Link 2 : http://youtu.

be/2EciWH-1ya4


The Basilica of Saint Denis, the birthplace of the Gothic architecture Thanks to Suger was the
Abbot in the first half of the 12
th
century. It is incredibly important because its the burial place
of the royal family since Suger himself is also an advisor to them. The light pours inside the
windows in the choir that is located behind the alter of the church. The ambulatory is the aisle
that leads to the space behind the alter. Suger completed the ambulatory and the faade of the
church, none of which was new construction as it has been a church since the 9
th
century. He
thought the basilica was inadequate as a burial place for the kings. In that time, the kings of
France controlled only the elder France as the area immediately around Paris and so it was the
time when the kings barriers was expanded. Suger wanted to create an architectural style that
would express the growing power of the monarch. In the history of the western church
architecture, churches would have an ambulatory that move around the back of the alter of the
church to allow pilgrims to stop at each of the small radiating chapels which are the small rooms
that would contain relics. During Romanesque period, the chapels were literally separate rooms
with walls around them. Sugers idea was to instead open up the space and allow light to flood
in which is exactly howit looks and it must have looked so different than anything anyone had
seen before rather than it looking like a set of walls that are pierced by windows, in the
Romanesque where there were relatively small windows. Suger has figured out how to engineer
this structure with stone so that walls can basically disappear and be replaced by colored glass
that lets this brilliant luminous color into the space. The video takes about two things, how
Suger did this and second of all why Suger did this. Looking above, at the structure, a complex
web of interlocking pointed vaulting can be seen where pointed arches are a key and different
shapes and sizes of spaces can be covered. A pointed arch doesnt push so much out as it does
down because of that, the architect didnt need to build thick walls and this is basically how he
did it. On the other hand, a traditional Roman arch, generally had to be placed on quite heavy
walls because it really does push outwards its place. However, pointed arch, as in the gothic
architecture, takes the weight of the vaulting and pushes it straight down so that the weight
doesnt have to be buttressed from the side. Moreover, looking at the ribs, it gives a sense of a
pull towards the vertical. All of the ribs in the vaulting rest on thin columns providing real sense
of elegance and openness to the space that is different from the Romanesque, which is prior to
the gothic, that felt so solid and where eye will always be drawn around the rounded arch that is
back down giving a sense of gravity and rudeness. In the gothic architecture, the church itself is
an expression of the holy Jerusalem that it is heaven on earth. Abbot Suger believed that light
could transport one to a more heavenly space or a more spiritual space. He thought he was
reading the writing of Saint Denis of the patron saint of this church but he was actually reading a
philosopher from the 6
th
century. Most importantly, he took this notion of the divinity of light
from the writing and made it practical and applicable with an architectural setting. That writing
talked about how light was connected to the Devine. So what Suger wanted was to open up the
walls and allow in the light so it would allow that type of thinking on the part of the visitors
where they would move from the contemplation of the light to god. This was a radical new
notion and actually flew in the face of other theological theories of the time making you think
about the ideas established by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who said we have to get rid of all the
decorations and everything that is distractive. In contrast, Suger moved in the other directions
and said no in fact we can transport people and that the visual is not a distraction but a way of
transporting people to the Devine. Finally, the speaker believes that Suger was incredibly
successful as the church was beautiful and that he feels transported.