Les Cathedrales are an important part of almost any society. They provide the

communities in which they stand with an amazing sense of prosperity and pride. The

term cathedral derives from the Latin word Cathedra, which means throne for the

bishop. A cathedral is the bishops church, the administrative center of the dioceses and

the spiritual center for the entire region. In le moyen age cathedrals also served as the

focus of city life. The construction of these important cultural edifices was a long,

tedious and extremely painstaking process. The building of these immense structures

took anywhere from thirty to almost 90 years. The main architectural types used during

the time period were Romanesque and gothic. These two architectural types were

somewhat similar but had some very noticeable differences.

Romanesque architecture bloomed between 800ad and 1100ad. It was the start of

a new era for the building of cathedrals. Some of the defining characteristics of the

Romanesque age were the rounded arches in the ceiling patterns and the limited height of

the buildings. The Romanesque type cathedral was built more for function than style.

The heavy roof was supported by interior-columns and immensely thick strong walls.

The windows of Romanesque cathedrals were very small and un-patterned. The

windows were kept small because the walls needed to be kept large and thick to support

the roof of the cathedral. La facade and le portail of a cathedral contained some form of

statuary. In a Romanesque cathedral floral designs, spiral designs (especially of leaves),

animal designs and horrible creatures were often displayed in the statuary. They were

used to display the pagan fetish, however it was not to glorify it but to reject it. The

statuary of people was very unrealistic. The people were elongated, with no expression

or movement shown in their bodies or on their faces. The folds in their clothes were

stiff, rigid, and flat. It may also be noted that in the time of Romanesque architecture

children (such as Baby Jesus) were often portrayed to look like small men. They were

molded and shaped in the same manner as a full grown adult, only to a much smaller

scale. Above le portail was a form of statuary especially important during the

Romanesque time period. In le tympanum, which is the area above the door of the

cathedral, a seated Christ was placed. This was done in mostly every cathedral during

the Romanesque time period.

Because so many of the Romanesque and early gothic cathedrals were done on

such a large scale, it was rare to have seen one artist or stone-mason complete the job

himself. However, this is what was done by a very important artist of the time named

Gislebertus. Gislebertus is one of the only stone-masons given credit for the work he did

because during that time, most of the cathedrals were known by who inhabited it, not by

who decorated it. Gislebertus’ style was a rarity for le moyen age because he usually

carried out a whole design by himself. Most master-masons did the relief over the main

portal and left the rest of the job to their assistants, however Gislebertus did the entire job

himself, by hand. That was an remarkable accomplishment for that time period. It was

so amazing that Gislebertus hoc fecit became a popular phrase during the time, meaning

Gislebertus did it.

As the Romanesque era of architecture began to fade out, a new period in

architecture, known as the gothic period began. The gothic period occurred between the

1100s and 1300s. There were a number of ways in which the gothic period differed

from the Romanesque time period. First being that the ceilings an roofs of the gothic

churches went to a point instead of the curved style of the Romanesque time period.

Also the entire building style of the gothic cathedral was different. Gothic cathedrals

were immensely tall and contained many large windows. This was made possible by the

architectural developments of un contrfort (buttress) and un arc-boutant (flying buttress).

The buttresses and flying buttresses were used to push the weight of the roof away from

the walls so that larger windows could be used. The large windows that were put in were

stained glass windows. The purposes of these large, colorful, and utterly beautiful

windows were to tell pictorial stories, that of the Catholic faith, and that of the workers

and donators of the le cathedrale, and also let in the divine light of God. This light was

made even more beautiful by the splendid detail and magnificent color of each piece of

glass. The statuary of gothic cathedrals was also different from that of Romanesque

cathedrals. There were no spiral designs, floral designs, or horrible creatures in the

statuary of gothic cathedrals. Instead the focus was on saints, bible stories and people

involved in the building and funding of the cathedral. The people of gothic cathedrals

were very realistic and natural looking. They had natural length, a natural expression,

natural looking folds, and a curved or twisted shape which was meant to imply

movement. One of the most famous architects of that time period was Abbot Suger. He

designed the Abbey of St. Denis, and for it is remembered at the “father of gothic

architecture”. The Abbey of St. Denis was the first time that all of the gothic elements

had been captured together all in one place and therefore is considered the “birthplace of

Gothic Architecture”. Some of the most famous Gothic cathedrals in France are

Chartres, Bourges, Reims, Amiens, Laon, and Notre Dame de Paris. All of these

cathedrals took between 30 and 90 years to complete.

Not only was the architecture of les cathedrales important, but what they

contained remained just as substantial. Inside almost every cathedral is a relic, which is a

tangible artifact that is supposed to be proof of the stories of Christianity. Relics ranged

from things such as the finger-bone of a Saint, to the cloak of the Virgin Mary. These

priceless relics were kept inside of a reliquary which was an extremely ornate holding

for the relic. Reliquaries are covered with jewels and usually made out of gold and

silver. Cathedrals not only held tangible items of importance, but they held on to a faith

that derived from so long ago. They stand as a constant place to believe in and a

reminder to all people of the Catholic faith that there is always somewhere to turn to and

something to believe in.

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