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Bourges Cathedral Image Two

Bourges Cathedral in France began construction between 1195-1230 AD. It has an unusual five-aisled basilica design without a transept. The aisles are staggered in height with extremely high arcades dividing them. It lacks galleries and only has a triforium and clerestory. This gives it a triangular cross-section emphasized by steep flying buttresses. It also has an intricate sexpartite vaulting system and magnificent stained glass windows, especially in the ambulatory. The cathedral's intricate Gothic design and substantial surviving first campaign fabric make it an outstanding achievement.

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83 views

Bourges Cathedral Image Two

Bourges Cathedral in France began construction between 1195-1230 AD. It has an unusual five-aisled basilica design without a transept. The aisles are staggered in height with extremely high arcades dividing them. It lacks galleries and only has a triforium and clerestory. This gives it a triangular cross-section emphasized by steep flying buttresses. It also has an intricate sexpartite vaulting system and magnificent stained glass windows, especially in the ambulatory. The cathedral's intricate Gothic design and substantial surviving first campaign fabric make it an outstanding achievement.

Uploaded by

Kae
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Bourges Cathedral

Introduction

The construction of the Bourges Cathedral began at the end of the 12th century and the late 13th
century. Bourges Cathedral is a five aisled basilica with no transept and a double ambulatory
so that the radiating chapels are reduced to bays of relatively tiny size. The structure constitutes
an outstanding, highly inventive achievement with no trace of Early Gothic. The aisles are
graduated in height, which means the dividing arcades are extremely high, but there is no
gallery on the upper wall, only the triforium and clerestory survive. Hence, in this respect,
Bourges Cathedral is a Gothic Cluny.
Building Name: Bourges Cathedral

Building/architecture style: High gothic architectural style, Romanesque style

Location: Bourges, France

Date: 1195 – 1230 A.D

Architect: Archbishop Gozlin

Historical Influence: The monumental concept of Bourges Cathedral is an expression of the


ascent to the French throne of Captain Phillip II. The structural analysis of Gothic cathedrals
is facilitated by the linear form taken by their main vessels: repeated bays, the ends of each bay
being defamed by the principal load-bearing elements of the structure, the piers and buttresses
arranged as a transverse, planar frame.

Characteristics:

Firstly, the cathedral has an intriguing and very unusual design, since it lacks a transept, and
since its five aisles are staggered in height, creating a cross-section whose roughly triangular
outline is emphasized by the steep slope of its flying buttresses. Lastly, it ranks as one of the
largest Gothic structures in which the fabric produced in the first building campaign survives
substantially unaltered by later modifications and accretions.

Roof – the roofs of the great cathedrals were framed in massive and, often known as ‘the
forest’. Due to its vulnerability to fire, ‘the forest’ has been a great bane for gothic cathedrals
from the earliest times. This regularly caused great damage to the cathedral at large, by
damaging the stonework, as well as setting fire to the cathedral structure and furnishings.
Hence, the restorations are turning to reinforced concrete for roof framing. Iron and steel have
also been used on occasion in past, e.g. Bourges Cathedral.

Building materials – the building of gothic cathedrals developed in step with the development
of the design process. Through the medieval apprenticeship system, accumulated knowledge
was passed down. Over a period of about a century and a half, designs increased in complexity
and sophistication as the new techniques developed into a coherent ‘gothic’ style.

The cathedral is quite radical in design, as it has sexpartite vaulting. A sexpartite design is
substituted to further spread the vault load. For example, an extra arch would run between the
two mauve arches, joining with the tip of the yellow arches. Each end of this extra arch will
then be supported on two more intermediate pillars, normally of a narrower section, which will
thus transmit some of the weight downwards.

Windows – Bourges cathedral has two walkways [A and B] between the upper, middle and
lower rows of stained glass windows. On the external view of the cathedral, these triforia are
beneath a sloped roof protecting them as the roof extends outwards beyond the row of windows
above.

Magnificent stained glass windows fill the Cathedral of Bourges but are especially astonishing
in the ambulatory at the east end, where they can be examined up close. The iconography used
in many of these windows uses typology (such as Old Testament, events in the life of Christ)
and symbolism to communicate theological messages. However, from the original twenty-five
windows, only twenty-two survived, as the three windows in the central east chapel were lost.

Additionally, outside the cathedral, the flying buttresses press against the cathedral wall in line
with the pillars on the inside, leaving the window walls unobstructed.

Structural and ornament/ decorative features – the façade or west front, the main entrance
to the cathedral is on a particularly grand scale when compared to the cathedrals of the period.
The cathedral has five portals accessing the central aisle and four side aisles, more than Notre
Dame de Paris, or any other cathedral from that period.

Sculptures from the west front portals illustrate the day of judgement in the tympanum over
the central portal, whilst the punishment of sinners is depicted on the tympanum of the central
portal. Additionally, other images, such as the stoning of Saint Stephen (portal right of centre)
and the portal of Saint Guillaume depicting the spire of the Cathedral are sculptures found on
the exterior of the building. Moreover, other decorations found on the outside exterior include,
the top of the north tower, with flamboyant decoration and bronze pelican, the flamboyant
Grand Housteau and west rose window and the bell of Duke Jean and bronze pelican on the
north tower. The north tower is the only one finished and is the tallest of the two. Hence, it was
given an elaborate Flamboyant Gothic decoration including the profusion of ornamental
pinnacles and crockets.

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