Chapter "The Art of England". General history of arts. Volume II. Art of the Middle Ages. Book I. Europe. Authors: M.V. Dobroklonsky, E.V. Norina, E.I. Rotenberg; under the general editorship of Yu.D. Kolpinsky (Moscow, Art State Publishing House, 1960)
The process of the formation of feudal relations began in England in the 7th century. and took place in parallel with the spread of Christianity. The constant threat of foreign conquest, mainly from the Danes, who over the course of several centuries twice subjugated England, led to the 9th century. to the unification of the country and the creation of the state of the Anglo-Saxons. In 1066, the ruler of the French duchy of Normandy, William the Conqueror, landed on the shores of Britain and, after the victory he won at Hastings over the troops of the Anglo-Saxons, conquered the whole country. The Norman Conquest accelerated and intensified the process of feudalization. The lands of many Anglo-Saxon feudal lords were taken away and transferred to representatives of the Norman nobility. The peasantry, before the conquest for the most part free, from now on, for the most part, was enserfed.
The Norman Conquest contributed to overcoming the former isolation of England. It strengthened its political and cultural ties with the countries of the continent, and above all with France. Henry II Plantagenet, who ascended the English throne in 1154, laid the foundation for the Angevin dynasty in England, at the same time ruled over a significant part of the territory of France. Relying on the support of petty chivalry, as well as on the cities that began to develop rapidly after the Norman Conquest, the royal power managed to limit the rights of the largest lords. But the strengthening of the feudal state had its reverse side in a sharp aggravation of social contradictions. The enslavement of the peasantry increased the indignation of the masses against the ruling circles. During the reign of the son of Henry II - John the Landless, large feudal lords, taking advantage of the widespread discontent that arose as a result of increased tax oppression and failures in foreign and domestic policy, achieved some limitation of royal power, enshrined in the so-called Magna Carta (1215).
Even before the landing of the Normans, elements of the emerging Romanesque art could be found in England. The process of its formation was sharply accelerated by the Norman Conquest. The Normans brought with them an already established culture. French became the official official language. The principles of French art and, in particular, the forms of French architecture in its Norman version were transferred to English soil. Dependence on France, it would seem, should have increased all the more because French masters worked in England. And, however, already in the first decades of Norman domination, English architecture acquired its own character, sharply different from French models.
This fact is explained not only by the influence of old English traditions, the significance of which could not be decisive, for French art in this historical period was at a much higher stage of development; More importantly, medieval English art was the art of a young, but already independent and powerful country that entered the world arena; Just as the French conquerors themselves faced the fate of gradual dissolution in the mass of the local population, so the culture they brought on new soil, under different historical conditions, was to find a different life.
The English art of the Romanesque and Gothic period, its evolution, the nature of its monuments, compared with the art of other European countries, were distinguished by many specific features. Firstly, it is more difficult to establish a clear boundary between the Romanesque and Gothic art systems in it. So, for example, the first constructive elements of Gothic appeared in England unusually early - at the beginning of the 12th century, when the foundations of Romanesque art were still being laid in many European countries. In the 13th century, Gothic in England, as well as in France, reached its peak. But the elements of Romanesque art turned out to be very tenacious at the same time - even after the transition to the Gothic system, they remained almost until the 14th century inclusive. The simultaneous combination of extraordinarily daring ideas and discoveries with a commitment to bygone traditions, the contrast of the advanced and progressive with the inert and archaic are very characteristic of the monuments of medieval English architecture and fine arts.
Another important feature of the Romanesque and Gothic art of England is the uneven development of its individual types. Sculpture did not receive such a wide development in England as in the countries of the continent. If in English cathedrals sculpture was rarely used on a large scale, then it served mainly as a decorative enrichment of the architectural image.
Characterization of the Romanesque cult architecture of England presents certain difficulties due to the fact that the vast majority of cathedrals were completed or rebuilt already in the forms of the Gothic and only a few fragments have survived from the Romanesque period.
Wood building skills continued to make their mark in England for a long time to come. In a country where there were many experienced shipbuilders, up to the 16th century. wooden floors were used. Due to their lightness, they made it possible to lighten the supports and enrich the walls with the wide use of arcades, empores and triforiums. These techniques were also preserved in buildings with stone ceilings.
The type of Romanesque church transferred from France soon underwent significant changes in England in accordance with local requirements. As in France, Romanesque cathedrals here were most often part of monasteries and were therefore surrounded by many diverse outbuildings. A Romanesque cathedral in England is usually a narrow, three-aisled structure that is very elongated in length. The clergy, in England even more numerous than in France, had to be given an appropriate place, and this was reflected in a significant increase in the choir. The transept in English cathedrals usually crosses the building in the middle, due to which half of the temple is reserved for the clergy, and the choir acquires the character of a large independent space. An idea of the elongation of English cathedrals in length is given by one of the first Romanesque churches - the cathedral in Norwich, begun construction in 1096. It has eighteen herbs, including the choir, while, for example, such a monumental structure of the Romanesque period as the cathedral in Boris , - only ten. The choir in the English cathedral did not end in the east in the form of a round or polygonal apse, as was used in other countries; it ended either with a chapel of rectangular outlines, or simply with a wall without any ledges. There was usually no circumambulation around the altar.
It is difficult to judge the original external appearance of the Romanesque churches in England, since from the outside they underwent the most changes in the Gothic era. Nevertheless, here, too, some features characteristic of English architecture can be noted. The “multi-composition” of the total volume, which is generally characteristic of Romanesque temple architecture, in England takes on the character of a kind of excess of forms, bordering on fragmentation. English Romanesque cathedrals are distinguished by the picturesqueness of their silhouette, the abundance of small articulations and forms. Thus, in the cathedral in Ili, built in the second half of the 12th century, a group of towers on the western facade forms an effective composition. Small octahedral towers were placed at the corners of the monumental façade (its left side was not erected), and along the central façade axis rises a multi-tiered tower of grandiose width and height. Both the main and corner towers resemble the fortress towers of castles. This similarity is enhanced by the fact that they are completed not with the usual pyramidal tents, but with a flat covering topped with Battlements.
The outer walls of Romanesque churches in many European countries often remained deaf; if they were enriched with architectural and ornamental elements, then the latter only emphasized the heaviness and massiveness of the walls. In the cathedral at Ili, on the other hand, the outer walls of the longitudinal building, the western façade, and the towers throughout their entire length are saturated with tiers of openings, blind windows, and arcades with complex ledge profiling, thanks to which the impression of heaviness and inert immobility of the wall is to a very large extent overcome. Such a “framework dismemberment of architectural masses and planes already portends the principles of Gothic.
In the same way, the interior view of a Romanesque church in England did not produce such an impression of heaviness and massiveness as many German and some French buildings. Thus, in the cathedral in Norwich, this feeling is largely overcome thanks to the wide openings of the arches of the lower tier, emporas and windows, from top to bottom revealing the walls of the middle nave.
A special place among the Romanesque churches of England is occupied by the cathedral in Derham (1096-1133), the least affected by subsequent alterations and therefore better preserved the unity of the stylistic appearance. Derham Cathedral is a contemporary of the famous St. Trinity in Cana (France), according to the type of which he was erected. In its external appearance, the dependence on the prototype is quite noticeable, at least in the composition of the two-tower facade. But already here, proper English motives are manifested. Thus, the tower above the crossroads surpasses in massiveness and height the facade towers, which are also very monumental, and the western facade is more saturated with elements of architectural decoration than its Norman prototype. Derham Cathedral was built with the expectation of a stone ceiling and is remarkable in that in its naves, for the first time in England, a lancet vault appeared on ribs. True, this vault is still quite massive and its lancet form is rather timidly expressed, but its very early appearance indicates the imminent onset of the dominance of Gothic architectural forms.
In general, the Romanesque cathedrals of England, with a clearly identified typological commonality of plans, give the impression of a great variety of forms and freedom of architectural and compositional solutions. This impression is enhanced by the picturesque location of the temples. So, for example, Derhamsky Cathedral rises on a steep, precipitous bank of the river, and its powerful towers rise unusually spectacularly above the lush crowns of trees and over the low city buildings that are spread out not far away on gentle hills.
From the third quarter of the 12th c. in England, the period of Gothic art begins. The growing rise of the economy led to the fact that from the 14th century. England already occupied an important place in the world market. But, unlike other European countries, the industry and trade of England were connected not so much with the city as with the countryside, where raw materials were produced and processed, exported to other countries. Therefore, a large part of the petty nobility was involved in new economic relations; on the other hand, wealthy townspeople sought to join the landowning Nobility by acquiring land holdings. In England there was no such irreconcilable antagonism between the nobility and the burghers, as, for example, in the most economically developed regions of Italy. But on the other hand, the cities themselves in England did not have that important significance in the general economic and social upsurge of the country, as in most other European states.
The involvement of the countryside in new economic relations had the effect of intensifying the exploitation of the peasant masses. Their situation became especially difficult with the beginning of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and the terrible plague epidemic that swept across Europe in 1348 - the "black death". The answer to oppression, to the cruel "labor legislation" was the rise of the revolutionary peasant movement, the highest point of which was the revolt of Wat Tyler in 1381. The aspirations of the people were reflected in the wide spread of various heresies.
The period in which the development of Gothic art falls was in many ways a turning point for English culture. It was the time of the formation of the English language, which supplanted French speech even from parliamentary debates, the time when John Wyclef proclaimed the need for church reform and contributed to the translation of the Bible into English. This is a period of gradual growth in the literature of secular tendencies. Created at the end of the 14th century. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales heralded a new era in English literature.
If the Romanesque architecture of England, due to the small number of large buildings, was inferior in its significance to the Romanesque architecture of Germany and even more so France, then during the Gothic period, English architecture occupied one of the most honorable places in Western Europe. True, the English Gothic, unlike the French, did not leave any monuments that can be counted among the examples of the most classical embodiment of the principles of this style; it did not have such a wide response in other countries. In addition, the scope of English Gothic was limited mainly to architecture and decorative arts. But for all that, perhaps, in no other state of Europe, Gothic has not taken such a significant place for many centuries in culture and in national artistic traditions, as in England.
