Cloister at Moissac (ca. 1100 AD, southern France) Where do cloisters come from? Cloisters were a medieval kind of building that developed out of Greek and then Roman peristyles. What is [...]
Notre Dame of Paris (1160s AD) The shape of a cross Medieval architects designed most Romanesque and Gothic churches starting with the design of a Roman basilica. But many churches added a part coming out [...]
Chartres cathedral crossing and transept When the builders were done with the nave, they built the great big columns of the crossing. Like the columns of the nave, the crossing columns [...]
Chartres nave Inside Chartres cathedral The architect started from the west end of the cathedral, at the nave. The builders built the nave very tall, the highest in France at that [...]
Chartres on the horizon Why was Chartres so important? Even though Chartres, near Paris, France, was only a small town, it had an important treasure: the dress that people said Mary was wearing when [...]
Medieval cathedrals: Façade of Amiens cathedral in France What is a cathedral? A cathedral is any Christian church where a bishop has his headquarters. No matter how big a church is, if there's [...]
Outer walls of Caen castle, Normandy, France (about 1050 AD) From Roman castra to medieval castles Rich Romans didn't live in castles. They lived in villas. But Roman soldiers lived in military forts [...]
Carcassonne (1060s to 1240s AD) Where is Carcassonne? Carcassonne, on top of a hill where you can see for miles, has always been important for any army that wanted to [...]
Outer walls of Caen castle, Normandy, France What is Caen castle? This is the castle that William the Conqueror built before he left to conquer England, to defend his own territory in Normandy, [...]
Elevation of Amiens cathedral (begun 1220 AD) Where Chartres cathedral had a full gallery above the side aisles, Amiens has only a thin false gallery like Reims, with windows behind it that let in [...]
