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Have you ever wondered what the Victorian era owes its charm to? Of course, there are many factors here, and unbridled progress and new ways of studying the world and the emergence of philosophies that deny the morality of the church, against the backdrop of religious fanaticism and the first protests against the ingrained norms of behavior in society ... yes, a lot of things. True, it seems to me that the Victorian era owes the lion's share of this charm to its architecture. So, let's talk about…… NEO-GOTHIC!
This amazing style is inextricably linked with the Victorian era, and no wonder, given that it was the British Empire of the 18th-19th centuries that marked the beginning of the triumphal procession of Neo-Gothic around the world, as well as the fact that it was in the British Empire that this style was especially common. This happened in two stages: the early British neo-Gothic and the Victorian neo-Gothic. I won't be doing a detailed analysis of Victorian architecture, this is more of a review article, although I've tried to look at the reason for the flourishing of such an unusual style. Let's start in order.
The appearance of the actually formed Neo-Gothic style is associated with the name of the fourth Earl of Orford, Horace Walpole.
Horace Walpole. 
This English writer became the first author to publish a "Gothic" novel in 1764, which takes place in the castle of Oranto during the era of the first crusade. The plot of this work, which became a bestseller, was inspired by the buildings of the Strawberry Hill estate, which he acquired in 1747 (some sources mention both 1746 and 1748) to Horace. It was then that he decided to turn the estate into his own "medieval" castle, in which, among other things, there was even a knight's hall.
Strawberry Hill. 
Now, strictly speaking, we cannot attribute this castle to the neo-Gothic, since part of it was built in the Rococo style, but it was Walpole's idea that gave impetus to the development of the Neo-Gothic style. However, the writer himself admitted that he did not strive for a strict Gothic style, so as not to deprive himself of convenience, the estate had to satisfy his imagination and nothing more. It was from Strawberry Hill that the fascination with the Gothic decor of the estates began. It has become a fashionable "chip".
And the Duke of Argyll, for example, even attracted to the construction of his "medieval" castle in the Scottish estate of Inverary, the brother of the most fashionable architect at that time, the founder of the "Adam style" Robert Adam, William.
Inverary. 
One of the most striking examples of this kind of eccentricity was the construction of the imposing estate of Fonthill Abbey, the son of a wealthy English planter, William Beckford, who, after the death of his wife, decided to build a grandiose building resembling a Gothic cathedral.
William Beckford. 
Fonthill Abbey. 
The splendor of this building can only be compared with its sad fate. Its architect was James Wyeth, who was not particularly familiar with the technique of building such structures. The main feature was the octagonal tower, which reached ninety meters during the initial construction. Its first version was made of wood and cement. It collapsed after a few months, and Beckford sincerely regretted that he had not seen this grandiose spectacle with his own eyes. The second tower, which was built from the same material for six years, also collapsed, but the third, stone version, which was under construction for seven years, finally collapsed in 1825, 12 years later, after the construction of the entire castle was completed. In 1822 Beckford went bankrupt after losing his Jamaican plantations and sold the building to John Farquhar. The remaining parts of the building gradually collapsed and the castle was demolished, leaving only a small part of the northern wing.
The surviving north wing. 
The less well-to-do Englishmen used in construction only elements characteristic of the Gothic style, such as lancet arches, loopholes, etc.
The starting point for the next stage in the spread of neo-Gothic was the 1834 fire of the Palace of Westminster, owned by the British Parliament.
The construction of the new building was entrusted to Augustus Pyugen and Charles Barry. A competition was played and out of ninety-seven (!) Contestants, the project that still exists today was chosen. Ironically, Pyugen, fascinated by the Gothic architecture of Normandy from the age of fifteen, and converted to Catholicism, was an active supporter of the Roman Catholic Gothic architecture in England. He believed that all the useful elements of the building should not be hidden, but decorated. Pyugen expressed his views in the work "Apology for the revival of Christian architecture in England." Barry, after visiting the Ottoman Empire, at the age of 22, was impressed by the Italian architecture of the Renaissance. It was this journey and the magnificent fortresses seen in it from the time of the first crusades that made him study architecture.