The construction of Gothic cathedrals in England turned out to be connected not only and even not so much with cities, but - as in the Romanesque period - with monasteries. The structural scheme of the temple and its entire appearance still depended on the practical needs of the clergy and on the artistic traditions that had developed among the builders of the previous centuries.
The generally accepted periodization of English Gothic does not yet exist, therefore, they often resort to the periodization developed by English researchers. The latter in their classification proceed not from the general constructive-architectonic type of building, but from its individual elements, mainly from the form of window frames. In this regard, such periodization characterizes not so much the basic constructive principles of the building as some features of architectonic solutions and architectural decoration techniques.
The main milestones in the development of English Gothic can be outlined as follows. The first temple buildings, sustained in Gothic forms, began to be erected in the last quarter of the 12th century. The period of the highest rise of Gothic architecture in England falls on the 13th and 14th centuries, the time of the creation of the most significant buildings. The late period of English Gothic, which began in the last quarter of the 14th century, ended by the middle of the 16th century. Subject to certain general principles that have become almost mandatory, English cathedral Gothic is distinguished by a great variety and originality of figurative solutions. Yet in general they can be reduced to two main types of temple buildings. The first of these types is characterized by the most complete expression of the specifically English features of Gothic structures. This is the English version of Gothic in its purest form. The second type of English cathedrals is characterized by some constructive-figurative principles borrowed from French architecture, but largely reworked in the spirit of local traditions. Temples of this type are less common in England, although they include some of the more famous monuments.
The date marking the beginning of the English Gothic period is considered to be 1175, when the architect William of Sana, one of the masters of the early Gothic architecture of France, invited to England, began to overlap the choir of Canterbury Cathedral with an ogival vault, modeled on the choir of the cathedral in Sana. If we remember that the construction of the Saint Cathedral began after 1140, and one of the earliest works of French Gothic, Notre Dame Cathedral, was founded in 1163, it becomes obvious that the establishment of the Gothic architectural system in England, in general, did not lag behind France for long. . The best monument of English Gothic, Salisbury Cathedral, was erected between 1220 and 1270; the dates of the start and completion of its construction, therefore, almost coincide with the dates of the construction of Amiens Cathedral.
The plan of the cathedral, in essence, has no fundamental differences from the plans of the Romanesque cathedrals of England; it retains the same ratio of parts and the characteristic elongation of the building in length (the total length of Salisbury Cathedral is over 140 m). The three-nave longitudinal building (five-nave cathedrals were not built in England) does not have a bypass and a wreath of chapels in the eastern part; instead of them, one rectangular-shaped chapel (the so-called chapel of Our Lady) is built into the eastern wall - a technique that is also characteristic of many other English cathedrals. A feature of the cathedral in Salisbury, like some other English churches, is the presence of two transepts, of which the main one, with strongly elongated sleeves, crosses the longitudinal body just in the middle, as was customary in Romanesque times. The choir is still placed at the crossroads. Due to the presence of two transepts and the transfer of the crossroads to the very middle of the longitudinal building, in the plan of the English cathedral, unlike the French buildings, the general dynamic tendency of the spatial elements from the entrance to the eastern part of the temple is not expressed. A characteristic difference between the English Gothic cathedrals was also that, since they were built mainly by monasteries, their plans, already complex, were supplemented, as in Romanesque churches, with many outbuildings. So, the cloister, vestry and chapter hall adjoin Salisbury Cathedral - a room that has the shape of a regular polyhedron in plan with a supporting pillar in the middle, covered with an ogival vault. Additional chapels were added to many other cathedrals.
In their external appearance, English cathedrals are very different from the Gothic temples of other countries. Outside, their large dimensions are especially noticeable with the general elongation of the building, so large that, due to the location of the transept in the middle of the longitudinal body, the English cathedral seems to be doubled in length compared to the usual type of Gothic temple. This impression is enhanced by the peculiar "multi-component" of the entire structure, as if composed of many independent volumes, which makes one recall Romanesque churches.
In Salisbury Cathedral, separate parts of the building, different in volume and height - the longitudinal body, the transept, the chapels, not to mention other extensions - all of them, as it were, diverge from the common center of the building - the crossroads. It is precisely in this that the location of the highest tower of the cathedral, almost obligatory for English buildings, is found not on the western facade, but just above the middle cross, that is, in the geometric center of the building: only under this condition can a counterbalance to the horizontal stretching of the cathedral be found, centrifugal forces in composition and achieved a certain degree of overall unity of the building. So, in Salisbury Cathedral, a huge, slender tower with a tall, almost spire-shaped tent rises above the crossroads. It is the tallest church tower in England; its total height, together with the spire, is about 135 m, that is, a little less than the very significant total length of the cathedral itself. Obviously, this is precisely why Salisbury Cathedral achieved a combination of vertical and horizontal masses, rare in its balance; in other English temples that do not have such boldly expressed verticals, the horizontal orientation of the masses predominates, which is why the buildings sometimes seem overly stretched. The subtle artistic calculation of the builders is evidenced by the fact that they erected only one tower over the cathedral in Salisbury; the turrets at the ends of the longitudinal hull and both transepts are so small that they should rather be called pinnacles. Thanks to one, but extremely strong vertical dominant, the Salisbury Church acquired the features of a greater figurative unity than other, many-towered English cathedrals. Additional high-rise accents did not strengthen, but would only violate the achieved effect.
The structural elements that play such an important role in shaping the appearance of French cathedrals are weakly expressed in English churches. In terms of the height of the naves, the latter were inferior to the French, so the need for powerful buttresses and flying buttresses largely disappeared. In Salisbury Cathedral the flying buttresses are not even visible at first sight; they are very small and almost merge with the steep roof of the side aisles. The main architectural theme of the side facades is a wall dissected by slightly protruding buttresses and high double or triple windows of elongated lanceolate outlines. This form of windows is typical for the first stage of English Gothic, that is, for a period covering approximately the entire 13th century, on the basis of which, according to the periodization of English researchers, buildings such as the Cathedral in Salisbury are classified as Early English, or “lanceolate”, Gothic.
For the completeness of the perception of the English cathedral, its visibility from various sides is of particular importance. This is required by the very structure of the building, composed of numerous volumes and crowned with a powerful high-rise accent above the crossroads. This implies an important moment for English Gothic architecture - the cathedral is not located in the midst of urban development, but in the center of a fairly large free space zone, which makes it possible to fully visualize the building and provide a holistic perception of the entire structure from one point of view or another.
An important role in the overall perception of the English Gothic temple is played by the masterful use of its natural surroundings. Numerous trees with spreading crowns, freely scattered over a large area around Salisbury Cathedral, a wide area of green lawns - all this brings to the image of this structure that special note of poetic connection with nature, which so distinguishes English cathedrals from the Gothic temples of the continent, usually towering over a labyrinth of narrow , half-dark city streets.
The need to preserve the integral appearance of the building dictated to the builder special forms of interpretation of the main facade. The western façade, under all conditions, was supposed to attract the viewer to the entrance side of the temple, without detracting, however, from the dominant importance of the central part of the building. Therefore, English architects often resorted not so much to the high-rise accentuation of the western facade, as was customary in other countries, but to its increased decorative richness, and most of all, to the most diverse compositional solutions that, with their unusualness and originality, riveted the viewer's attention to themselves. In terms of the richness and variety of facade solutions, none of the continental schools can be compared with the English masters.
As for the western facade of the Cathedral in Salisbury, although it is quite original, it is solved without excessive emphasis in the overall composition of the building. This façade is not large - in height it does not exceed the height of the longitudinal body and, due to small elevations on the sides, it seems almost square. There are no towers, the gable of the middle nave rises slightly in the center; two low pinnacles crown the corner parts of the façade. Modest portals lead to the three cathedral naves. In the center of the facade, instead of the traditional round window rose (not widely used in England), there is a three-arched window with lanceolate openings. The main emphasis is not on volumetric, but on the decorative expressiveness of the facade, covered in four tiers with statues in narrow lancet frames. The abundance of these statues and the emphatically dimensional rhythm of their tiered arrangement largely deprive them of their independent expressiveness, emphasizing the decorative functions of the façade sculpture. Due to the fact that the shapes of the lancet arches framing each statue are proportionally close to the lanceolate openings and niches of the side facades, the main facade, with all the richness of its decoration, is organically included in the single architectural appearance of the cathedral.
The interiors of English cathedrals also reveal features of originality. Their naves did not have such an enormous height as in the temples of France, and the feeling of mystical take-off did not receive such a strong expression in them. The enormous length of the English temples made it possible, it would seem, to achieve an exceptionally expressive effect of spatial aspiration from the western entrance to the eastern part of the cathedral. This, however, is prevented by the spatial pause of the middle cross, which stops the movement of the gaze into the depths of the central nave right in the middle of the temple, and then by the luxurious decoration of the choir, which detains the viewer's gaze and breaks the single rhythm of the supporting arches. Nevertheless, even in English cathedrals, the single musical rhythm of the grasses, wide arches, triforiums, windows and ribs of the vault that go into the depths is expressed with great impressive force.
If the interiors of French churches are distinguished by a large scale of spatial divisions, clarity and generalization of lines, simplicity and clarity of forms, then in English buildings divisions and forms are more fractional and differentiated, and at the same time decorative. Due to the use of thinner, heavily fragmented foundations and the complex profiling of arches and wall openings, the feeling of intense take-off of forms, which gives the multi-tiered wall of the central nave in a French church, in an English cathedral gives way to an impression of openwork lightness and decorative richness. This impression is enhanced by the complex development of vaults characteristic of English buildings. A simple four-deck vault was rare in England; multi-rib vaults of a more complex pattern prevailed, becoming more and more whimsical over time. Thanks to all these techniques, the interiors of English cathedrals make a more ornate impression than the interiors of French temples.
In general, the image of the English cathedral does not have the degree of spiritualism that is characteristic of the Gothic churches of France; it is less expressed in the inherent French and German Gothic sense of aesthetic expressiveness of the structure itself. Actually, the burgher beginning in English churches is expressed relatively weakly. Their space, divided into a number of parts, did not have the unifying power that the cathedrals of France carried in themselves, gathering all the inhabitants of the city under their arches.
