Medieval Cathedrals and their Meanings

Medieval Cathedrals and their Meanings

Excerpted from an essay entitled 'Medieval Thought and its Architectural Expression'; Dec 1999

There is a further association placed on the quality of light – light represents the true light of Christ. One of the most striking qualities of gothic cathedrals is their use of light. The gothic builders went to extreme lengths to bring light inside the church, making the structural design of the cathedral one of the most challenging problems of the day. Note the drawings and isometrics prepared by Viollet-le-Duc that demonstrates the slenderness and delicacy employed by the gothic builders to bring in light.

An additional layer of meaning was added to light by the use of stained glass. Allegories and figures, similar in concept to the stone carvings were placed within the design of the glass panels. Abbot Suger, again speaking of St Denis:

We also had painted, by the hands of many masters sought out in various nations, a splendid variety of new windows below and above, from the first in the chevet representing the tree of Jesse to the one over the principal door of the entrance. One of these, urging us onward from the material to the immaterial, shows the apostle Paul turning a mill and the prophets carrying sacks to the mill. The accompanying verse says, also in the same window, where Moses raises the bronze serpent,

Just as the bronze serpent slays all serpents,
So Christ raised on the cross slays his enemies.

In the same window, where Moses receives the Law on the mountain,

The law having been given to Moses,
The grace of Christ comes to its aid.
Grace gives life, the letter kills. 7

Note the Abbot’s reference of progressing from the material to the immaterial (i.e., to the City of God), and how this concept is interpreted into the design of the window.

Another example of the expressing the concept of progression towards God is seen in the floor of Chartres. In the Nave there is, in the stone pattern, a labyrinth (see illustrations), which is a symbol of man’s way to God, while here on earth.8 This is placed on the west-east axis, i.e., the axis that is the progression towards God.

The cathedral also contained a considerable amount of sculptural decoration that was heavily encoded with meaning. For example, in Chartres, one enters from the west beneath the Royal Portal (see illustration). This portal was built c. 1150-1155. The lintel frieze represents the twelve apostles. Above, Christ is enthroned in glory, surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists. In the recessed arches are angles, prophets, and patriarchs. 9 Another example is seen in Notre Dame in the Portal of the Last Judgement (see illustration). This was built c. 1225-1230, and as it name indicates, the typanum represents the Last Judgement. Above, Christ is enthroned showing his wounds, between two angels with the instruments of the Passion. On the left is the knelling Virgin, on the right St. John as intercessor. The frieze below represents: left , the Chosen; right, a devil leading the Damned, chained together, to Hell. In the centre are St. Michael, with his balance,

Stained Glass, Sainte-Chapelle. 1243-48 (int22)

Amiens cathedral. The use of light to emphasise the chapels in the east (hur10).

St. Denis, choir looking northeast, 1140-44 (wil02).

The mystical Paradise of church doctrine in analogy to that of the Old Testament (saa05)

Apse interior of Notre-Dame, Dijon (drawing by Viollet-le-Duc) (vd101).

Nave wall construction, Notre-Dame, Dijon (drawing by Viollet-le-Duc) (vd103)Nave wall construction, Notre-Dame, Dijon (drawing by Viollet-le-Duc) (vd103)

Chartres. Stained glass on south wall (int18).