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ART107 Foundations Core Concepts II
2014
Worksheet for Unit 8 San Sernin and Chartres Cathedral
As you watch the PowerPoint lecture on the San Sernin and the video on Notre Dame de
Chartres, answer each of the following questions or define each vocabulary term:
Identify this building by name, location (modern city and country), circa date, and culture:
Why were Romanesque churches built in the 11th and 12th centuries?
Why were Gothic churches built between the 12th and 16th centuries?
What is “Romanesque”?
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What is the cult of the relics?
What is a pilgrimage?
What is a pilgrim?
Why do pilgrims want to visit relics?
Why did the church of San Sernin become an important pilgrimage destination?
What are relics and reliquaries?
Who is the patron saint of Siena Heights University and where can you find her relics?
What relic was preserved in Chartres, France, despite a disastrous fire in 1194, leading to the
construction of the church of Notre Dame de Chartres?
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Which relic was the most important during the Romanesque period, and where is it located?
What does Santiago mean?
What is a sarcophagus?
Which church in Toulouse, France, is the largest and best-preserved Romanesque pilgrimage
church from the 11th century?
Who was Saint Sernin?
Why were several new features added to the standard Christian basilica during the
Romanesque era?
How does the plan of San Sernin in Toulouse, France, compare to the plan of Old Saint Peter’s
in Rome, Italy?
What is an abbey?
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What is a cloister?
What is a radiating chapel?
What is an ambulatory?
Why was the exterior of San Sernin built primarily of brick?
What are circumambulatory aisles?
How does the ceiling of San Sernin compare to the ceiling of Old Saint Peter’s?
Why did the builders of San Sernin add transverse arches?
What was the purpose of the triforium?
What was the purpose of the Romanesque tower?
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What is a “westwork”?
What are typical features of a Romanesque westwork?
What building on the campus of Siena Heights University was built in the Tuscan Romanesque
style?
Why are column capitals in Southern Europe more likely to be inspired by the architecture of
ancient Rome?
What kinds of column capitals are more typical of Northern Europe?
What is a tympanum?
What is the subject depicted on the tympanum at St. Lazare, in Autun?
What makes Christ seem so terrifying on the tympanum at St. Lazare, in Autun?
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What is going on, on the right side of the tympanum (on Christ’s left side)?
What is going on, on the left side of the tympanum (on Christ’s right side)?
Now that you have completed the lecture on San Sernin and Romanesque churches, watch the
video on Gothic Cathedrals in France:
http://youtu.be/24N94rZ7XtU?t=16s
Building the Great Cathedrals (NOVA 2010), 53:07.
This is the interior of Saint Denis, located in the suburbs of Paris, France, dedicated June 11,
1144, Gothic
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Gothic churches are enormous:
 Taller than __________________________________________________

Large enough to hold _________________________________________

As heavy as the ______________________________________________
Why did Abbot Suger, at Saint Denis, want to introduce light to the cathedral?
What is Guédelon’s purpose today?
What is a “Squirrel Cage”?
What was the recipe for medieval mortar?
Abbot Suger did not call his architecture “Gothic.” What did he call it?
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To what ancient building did Suger compare Saint Denis?
While Romanesque buildings tend to have thick, bulky walls and narrow openings with rounded
arches, Gothic buildings have____________________________________________walls and
___________________________________________________________________________.
What does this video call the “lateral thrust” of pointed arches?
What was the first engineering advance that made possible the towering cathedrals of the
Gothic era?
How many stories tall is Amiens Cathedral?
Draw a sketch of the deformation in the arch at the crossing at Amiens Cathedral:
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What is the second Gothic innovation that allowed medieval engineers to capture heavenly
light and to reach celestial heights?
What was the critical error in the design of the exterior of Amiens Cathedral?
What ancient tool was used by medieval monks to create the chain of linked iron bars that
counteracted the lateral thrust of the interior arcade at Amiens?
What was the third Gothic innovation that channels the weight of the ceiling into the columns,
so that the walls can be opened up for glass windows?
What are the three ingredients in stained glass?
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

Medieval glass blowers spun the window glass into what shape?
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Which cathedral does Stephen Murray call “the most beautiful cathedral of the gothic”?
What ancient building’s proportions are hidden within the first two levels of certain Gothic
cathedrals, including Notre Dame in Paris, Amiens, and Beauvais?
How old are the stained glass windows at Chartres Cathedral?
Which ancient Greek and Roman scientists are depicted in sculptures on the exterior of
Chartres Cathedral?
According to medieval priests, who is the supreme mathematician, a divine geometer?
According to this video, what do the following two measurements (found at Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris, Amiens Cathedral, and at Beauvais Cathedral) refer to in the Bible?

50 cubits:

144 cubits:
At Beauvais, the builders substituted what larger dimension in place of the Roman Foot?