If the cathedral in Salisbury stands out among the English temples by the special perfection of its architectural solution - the masterfully found balance of all parts of a complex structure, the unity of the whole, the fine development of details, a great sense of proportion, then the builders of other cathedrals often resorted to a more decisive emphasis on individual means of artistic expression.
This is one of the most famous temples in England - the Cathedral in Lincoln, the main construction of which was carried out in the 13th and 14th centuries (it was started in Roman times). This building is even grander in size than Salisbury Cathedral - its total length is about 155 m. From the outside, it seems somewhat ponderous due to the large main masses and volumes, and also because its heavier tetrahedral towers do not have high spire-like completions. The most remarkable is the facade of the cathedral, in which the means of artistic expression acquired a particularly forced character. Already the middle part of the facade, which was built in the Romanesque period, was distinguished by a special originality of composition due to three giant portals deeply recessed into the thickness of the wall, framing the entrances to the naves. Gothic architects made additions to this facade on the sides with small hipped turrets in the corners. The entire plane of the attached part of the facade was in the 13-14th centuries. It is decorated with light columnar arcades running in seven tiers, which give the impression of a kind of lace network covering the entrance side of the temple. Emphasizing in this way its elongation horizontally, the architects, having built on the facade towers, at the same time gave the facade aspiration to height. As a result, it acquired enormous dimensions and a sharply contrasting ratio of horizontal and vertical parts. But even with all this, the western facade did not become the dominant feature of the cathedral; an even larger tower was erected above the crossroads, and the building received a three-dimensional composition and a characteristic silhouette, traditional for English cathedrals.
The interior of Lincoln Cathedral, mostly dating from the first half of the 13th century, is quite close to the interior of Salisbury Cathedral, with the only difference that its architectural forms have become even more fragile and difficult to develop.
The most striking example of the emphasis on the west front is Peterborough Cathedral. Here the façade was added to the Romanesque church in the first half of the 13th century. Like the façade of Salisbury Cathedral, it is not large; its width even exceeds its height, but its upward aspiration is much more pronounced. It was achieved partly due to the placement of thin spire-shaped turrets at the corners, but most of all - the most original motif: three giant arched portals that fill almost the entire plane of the facade, the height of which is almost equal to the height of the central nave. The entrance opening itself is small, it leads only to the central nave; the side naves have no entrances. These grandiose blind portals, devoid of direct constructive and functional meaning, however, have their own justification: it is thanks to them that the relatively small facade concentrates the viewer's attention on itself.
The temples at Salisbury, at Lincoln, and partly at Peterborough exemplify the features of that type of Gothic cathedral in which the principles of English architecture of this period were embodied in the purest form. But, as mentioned above, English architecture, for all its independence, experienced a noticeable influence of French architecture, which manifested itself in the transfer to English soil of certain methods of French temple construction.
One example in this regard is the famous Canterbury Cathedral. The cathedral was built for a very long time, from the 11th to the 16th century, and each era brought its own features to the complex and diverse appearance of this building. It was started in the Romanesque period; between 1174 and 1185 Wilhelm of Sana covered the apse with an ogival vault. The naves, west transept and west front were built between 1390 and 1411. In 1503 the tower above the crossroads was completed.
Since the Middle Ages, Canterbury Cathedral has gained great fame not only because it was part of the residence of the archbishop, who was considered the head of the English Catholic Church, but also as a national shrine. It became the burial place of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, who was killed by the knights of King Henry II in the same cathedral in 1170 and canonized by the Catholic Church as a martyr. After the canonization of Thomas Becket, the cathedral attracted many pilgrims, which was reflected in the structure of the temple; its apse has a circumambulation modeled on French cathedrals. Canterbury Temple, even among English cathedrals, stands out for its abundance of all kinds of outbuildings. But even without them, the plan of the cathedral is very complicated. Its peculiarity is the many rooms, as if strung on one axis. Although the three-nave longitudinal building consists of nine herbs, it occupies only a little more than one third of the building. Next, the visitor enters the premises of the first transept, followed by a three-aisled choir. Behind him is the second transept and the presbytery - the pre-altar room; chapels adjoin the latter on both sides, so that a semblance of a third transept is formed. Then follows the altar, and after it - a large semi-oval apse with a bypass, turned into a chapel of St. Trinity. Only from here the visitor enters the so-called Becket's Crown - the round chapel that completes the temple from the east, where the ashes of the saint are buried. Due to the abundance of all these rooms, the cathedral reaches an exorbitant length - over 160 m. If we also take into account that several more chapels adjoin the temple from different sides, then the complexity and often unexpected spatial effects that arise in the interior of the cathedral will become obvious. They are strengthened by the fact that the main parts of the temple are located at different levels and gradually rise as the viewer moves towards the eastern part of the cathedral.
From the outside, the west façade lacks the whimsicality that characterizes other English cathedrals; With its traditional two-tower composition and restraint of decor, it, like the facade of the cathedral in York, makes one recall French buildings. But the nature of the total volume of these temples, especially the huge four-sided towers above the crossroads, testify to the predominance of English principles of temple architecture.
If in Canterbury Cathedral the influence of French models affected only certain parts of the building, then in the Cathedral of Westminster Abbey in London, the features of French architecture are much more pronounced. This cathedral occupied a special place in England: it served as the coronation and burial place of English kings. Subsequently, the cathedral of Westminster Abbey also became the famous burial place of the great people of England. If it were not for the abundance of annexes inevitable for any abbey, the plan of Westminster Cathedral would differ very little from French temples. We see here the same ratio of spatial parts, in the same way the transept is moved to the east, and the apse is provided not only with a bypass, but also with a wreath of chapels; there is also no tower above the crossroads. It is significant, however, that since such a decision did not correspond to the peculiarities of worship that had developed in England and the adopted plan of the cathedral obviously provided too little space for the crowded clergy, the choir (that is, that part of the church that is intended for the clergy) is not located behind the transept or under the middle cross, as usual in England, but in front of the transept, capturing several grasses of the middle nave. The interior of the temple is distinguished by the high height of the middle nave, which is unusual for English cathedrals, and produces an equally unusual impression of a general spatial unity.
English researchers call the 14th century (more precisely, its first three quarters) the period of "decorated" Gothic, emphasizing the growing role of decorative elements in the architecture of that time. The plans of the cathedrals during this period did not undergo major changes. New buildings were rarely laid; in the main, earlier buildings were completed, as a result of which the evolution of style was reflected mainly in their architectural decoration. As regards the façade compositions of some cathedrals built precisely during this period, they sometimes give the impression of paradox even in comparison with the facades of earlier English temples, which are very far from the template. Such is the western façade of Exeter Cathedral (third quarter of the 14th century), which, at first glance, because of its peculiar shape and lack of towers, can rather be mistaken for the opposite side of the temple - for the apse of the choir. Attached to this facade is a low wall, a kind of screen, a little less than half the height of the total height of the facade, which is covered with three tiers of statues in thin columnar frames. Similar "decorative" use of statues on facades has been encountered before, but here this motif is especially emphasized; the statues fill the plane of the wall tightly, without gaps, almost "shoulder to shoulder". Only three small portals - the entrances to the cathedral - cut into this sculptural carpet. Another feature of the Exeter Temple is that instead of the obligatory tower above the crossing, two high towers are placed on the ends of the transept. The central part of the cathedral thus received a double accent, and then the absence of towers on the main facade becomes clear - they would violate this bold effect. Inside Exeter Cathedral, arched abutments, triforia and dense bundles of ribs reach such a degree of fragmentation that the impression of a peculiar vibration of architectural forms is born. The masters of the “decorated” style paid much attention to the vaults, complicating and enriching the pattern of the ribs. Especially popular at that time were the so-called star-shaped and mesh vaults.
Another characteristic example of the architecture of this time is the cathedral in Lichfield. Its entire double-tower facade made of red sandstone is covered from top to bottom with tiers of statues, the decorative role of which is emphasized by the fact that most of them are not placed in niches, but simply placed against a smooth wall and surrounded by the lightest architectural frame. Thanks to this use of sculpture, the facade of the cathedral, crowned with high hipped towers and, in fact, closer than usual to the traditional French type, nevertheless gives the impression of great originality.
Architects of the "decorated" style sometimes resorted to bold constructive experiments in interior design. As an example, the wonderfully beautiful arched composition of the middle cross of the cathedral in Wales, created in 1338, can be mentioned here. huge stone rings are inscribed in the intervals between arched curves. Massive, but due to the rich profiling and the unusually elastic rhythm of the lines, seeming devoid of gravity, these arches, obedient to the will of the Architect, are woven into a magnificent pattern that is constantly changing depending on various aspects of vision. The whole composition as a whole amazes with the dizzying boldness of the technical and artistic design and produces a truly fantastic effect. In the Welsh Cathedral, attention is also drawn to the peculiar composition of the western facade and the most beautiful chapter hall in England.
In essence, both the constructive and decorative features of the monuments of the "decorated" style go far beyond the classical stage of Gothic architecture and open the way for late Gothic. Perhaps, in no other country in Europe, the conditions for the development of late Gothic were not so favorable and prepared as in England. If in terms of the time of the formation of the Gothic system, England somewhat lagged behind France, then in its appeal to the forms of late Gothic architecture, it was significantly ahead of it and all other countries.
Late Gothic art proper dominated England from the last quarter of the 14th century to the middle of the 16th century; according to the periodization adopted in England, this stage is called the period of "perpendicular" Gothic, and that part of it that falls between the end of the 15th and the middle of the 16th century is called the "Tudor style". The historical events of that time, manifestations of a fierce class struggle, the Hundred Years War, the internecine war of the Scarlet and White Roses did not favor the construction of large cathedral buildings. The sphere of activity of architects was limited to the completion of temples that had been started before, and the construction of chapels - relatively small church buildings - at palaces, universities and abbeys.
The functional features of the chapels predetermined some features of their architecture. Outside, these chapels often could not be perceived as independent structures, since they were only part of more monumental and large buildings. Their inner appearance was perceived with a greater degree of independence, in connection with which the main share of their artistic expressiveness was transferred to the interior.