Augustus Pugen. 
Charles Barry. 
These two Neo-Gothic enthusiasts left only the Westminster Reception Hall (1097) and the Tower of Jewels (for the treasury of Edward III) from the original medieval palace. The splendor they created has become the hallmark of the entire neo-Gothic style, no joke, the palace clock tower, Big Ben is a symbol of the whole of Great Britain, although, strictly speaking, this name was originally given to the bell on the tower, and the palace itself was included in the UNESCO heritage list in 1987.
Westminster Palace. 
Another striking work of Pyugen is Nottingham Cathedral, dedicated to St. Barnabas.
Cathedral of St. Barnabas. 
And Charles Barry, among other works, was engaged in the reconstruction of Trafalgar Square.
Trafalgar Square. 
And then, as they say, it started. Instead of the term "Neo-Gothic" then they used the word "revival" (English Revival). The style has become primordially British; town halls, universities, schools and railway stations are rebuilt in this style. The Royal Court of Justice, the highest court in England and Wales, was built in neo-Gothic style, designed by George Edmund Street.
Royal court yard. 
The building of St. Pancras station, named after the nearby church of St. Pancratia. Erected in 1865-68 by architect George Gilbert Scott.
St. Pancras. 
The same architect designed the Prince Albert Memorial, in London's Kensington Park, opened in 1875 by Queen Victoria in honor of her husband.
Memorial. 
St Stephen's College. 1876
Harris College of Manchester. 1889
Tower Bridge over the River Thames, near the Tower of London. Designed by Horace Jones, opened in 1894.
Tower Bridge. 
This style was adopted by other countries. Gothic architecture, first of all, affected the colonies, although it took root poorly in America. Antique style and neo-Greek were very popular there. In the countries of German-speaking Europe, the Neo-Gothic underwent some changes associated with intense competition between the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque styles. And to a greater extent, the revival of the Gothic style was perceived there as the completion of medieval long-term construction, like the Cologne Cathedral.
Cologne Cathedral. 
However, the Bavarian king Ludwig II launched the construction of the Neuschwanstein castle in 1869, which became one of the symbols of the world neo-Gothic.
Neuschwanstein. 
In the Romanesque countries, they were mainly fond of the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. Neo-Gothic came to France rather late and took root poorly. The monumental majesty of neo-Gothic was alien to the frivolous French. But it must be admitted that Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame Cathedral (1830) made the French think about preserving the heritage of medieval architecture.
The greatest Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudí, who has many bizarre works to his credit, created perhaps the most monumental neo-Gothic work, the Expiatory Sagrada Familia.
Antonio Gaudi. 
Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family. 
Due to lack of funds, the Spanish government has not been able to complete it since 1882.
But why this particular style? Perhaps because of the passion for romantic plots of the medieval era in the work of writers of that time, the revival of interest in Spencer, Milton, Shakespeare, despised in the era of the dominance of classical forms; perhaps due to the growth of patriotic sentiments against the backdrop of the power of the British Empire and, as a result, the rejection of the French style in architecture and the search for one's own; perhaps “everything new is a well-forgotten old”. Or maybe all this together and a few more factors that I do not indicate here, but we will not dispute the fact that we owe partly to the splendor of the Victorian era and, as a result, to the steampunk culture, it is precisely such unusual and majestic architecture. Of course, in the architecture of a bygone era there was both the Gregorian style and the neo-Renaissance and the late colonial, but you must admit, when remembering the plots of Conan Doyle, Dickens and Wilde, the imagination draws exactly neo-Gothic England, with lancet arches, towers, imaginary loopholes, Tower Bridge and Big Ben .
I hope you didn't get bored! :-)
List of sources.
Both in the metropolis and in the colonies, she carried out neo-Gothic construction of a huge scope and functional variety, the fruits of which were such well-known buildings as Big Ben and Tower Bridge.
