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Free Blog/ Notre Dame

In our class we have learned about gothic and romanesque designs in cathedrals that occurred during the Middle Ages, The Norte Dame Cathedral is  designed as a gothic cathedral. One attribute of a gothic cathedral is the use of the stained glass. There is more room for the beautiful designs and light in the enormous cathedral, because of the design of the pointed arches. Gothic cathedrals have many pointed arches, the use of these is because of the difference in the distribution of the weight compared to the famous “Roman Arches.” Gothic arches disperse the weight more outward instead of down like roman arches, which in turn created room for stained glass and more light is let into the cathedral. With the change in weight distribution came the creation of the Flying Buttress. The weight is all pushing outward from the building because of the pointed windows, but the Buttress, that is on the outside, is pushing inward. The Notre Dame Cathedral was created in 1163 and is located in Paris, France. The cathedral was created in dedication to the Virgin Mary. The cathedral before the Notre Dame was a romanesque cathedral that was a remodel based of prior churches that occupied that spot. In 1160, the Bishop of Paris decided to build a new church and recycled the previous cathedrals materials. Construction started in 1163 and the first cornerstone was laid in the presence of King Louis IV and Pope Alexzander. Many famous people stepped foot into the Notre Dame, King Henry the VI of England was crowned in the Notre Dame in 1431. In 1804, the church was close to demolition because it was beyond repair, but Napoleon saved the cathedral and was crowned emperor in it. The most famous story that involved the Notre Dame, is the story of Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who had visions from God and encouraged the French troops and defeated the English troops and took back their territory. In 1909, she was beatified in the Notre Dame by Pope Pius X. Now, the Notre Dame is considered one of the most notable monuments in Paris and maybe even all of Europe. Today, the Notre Dame is a tourist hotspot for nearly 13 million people yearly. The Notre Dame Cathedral which is also be called “our lady”, is still used today by the Roman Catholic Church for Sunday mass and it is the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. To me, the Notre Dame is one of the most interesting things to look at in Paris. The beautiful stained glass on the walls was an amazing site to look at. On April 15th tragedy struck the Notre Dame. A fire broke out in the Notre Dame and created huge damages to the church. Authorities suspect the fire started from renovations that the construction crew were working on. As everyone watched the news and watched the blazing fire destroy the Notre Dame, it broke millions of hearts, including mine. As we were in Salzburg and watched the Notre Dame burn, we all just watched all the history that belonged in that building burn down with it. I was so happy to hear that they are going to rebuild and the history can continue when it is rebuilt. 

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Germany/ Austria Blog

In our class we have spoken a great deal about cathedrals, castles, and basilicas. Cathedral comes from the latin root word “Cathedra”, which means “seat.” The cathedrals used to mean that during services the only person who was allowed to sit down was the officiator of the service, everyone else had to stand the entire service. Now, cathedrals all represent the clergymen that represent the territory of the church. Cathedrals were not initially created for assemblies so Christians decided to then create basilicas to use for services instead. St. Stephen’s church was designed in a Romanesque manner in the Middle Ages. The romanesque design includes many of the famous “Roman” arches that distribute the weight on the sides, which needs thick, strong walls to support it. With the thick, strong walls, meant less windows for the cathedral, and inevitably created a dark fortress. St. Stephan’s cathedral is located in Vienna, Austria and was created in 1137 A.D.. The cathedral is known as the “mother church” of the Roman Catholic Archdioceses of Vienna. St. Stephens is built on the ruins of two other churches, one that was a Parish. The cathedral was was dedicated to Saint Stephen in 1147 in front of a bishop, King Conrad the third, and other German nobles right before they embarked on the second crusade. In 1945, there was a fire which was caused during World War II. They restored the roof that was destroyed and replaced it with multi-colored tile to create a remarkable pattern that makes the church immediately recognizable. Now, St. Stephen's Cathedral is the symbol of Vienna, and is one of the most important Gothic/ Romanesque structures in Austria. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is also a tourist hotspot that attracts nearly 1 million tourists yearly. As you tour the church you can tour the catacombs, climb the towers, and learn the history of Vienna. This church has also encountered the famous, Mozart married his wife in 1782 and Joseph Haydn sang as a choir boy in St. Stephens. This church is important to me because it evoked so many thoughts when I just took one look at it. I was confused as to why it was such an old church, but it had such beautiful and new colored tile on the roof. As I stared at the church it made me realize that this church has had more history that I could ever  imagine. This church had a more distinct trait that showed it has had construction done to it, but it just makes me think of how many of the places we have seen that have had work done to them because of the things they have encountered but we never noticed it because they have had the most minute work done to it. It is crazy to think that a building can provoke so many thoughts. 

