2 -- Die Aegidienkirche (Hannover) (mid-1300s)

In Hannover, Germany (Lower Saxony), you can find the remains of the Aegidiankirche (Aegidian Church).

Sources online indicate the Aegidiankirche was built in the 1300s, with one source identifying the year 1347 in particular.  Like many other German and European churches, this church was built on the same site as an older church built centuries earlier.

Hannover was like most of the large German cities and was severely bombed by the UK and USA during WWII.   If you want to see how bad was the destruction, just check out some of the images of what Hanover looked like right at the end of the War.   Not surprisingly, the bombing had a devastating impact on historic monuments. 

Here is an image of what the Aegidienkirche and its immediate surroundings looked like not long after being bombed:   

(This photo was lifted from the Snell Family blog at this location: 

http://snelladventures.com/tag/demoralization/ )

Fortunately, today we can at least go back to a number of the monuments, even in cities that were badly bombed, and find some original structures that survived the bombing.  In some cases the structures survived with reconstruction. In this case, the Aegidiankirche was preserved in its bombed-out state as a shell of a structure, and intentionally not rebuilt so that it could be preserved as a monument to war casualties.   A webpage dedicated to it describes a pilgrimage that take place there every year of persons from various faiths from throughout the world.   This is as good a place for that kind of monument in Europe as any other;  I believe I saw somewhere that this particular structure had already been deliberately attacked and destroyed before WWII.   

Walking around the building at both day and night, the visitor can stare at the architectural details and wonder about the history of this site and of the individuals who have visited it.  This structure vaguely reminded me of the shell of an old abby I visited in Northern England long ago – I hope to rediscover that structure.  Anyway, here are a few of the Aegidienkirche, during both the day and at night.

Exterior on an afternoon. I understand the some of the exterior monuments and statue features were added centuries after the original construction.

A view of the inside wall from the interior.

A view of the tower, which I understand was added to during the Baroque period and later.

I needed to go back to the church to see how it appears at night.  I was certainly worth the trek. 

1 -- Il Duomo, Milano (mid-1300s and onwards)

The Duomo Milano, also known as the Milan Cathedral, in its present form took nearly 6 centuries to complete.  According to the Wikipedia entry and other sources, engineering and design began in the late 1300's and construction was finally completed in the mid-1900's.   This is one of Europe's most famous and magnificent gothic cathedrals.  In case you're interested, you will find it's website at: 

http://www.duomomilano.it


Here was Il Duomo on a 2015 summer night.  Choir music was being played through the speakers in the plaza.

Front view.

Side view.

Backside; sorry about the glare.

Here is a detail from the side of Il Duomo during the daytime.  Nothing especially important here, as there are many hundreds of other such scenes from the church’s exterior.  But imagine:  each of these crevices and statues was carved from stone, by hand.   It's my understanding that the vast majority of the exterior features were added to the church in new facades and renovations centuries after the church was built. In the case of this church, I don’t know the dates of these particular features. I am sure they are all itemized;  they offer much detail to see and I expect show images of biblical scenes and figures.

Setting the Goal: 100 Medieval Structures

Medieval art and architecture.   

Today, when a major construction project is undertaken, all sorts of modern tools are used: for example, mechanized equipment for moving and lifting, electronic computers for imaging and design precision, and software for budgeting and scheduling.  

Today's construction design and methods are the products of thousands of years of cumulative knowledge. It's easy to forget that the engineers and builders of 800-year old churches and bridges these structures didn't have our modern tools. These structures were made by hand. And yet so many of them appear to exceed many modern structures in terms of artistic and engineering depth, intellect, and overall integrity and beauty.      

I have a goal to visit as many medieval buildings as I can.   To put some structure into my effort and motivate me to actually make the visits, I will state a lofty goal of reaching and reporting on 100.  I seriously don't know if I will ever meet that target.  But, there are supposedly still thousands of medieval structures left in one shape or another throughout Europe. So, will I want to stop at, say 50?  Let's see.      

