brixworth, England: All Souls, eighth century (plan p. 152 no longer current) NCD

153. Earl's Barton, England: Anglo-Saxon church, ca. 1000 NCD

 

works in context:

Jouarre, France; crypt of St.Paul, burials of Merovingian kings Agilbert and Theodechilde; seventh century.

Ravenna: Palace of the Exarchs [and earlier, of Theodoric?], eighth century

Spoleto, Italy (near): Tempietto di Clitunno

Castelseprio, Italy: Longobard church

Udine, Italy (near): Tempietto Longobardo

 

 

Week 5. (3 February) Carolingian and Ottonian: The Basilica Transformed and Reformed [Calkins chapter 6, pp. 66--79; chapter 7, pp. 80--90; readings: 05) Walter Horn; Ernest Born: "The 'Dimensional Inconsistencies' of the Plan of Saint Gall and the Problem of the Scale of the Plan"; 06) Richard Krautheimer: "The Carolingian Revival of Early Christian Architecture"]

 

key works:

59. Ideal monastery plan for St. Gall, Switzerland, ca. 820

66. Lorsch, Germany: abbey and gatehouse (Torhalle), after 774 LORSCH1--5

67. Aachen, Germany: palace chapel, 790s; designer: Odo of Metz. [AACHEN 5 views]

71. Germigny-des-Pres, France: oratory chapel, 806 [GDP: 6 views]

73. Fulda, Germany: abbey church of Sts. Salvator and Boniface, 802-819 NCD

75. Centula, France: abbey church of St.Riquier, 790s NCD

77. Corvey an der Weser, Germany: abbey church of St. Stephen, mid- and late-9th c. CORVEY1--5

80. Ottmarsheim, France (Alsace): St. Mary, completed 1049 OTTMAR1--4

80. Essen, Germany: abbey church [Münster], overseen by Abbess Theophano, 1051 NCD

82. Gernrode, Germany: abbey church of St. Cyrakus, 983 and 12th century GERN2--7

85. Hildesheim, Germany: abbey church of St. Michael, 1001--1033 HILD1--4

 

works in context:

Rome: S. Prassede ca. 820

Noirmoutier, France (near): St. Philibert de Grandlieu, ca.  820.

Cologne: S. Pantaleon

 

 

Week 6. (10 February) Midterm; after a break, class resumes with experiments in Romanesque Engineering [Calkins chapter 9, pp. 100--110; readings: 07) Kenneth J. Conant: "The after-Life of Vitruvius in the Middle Ages"; 08) Edson Armi: "Orders and Continuous Orders in Romanesque Architecture"]

 

key works:

100. St.-Martin-du-Canigou, France: monastery, 1001--1009 CANIGOU1--3

103. Dijon, France: St.-Bénigne, overseen by William of Volpiano, 1001--1018; largely disappeared for later construction NCD

105. Tournus, France: St. Philibert, ca. 1000 TOURN10--13 and TOURNUS1--9

 

works in context:

St.-Benôit-sur-Loire, monastery church, early eleventh century.

 

 

Week 7. (17 February) Mature Romanesque style [Calkins chapter 10, pp. 111--135 on France; also review chap. 5 on monasticism; readings: 09) Walter Horn: "Romanesque Churches in Florence: A Study in Their Chronology and Stylistic Development"; 10) Franklin Toker: "A Baptistery below the Baptistery of Florence"]

 

key works:

49. Venice: S. Marco, begun 1063 VENICE1--4

60, 111, 115. Second and Third Abbey Churches of Cluny, France, ca. 1088-1130 CLUNY1--14