Already at the end of the 19th century, patriotic and nationalist romantics began to oppose the "Roman" aesthetics of classicism with the artistic tastes of "barbarian", Germanic-Celtic Europe. In its own way, it was the opposition of reason and feelings, rationalism and irrationalism. This incompatibility between Roman aesthetics and "barbarian" aesthetics, that is, not Roman ones, gave rise to the very name "Gothic". As you know, the name "Gothic" arose in the Renaissance to denote an architectural style that was opposite in its aesthetics to the rational Roman system. The Goths, who destroyed Ancient Rome, were for the figures of the Renaissance the embodiment of everything "barbarian", which determined the choice of the name "barbarian", not the Roman architectural style.
Returning to ancient Roman ideals, the Renaissance stubbornly saw in everything non-Roman the stamp of "barbarism", although from an engineering point of view, Gothic cathedrals undoubtedly represented a big step forward compared to Romanesque cathedrals. Therefore, at the turn of the 19th century, when, following the collapse of the French Revolution, a wave of disillusionment with classicist rationalism and the ideals of the Enlightenment swept through Europe, natural (in the Rousseauist sense), “natural” architecture was in demand, presumably preserving under the cover of Christian dogma the spirit of Europe that existed before the advent of northern Europe of the Romans.
The spread of neo-Gothic in Europe was facilitated by the works of romantic writers. Chateaubriand devoted many inspired pages to the Gothic ruins, arguing that it was the medieval temple architecture that most fully captured the "genius of Christianity." The setting and protagonist of the first historical novel in French is a Gothic structure, Notre Dame Cathedral. In Victorian England, John Ruskin argued in excited, flowery prose for the "moral superiority" of the Gothic over other architectural styles. For him, the "central building of the world" was the Doge's Palace in Venice, and the most perfect of all styles was Italian Gothic. Ruskin's views were shared by Pre-Raphaelite artists who drew inspiration from the art of the Middle Ages.
In English literature, neo-Gothic is called "resurrected Gothic" ( Gothic Revival). More recently, art historians have begun to question whether it is correct to talk about the resurrection of medieval art in the 19th century, given that the tradition of Gothic architecture in parts of Europe continued to develop throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Moreover, such "advanced" Baroque architects as Carlo Rainaldi in Rome, Guarino Guarini in Turin and Jan Blažej Santini in Prague had a deep interest in the so-called. "Gothic order of architecture" and when completing the construction of ancient monasteries skillfully reproduced Gothic vaults. In the interests of ensembles, English architects of the 17th century also resorted to Gothic, for example, Christopher Wren, who built the famous "Tom's Tower" at Christ Church College, Oxford.
Early British Gothic Revival
Fonthill Abbey draws a line under the period when neo-Gothic was only a tribute to fashion on the part of a narrow circle of aristocrats, and elements of Gothic decor (such as lancet arches) were applied to essentially Palladian buildings contrary to structural logic. Regency architects paid close attention to the architecture of English Gothic cathedrals. The mastery of the acquired knowledge allowed the masters of the Victorian era to turn neo-Gothic into a universal architectural style, in which not only churches were erected, but also buildings of very different functional orientations - town halls, universities, schools and train stations. In this so-called. In the "Victorian style" entire cities were built up in the 19th century.
Victorian Gothic Revival
Neo-Gothic was “officially” recognized as the national style of Victorian England when, after a devastating fire, the British Parliament Building was commissioned in 1834 to rebuild the famous neo-Gothic connoisseur and enthusiast, Augustus Pugin. Erected by Pugin in collaboration with Charles Barry, the new Palace of Westminster became the hallmark of the style. Following the seat of Parliament, the Royal Court of Justice and other public buildings, town halls, railway stations, bridges and even sculptural memorials, such as, for example, the Prince Albert Memorial, began to acquire a neo-Gothic look. In the 1870s the abundance of neo-gothic buildings in Britain already allowed for the publication of weighty reviews on the history of this style.