Typical examples of such structures include the chapel of St. George at Windsor Castle (1493-1516), King's College Chapel, Cambridge (circa 1446-1515) and the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. Buildings of this type are single-nave or three-nave churches; in the latter case, the side aisles are so narrow that, in essence, they do not have independent spatial expressiveness; sometimes the side naves are isolated from the middle one. In both cases, the undivided dominating space of the middle nave is the main effect of the structure. The viewer enters, as it were, into a vast high hall, which has a pronounced spatial unity. The arched abutments, which previously stood free, now merged with the wall and, to a large extent, ceased to be perceived as structurally necessary load-bearing elements, turning into a kind of decorative rods. The spatial impact of the interior is all the stronger because here the feeling of mass and materiality completely disappears. There are no walls - they have turned into an openwork lattice cover filled with stained-glass windows (it was in connection with the rectangular pattern of window covers that the name "perpendicular" style arose). The window openings are enormous. So, for example, the height of the window behind the altar in the Windsor Chapel is more than 24 m with a width of 13 m). The wall becomes, as it were, a thin glass shell, through which light penetrates into the interior in a wide wave, transformed by the shining colors of the stained-glass windows. Such dematerialization of walls and supports requires, for its justification, a corresponding lightening of the ceiling, and it is quite natural that the vaults of the chapel also lose any semblance of materiality. This effect was achieved not so much due to the shape of the vaults, - on the contrary, in comparison with the previous time, the vaults and arches became less pointed, approaching in shape to a slightly pressed “Tudor arch”, but due to their richest decorative development. Least of all they resemble stone forms. Thus, in the Cambridge Chapel, fan bundles of the thinnest ribs, colliding with each other on the crest of the vault, form an exquisite lace pattern that creates the illusion of complete weightlessness of the vaulted ceiling. Similar principles of decoration are applied in the cloister gallery in Gloucester Cathedral, famous for its vaults.
Late Gothic tendencies reach their zenith in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey, built between 1502 and 1512. It is adjacent along the longitudinal axis to the eastern part of Westminster Cathedral and is, as it were, a gigantically enlarged middle chapel, which stands out from the wreath of chapels surrounding the apse. The chapel of Henry VII is quite large: in size, its internal width is almost equal to the internal width of the three-nave building of Westminster Cathedral. Already from the outside, the “perpendicular” decoration of buttresses and window casings, completely covering the lower tier of the building, attracts attention. The building has three naves, but inside the middle nave is isolated and perceived as a complete hall space, the architectural interpretation of which is close to the chapels in Windsor and Cambridge. The attraction of the chapel of Henry VII is its vaults, unprecedented in complexity and richness of forms, with decorations like hanging three-tier openwork funnels. This form of vaults required additional structural elements to support them. The construction of the Henry VII Chapel completes the evolution of English religious architecture of the Gothic era.
Secular architecture occupies a significant place in the history of English medieval architecture. As already indicated, English cities did not play such an important role in the economic and social life of the country as urban centers in other European states, and such monumental structures as town halls and other municipal buildings did not become widespread there. The predominant development in secular architecture was castle and palace construction, and in cities - residential buildings of burghers.
The castles of the Romanesque era were distinguished by their simplicity and elementary architectural appearance. In terms of their plan and silhouette, they are, in general, close to contemporary French castles. In the Gothic era, the castle building was overgrown with numerous extensions, the number of rooms increased; a hall stood out among them - the main room in the form of a large hall. The walls of the castles were still massive, but the openings of windows and doors acquired an lancet shape. Over time, the planning of buildings became more complicated, their external appearance became more picturesque, and the interior premises became more comfortable.
In the 14th century, the Royal Palace of Westminster was built in London. The perfection of the construction technique of that time is evidenced by the huge, architecturally magnificent solemn hall of this palace, the so-called Westminster Hall, one of the largest halls in Europe. Its area is over 1500 sq. m. The gigantic roof, covering it without any intermediate supports, rests on open wooden rafters of an ogive pattern, which are complex in design.
The invention of gunpowder deprived the castles of the feudal lords of their impregnability, and starting from the 16th century they gradually lost their serf character. But at the same time, the forms of Gothic architecture were preserved, because along with religious architecture, Gothic elements remained most viable precisely in castle construction. A huge number of estates of the English nobility in the 16th and 17th centuries and later were built in Gothic forms in combination with architectural elements developed during the Renaissance.
The fine arts of medieval England achieved the greatest success in the field of book miniatures. Monumental sculpture and painting did not receive that wide application here, which was characteristic of the French and German medieval culture. In the decoration of English cathedrals, remarkable architectural decor played a greater role than plot ensembles.
The relatively weak development of monumental painting and sculpture is partly due to the fact that there was almost no tradition of human images in the art of pre-Romanesque England. Only from the 10th c. stone sculpture appeared in churches. One of the oldest surviving monuments is a relief depicting the struggle of the Archangel Michael with Satan (the cathedral in Southwell), where the influence of the ornamental style coming from the Scandinavian countries is extremely strong. The Norman conquest of England also could not contribute to the great development of sculpture, since the Norman sculptural school itself at that time did not yet have significant traditions. In the few examples of early English sculpture, there is rather a continuation of older local traditions, represented by a relief from Southwell Cathedral. Made in the middle of the 12th century, the portal pillar of the church in Kilpek is an original combination of ornamental geometric and vegetative forms with a stylized image of a person and is very close to the style of framing church doors in Scandinavian buildings of the same time.
In ivory carving, the features of realism are more pronounced. The traditions of this art date back to Byzantine examples. An example is a plate depicting the adoration of the Magi (Victoria and Albert Museum in London).
Since the end of the 11th century, there has been a certain desire to get rid of ornamentality in the sculpture of England. This, apparently, was caused by acquaintance with the sculpture of southwestern and eastern France. Thus, the relief depicting Christ leaving his mother (Cathedral in Chichester), with its large figures, almost completely filling the surface, can be compared with the tympanum from Moissac, the tympanum of the southern portal of the cathedral in Salisbury, with its ethereal and refined figures, is close to the sculpture in Autun. Somewhat later, after 1200, statuary sculpture arose, closely connected, as elsewhere in Western Europe, with architecture. The apostles and prophets from the Cathedral in York (now in the York Museum) and the statues of the west facade of Lincoln Cathedral are filled with a keen sense of dynamics. By the middle of the 13th century. Gothic features appeared in English sculpture. These are the figures of the western facade of the cathedral in Wales, executed in the middle of the 13th century.
Sculptural tombstones are of considerable interest. The first artistically significant monuments of this kind date back to the 12th century. and are distinguished by a peculiar interweaving of ornamental traditions in the interpretation of form and in composition with naive attempts to convey the vital concreteness of the gesture and some individual features of the image of the depicted person. These are the tombstones of bishops in Salisbury Cathedral. Close to them is the tombstone of King John the Landless (died 1216), placed in Rochester Cathedral. The early interest in portraiture became especially clear in the 13th and 14th centuries; the most significant monument of that time is a beautiful tombstone, a portrait of Richard Sweckfield (cathedral in Rochester, late 13th century). It is characterized by a noble simplicity of the image, strict harmony of rhythms, calm monumentality of the whole composition.
In the 14th century the features of the realistic concreteness of the portrait image were more and more intensified. True, in a number of cases this was combined with the loss of a sense of the monumental and decorative integrity of the composition, which was characteristic of the best sculptural works of the previous period. An example is the work done at the end of the 14th century. portrait figures of the gravestone of Edward III (Westminster Abbey).
There are almost no examples of monumental paintings in England, but on the other hand, the rich history of English book miniatures is of exceptional interest. It would hardly be a mistake to say that in this area of medieval fine art, one of the first places belongs to England.
The earliest manuscripts, made in the Winchester and Canterbury schools, amaze with the richness of the ornament and the complexity of the composition. The best monuments of this type include the Benedictional of St. Æthelwold" (975 - 980, private collection in Chesworth). There are 49 decorative pages in the manuscript, 20 sheets with biblical scenes that had not been found on the continent until that time. The lush floral ornament with complex vignettes at the corners resembles a rich icon setting with a miniature inside.
The Canterbury School produced the Cadmon Poem Bible (1000), which is kept in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and is distinguished by the perfection of the sketchy pen drawing.
The Utrecht Psalter, which came to England at the end of the 10th century, made a huge impression on English miniaturists; it was copied countless times. (fine azure), as, for example, in the most subtle and most expressive work - the so-called London Psalter (British Museum).
After the conquest of England by the Normans, the traditions of the old Winchester school disappeared, and ties with the mainland scriptoria not only did not break, but, on the contrary, became closer. Together with the Norman conquerors, many clerics, bookbinders, miniaturists rushed to England. So, for example, in 1077 the entire monastery of Saint Etienne from Caen moved to Saint Alben.
The monasteries of St. Edmund and St. Alben possessed the most significant scripteria. The Winchester monastery and two Canterbury ones have resumed their activity; in the north, Derham's scriptoria were again revived. Until now, a magnificent library of medieval manuscripts has been preserved in Derham. The earliest surviving manuscript of St. Albany Monastery and of interest is the Psalter (1119-1146), stored in the Godehard Library in Gildesheim. The manuscript contains forty-five pages of illustrations and numerous initials, many of which are in the form of genre scenes. The Godehard Psalter is illustrated with scenes from biblical and gospel texts; the images of people in these miniatures are distinguished by a certain monotony, weak expressiveness of faces, their coloring is somewhat heavy.
In the future, the search for greater expressiveness and vitality is characteristic of English miniaturists. This problem was also solved by the largest master of the St. Albensky monastery Matteo Paris (1236-1259). Rewriting the "History of England" (1250-1259, British Museum) and the lives of the saints, the artist dresses his characters in contemporary clothes of knights, warriors, monks, creates scenes full of observation and plausibility. The same search for concrete vitality, combined with a subtle sense of ornamentation, is inherent in the miniaturists of the second major scriptorium of the 11th-13th centuries. abbeys of St. Edmund and in general are very characteristic of the art of English miniature of the mature Middle Ages.
