York Minster

Lonely Planet describes York: ‘No other city in northern England says “medieval” quite like York, […] A magnificent circuit of 13th-century walls encloses a medieval spider's web of narrow streets. At its heart lies the immense, awe-inspiring York Minster, one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in the world.

Recently, I spent some time in King's Manor Library York, which houses many collections relating to architecture, heritage management and medieval studies. And as I know, some students and researchers come to York to research medieval architecture and history for York is really a live classroom for them. However, I have not had a chance to go deeper into the very nature of medieval architectures. Therefore, I borrowed a book from the library and hope to gain a better understanding.

(Coldstream 2002: 28)

(Coldstream 2002: 67)

I will say, it is really complicated, but I tried to grasp some basic concepts. First, when we travel in today’s Europe, we still can see grand Cathedrals standing into the skylines. Basically, each Medieval church has its own style, which can be traced back to history in the 13^th century. ‘The high style’ church building symbolizes its religious status in an area, as well as reflects ‘the hierarchy of Heaven’, which could only be visualized through a tangible structure or architecture (Coldstream 2002: 29).

Second, in the Medieval Ages, the shifting of European political power had significant impacts on church architectures in Christendom. The castle and cathedral were not only built to be their principle base but became a way to reflect their wealth and prestige. However, no matter how magnificent a church is and how many regional characteristics differ from each other, ‘all of them served the imperative need to prepare for death with sins and the hope of everlasting life’. That is to say, a church building performs both ecclesiastical and secular activities.(Coldstream 2002: 19).

In addition, we may appreciate a church through aesthetical lens, but in fact, the Medieval architects concerned setting out and construction most.  

In the mid 13^th century, The prestigious King, Louis IX in Paris, made French design lead the way of building churches across central Europe ( ‘to England, where the monastic order was responsible for introducing it to Yorkshire in the 1170s’). York Minster in the late 13th century is followed the French style—not a ‘classic High Gothic’ but a ‘Rayonnant’—featured by ‘the radiating, wheel-like patterns of the rose windows that filled the flat end walls of naves and transepts.’ (Coldstream 2002: 34-36).

The details of church structure and design are also very complicated, including pinnacles, gables, ribs, clerestories, spandrels, arcade arches, shafts, vaults and traceries., etc. And no need to say there are many words referring to ‘church’. I list them by size (importance) from large to small: cathedral, minster, abbey, monastery, basilica, cloister, kirk (the official c, church of Scotland), chapel.

It is just a small part of the book, but I decided to put the textbook aside and directly have a close look at the biggest church in York—York Minster. 

“孤獨星球”描述了約克：“英格蘭北部沒有其他城市能說是”中世紀“就像約克一樣，[...]一條13世紀城牆的宏偉環路圍繞著一條中世紀蜘蛛的狹窄街道。它的核心是巨大的，令人敬畏的約克大教堂，這是世界上最美麗的哥特式教堂之一。

最近，我在約克國王莊園圖書館度過了一段時間，那裡收藏了許多與建築，遺產管理和中世紀研究相關的書。據我所知，一些學生和研究人員來到約克研究中世紀的建築和歷史，約克對他們來說真的是一個現場教室。但是，我沒有機會深入了解它的本質。然後我從圖書館借了一本書，希望透過自學獲得更好的理解。

如我所讀，我會說，這很複雜，但我試著掌握一些基本概念。

當我們在今天的歐洲旅行時，我們仍然可以看到大教堂站在天際線上。基本上，每個中世紀教堂都有自己的風格，這可以追溯到13世紀的歷史。 “高風格”的教堂建築象徵著它在一個地區的宗教地位，也反映了“天堂的等級”，只能通過有形的結構或建築來形象化（Coldstream 2002：29）。

其次，在中世紀時期，歐洲政權的轉移對基督教世界的教會建築產生了重大影響。城堡和大教堂不僅是他們的主要基地，而且成為一種反映他們財富和聲望的方式。然而，無論一個教堂多麼壯觀，有很多地區特徵彼此不同，“所有這些都是用來為服務需要做好準備，為死亡做好準備，為永生做好準備”。也就是說，教堂建築同時進行超俗宗教和世俗活動（Coldstream 2002：19）。

此外，我們可能會透過美學角度來欣賞教堂，但實際上中世紀的建築師最關心的是構造和建造。在13世紀中葉，著名的國王，路易九世在巴黎，使法國的設計引領著在整個中歐建立教堂的方式（'延伸到英格蘭，其在1170年代時在修道院的命令下負責將其引入約克郡'）。約克大教堂在13世紀晚期遵循法國風格之後 - 不是“經典的高哥德式”，而是“Rayonnant”型式 - 以玫瑰窗的輻射，輪狀圖案為特色，填充了中殿和橫斷面的平坦端壁。（Coldstream 2002：34-36）。

教堂的結構和設計的細節也非常複雜，包括尖峰，山牆，肋骨，天窗，拱肩，拱廊拱門，豎井，拱頂和軌跡等等，更不必說有很多單字都是用作教堂。按大小和重要性列出它們，從大到小：大教堂，大教堂，修道院，修道院，大教堂，修道院，kirk（蘇格蘭正式教堂），小教堂。

這些還只是書的一小部分,我決定放下教科書，直接去看看最大的教堂 - 約克大教堂。

  

Reference: Coldstream, N. (2002). Medieval architecture. Oxford University Press, USA.