RST5274: Gothic Cathedral and its culture
Prof. Louis Keloon HA (lectures in Cantonese)
2nd Term: Wednesdays 18:30 - 21:30, at LSB G36
This course will present the historical origin and meaning of Gothic cathedrals which sprang
up in the 12th century in Europe as a predominant form of cathedral buildings. It will also
discuss the Gothic style in sculpture, painting, music and literature. The influence of this
architectural form on culture in the West will be the main reflection of this course. The topics
of the 13 sessions are as follows (details of the course can be found in this
website: http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~lha/Gothic/ )
1. Church buildings in the 12th century European towns
2. Gothic cathedrals in architecture history : Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque
3. Common elements of Gothic cathedrals: Pointed arch, rib vault, flying buttress
4. The first attempt by Abbot Suger (1081-1151): St. Denis Abbey
5. Building the Chartres cathedral (1194 to 1260)
6. The Gothic spirit and symbols: vertical space (pointed arch), light (window), time (stone)
7. Varied Gothic styles: flamboyant, perpendicular
8. Local Gothic cathedrals: St. John's Cathedral and Immaculate Conception Cathedral
9. Unfinished Gothic Cathedrals: La Sagrada Famiglia, Barcelona, St. John the Divine, N.Y.
10. Stained glass: painting with light
11. Gothic sculpture: Christian images with emotional appeal
12. Gothic painting and manuscript illumination
13. Gothic derivation: novels, films, music
Assessment:
1. attendance and quiz (20%)
2. field trip report (30%)
3. research paper (50%)
Bibliography:
Binski, Paul. Becket’s Crown: Art and Imagination in Gothic England, 1170-1300. New
Haven: Yale U. Press, 2004.
Bony, Jean. French Gothic Architecture of the 12th and 13th Centuries. Berkeley: U. of
California Press, 1983.
Bruzelius, Caroline Astrid. The 13th-century Church at St-Denis. New Haven: Yale U. Press,
1985.
Byron, Glennis, et al, eds. Spectral Readings: towards a Gothic Geography. Basingstoke:
Macmillan, 1999.
Clark, Kenneth. The Gothic Revival: An Essay in the History of Taste. London: Murray,
1962.
Clemens, Valdine. The Return of the Repressed: Gothic Horror from the Castle of Otranto to
Alien. Albany: State U. of New York Press, 1999.
Courtenay, Lynn T., ed. The Engineering of Medieval Cathedrals. Brookfield: Ashgate, 1997.
Emery, Elizabeth. Romancing the Cathedral: Gothic Architecture in fin-de-siecle French
Culture. Albany: State U. of New York Press, 2001.
Frankl, Paul. Gothic Architecture. New Haven: Yale U. Press, 2000.
Grant, Lindy. Architecture and Society in Normandy, 1120-1270. New Haven: Yale U. Press,
2005.
Grodecki, Louis. Gothic Architecture. New York: Electa, 1978.
Hogle, Jerrold E., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge
U. Press, 2002.
Hurley, Kelly. The Gothic Body: Sexuality, Materialism, and Degeneration at the fin de siecle.
Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1996.
McCarthy, Michael. Classical and Gothic: Studies in the History of Art. Dublin: Four Courts,
2005.
Pearsall, Derek Albert. Gothic Europe, 1200-1450. Harlow: Longman, 2001.
Punter, David, ed. A Companion to the Gothic. Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
Radding, Charles. Medieval Architecture, Medieval Learning: Builders and Masters in the
Age of Romanesque and Gothic. New Haven: Yale U. Press, 1992.
Raguin, Virginia C., et al., eds. Artistic Integration in Gothic Buildings. Toronto: U. of
Toronto Press, 1995.
Smith, Andrew, et al, eds. Gothic Modernisms. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Watt, James. Contesting the Gothic: Fiction, Genre, and Cultural Conflict, 1764-1832.
Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1999.