86. Speyer, Germany: Kaiserdom [Imperial Cathedral], 1030--1061; domical groin vaults 1087ff SPEYER1--10

111. Chapaize, France: church of St.-Martin, ca. 1050 CHAPAIZ

112. Nevers, France: St.-Etienne, complete by 1097 NEVERS2--9

121. Autun: St.-Lazare, 1120--1146 AUTUN1--4

121. Velzelay: La Madeleine, 1120--1132 VEZEL1--3 for the Romanesque church; VEZCH1--5 for the later Gothic choir

124. Toulouse: St.-Sernin, ca. 1060--1119 TOUL1--4

127. Compostela, Spain: Santiago de Compostela, ca. 1075--1115 NCD

131. Périgeux: St.-Front, ca. 1047, then early 12th c.; NCD

132. Angoulęme: St.-Pierre, 1105--1128 ANGOUL1--3

134. Fontenay: Cistercian abbey, completed by 1147 FONT1--13

146. Florence: S. Miniato al Monte, late 11th c.; SMIN1

146. Pisa: Cathedral, begun 1063--mid-12th c.; architect: Busketos PSAD1--4

149. Milan: S. Ambrogio, nave vaulted about 1140 SAMBR1--5

 

works in context:

136. Maria Laach, Germany: abbey church, 1093--1153.

136. Cologne [Köln], Germany: triapsidal churches

 

 

Week 8. (24 February) Experiments in vaulting, and the transformation to Gothic style [Calkins chapter 12, pp. 154--167; readings: 11) M. Wolfe, Robert Mark: "Gothic Cathedral Buttressing: The Experiment at Bourges and Its Influence"]

 

key works:

154. Jumičges, France: Notre-Dame, 1050--1067 JUM1--6

155. Caen, France: La Trinité [Abbaye aux Dames], dedicated 1066; pseudo-sexpartite rib vaults ca. 1130 LATRIN1--7

158. Caen, France: St.-Etienne [Abbaye aux Hommes], dedicated 1077; true sexpartite vaults ca. 1135 CAEN1--9

164. Durham: Cathedral, construction begins 1093, rib-vaulted ca. 1120; prototype "flying buttress" (actually quadrant arch in gallery) DURHAM1--8

 

works in context:

160ff. Anglo-Norman Romanesque in London, St. Albans, Winchester, Ely, and Gloucester

 

 

Week 9. (3 March) Early Gothic [Calkins chapter 13, pp. 168--197; reading: 12) John Summerson: "Heavenly Mansions: An Interpretation of Gothic"]

 

key works:

172. St.-Denis, outside Paris: Abbey church of St.-Denis; facade consecrated 1140; ambulatory, 1140-1144; overseen by Abbot Suger SDENI15A, then SDENIS1--19

178. Sens: cathedral of St.-Etienne, Gothic rebuilding begun ca.  1140s; nave complete by 1180 SENS1--9

183. Laon: cathedral of Notre-Dame, begun ca. 1155; completed with new flat apse ca. 1205 LAON1--15

187. Paris: cathedral of Notre-Dame, rebuilding begun ca.  1150; facade ca.  1200; completed ca.  1250 PARIS1--19

 

works in context:

Noyon, Tournai cathedrals; choir of Vezelay.

 

 

[Spring Break: no class on 10 March]

 

 

Week 10. (17 March) High Gothic [Calkins chapter 14, pp. 198--218; chapter 16, pp 236--246; reading: 13) Erwin Panofsky: Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism]

 

key works:

198. Chartres: cathedral of Notre-Dame; 1134 fire: lower facade ca. 1170; 1194 fire: nave 1134--1220 CHART01--31 and CHARTR1

207. Bourges: cathedral of St.-Étienne, choir & nave, 1195--ca. 1255 BOURG01-17

211. Reims: cathedral of Notre-Dame; choir to facade, ca. 1211--1254. Architects Jean d'Orbais, Jean de Loup, Gaucher de Reims, Bernard de Soissons, and Robert de Coucy (the last two on the facade) REIMS01--14

238. Amiens: cathedral of Notre-Dame; begun 1220, completed about 1275; Architects Robert de Luzarches, Thomas de Cormont, and Regnault de Cormont AMIENS01--15

241. Beauvais: cathedral of St.-Pierre, begun ca. 1225, choir vaults collapsed 1284, perhaps because of poor intermediate buttressing pier; still being built to 1337, when abandoned BEAUV01--25

243. Paris: Sainte-Chapelle, 1242--1248.  Attributed to architect Thomas de Cormont STCHAP1--5

 

works in context:

205. Soissons: cathedral of Notre-Dame, nave completed early 13th century.

236. St.-Denis: High Gothic nave, mid 13th c.

245. Troyes: St.-Urbain, 1262--later 14th c.

 