The victorious procession of neo-Gothic throughout the colonies of the British Empire scattered buildings in this style around the globe. Neo-Gothic temples, in particular, abound in Australia and New Zealand. In the United States, neo-Gothic attitudes were at first wary, partly because of the lingering antagonism with the former mother country, and partly because Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers considered the most suitable architecture for the republic, heir to the ancient ideals of freedom, not gothic, but Palladian and neo-Greek. The New York Trinity Church (1846) testifies that in the middle of the 19th century, Americans were just beginning to master the Neo-Gothic language. Much more confidently executed in imitation of the temples of medieval Europe, the Catholic Cathedral of St. Patrick in the same city (1858-78).
In the second half of the 19th century, the Arts and Crafts Society and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, led by the prominent Pre-Raphaelite William Morris, put on the agenda questions about the revival of the integrity of the artistic perception inherent in the Middle Ages. Morris and his supporters sought to resurrect not only and not so much the appearance of medieval buildings, but their loving filling with handmade decorative and applied art objects (“Red House” by Morris, 1859). Just this unity was lacking in large Victorian projects like train stations and shopping centers: a “cap” of fractional Gothic decor was usually worn on modern steel structures. Behind a medieval facade, an ultra-modern "stuffing" from the products of the industrial revolution was often hidden, and this dissonance characterizes the period of eclecticism not only in England (cf. V. G. Shukhov's ceilings in Moscow's GUM).
Neo-Gothic in Central Europe
Earlier than in other countries of continental Europe, the neo-Gothic was “tasted” by Anglo-lovers in various states that later formed Germany. The prince of tiny Anhalt-Dessau ordered, as a whim, to build a Gothic house and a church in his "park kingdom" near Wörlitz. Even earlier, during the construction of Potsdam, the Prussian king Frederick II ordered to give a monumental medieval appearance to the Nauen Gate (1755). However, as in Britain, these examples of 18th-century German neo-Gothic are sporadic.
Following the example of the British, the German rulers carefully restored the destroyed medieval castles. In some cases, the initiative came from individuals. Significant restoration work was required by the main castle of the Teutonic Order - Marienburg. The German sovereigns did not skimp on financing the construction of new castles, which were designed to surpass all medieval examples. So, the Prussian government financed the construction of the grandiose Hohenzollern castle in Swabia (1850-67), however, it also faded before the Neuschwanstein castle, which seemed to have come out of a fairy tale, the construction of which was launched in the Alps in 1869 by the Bavarian king Ludwig II.
Forms that were previously characteristic of exclusively church architecture were successfully used by German architects in the construction of purely secular buildings, such as the town halls in Vienna, Munich and Berlin, as well as the long and unique complex of Hamburg shipyards - Speicherstadt. In connection with the transformation of Hamburg into the main port of the German Empire, a particularly large-scale neo-Gothic construction was carried out in this city, which included the construction of the highest church in the world - the Nikolaikirche (destroyed during World War II). New churches were often built of unplastered brick in the brick Gothic tradition - such are the Wiesbaden Marktkirche and the Friedrichswerder Church in Berlin.
The Viennese Votivkirche is known for the sophistication of the interior decor, following the precepts of late Gothic.
Neo-Gothic in France and Italy
In the Romanesque countries, during the 19th century, styles rooted in the classical tradition dominated - neo-renaissance, neo-baroque and beaux-arts. In the prestigious School of Fine Arts, teachers of academic training were alien to admiration for medieval art, so future architects studied mainly the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. Due to the lack of own Neo-Gothic specialists, architects had to be invited from abroad to style the newly erected buildings as Gothic cathedrals - for example, the Parisian Basilica of Saint-Clotilde (1827-57).
Neo-Gothic in Russia
Unlike their European colleagues, Russian stylists, especially in the early period, rarely adopted the frame system of Gothic architecture, limiting themselves to selective decoration of the facade with Gothic decor like lancet arches, combined with borrowings from the Naryshkin baroque repertoire. In temple construction, the cross-dome, traditional for Orthodoxy, also prevailed. There is no need to talk about a deep understanding of the language of Gothic architectural forms here due to the large temporal and spatial distance separating the new buildings from their medieval prototypes.