The early monuments of St. Edmund's Abbey, for example, the psalter (beginning of the 11th century), kept in the Vatican, are reminiscent of the decoration of the Winchester school in terms of the richness of the ornament of letters, but later, as in all English miniatures, the simple decoration of the page is replaced by an illustration thought out in composition and characterization. actions. There is no doubt that acquaintance with Byzantine miniatures (in the 12th century many English clergymen brought manuscripts from Italy that were copied by English masters, for example, the Bible for Heinrich de Blois), as well as the influence of French masters, enriched and diversified the creative methods of English miniaturists.
Manuscripts of St. Edmund's Monastery "The Life and Death of St. Edmund" (1125-1150, private collection in London) and the Bible (1121-1148, kept in one of the colleges in Cambridge) - the next step in the development of English miniatures. Illustrating the Bible, the artist (his name is preserved - Master Hugo) sought to convey not the miraculously divine and religious-symbolic nature of events, but their vital, human basis. Various scenes are interpreted by the artist as consecutive events filled with realistically convincing details. The coloring of the miniatures is excellent, with a predominance of gold, purple and blue tones.
The scriptoria of Canterbury and Winchester continued their activity. The second, very free copy of the Utrecht Psalter, the so-called Edwin Psalter, dates back to 1150. This is a completely original work with pen drawings - new in subject matter and compositional solution. A comparative analysis of the two manuscripts (original and copy) makes it possible to identify features characteristic of the Canterbury school, introduced by scribes. In this case, the artists boldly combined biblical scenes with scenes from the lives of Saxon and Celtic saints, decorated the initials with characters from the legends of King Arthur. Excellent miniature, which depicts the monk-scribe Edwin; despite the decorativeness of the draperies, his figure, bent over the manuscript, is characterized by concentration, restraint, and monumentality. Slightly tinted with brown and blue, the miniatures are laconic in design and unusually expressive.
By the end of the 12th century. includes the Winchester Bible (New York, Morgan collection) with a rich pattern of initials and pages of various designs. Interestingly, several miniatures were left unfinished in the manuscript; only a clear pen drawing was made, giving a vivid description of the characters. In the finished miniatures, the artist entwined the drawing with a complex floral ornament, creating a composition that was delicate in terms of color and sophisticated rhythm.
Particularly interesting are the manuscripts of the northern scriptorium in Derham, where in the 11th - 13th centuries. a large number of semi-secular works were copied. For example, the Life of St. Cuthbert (12th century, British Museum) is decorated with small miniatures - scenes devoid of ornament, but executed with vivid imagination and observation. Miniature "St. Cuthbert writes his will" recalls at the same time, with its conciseness and simplicity of painting the churches of the Romanesque period. Miniatures such as the Life of St. Gutlak”, saturated with action and movement (for example, the episode of the saint’s martyrdom), later found a response on the pages of later European Apocalypses.
Starting from the 12th century. in England, illustrated calendars began to be widely distributed, striking with the imagination and originality of the artists' handwriting. Characteristic of this art is the psalter from Shefstbury Abbey (late 12th century, British Museum) with a calendar decorated with slightly colored pen drawings. Genre figurines (for example, for February - an old man warming himself by a fire) are boldly introduced into the canvas of religious plots.
Especially vivid imagination is inherent in the artists who decorated the manuscripts of bestiaries. Bestiaries are instructive stories about the life of animals, in which animals often appear in fable situations that are characteristic of humans. Originating for the first time in France, bestiaries gave rise to many repetitions and variations, and the rich decoration of these manuscripts became the specificity of the English miniature.
In one of the best - "The Great Bestiary" (12th century, the Morgan collection in New York) - there are original episodes showing the cunning of man and animals. In one of the miniatures, a rider, having kidnapped a tiger cub, quickly drives away, and the tigress, bending down, licks the mirror, thinking that there is a cub in front of her.
In the 14th century The development of the miniature went along two lines. In one direction, rich decorative and ornamental decorations prevailed, in the second - the creation of illustrations for a literary text, with finely developed character characteristics. Since that time, the creation of miniatures from monasteries has passed to individual professional scribes and artists, many of whom were laymen. Numerous secular monuments arose at the same time. Usually, manuscripts created during the period 1300-1350 are united, despite their differences, under the general name of miniatures of the East Anglian school.
The hymnal of Robert de Lisle (14th century) is very picturesquely decorated with scenes from the life of Christ. Of particular interest is the miniature "The Kiss of Judas" for its expressive characterization of the action: the squat, low-browed Judas boldly approaches Christ, whose open and noble face is framed by wavy curls. A subtle expressive drawing is complemented by a soft, but very picturesque range of colors. The artist, skillfully using gestures and facial expressions (expressing anger, suffering, surprise), solves a new task for that time - a comparison of opposite psychological types.
In the 14th century the principles of decorating the page were finally developed. Lancet arches and other architectural details of Gothic architecture were introduced into the ornament, and the proportions of the figures were lengthened. Clearly written text is embellished with colorful initials. Sometimes the initials fill the entire length of the sheet and contain several miniatures; more often, the initials-sketches are located directly in the text, and the entire page is decorated with a frame of various design. Of particular value are comic drolery - genre scenes located outside the frame or at the bottom of the sheet. They are characterized by folk humor and vitality of performance.
The largest monument of the East Anglian school - the so-called Queen Mary Psalter (British Museum) - was created in 1320, apparently for King Edward II. The manuscript contains 60 large miniatures, 233 colored drawings and over 400 pen drawings. Religious themes, such as "Marriage in Cana of Galilee", are interpreted as events contemporary to the artist: servants and musicians are dressed in costumes of 14th century England. The characterization of the characters is remarkably lifelike: we recognize almost every one of them when he appears in another miniature.
The pages of the manuscript are interesting, including the plot composition located at the top of the sheet and replacing the initial scene. On one of them in the interior of the church, the side aisles of which serve as a miniature frame, it is depicted how the little Christ is examined by the clergy. The bewilderment and surprise of the latter, struck by the wisdom of the youth, the anxiety of the Mother of God, supported by Joseph, are conveyed with extraordinary persuasiveness. The proportions of the figures are graceful, the coloring is excellent, sustained in blurry tones of blue, pink, greenish-blue, fawn. Below the miniature there are four lines of text with an ornamental end to each line. At the bottom of the sheet is a hunting scene, not related to the content of the manuscript, but performed very freely and lively. These genre scenes with tiny figurines delight with their extraordinary richness of fantasy and artistic perfection. Such drawings at the bottom of the pages and at the end of the lines are very characteristic of this manuscript, as well as of the famous Lutrell Psalter (1340, British Museum). Images of work in the fields under the whip of the overseer, shearing sheep, archery competitions and marriages follow one after another and create a picture of the life of various sections of English society. The manuscript has not only artistic, but also cognitive value; this is, in essence, the pinnacle of the development of the English miniature.
In the 14th century purely secular books were illustrated relatively widely. Already at the end of the 13th century. in England illustrated the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. These miniatures and the first illustrations for the works of the greatest English writer Chaucer (for example, the frontispiece - Chaucer reading his poems to his friends, miniatures for his poem "Troilus and Cressida"), as well as illustrations for scientific treatises, are the logical conclusion of the development of the English miniature in its search for life. compelling features.
From the middle of the 14th century the heyday of the English miniature was replaced by a deep decline caused by the Hundred Years War and the Black Death epidemic.
Resurrected from the middle of the 15th century. the rise of culture and the fine arts heralded a new era in the history and culture of England.
MBOU "School №5"
Nizhegorodsky district of Nizhny Novgorod
Scientific Society of Students
History of Britain in architecture.
Completed by: Pavlikova Ksenia,
7th grade student
Scientific adviser:
Murzak D.G.
English teacher.
N.Novgorod
2017
Content
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 1. Architecture and construction of houses in the UK. General characteristics…………………………………………………………………..5
1.1 Prehistoric times. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . …. 6
1.2 Medieval England. Features and examples... . . . . . . . . . . .. . 7
1.3Architecture of the 17th century of Great Britain ... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . ………9
1.4 Classicism and its buildings of the 18th century.………………………………………….10
1.5 19th century style. Victorian times... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . ……. . . .eleven
1.6 Styles of the 20th century... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………..13
Chapter 2. Comparative characteristics of structures in Russia and Britain. Experiment………………………………………………………… 15
2.1 Features of the English house. Its types and parts. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .15
2.2 Comparative characteristics of houses in Russia and England………………..17
2.3 Experiment…………………………………………………………………… 18
Conclusion... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………….......20
List of sources and literature used ... . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . ….21
Introduction
A foreign language, as a general educational subject, helps the development of a student's professional orientation. At the same time, a foreign language, as you know, has an educational, educational and developmental potential. In accordance with this, a foreign language contributes to the formation of such personality traits that will ensure the use of creative possibilities in the interests of solving many problems of mankind.
As you know, Great Britain is one of the historical, cultural, political centers of the world, where today there are many attractions. London is a city of dreams and fairy tales, where real palaces and castles exist. These magnificent places deserve worthy attention. Increasingly, people who come here for the first time, the capital of Great Britain causes true delight and respect for history and architecture, which are closely related.
This work is devoted to the study of the features of houses in the UK.
The relevance of research is to study the types of houses in the UK and the architecture of the language being studied, knowledge of English and native culture.
Ashypotheses I assume that houses in the UK are different from houses in Russia.
aim my job is to study the features of the construction and architecture of UK houses and compare them with houses in Russia.
In the work, the followingtasks :
study of styles of architecture and types of houses in Great Britain;
determine the value and devotion of life and homes for the British;
find the distinctive features of English and Russian houses;
prove the relevance of the study using search information.
The following were used to conduct the study.methods :
analysis of literature and various sources;
observation;
comparative analysis;
generalization.
Theoretical significance The research consists in an attempt to study the distinctive features of English houses from Russian ones.
Practical significance research lies in the fact that the results of this work can be used in English lessons.
Chapter 1. Architecture and construction of houses in Great Britain. General characteristics.
There are many buildings with a rich history in the UK, from houses, castles, farms with mansions, to large manors of the 17th-19th century and townhouses. Any old building is not just a house, but part of the history of the kingdom. The buildings show the talent of architects and builders.