 

Week 11. (24 March) Late Gothic building, mainstream and periphery [Calkins chapter 15, pp. 219--235; remainder of chapter 16, pp. 246--252; chapter 17, pp. 253--289; readings: 14) Franklin Toker: "Arnolfo's S. Maria del Fiore: A Working Hypothesis"; 15) Marvin Trachtenberg: "Gothic/Italian 'Gothic': Toward a Redefinition"; 16) Walter C. Leedy Jr.: "The Origins of Fan Vaulting"]

 

key works:

219. Canterbury: Christ church cathedral, reconstruction impelled by murder of Thomas ŕ Becket, 1170, and great fire of 1174; choir complete by 1184. Architects William of Sens to 1178, then William the Englishman CANTB1--12

222, 257. Wells: cathedral of St. Andrew, begun ca.  1200, nave complete ca. 1225 WELLS1/2

228. Assisi, Italy: S. Francesco, 1228--1253 ASSISI1--3

231. Orvieto: cathedral, 1290--ca. 1310 (facade to 1330s) ORVIET1--4

232. Florence: S. Croce, 1294--mid 14th c. Architect: Arnolfo di Cambio FLOR2/3

233. Florence: cathedral of S. Maria del Fiore, 1296--dome consecrated 1436. Architect: Arnolfo di Cambio; reworked by committee; dome designed by Filippo Brunelleschi FLOR4/5/6

246, 257. London: Westminster Abbey, 1240s. Architect Henry de Reyns WESTM2

247. Cologne [Köln], Germany: cathedral, choir 1248--1322, facade incomplete until 19th c.; KOLN1--8

262. Cambridge: King's College Chapel, 1512. Architect John Wastrell CAMBKC1--3

275. Nürnberg, Germany: Sankt Lorenz, nave 1390s, choir 1439--1459 (plan architect Konrad Heinzelmann), with net vaults 1459--1472 designed by Konrad Roriczer NURNB1--4

284. Gdansk, Poland [=Danzig, Prussia]: cathedral of St. Mary, 1343--1502 GDANM1--4

285. Gdansk, Poland [=Danzig, Prussia]: St. Catherine, ca. 1500 GDANC1--5

 

works in context:

contemporary church-building in Spain, Germany, England, Czech Republic

 

 

Week 12. (31 March) Secular and non-Christian buildings [Calkins chapter 18, pp. 290--304]

 

key works:

19. Ravenna: Theodoric's palace as documented in the mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo, ca. 500 (within ill. 2.8, p. 19) NCD

71. Ravenna: Palace of the Exarchs [and earlier, of Theodoric?], eighth century EXARCH2

93. Cordoba, Spain: mosque/cathedral, late 8th through 11th centuries CORDOBA1--5

Bayeux, France: Bayeux tapestry, ca. 1070, showing secular buildings NCD

290. Colmar, France: late-medieval half-timbered houses COLMAR

291. Beaugency, France: keep or donjon, 11th c.; BEAUG

292. Krak des Chevaliers, Syria: Crusader castle, 12th c.; KRAK

295. Cluny: private house, 12th c. NCD

297. Bourges: house of Jacques Coeur, 1443--1451 COEUR1--7

299. Beaune: Hôtel-Dieu hospital, begun 1443 BEAUNE1--3

300. Bruges, Belgium: Halle, or guildhall, later 13th c.; BRUGESH

302. Siena: Palazzo Pubblico on the Campo, 1298--mid 14th c.; SIENAPP

Siena: Palazzo Sansedoni on the Campo, 12th c. and 1339

303. London: Westminster Hall, 1393--1400. (Architect Henry Yevele?) NCD

Avignon, France: Palace of the Popes, 14th c.; NCD

 

works in context:

Synagogues in Worms (11th/12th c), Toledo (12th and 14th c.), Prague and Krakow (13th-14th c.)

 

 

Week 13. (7 April) The medieval city [review Calkins chapter 18]

 

key works:

295. Carcassonne, France: 13th c.; CARC1--4

300. Florence, Italy: Ponte Vecchio, 1334 and outer circle of walls, 1290sff.; BRIDGE1

302. Siena: "urban renewal" of piazza del Campo, 13th--14th c.; SIENAPP

 

works in context:

Medieval London, Paris, Venice.