From the second half of the 19th century, pseudo-Gothic fantasies gave way to the forms of “international” neo-Gothic learned from Western literature, the main field for which in Russia was the construction of Catholic churches for parishioners of Polish origin. Many such temples were built throughout the Russian Empire from Krasnoyarsk to Kyiv. As in Scandinavia, the architects of Eastern European churches preferred to follow the traditions of brick Gothic. On orders from private individuals, sometimes fabulous fantasies were erected with Gothic elements such as decorative turrets and machicolations - such as the Swallow's Nest. In such structures, fidelity to the medieval tradition gave way to the conformity of the building to the expectations of the amateur customer.
neogothic sunset
Following the completion of the Munich Paulskirche in 1906, the Neo-Gothic craze in Germany and Austria-Hungary declined sharply. Among others, there were ideological reasons for this: after a long debate, it became clear that the Gothic style originates in a hostile France and cannot be considered a national Germanic style. Fractional to redundancy Gothic decor has been replaced by a revival of strict forms
He began to redeem himself. At this time, the first prerequisites for an unusual new art arose. The name "Gothic", "Gothic architecture" comes from the word "Goths" - barbarian tribes with Germanic roots.
Renaissance people with refined manners were outraged that art was taking on a form that was far from the canons of antiquity. They called the new style Gothic, that is, barbaric. Almost all the art of the Middle Ages fell under this definition.
This direction existed for some time along with the old trend, so it is quite difficult to separate them by different chronological boundaries. But you can highlight the features of the Gothic style in architecture, which were not similar to Romanesque.
When Romanesque art was at its peak in the twelfth century, a new trend began to emerge. Even the forms, lines and themes of the works differed significantly from everything that was before.
Gothic style in architecture is divided into several stages:
early Gothic;
the tall, or mature, species was pushed to its limit in the 13th century;
flaming, or late, flourished in the 14th-15th centuries.
The main location of the style
Gothic was popular where the Christian church dominated secular life. Thanks to the new type of architecture, temples, churches, monasteries, and churches appeared.
It originated in a small French province called Ile de France. At the same time, it was discovered by the architects of Switzerland and Belgium. But in Germany, from where this art got its name, it appeared later than the others. Other architectural styles flourished there. Gothic style became the pride of Germany.
First try
With the beginning of the twelfth century, the main features characteristic of this direction appear in the architecture of various cathedrals. So, if you look at the Abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris, you can see an unusual arch. It is this building that embodies the entire Gothic style in the architecture of Western Europe. A certain abbot Sugery supervised the construction.
The churchman ordered to remove several internal walls during construction. The abbey immediately began to seem more voluminous, solemn and large-scale.
Heritage
Although the Gothic style in architecture concentrates mainly on the individual experiences of a person, he also took a lot from his predecessor. Romanesque architecture transferred its laurels to this style and faded into the background.
The main object of Gothic was the cathedral as a symbiosis of painting, architecture, and sculpture. If earlier architects preferred to create churches with round windows, thick walls with many supports and small interior spaces, then with the advent of this style, everything changed. The new current carried space and light. Often the windows were decorated with stained-glass windows with Christian scenes. Tall columns, towers, oblong arches and carved facades appeared.
The horizontal Romanesque style left room for the vertical stripes of the Gothic.
The cathedral
The cathedral has become the central place of any city. It was visited by parishioners, they studied in it, beggars lived here, and even theatrical performances were played. The sources often mention that the government also met in church premises.
Initially, the Gothic style for the cathedral had the goal of significantly expanding the space, making it brighter. After such a monastery was created in France, fashion began to quickly disperse throughout Europe.
The values of the new religion, forcibly imposed in the Crusades, spread the Gothic style in architecture in Syria, Rhodes, and Cyprus. And the monarchs, put on the throne by the Pope, saw divine guidance in sharp forms and began to actively use them in Spain, England, and Germany.
Characteristics of the Gothic style in architecture
From other styles, Gothic architecture is distinguished by the presence of a stable frame. Arches in the form of arrows, vaults going up in the form of arcs and crosses become the main part of such a skeleton.