The architecture of the buildings, containing elements of the Greek and Roman renaissance, intermingled with the Baroque style, this combination in a rich sculptural interweaving created a powerful originality.
Later, new styles appeared - Neo-Gothic, Classicism, Modernism, but the Gothic style remains the predominant style of buildings to this day. The best examples of British architectural design are luxurious castles, palaces and social buildings (Oxford, the National Theatre).
The most common materials for building houses are red brick and stone. Of particular pride are Victorian-style brick houses with large windows. In the villages, typical "cottages" with unplastered red bricks breathe the atmosphere of a fairy tale. Architecture in Great Britain and throughout England is a special historical heritage for the country and is very different from the rest of Europe.
In modern building technology, the government program and the growing awareness has led to the creation of an ecological house, which not only prevents pollution, but also reduces energy costs, the house can also ensure a balance in the environment. Also in modern Britain, architects have created a new type of house, made of tarpaulins covered with cement. The construction of such a house takes only 40 minutes, looks like a tent. The fabric remains flexible and inflates with a pump, which in turn is powered by a battery. This shelter represents great strength, after being able to withstand a blow without the risk of harm for the last 12 hours, the option of such a "house" is not expensive, and of course it is a temporary shelter when going out into nature.
The architecture of London is a vivid example of the Georgian style and the Regency. The style of the next era is also associated with the name of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), who reigned at that time. The new style was called Victorian or, as it is also called, the style of historicism. The embodiment of the new style is the Parliament building, in the construction of which Neo-Gothic was used, as well as the British Museum, the construction of which was carried out using the Greek classics.
Already by the 20th century, mainly after the Second World War, skyscrapers began to appear., built from concrete. Compared to historical buildings, they turned out to be faceless, like many such houses in continental Europe. The architects of our time include the Englishman James Stirling, who lived in 1926-1993. His creation includes the Tate Gallery in London. English architect Norman Forster, born in 1935, along with Richard Rogers, born in 1933, created many beautiful and conspicuous buildings.
1.1 Prehistoric times
From prehistoric times, metalite tombs have been preserved, which belong to the Neolithic era. Among the most famous buildings of the II millennium BC. e. - ritual complex Stonehenge. Huge boulders, combined with a special formation, create an unusual ensemble with the surrounding landscape near the city of Salisbury (Wiltshire), 130 kilometers southwest of London.
This structure, which consisted of about 90 stone blocks, weighing from 5 to 50 tons and a height of 1.8 to 7.5 meters. On top of them are 3.2 m long lintel slabs. There are various hypotheses about the purpose of the complex - from a temple to a cemetery. The stone Stonehenge had small and wooden predecessors, which have not survived to this day. The modern remains of the complex are protected, but the unique structure remains the subject of debate, pop and media sensations, scientific studies, hypotheses and films that, so far, explain little about the history of the structure and its functions.
1.2 Medieval England. Characteristics and examples
The development of proper English architecture can be traced back to the 7th century. The Anglo-Saxons, who developed into a nation in the 7th-9th centuries, built simple frame buildings from wood. In ancient times, primitive huts served as dwellings. Where the household was run, a whole family built a hall (hall) - a large oblong room under a high gable roof, where people who worked on the farm gathered. In the middle of the hall, an open hearth was arranged on the ground, and a “chimney” was built to trap and remove smoke - a visor under the roof.
Built from the bricks of destroyed Roman buildings, the first churches bear the stamp of Italo-Gallic and Eastern Christian influences. Samples of them have been preserved in Bradwell (Bradwell, Essex, about 654-660), Brixworth (Brixworth, Northamptonshire, about 670-675), Bradford-on-Avon (BredfordonAvon, Wiltshire, about 675-709 and the beginning 10th century). These are modest buildings with a gable roof on wooden rafters; a small rectangular room with an altar apse was attached to the eastern end. In the churches of the period of Danish rule (IX-beginning of XI centuries), the western facade was accentuated, western transepts and towers were erected. These techniques entered into a tradition that was revived in the Gothic period. The connection of stone architecture with folk wooden architecture is evidenced by wooden architecture at Grinstead, a wooden tower-like church (Greenstead, Essex, about 1000) with a frame structure. Over time, such a frame began to be filled with stone, and when the walls became strong enough to carry the tower, the frame was abandoned. In Barton-on-Humber (BartononHumber, Lincolnshire, late 10th century) and Earl's-Barton (Earl'sBarton, Northamptonshire, circa 980 - 1000), stone church towers, rectangular in plan, have been preserved, the exterior decor of which indicates their origin from wooden frame buildings. These buildings anticipated the forms of towers typical of English medieval architecture.
Buildings of the Middle Ages.
white tower. An example of a Norman fortress is the White Tower, in the Tower of London. Its construction was begun by Bishop Gandalf in 1078 on the orders of William the Conqueror and completed in 1097. The white tower, dominating the flat terrain, was a symbol of Norman power over the conquered country. It became a model for the construction of many fortifications erected by the conquerors throughout England.
Durham Cathedral was built from 1093 to 1175. Although the choir was reconstructed in the Gothic style between 1242 and 1280, the massive columns and arches make Durham Cathedral one of the most imposing Norman buildings in England.
Haddon in Derbyshire, construction began in the 12th century. It has been rebuilt many times over the centuries. Now restored as it was in the 16th century. Haddon is an example of a large medieval house where function dictates form.
A Perpendicular Gothic building built at a college in Cambridge during the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Tudor era. The first stone was laid in 1446 by Henry VI, and construction was completed by 1515, the reign of Henry VIII.
1.3 17th century architecture
A lot of the majestic buildings that Britain is proud of today were built in the seventeenth century. The architecture of this time is distinguished by the presence of a large number of ornamental details, pretentiousness, and abundance.
From the middle of the seventeenth century, the architecture of Great Britain takes on more modern European forms, which reflect the trends of Italian and Dutch architecture.
In the seventeenth century, such a famous architectural object as The Queens House (Greenwich) was built, the construction of which was begun during the reign of Queen Anne between 1616 and 1619, and completed by Henrietta Maria between 1630 and 1635. The architect of The Queens House was Inigo Jones. During this period, St. Paul's Cathedral in London was built. It is considered to be one of the most perfect expressions of the English Baroque, as well as one of the greatest buildings ever built in England. Designed by architect Christopher Wren, the cathedral became a reflection of the Roman Cathedral of St. Peter, and its majesty immortalized the name of the master who created such a unique building.
Another manifestation of the English Baroque was
Blenheim Palace. Its creation was entrusted to John Vanbrugh - an architect with his own vision of modern architecture, so the palace is distinguished by intricate details.
The style of the 17th century is baroque. HeonefromdominatingstylesVEuropean architectureAndartendXVI- middleXVIIIcenturies.
The British Baroque was a new assertion of power, an expression of the ideology of absolutism for a society that remembered the world turned upside down during the civil war.
The baroque style has the following characteristic features:
The complexity of volumes and space, the mutual intersection of various geometric shapes,
The predominance of complex curvilinear forms in determining the plans and facades of structures,
Alternating convex and concave lines and planes
Active use of sculptural and architectural and decorative motifs;
Uneven distribution of architectural means;
Creation of a rich play of chiaroscuro, color contrasts
Dynamism of architectural masses.
1.4 Classicism and its buildings (18th century).
Classicism - And direction to - centuries
By the end of the 18th century, austere neoclassical buildings continued to be built, but copies of medieval abbeys, castles, picturesque houses, and even oriental palaces, such as John Nash's Royal Pavilion in Brighton, were already beginning to appear.
Classicism style has the following characteristic features:
Dominant colors:saturated colors; green, pink, magenta with a gold accent, sky blue.Lines:strict repeating vertical and horizontal lines; bas-relief inround medallion; smooth generalized drawing; symmetry.Form:clarity and geometrism of forms; statues on the roof, rotunda; for the Empire style - expressive pompous monumental forms.Interior elements:discreet decor; round and ribbed columns, pilasters, statues, antique ornament, coffered vault.Designs:massive, stable, monumental, rectangular, arched.Window:rectangular, elongated upwards, with a modest design.doors: rectangular; with a massive gable portal on round and ribbed columns; with lions, sphinxes and statues.
18th century UK buildings
Kedleston Hall. Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire (1758-1777) is the most striking manifestation of British classicism. The building was designed by the then young, promising Scottish architect Robert Adam.Date of construction:1765
Strawberry Hill.Strawberry Hill aroused great interest. Walpole was forced to issue tickets to limit the number of visitors coming to see it. The new villa showed that native English medieval architecture can be as expressive as classicism.
1.5 19th century style. Victorian times.
INVictorian architecture(English)Victorian architecture ) - the most general term that is used in English-speaking countries to refer to the whole variety of varieties common in the Victorian era(from 1837 to 1901).
Victorian architecture has the following characteristics:
1) active use of rich, saturated colors and color combinations.
2) a large number of carved decor on the facade.
3) complex broken and asymmetrical roofs with dormer windows. Roofs are most often with sharp corners, as an imitation of Gothic architecture.
4) turrets, ledges, balconies.
5) many narrow windows of various shapes, lancet arches.
6) a terrace in front of the entrance to the building with decor, front gables and one-story "porches".
7) the complex volume of the house, the game of individual details of the volume.
victorian buildings
TheParliament. Palace of Westminster ( Palace of Westminster , Westminster Palace ) - building on the beach V area where the meetings take place . This building arose in 1840-1860 on the site of an old palace burned down in 1834, which by that time was a combination of the most diverse buildings. However, during the fire, they managed to save, in addition to the badly damaged crypt under the chapel of St. Stephen, the most architecturally valuable part of the old palace - Westminster Hall. Fate turned out to be merciful to him for the second time: the hall survived during the devastating bombing of German aircraft in May 1941, when the adjacent hall of the House of Commons was destroyed. It was originally designed by Charles Barry in 1016.
Castel Koch. A small fortress near Cardiff (1872-1879) built according to the design of William Burges, famous for the restoration of Cardiff Castle. This is a reconstruction of a 13th century fortress. The interior of the fortress combines Victorian romanticism and Moorish design with Burges's drawings of ancient British history and classical mythology.
