Evaluating Trachtenberg’s

Evaluating Trachtenberg’s Medieval Modernism theory

Romanesque Cathedral of St.-Lazare, Autun, France, 1120-46 w/ 15th-cen. Gothic additions

Romanesque Cathedral of St.-Lazare, Autun, France, 1120-46

the pilasters: “self-conscious, knowing, modernizing distortions of the very antiquity to which these same buildings are so powerfully attached” (Trachtenberg 2000, 203n11).

Conrad’s Speyer Cathedral, 1030-61Constantine’s Basilica (aula nova) at Trier, 305-312

Henry IV’s Speyer Cathedral, 1080sConrad’s Speyer Cathedral, 1030-61

Romanesque Cluny III in photo montage recon. of crossingrecon. of nave

Cluny III: “scattered, episodic, fragmentary, often superficial modernist gestures” (187).

rib vaults of Chartres Cathedral, 1194-1260groin vaults of Speyer Cathedral, 1080s

Nôtre-Dame, Paris

nave elevation looking west

1150-55

nave elevation looking east

Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, 1194-1221

I. Symbolism in High Gothic great churches Labyrinths

12.85 m. diameter maze installed in 1215-21

Chartres Cathedral – maze installed in 1215-21

I. Symbolism Labyrinths

Chartres Cathedral – labyrinth defining difference between west vs. east end of the church


Silver coin from Knossos on the island of Crete, Greece, 325 BCE

(No maze found in the palace at Knossos)

Mazes in the Greek world

Floor mosaic of a Roman villa near Cremona, Italy, 1st cen. CE

Mazes in the Roman worldDaedalus – mythical architect,

creator of the labyrinth


Early Christian El-Asnam CathedralEl-Asnam, Algeria, 324, floor mosaic

Detail of the labyrinth El-Asnam CathedralAlgeria, ca. 324 CE

Mazes in early Christian churches



Location of floor labyrinths in medieval churches

Romanesque San Michele in Pavia Italy, 1100-1150

Small scale labyrinths in Italy

Reims Cathedral, Reims, France, c. 1211-1290 – labyrinth now lost


Reims Cathedral, Reims, France, c. 1211-1290


Memory of the promethean architect / demiurge honored

Amiens Cathedral, Amiens, France, 1220-1269 – labyrinth is a modern reconstruction

I. Symbolism in High Gothic great churches Sculpted portals

Chartres Cathedral – façade (west) Chartres Cathedral – Royal Portal (façade portal) (early Gothic 1145-55)

Ascension Christ in Majesty Virgin portal (incarnation)

I. Symbolism in High Gothic great churches Sculpted portals – Christian belief and intellectual life

Chartres Cathedral – Virgin Portal Chartres Cathedral – Royal Portal (façade portal) (early Gothic 1145-55)


Encyclopedic in scope – like the compendia written by scholastic philosophers

Chartres Cathedral – south transept portal – three portals dedicated Last Judgment theme(High Gothic 1205-40)


Chartres south transept portal (High Gothic 1205-40)


Human figure used to embody metaphysical ideals

Early Gothic defined, cylindrical, attenuated column figures

“Classical” St. George

Chartres Cathedral – south transept (High Gothic 1205-40)


I. Symbolism in High Gothic great churches Sculpted portals

Chartres Cathedral – façade (west) Chartres Cathedral – Royal Portal (façade portal) (early Gothic 1145-55)



Chartres Cathedral – Virgin Portal Chartres Cathedral – Royal Portal (façade portal) (early Gothic 1145-55)


Encyclopedic in scope – like the compendia written by scholastic philosophers

Evaluating Trachtenberg’s

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