 

 

Week 14. (14 April) Patrons and builders; the emergence of the architect [Calkins chapter 19, pp. 305--312, read with particular care; reading: 17) Franklin Toker: "Gothic Architecture by Remote Control: An Illustrated Building Contract of 1340"]

 

key works:

310. Villard de Honnecourt notebook, ca. 1225--1250 NCD

Giovanni di Agostino: facade drawing for Palazzo Sansedoni, Siena, 1339.

Arnolfo di Cambio at S. Croce and S. Maria del Fiore, Florence, 1290s.

 

 

Week 15. (21 April) Final examination: regular time and place


Organization and requirements for the course:

The primary course objective is to train students in visual perception and integration of the visual evidence with the social and cultural life of the Middle Ages.  We begin chronologically with a look at the Late-Antique style, examine the architectural consequences of the rise of Christianity, then look at the early church building campaigns in the main countries involved.  Three emperors who had a profound understanding of the power of architecture will catch our attention in the first half of the course: Constantine, Justinian, and Charlemagne.  The second half of the course is dominated by the builders whose engineering experiments--and aesthetic sense--brought on the Romanesque and Gothic styles.

Requirements for the course will be weekly readings (students will report on one of these in writing, another orally), and a paper of about three pages on one particular building or urban design from the period.  Students will pick their own topics for this "short analytical paper," but these must be approved by the instructor for individuality and expectation that the topic is in fact do-able.  Students will e-mail three possible choices to the instructor by the third week of class; instructor replies yes, no, or "needs modification" within a few days.  A long paragraph with preliminary bibliography is then due two weeks later; this will be returned the next week. The completed paper to be handed in two weeks after that, and given back at the next class.

  Students are expected to devote about two hours a week to the reading assignments, about five hours to the short analytical paper, and the same for study for the midterm and final exam. Students will be evaluated in a substantial fashion before the deadline for Monitored Withdraw. 

       

Grading Policy:

Relative weight of each requirement:

10% attendance

10% participation (two separate responses of 5%: see below)

10% your reading response paper

10% your oral report (team of 3) on one of the readings

10% your oral report (team of 3) on a preceding class

20% Midterm

30% Final Exam

 

Late work and make-ups:

University-approved reasons for a student's missing work, classes, or tests (illness, family or personal emergency) are accepted, but the make-ups have to follow promptly.  Late work can be submitted up to the class in which the instructor hands back that assignment, unless emergency conditions still prevail for that particular student.  There is no "extra-credit" work.

 

Students with disabilities:

If you have a disability for which you are requesting accommodation, please contact the instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union 412.624.7890.

 

Cheating and plagiarism:

This course adheres to the following statement of the Senate Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom: "The integrity of the academic process requires fair and impartial evaluation on the part of faculty and honest academic conduct on the part of students.  To this end, students are expected to conduct themselves at a high level of responsibility in the fulfillment of the course of their study.  It is the corresponding responsibility of faculty to make clear to students those standards by which students will be evaluated, and the resources permissible for use by students during the course of their study and evaluation.  The educational process is perceived as a joint faculty-student enterprise which will perforce involve professional judgment by faculty and may involve--without penalty--reasoned exception by students to the data or views offered by faculty."  In simple terms, you'll get an F for the class, and a recommendation for disciplinary action by the Dean of Students.

 

Attendance:

Regular attendance at the lectures is required, and will be taken after the break; one missed class will be excused, so please do not e-mail instructor why you were away.

 

Participation:

The instructor usually has a good recollection of class participation, but to make sure no one is overlooked, kindly turn in a note at the end of at least two separate classes that will remind me, e.g. "Professor Toker, I was the person who pointed out that the Bayeux Tapestry building looked like a Roman arch," or whatever your contribution was.  Mark your name clearly. Also, write your name out boldly on a sheet of paper at your desk, so I learn your name early on.

 

Reading response paper:

During the term you will write one paper of a few pages on one of the seventeen readings listed by number in the "course meetings" information.  This must be your original, unassisted work, and it can only be on the reading(s) for that particular week.  You need to hand it in at the beginning of class; anything later will not be accepted, since your fellow-students are going to discuss it in class (see below).