Now:  what do I mean by “medieval”? Well, we can start with the Cambridge Dictionaries Online, which defines the term as "related to the Middle Ages (= the period in European history from about AD 600 to AD 1500)".  Other definitions are similar.  I won't fuss over exact years:  To merit a post here, I plan to report only on those structures that  have some substantial portion of it built after the 500's but before the end of the 1400s.  This includes both Romanesque and Gothic styles of structures from those times.  I understand and expect there to find more structures from the later medieval times.  

As for dating the age of the structures?  Well, naturally, many structures throughout Europe, especially churches, were built over the span of several centuries.  So, some were started back in the middle ages but not finished until much later in history.  In addition, it is an unfortunate reality that Europe has lost a large number of its most magnificent medieval buildings during fires and wars including WW I and WW II.   In the cases of WW II structures, we can find some excellent examples of re-builds, which have often using some of the same materials gathered from the bombed-out rubble incorporating foundations walls and main features that survived.  What most matters in any case is that the structures or monuments being blogged about have been constructed between the 500s and the 1400s. I only need identify structures that have at least some medieval-era portion still standing.  Also, even decayed ruins are some of the coolest sites, and they will qualify!   

St. Hedwig visits the New Convent, 1353, Silesia, Poland (from the Getty Center website).  

DISCLAIMERS:   

These apply to all contents on all postings on this blog:

• No, for the record, I am not an architectural or engineering historian and I have no formal qualifications other than a love for the many works of art that are still standing today after many centuries. I respect the work of all great art, architectural and engineering historians. But for the layperson, visiting medieval structures is one of life's finest rewards.

• This is just a blog of postings of snapshots using my crummy cellphone camera, along with a short blurbs about the structures.  And they are posted on Blogger, which is not exactly the best place to find photos of architectural details.  Thus, the format of this blog layout does not give justice to the art found in the structures in the photos posted here. Yet: this is not intended to be a photographic exhibit or encyclopedia.   Blogger is just the easy way to share without my having to resort to an exhaustive photo album and glossy blog website or to the bane, limited-attention span world of Twitter.  I also expect to be purposefully lazy in citations to my sources I include in my blurb write-ups. 

• The images, writings and thoughts contained in this blog are copyrighted to the author of this blog.  All rights are hereby reserved.  I am happy to share within the full dedicated spirit of FAIR USE.    But I will not be happy if I find any of these photos on a site that plans to sell the images or content without my permission.  And within the scope of FAIR USE and applicable local or regional laws, I only ask that fair credit be given if an image is republished or the blog is quoted. 

• I know there is a world of information out there about some of the structures I am reporting on -- millions of touristas have snapped their own photos of them, and they have been studied throughout the centuries.   But otherwise please feel free to offer up a comment if you see something compelling that should be added.     

• Finally, getting back to the construction methods used to build these old structures: some terrific scholarly work has been done.  There is some great material out there. One of my favorite easy-to-consult sources is a link to an absolutely wonderful article, including illustrations, written by Andrea L. Matthies, which I have found on a Wordpress blog published by the UCCS (University of Colorado, CO Springs) Historical Engineering Society, a site that has several other scholarly sources on the subject of medieval building engineering.  

More complete citations:  


1.  The photo is from from the Getty.edu website: on the Getty Center's 2010 exhibits Building the Medieval World: Architecture in Illuminated Manuscripts

( http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/building_medieval_world/  ) 

That webpage also includes a voice narration of the image and the building being depicted. 


2.   The awesome article:  found at: 

( https://uccshes.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/medieval-treadwheels-artists-views-of-building-construction.pdf )

Full source citation:  Medieval Treadwheels: Artists' Views of Building Construction Author(s): Andrea L. Matthies Source: Technology and Culture, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jul., 1992), pp. 510-547 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Society for the History of Technology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3106635 .