1.6 Styles of the 20th century.
The most important trends in architecture at the beginning of the 20th century simply passed by the UK. While Gropius was working on cold, glass spaces and Le Corbusier was experimenting with reinforced concrete structures, architects in England continued to build Renaissance country houses for landowners. Only a few modern buildings appeared in the country between the two world wars. Most of them were the work of foreign architects such as Serge Chermeyeff, Berthold Lubetkin and Erno Goldfincher.
After World War II, the situation began to change. Having been hit by German bombing raids, England was in desperate need of cheap housing that could be built quickly. The use of prefabricated elements, metal framing, concrete slabs and lack of decoration - everything that was previously rejected with disdain by the British, was now approved by society. The local authorities were faced with the task of restoring the historical centers of cities. Before the Second World War, the main customers were always private individuals, after it they were the administration of cities, together with national and multinational companies and large educational institutions. Such a union allowed the restoration of old historic buildings and the expansion of the range of architectural styles used in new construction.
20th century buildings
Freemason's Hall. One of the few Art Deco buildings in London is Freemason's Hall. In addition, this is the first building in the world created from reinforced concrete. It was built between 1927 and 1933. Freemason's Hall has been the center of English Freemasonry for 230 years. It is the seat of more than a thousand British Masonic lodges and the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England, the oldest Masonic Grand Lodge in the world.
City seat of Cardiff. It is an extensive complex including the city hall, the courthouse and the university. This center is considered one of the most magnificent examples of civic facilities in the UK.
DeleWarrPavilion. The Resort Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, built by Eric Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff between 1933 and 1936. It was an attempt to make Bexhill as attractive as the popular French and Italian resorts.
From the end of the 20th century, ultra-modern high-rise buildings began to appear in London. They look especially paradoxical among the medieval streets of the City. Many buildings are offices of well-known international companies. The architectural projects of London skyscrapers located in the City, such as Lloyds, Willis, Gherkin, have prestigious awards for the comfort and beauty of buildings, the use of the latest technologies in their construction and maintenance.
Chapter 2 Comparative characteristics of structures in Russia and Britain. Experiment.
2.1 Features of the English house. Types and parts of houses
The desire of the British to live apart led to the emergence of a true culture of the house: the layout of residential buildings, their designations, attitudes towards the house, etc. For example, some houses are built so that each apartment has its own entrance. Old residential buildings are often long, two-story brick buildings with many doors painted in different colors because they belong to different owners. Therefore, the UK is sometimes called "two-story". The houses also retain the traditional fireplace, but now gas or electric.
Most people (over 80%) living in the UK live in houses, not apartments. A large part of the British population prefers apartment houses with a garden and a garage, thus contributing to a more traditional way of life. A distinctive feature of houses in the UK is their size, traditionally the rooms in the house are quite small compared to modern buildings. A typical English house has two floors, a front garden and a back garden. The hall, kitchen, dining room and living room are located on the ground floor, the bedroom and children's rooms are upstairs.
Types of houses in Britain
There are 3 main types of houses in Britain:
a) mansions
b) twin houses (houses with two porches for two families)
c) solid houses (houses with several entrances for individual families)
The first type of houses are the most expensive houses in the UK. They are located on the land, which is also the property of the owner of such a mansion. Moreover, entering the owner's territory without permission is already a violation of the law on private property. Such houses are isolated from neighbors, they are ideal for gardening enthusiasts who can devote enough time and effort to gardening their home.
Twin houses are two houses connected to each other by one solid wall. Houses of this type are less expensive, however, they also offer ample personal space and privacy. Solid houses are usually two or three storey buildings. This is a continuous row of identical houses, interconnected by side walls. Many rows of solid houses were built for workers working in nearby factories or mines. A solid house is cheaper than a twin house or mansion of the same size. Most cities have built miles of such houses. More than a quarter of British families live in such houses.
Also in Britain there are 3 types of buildings in which people can live:
d) apartments in high-rise buildings
e) bungalows are one-story houses that are especially popular among the elderly.
e) village houses.
Parts of an English house
The English house consists of common characteristic parts:
- window;
D -door;
Roof-roof;
Balcony-balcony;
Chimney - chimney;
skylight-attic;
Dormer window - roof window;
Ridge- ridge;
Gutter- drain;
Windowsill-sill;
Sash window - sash window;
Casement window-woodenormetallicwindowWithverticalhingedframes;
Eaves-cornices;
Bay window bay window;
Door knocker - door knocker;
Doorstep threshold;
Basement-cellar;
Letter box - mailbox.
2.2 Comparative characteristics of houses in Russia and houses in the UK
Residential real estate in England is a rather interesting topic, since there are a lot of different types of housing in this country and they are very different from our reality. Various houses in England reflect the history of this country, and meet some new architectural trends. England is often called two-story, because it is this type of housing that is most common here, unlike multi-story Russia.
The first floor in our understanding for the British is consideredground floor, the second - the first, and the third - the second. Therefore, if they say that an apartment or a room is located on the first floor, in our view it is the second floor. Thus, in England, two-story houses are actually three-story.
For a person accustomed to our realities, after living in England, a small Russian two-room apartment will seem like mansions, so everything is cramped, compressed and combined with the British. Although in some cases, everything can be quite different.
Comparing Russian and English houses, we can say:
1) Russians build houses for convenience, so that it is comfortable and good to live in them;
2) The English build houses more with external and internal beauty than comfort;
3) The British houses are not modern, elements of antiquity are visible in them;
4) Russians are trying to keep up with development and are building more modern houses.
5) The English like to be at home. They say "My home is my castle" (My house is my castle ) because they don't want their neighbors to know what's going on at home.
6) Russians love their home, but most often it is an apartment, and even more they like to invite people to visit or go by themselves, because they are more hospitable and hospitable than the British. Russian people are more open and often interested in the affairs of their neighbors.
2.3 Experiment
For this research work, I conducted a survey of students of English.
Attached is a list of questions:
1. Do you know about such a structure as Stonezhendzh?
2. Can you name some of the outstanding buildings in the UK? (If yes, name).
3. Name at least one distinguishing feature of British architecture.
4. Name the styles of British architecture known to you.
5. Do you know why the UK is called two-story?
Survey results
15 people participated in the survey.
From this survey, it can be concluded that English learners do not have sufficient information about the architecture of the UK. Therefore, this research work can be considered useful. After getting acquainted with it, each student can easily answer all the questions of the questionnaires.
Conclusion
Great Britain is a country with a rich history and culture, proud of its traditions and roots. The most significant moment for the British is their homes. The home of an Englishman is his life, the embodiment of his individuality, his desire for solitude, the main indicator of social status, this is his obsession.
In the work, we considered the features of houses in the UK, architecture, construction and their names, and with the help of the study, the distinctive features of houses in the UK were identified.
We have found that houses in Great Britain differ significantly from houses in Russia both in terms of the culture of the country and in appearance.
In this paper, we examined the tradition of naming houses in Britain, as well as in Russia. We found that naming houses in Britain has a long and rich history. In our country, this tradition also took place, but it was not widespread and official as in Britain. The names of houses are widely used, especially in recent times with the development of construction.
We examined how architecture changes from time to time, its features, construction and significance.
List of used sources and literature
The whole world. Cities and capitals. Encyclopedic reference book. Mn., 2000.
Zyryanov A.V. Great Britain. View from Russia. Publishing house Ural worker. 2005 .
Linguistic Dictionary M.: Soviet Encyclopedia.
Oganjanyan N.L. Acquaintance with the traditions and culture of the peoples inhabiting the United Kingdom as a way of interethnic contacts.//English language. The first of September. No. 16.2007 - P. 25
Internet resources:
http:// nastroike. com/ building construction- v- raznykh- countries/34- architectektura- i- building construction- domov- v English- Jazyk- i- all- all- all-/ dom- milyi- dom- features- English en/ sights/8- big_ ben. html .
The architects of Classicism left many works that delight with their noble and exemplary manner of execution in various countries. In England, this era is represented by the following masters.
Inigo Jones, 1573-1652
Inigo Jones was trained in this art form in Italy and was a fan of the ideas of Andrea Palladio. He brought Palladianism to England and created remarkable works of architecture.
early classicism. Banquet hall (Eng. Banqueting House)
Christopher Wren, 1632-1723
Christopher Wren preferred the Roman style and strictly observed the rules of the founder of Classicism, Palladio. He is considered an important figure in the creation of a national style in English architecture, which is defined as Wren's or Renovsky's classicism.
English Classicist architect Christopher Wren. Wren Library, Cambridge Video clip for 4 minutes about the architectural work of Christopher Wren.
James Smith, 1645–1731
James Smith is the pioneer of the Palladian style in Scotland. There are suggestions that Smith brought Italian ideas from his travels and inspired 18th-century British Palladianism with them.
Classicist architect in Scotland James Smith. Yester House, Haddington James Gibbs, 1682-1754
James Gibbs, Scot , is a representative of the British Baroque. But he also created classical (Palladian) architecture.
Architect James Gibbs. St Martin's Church (St Martin-in-the-Fields), London Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, 1694-1753
Lord Burlington is a philanthropist and architect. Important Palladian buildings were erected to his designs and under his patronage.
Architect Lord Burlington. Chiswick House, London Colen Campbell, 1676-1729
Shotl. architect Colin Cambell. Palladian Villa Stourhead, Wiltshire, England Colin Campbell, a Scottish architect, is considered one of the founders of the Georgian style in British Classicism. For most of his career, he resided in Italy and England. His popular printed work Vitruvius Britannicus(English) Vitruvius Britannicus, or the British Architect)
is a collection of engravings of the architectural work of Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren and other prominent architects of the time. Don't forget to post your work there.
The success of all three volumes, which appeared between 1715 and 1725, played an important role in popularizing
Architecture on the principles of Palladio in Great Britain and America in the 18th century.
The 3-minute video film presents C. Campbell's landscape architecture around the Stourhead house (Wiltshire, England).
William Kent, 1684 - 1748
William Kent is best known for his contribution to the history of English landscape design. Interest in antiquity and a naturalistic approach to planning allowed Kent to create unique landscapes, where arches, walls, bridges and buildings fit harmoniously into the natural landscape.