 

Oral report (team of 3) on one of the readings:

During the term, you will join two other people in giving an oral report on one of the readings for this class: about two or three minutes each, please. Pick a reading, divide it up in some meaningful way, tell the class what the argument is, how the scholar approached it, how convincing or unconvincing the article is.  You need to form your own team, and tell the instructor before the preceding class ends.  Your written and oral reports cannot be on the same reading.

 

Oral report (team of 3) on a preceding class:

During the term, you will join two other people in giving an oral report on the preceding class: about a minute or two each.  As above, you need to form your own team, and tell the instructor before the preceding class ends.  Get together with your team, and summarize the points made in the preceding lecture.  This will not be possible for the final exam evening.

 

Midterm:

This will use no scans, and will probably be multiple-choice ("probably," because it depends on how well the class seems to be taking to the material).  Example: Both when it was founded and after it was modified soon after, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher consisted of how many separate parts? a)one  b)two  c)three d)four or  The church of S. Lorenzo in Milan carries a high similarity with the plan of which earlier building?  a)Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine  b)Church of the Nativity  c)Piazza d'Oro at Hadrian's Villa  d)Pantheon

 

Final exam:

No scans.  Factual material from the second half of the course only, but conceptual material from both halves.  Short-answer factual questions (example: the nave vaults of St.-Étienne at Caen differ from those of La Trinité at Caen in what way?), then an essay.

 

 

Other course information

Website for this course: www.pitt.edu/~tokerism, click on "Medieval Architecture"; you'll also be getting periodic e-mails from the instructor.

 

Instructor: Frank Toker; office on balcony of Frick Library reading room; student meeting hours are normally Friday mornings 9 to 11.  Telephone 412.648.2419; e-mail ftoker@pitt.edu. You are most welcome to drop in, call, or cyberchat.

 

Readings and illustrations: The course text is Robert Calkins's Medieval Architecture in Western Europe (New York, Oxford University Press, 1998) available at the University Book Centre and elsewhere around town, and on reserve shelf. Remember to use the CD (attached to the inner back cover), which is full of essential images you need to remember the buildings.

 

Reserve Books (PITTCAT also carries this under "course reserves"):

Robert Calkins: Medieval architecture in Western Europe: from A.D. 300 to 1500. New York, 1998.  NA5453.C35 1998; CD at pages' desk.

 

Roger Stalley: Early Medieval Architecture Oxford, 1999.  NA350.S78. [also Hillman]

 

Whitney Stoddard: Monastery and Cathedral in Medieval France [=Art and architecture in Medieval France] New York, 1966. N6843.S86 1972

 

Paul Frankl: Gothic architecture NA440.F83g (also at Hillman)

 

Banister Fletcher: A history of architecture on the comparative method. New York, 1963.  17th ed; NA200.F61 [a truly exhaustive survey, useful as first step in locating information on medieval monuments, or those of any period]

 

Richard Krautheimer: Early Christian and Byzantine architecture. Harmondsworth, 1965. NA360.K91 1967

 

Kenneth John Conant: Carolingian and Romanesque architecture, 800 to 1200. Harmondsworth, 1959. NA390.C74.

 

John Summerson: Heavenly mansions, and other essays on architecture. New York, 1950. NA2563.S955. Read the first essay for class.

 

Erwin Panofksy: Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism

 

Hans Erich Kubach: Romanesque Architecture

 

Louis Grodecki: Gothic Architecture

 

Buildings Across Time (will join reserves later; excellent chapters on medieval architecture)

 

Nicola Coldstream: Medieval Architecture (Oxford, 2002). Offers a somewhat more varied view than Calkins, but shorter chronologically.