The building of the Gothic style, as a rule, consists of:
traveya - elongated cells of a rectangular design:
four arches:
4 pillars;
the skeleton of the vault, which is formed from the arches and pillars mentioned above and has a cruciform shape;
arkbutanov - arches that serve to support the building;
buttresses - stable pillars outside the room, often decorated with carvings or spikes;
windows in an arched style, with mosaics, as clearly shows the Gothic style in the architecture of France and Germany.
Whereas in Romanesque classical art the church is separated from the outside world, Gothic seeks an interplay between nature on the outside and cathedral life on the inside.
Secular architecture in a new way
Considering that in the Dark Ages, the church and religion in general were inseparable from the daily life of the people of that time, the fashion for the Gothic style in the architecture of the Middle Ages spread everywhere.
Following the cathedrals, town halls began to be built with the same characteristic features, as well as residential buildings, castles, and mansions outside the city.
french gothic masterpieces
The founder of this style was a monk from the abbey of Saint-Denis, who decided to create a completely new building. He was called the godfather of the Gothic, and the church began to be shown as an example to other architects.
In the fourteenth century, another striking example of Gothic architecture arose in the capital of France, which became famous all over the world - Notre Dame Cathedral, a Catholic stronghold of faith in the city center, which has retained all the features of the Gothic style in architecture to this day.
The shrine was built where the Romans used to honor the god Jupiter. Since ancient times, the place has been an important religious center.
The first stone was laid in the new church by Pope Alexander III and Louis VII. The cathedral was designed by the famous architect Maurice de Sully.
Nevertheless, the founder of Notre Dame never saw his brainchild. After all, the cathedral was built only after a hundred years of continuous work.
According to the official idea, the temple was supposed to accommodate ten thousand citizens who lived in Paris at that time. And become a refuge and salvation in times of danger.
After so many years of construction, the city has grown several times. When it was completed, the cathedral became the center of all Paris. Bazaars, fairs immediately formed at the entrance, street artists began to perform. The color of the Parisian nobility gathered at his place and discussed new fashion trends.
They took refuge here during revolutions and wars.
Arrangements of Notre Dame Cathedral
The frame of the cathedral is connected by many thin pillars with the help of an arch. Inside, the walls stretch high and close imperceptibly to the naked eye. The oblong windows are covered with colored stained glass. The hall is in darkness. The rays that nevertheless pass through the glass illuminate hundreds of sculptures made of silver, wax, and marble. Ordinary people, kings, ministers of the church in various poses froze in them.
Instead of the walls of the church, it was as if they simply placed a frame of dozens of pillars. Between them are colored paintings.
The cathedral has five naves. The third one is much larger than the others. Its height reaches thirty-five meters.
If measured in modern standards, then in such a cathedral you can easily place a twelve-story residential building.
The last two naves intersect and visually form a cross between them. It symbolizes the life and suffering of Jesus Christ.
Money from the public treasury went to the construction of the cathedral. The Parisians hoarded them, donated them after every Sunday service.
The cathedral was badly damaged in modern times. So, the original stained-glass windows can be seen only on the western and southern facades. Sculptures are visible in the choir, on the facades of the building.
Germany
The Gothic style of architecture was named after the tribes living in German territory. It was in this country that he experienced his heyday. The main attractions of Gothic architecture in Germany include:
1. Cologne Cathedral. This temple began to be built in the thirteenth century. Nevertheless, work on it was completed only in the nineteenth century, in the year 1880. Its style is reminiscent of Amiens Cathedral.
The towers have sharp ends. The middle nave is high, while the other four are about the same proportions. The decor for the cathedral is very light and elegant.
At the same time, stiff, dry proportions are noticeable.
The western branch of the church was completed in the nineteenth century.
2. Cathedral in Worms, built in the thirteenth century by order of the local steward.
3. Notre Dame in Ulm.
4. Cathedral in Naumburg.
Italian Gothic
Italy for a long time preferred to remain committed to ancient traditions, to the Romanesque style, and then to the Baroque and Rococo.
But this country could not help but be inspired by a new medieval trend at that time. After all, it was in Italy that the residence of the Pope was located.