Arch. William Kent. Stowe Landscape Gardens, Buckinghamshire, England 
Arch. William Kent. Stowe Landscape Gardens, Buckinghamshire, England He is famous for the fact that at the end of his life he rebuilt the residence of the Prime Minister, the barracks of the Horse Guards Regiment, the building of the royal arena, etc. in Whitehall and the surrounding area.
Just 3 minutes of video will give a more complete picture of the English classical gardens of William Kent:
Robert Adam, 1728-92
Robert Adam, famous Scottish architect and interior designer of the Classical era. While studying local architecture in Italy, Adam developed his own style, known as the Adam style.
Arch. Robert Adam. Osterley Park, London 
Arch. Interior Robert Adam. Kenwood House, London James 'Athenian' Stuart, 1713-1788
James Stuart "Athenian" while traveling in Greece made detailed notes and sketches of the excavations of antiquities, thereby contributing to the development of Classicism in Europe. His architectural projects consisted mainly of modifying existing houses and villas, which he brought back to the classical style of ancient Greece.
Arch. James Stewart (Athenian). spencer house. London To view a video gallery of the house where Princess Diana grew up, please visit http://www.spencerhouse.co.uk/video-page/
John Nash, 1752 - 1835
John Nash, English architect responsible for much of the planning of Regency London. It is considered the largest representative of British classicism, known as the "Regency
style". He is the author of many projects of buildings, structures, complexes, parks.
Arch. John Nash. Theater Royal Haymarket, London 
Arch. John Nash. Marble Arch near Orator's Corner in Hyde Park, London. Sir John Soane, 1753–1837
John Soane, an admirer of classicism, studied the architectural monuments of antiquity in Italy and Greece. In the design of buildings, he preferred clean lines, simple shapes, and harmonious proportions. Sometimes he mixed ideas, borrowing them from different sources, preceding eclecticism.
Arch. John Soun. Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone, Westminster, London The House Designed by Sir John Soane: 2 Minutes of Classicism in Architecture.
As you can see, not only English, but also Scottish Classicist architects contributed to the development of this trend and left magnificent integral architectural monuments, including their landscape and interior design.
This article only mentions the most prominent names of architects who had a hand in the creation of the English style of the 17th - 19th centuries. Classicism, as a direction, has other branches of style, which can be found in the article.
London has been around for almost two millennia. Founded in 43 by the Romans, the current capital of Great Britain has repeatedly undergone significant architectural restructuring. Some structures dating back to the era of the Norman Conquest and the subsequent development of architectural ideas have survived to this day almost in their original form.
● Tower considered one of the symbols of London. Initially, it was a fortress built by the Normans under the leadership of William the Conqueror in the 11th century. During the Middle Ages, the castle was surrounded by a moat 36 meters wide and a bridge that rises in case of danger, and inside the castle there was a royal mint. The gloomy mystery of the Tower is due to the fact that a prison existed on the territory of the castle until the middle of the 20th century, as the names of many towers indicate. The most famous tower White Tower- has a wall thickness of up to four meters and a height of 27 meters and is an example of the brutality of medieval architecture. For thrill-seekers, there are excursions that clearly tell about the methods of medieval interrogations using multifunctional tools at hand.
● Westminster Abbey- a place that needs to be seen firsthand by every person visiting London. Construction, stretching for several centuries, began on the site of the Benedictine monastery, known since 750 (!) Years. Next to the stone church, built in the 11th century, the royal palace was built, which until the 16th century was the main residence of the kings of England. For centuries, Westminster Abbey was the burial place of members of the royal family, nobility and high clergy, and until 1660 the royal treasury was located in the dungeon of the Chapter Hall, which held meetings of the House of Commons and monastic meetings.
● St. Paul's Cathedral in London refers to Protestant churches. Its construction was begun after the great fire in London on the site of a church that burned down in 1666. According to the architectural design, the cathedral was supposed to personify independence from the Catholic Church and was created as an opposition to St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. Construction under the direction of Saint-Paul architect Christopher Wren was completed in 1711. In England, they honor their traditions and according to one of them, St. Paul's Cathedral is the burial place of celebrities.
● Parliament. Today it is a whole complex of Neo-Gothic buildings with a total area of 3.2 hectares, the construction of which was completed in 1850 on the site of the old parliament, which was damaged by a fire in 1834. 1100 rooms are interconnected by corridors with a total length of three kilometers. Erected along the Thames at 300 meters, the Parliament is known to almost everyone thanks to the tower of St. Stephen, also called Big Ben. Big Ben Height is 98 meters, and the bell, designed to strike time, has a weight of 13.3 tons. The installation of this bell was led by Sir Benjamin Hall (abbreviated as Ben). In modern London, there are towers of much higher height, for example, the Bridge Tower 420 meters high, but Big Ben is deservedly the real symbol of London.
● Buckingham Palace. The palace got its name in honor of the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Sheffield, who was in charge of the construction of the palace in the place where the country house used to be. Since the beginning of construction in 1703, Buckingham Palace has gone through several modifications and after the rebuilding, completed in 1830, it was recognized as the main residence of the English monarchs. After rebuilding in 1846 and in 1913, Buckingham Palace retained its original appearance only in its western part. For two months a year, tourists and everyone is allowed access to the royal art gallery and to 18 of the 660 rooms of the palace.
● Windsor castle is currently the largest inhabited castle in the world. Founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, Windsor Castle serves as the main royal residence to this day. The upper courtyard, where Queen Elizabeth's chambers are currently located, is closed to tourists. The territory of the lower courtyard includes the chapel of St. George - the resting place of the ashes of the English kings, they are also stored there. banners of the Order of the Garter established by King Edward III. Despite the fact that during its existence the palace has experienced many redevelopments depending on different eras, today Windsor Castle is recognized as a vivid example of medieval architecture.
● The Monument- the name of the column created in memory of the global fire of 1666 in London has a height of 62 meters and, according to legend, at the same distance from the column is the place where this fire began.
● Mary-Ex. The building of 40 floors with a height of 180 meters can be safely attributed to the category of skyscrapers. Swiss Re is headquartered here, and the upper floors contain restaurants that offer great views of downtown London. Although the building does not have a world record for height, it has received several very prestigious awards due to its appearance, reminiscent of a cucumber.
● City Hall of London. A building that deserves special attention. It seems that the architect initially set himself the goal of making it impossible to describe the shape of the building, and at the same time, many modern technological solutions were introduced to significantly reduce the cost of maintaining the city government building.
It is difficult to underestimate the influence of England both on the history of architecture and on modern building solutions. Being one of the most ancient European countries, it has made a significant contribution to the global architecture, and the number of historical cultural monuments on its territory is really impressive.
And thanks to the long history and general attractiveness of buildings, in the field of suburban housing construction - an area where planners and designers are shackled only by the wishes of the customer - you can still often trace the motives of British architecture from different historical periods.
And since we are talking about historical periods, let's take a look at what stages generally existed in Foggy Albion and how they influenced modern housing construction.
Roman style
The very first direction that could be characterized precisely by style: with specific canons, features and rules of construction. In order to imagine the Romanesque style without unnecessary descriptions, remember how heavy stone castles looked in the pictures of ancient English battles. Gray, monolithic, impregnable, stern, with high towers for shooters - donjons - small windows and an alternation of cylindrical and square shapes.
And one could say that this direction has long sunk into oblivion, remaining only a historical monument, but no - the powerful silhouettes of Romanesque castles continue to inspire architects of both urban and suburban buildings to this day. This results both in miniature and cozy interpretations of castles, and in the borrowing of elements.
Gothic
A colorful and decorative style that swept Europe for a single century. It seems that the main canons of the Gothic style are known to everyone: an elongated silhouette, the use of repeating segments, a lot of decorative details that look severely weighty. Many temples made in the Gothic style have survived to our times, but how did this affect individual housing construction, you ask? After all, Gothic is a style too solemn and large-scale to directly implement it in a country cottage.
But no one does it directly. Modern Gothic country buildings are an eclecticism of elements of Gothic, classics, half-timbered houses. Sharp roofs, lancet windows, attentiveness to accessories are taken from the Gothic style. But many refuse scale and gloomy colors, after all, a country house is a place for comfort.
Tudor style
In fact, the Tudor style is late Gothic. It differs from the usual one in that it is the only platform on which the Italian Baroque more or less managed to realize itself in the UK: Tudor buildings and temples have an elongated and narrow silhouette, but a sharply characteristic artsy decor characteristic of the Baroque.
It is not worth talking about any implementation of this style in modern times, since it carried a mixed character.
Fachwerk
Unlike the rest, fachwerk is a style of erecting predominantly individual houses for housing. These are bright houses of Old Europe, the wooden frame of which is not hidden by plaster. It is he who, because of the comfort created and a solid niche in history, he occupies a considerable place in the modern construction of houses. And you can read more about it in the article "Fachwerk style: its history and design in the modern world", which discusses in detail its features and methods of implementation now.
Short baroque period
Unlike the same France, Rococo and Baroque never made it to England. Historically, this was due to the fact that half a century earlier, a split had occurred in the Christian church, Protestantism was born and Catholics were not very politely expelled from Britain. Subsequently, the English nobility invited Italian architects, but for the interior design of their homes, and not for the implementation of architectural projects. Therefore, the English Baroque is very few in number, severely, less decorated than the Italian, but did not degenerate into a separate style due to its non-proliferation.
Georgian style
A style that foreshadowed the predictable changes of the industrial revolution: the emergence of minimalism, modernity, art deco. By that time, English cities were growing by leaps and bounds, building was done quickly and cheaply. Why strict English pretentiousness threw off a lot of details. Houses became simple forms, symmetrical and squat. The decor faded into the background and was expressed mainly in the decoration of windows with doors: arches, frames and pilasters. At its core, the Georgian style is a simplified, sharp-edged classic.
But even in modern housing construction, although this style was mostly urban planning, it is present. Not in its pure form, but mixed with colonial motifs.
Victorian style
The reign of Queen Victoria brought to England a very interesting duality.
Summarizing
These are the main styles that were "cooked" in the conditions of England and firmly entered the architectural traditions, from which many still draw inspiration. In the following articles, we will tell you more about each of them.