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Paris Blog

The Winged Victory was created in 190 B.C. in the Hellenistic time period. This beautiful piece of art is a depiction of the goddess Nike, who personified victory, as she descends from the skies to the triumphant fleet. Before she lost her arms, which have never been recovered, Nike's right arm is believed to have been raised, cupped round her mouth to deliver the shout of Victory. This piece is actually extremely controversial when it comes to speaking of its original purpose. Philosophers theorize with proposals ranging from the Battle of Salamis to the Battle of Actium as the event being celebrated. Now, the sculpture is in the Louvre and has been there since 1884. Despite the lack of arms or head, the Victory is held to be one of the greatest surviving masterpieces of sculpture from the Hellenistic Period. The Louvre receives 10.2 million visitors per year and most go to see the Moana Lisa, but many make a pit stop and go to see the Winged Victory also. To me, without a head and arms, you can just tell she was beautiful. She has grace and elegance from top to bottom and it is hard not to notice and take in all the little details. Everyone wanted to go see the Mona Lisa first, but I wanted to go see the Winged Victory first. I just think that it is so cool to actually get to see the things we are learning about in class. It is nice to go to a museum and actually know what you are looking at and know its history and background.  

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Free Blog: Stonehenge

Stonehenge was created in 3000 B.C. by the Neolithic people, no one knows why it was created, but there are many theories. It was said to be a temple to the gods, a calendar, communication, a burial ground, etc. The most respected theories are that Stonehenge was used as a burial ground or a calendar. They believe it was used as a burial ground because new excavations in recent years discovered hundreds of human bones found at the site, dating across 1,000 years and showing signs of cremation before burial. They believe it also could have possibly been a calendar because the monument’s entrance faces the rising sun on the day of the summer solstice and they believe that they used it to track the movement of the sun and moon and mark the changing seasons. Officially, all we know is that due to its impressive size it was gravely important to the Neolithic people and due to the findings of wood found near Stonehenge, it insinuates that it was made of wood first which proves that Stonehenge itself was intentional. Now, Stonehenge is a tourist stop for nearly 1.3 million people yearly. Stonehenge provides the experience of walking in “your ancestors footsteps” with realistic recreations of the Neolithic houses and artifacts found from the Bronze Age. To me, Stonehenge is so fascinating. I stood there and stared at the rocks and just tried to figure out what they could have possibly meant back then. The rocks could mean any number of things, and it just astounds me that even though we are so advanced in technology, we still have no official conclusion with what Stonehenge could mean. Looking at the stones, it just reminds me of how much we can take our advancement for granted. Now, we have calendars on our phones and can see when daylight savings is and we know exactly when the seasons change. Now, we have people to take care of the bodies when someone passes and we have a service for them and give them a proper goodbye, instead of having to bury the body ourselves like they had to. All these thoughts rush to my head after, at first glance, just staring at strangely placed rocks, but after understanding the history and the background behind this monument, it just makes you think of the endless possibilities that Stonehenge could mean.

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The Pantheon

Back in the times when Rome was the dominant presence and they had taken over Greece, Rome did not contribute much at first. Romans never did not create their own art, most of it was just copies of of the beautiful Greek art. Romans may have not contributed artistically, but they contributed architecturally. The Romans technically created the arch and with the design of the arch they took it to the next level and created some of the most beautiful buildings. One of the buildings that was created by the Romans was the Pantheon. The Pantheon was a Roman temple that was dedicated to ALL the gods and was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus. Now, the Pantheon is a church that is known as one of the best preserved of all of Ancient Roman buildings because of its continuous use throughout history. To this day, this building is being used as a model and copied by many architects. To me, this building is beautiful and I never get tired of seeing it. I have seen and been inside of it three times and I always find something new to look at. When I go inside I like to just go sit in the seats and just take all of it in. The glorious dome, the statues, and the alters are all nothing that I have seen before. This building has beauty, history, and religion all in one and I highly recommend going to see it, it is a gorgeous sight. 

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Our day in Aachen!

We stopped at a very popular cafe called “Middelberg”, which was fantastic! The two waitresses and one customer we spoke to all spoke English which was really shocking!