The most striking example of Gothic architecture can be considered the Doge's Palace in Venice. Mixed with the cultural traditions of this city, it acquired its own unique characteristics, retaining the signs of the Gothic style in architecture.
In Venice, the builders missed in their drawings the constructivism that reigned in this direction. They focused on decorating.
The facade of the Palace is unique in its components. Thus, columns of white marble are built on the lower floor. They form lancet arches between themselves.
The building itself seems to settle on top of the columns and presses them to the ground. And the second floor is formed with the help of a large loggia around the entire perimeter of the building, on which supports are also placed, more elegant and elongated, with unusual carvings. This pattern also extends to the third floor, the walls of which seem to be devoid of those windows that are characteristic of Gothic architecture. Instead of numerous frames, an ornament in geometric shapes appeared on the facade.
This Gothic-Italian style combined the luxury of Byzantine culture and European austerity. Piety and love for life.
Other Italian examples of the Gothic style in architecture:
The palace in Milan, which began to be built in the fourteenth century, and was completed in the nineteenth;
Palazzo d'Oro (or Palazzo Santa Sofia) in Venice.
Romanticism replaces the Age of Enlightenment and coincides with the industrial revolution, marked by the appearance of the steam engine, the steam locomotive, the steamboat, photography, and factory outskirts. If the Enlightenment is characterized by the cult of reason and civilization based on its principles, then romanticism affirms the cult of nature, feelings and the natural in man. It was in the era of romanticism that the phenomena of tourism, mountaineering and picnics were formed, designed to restore the unity of man and nature. The image of the “noble savage”, armed with “folk wisdom” and not spoiled by civilization, is in demand.
Romanticism (French romantisme), an ideological and artistic direction in the European and American spiritual culture of the end. 18 - 1st floor. 19th centuries Romanticism is a kind of reaction to the French Revolution (Karl Marx).
The great French bourgeois revolution ended the Age of Enlightenment. Writers, artists, musicians witnessed grandiose historical events, revolutionary upheavals that unrecognizably transformed life. Many of them enthusiastically welcomed the changes, admired the proclamation of the ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
Romantics often idealized a patriarchal society, in which they saw the kingdom of kindness, sincerity, and decency. Poetizing the past, they went into ancient legends, folk tales. Romanticism has received its own face in every culture: among the Germans, in mysticism; for the British - in a person who will oppose himself to reasonable behavior; the French - in unusual stories. What united all this into one trend - romanticism?
Before the revolution, the world was ordered, there was a clear hierarchy in it, each person took his place. The revolution overturned the "pyramid" of society, a new one has not yet been created, so the individual has a feeling of loneliness. Life is a flow, life is a game in which someone is lucky and someone is not
The painful discord between the ideal and social reality is the basis of the romantic worldview and art. Reflecting disappointment in the results of the French Revolution, in the ideology of the Enlightenment and social progress, romanticism opposed utilitarianism and the leveling of the individual with the aspiration for unlimited freedom and the "endless" thirst for perfection and renewal, the pathos of personal and civil independence.
Consider the difference between romanticism and classicism. We will see that classicism divides everything in a straight line, into good and bad, into black and white. Romanticism divides nothing in a straight line. Classicism is a system, but romanticism is not. The main task of romanticism was the depiction of the inner world, spiritual life, and this could be done on the material of stories, mysticism, etc. The attention to the inner world of a person, characteristic of romanticism, was expressed in the cult of the subjective, the craving for the emotionally intense. It was necessary to show the paradox of this inner life, its irrationality.
The affirmation of the inherent value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong passions, spiritualized and healing nature, for many romantics - the heroes of protest or struggle are adjacent to the motives of "world sorrow", "world evil", the "night" side of the soul, dressed in the forms of irony, grotesque poetics of duality.
Interest in the national past (often - its idealization), traditions of folklore and culture of one's own and other peoples, the desire to create a universal picture of the world (primarily history and literature), the idea of art synthesis found expression in the ideology and practice of romanticism.