 

Reserve articles in chronological order of subject: (these articles are all on reserve in hardcopy; but the website version of this text allows you to click on them directly, to view and/or print them out):

 

01) Turpin C. Bannister: "The Constantinian Basilica of Saint Peter at Rome," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 27, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp. 3-32.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28196803%2927%3A1%3C3%3ATCBOSP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y

 

02) Gregory T. Armstrong: "Constantine's Churches: Symbol and Structure," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 33, No. 1. (Mar., 1974), pp. 5-16.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28197403%2933%3A1%3C5%3ACCSAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

 

03) Joan R. Branham: "Sacred Space under Erasure in Ancient Synagogues and Early Churches," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, No. 3. (Sep., 1992), pp. 375-394.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28199209%2974%3A3%3C375%3ASSUEIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

 

04) Richard Krautheimer: "Introduction to an 'Iconography of Mediaeval Architecture'," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 5. (1942), pp. 1-33.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0075-4390%281942%295%3C1%3AITA%22OM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5

 

05) Walter Horn; Ernest Born: "The 'Dimensional Inconsistencies' of the Plan of Saint Gall and the Problem of the Scale of the Plan, " The Art Bulletin, Vol. 48, No. 3/4. (Sep. - Dec., 1966), pp. 285-308.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28196609%2F12%2948%3A3%2F4%3C285%3AT%22IOTP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y

 

 

 

06) Richard Krautheimer: "The Carolingian Revival of Early Christian Architecture, " The Art Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 1. (Mar., 1942), pp. 1-38.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28194203%2924%3A1%3C1%3ATCROEC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1

 

07) Kenneth J. Conant: "The after-Life of Vitruvius in the Middle Ages," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 27, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp. 33-38.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28196803%2927%3A1%3C33%3ATAOVIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1

 

08) Edson Armi: "Orders and Continuous Orders in Romanesque Architecture," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 34, No. 3. (Oct., 1975), pp. 173-188.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28197510%2934%3A3%3C173%3AOACOIR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3

 

09) Walter Horn: "Romanesque Churches in Florence: A Study in Their Chronology and Stylistic Development," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 25, No. 2. (Jun., 1943), pp. 112-131.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28194306%2925%3A2%3C112%3ARCIFAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D

 

 

 

10) Franklin Toker: "A Baptistery below the Baptistery of Florence," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 58, No. 2. (Jun., 1976), pp. 157-167.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28197606%2958%3A2%3C157%3AABBTBO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5

 

 

 

11) M. Wolfe, Robert Mark: "Gothic Cathedral Buttressing: The Experiment at Bourges and Its Influence," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 33, No. 1. (Mar., 1974), pp. 17-26.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28197403%2933%3A1%3C17%3AGCBTEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-S

 

 

 

12) John Summerson: "Heavenly Mansions: An Interpretation of Gothic," in  Summerson, Heavenly Mansions, pp. 1-28.

 

13) Erwin Panofsky: Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism

 

14) Franklin Toker: "Arnolfo's S. Maria del Fiore: A Working Hypothesis," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 42, No. 2. (May, 1983), pp. 101-120.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28198305%2942%3A2%3C101%3AASMDFA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H

 

 

 

15) Marvin Trachtenberg: "Gothic/Italian 'Gothic': Toward a Redefinition," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 50, No. 1. (Mar., 1991), pp. 22-37.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-9808%28199103%2950%3A1%3C22%3AG%22TAR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W

 

 

 

16) Walter C. Leedy Jr.: "The Origins of Fan Vaulting," The Art Bulletin Vol. 60, No. 2. (Jun., 1978), pp. 207-213.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28197806%2960%3A2%3C207%3ATOOFV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E

 

 

 

            17) Franklin Toker: "Gothic Architecture by Remote Control: An Illustrated Building Contract of 1340," The Art Bulletin, Vol. 67, No. 1. (Mar., 1985), pp. 67-95.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-3079%28198503%2967%3A1%3C67%3AGABRCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-3

 

 

 

The following two articles are of related interest, but do NOT count as reading assignments:

 

18) Franklin Toker: "Excavations Below the Cathedral of Florence, 1965-1974," Gesta, Vol. 14, No. 2. (1975), pp. 17-36.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-920X%281975%2914%3A2%3C17%3AEBTCOF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q

 

 

 

19) Franklin Toker: "Amid Rubble and Myth: Excavating Beneath Florence's Cathedral," HUMANITIES 20/2 (March/April 1999):14--18

http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/1999-03/toker.html