Characteristic features of the style of romanticism
The creative problems of romanticism compared with classicism were more complex and not so unambiguous. Romanticism at its very beginning was more of an artistic movement than a doctrine of a particular style. Therefore, it is only possible with great difficulty to classify its manifestations and consider consistently the history of development until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries.
Romanticism at first had a lively, changeable character, preached individualism and creative freedom. He recognized the value of cultures that were significantly different from Greek - Roman antiquity. Much attention was paid to the cultures of the East, whose artistic and architectural motifs adapted to European taste.
There is a reassessment of the architecture of the Middle Ages and the technical and artistic achievements of the Gothic are recognized. The concept of connection with nature gives rise to the concept of the English park and the popularity of the free compositions of the Chinese or Japanese garden.
In the visual arts, romanticism manifested itself most clearly in painting and graphics, less clearly in sculpture and architecture (for example, false Gothic). Most of the national schools of romanticism in the visual arts developed in the struggle against official academic classicism.
The main representatives of romanticism in the visual arts are the painters E. Delacroix, T. Gericault, F. O. Runge, K. D. Friedrich, J. Constable, W. Turner, in Russia - O. A. Kiprensky, A. O. Orlovsky . The theoretical foundations of romanticism were formed by F. and A. Schlegel and F. Schelling.
Building features of romanticism
The development of classicism and romanticism in architecture coincided with the beginning of the use of new designs, building materials and construction methods. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries metal structures were most common in England and France.
Initially, they were used in various engineering structures, which was accompanied by the development of scientific theories in this area. The issue of creating a metal bridge was considered for the first time by French engineers in 1719, and then again in 1755. However, the widespread use of these structures became possible with the advent of cheap technology for producing iron, first in the form of cast iron, and later steel.
Instead of the simplicity and isolation of the architectural form of classicism, romanticism offers a complex silhouette, richness of forms, freedom of planning, in which symmetry and other formal compositional principles lose their dominant importance. Despite the fact that romanticism aroused a wide interest in various cultures that were far away to Europeans before, Gothic became the main one for it in architecture.
At the same time, it seemed important not only to study it, but also to adapt it to modern problems. Gothic artistic motifs were already used in the Baroque (for example, by J. Santini), but only in the 19th century. they are widely distributed. At the same time, there are sprouts of a conscious movement for the protection of architectural monuments and their reconstruction.
Types of buildings in the style of romanticism
The first cast-iron bridge was constructed only in 1779. It was a bridge over the River Severn in England. It had a short length (30.62 m), but already at the end of the century they began to build cast-iron bridges over 70 m long, for example, Sunderland Bridge in England (1793 - 1796).
From the end of the XVIII century. cast iron is being used in the construction of buildings. Of particular interest for that time was the project of a warehouse building in Manchester (1801), which was decided in the form of an eight-story cast-iron frame, as well as docks in Liverpool and London. In England, cast-iron structures of cathedrals appeared already in the 80s of the 18th century, for example, in Liverpool.
Neo-Gothic or pseudo-Gothic (from Italian gotiko - "barbarian", neos - "new") - a trend in the architecture of the XVIII-XIX centuries, reviving the forms and design features of medieval Gothic. The Neo-Gothic style developed in an era of intensive development of capitalist relations, the emergence of imperialism and the colonization of continents by Europeans.
Neo-Gothic originated in the 40s. 18th century in Great Britain, where the traditions of Gothic art were strongest, along with the flourishing of landscape art and the "poeticization" of the medieval era. The Neo-Gothic style was most widespread in the Holy Roman Empire, France, Italy, Spain, as well as in the colonial possessions of Great Britain, which erected many public buildings in the metropolises.
Neo-Gothic was recognized as an exemplary style for the construction of Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as for large public buildings, country houses. At this time, monuments of medieval architecture were intensively completed and restored. For the European Neo-Gothic of the nineteenth century. characteristic is the desire to revive the integrity of artistic thinking characteristic of Gothic art, the awareness of the aesthetic value of the frame structure, along with the widespread use of cast-iron structures. The decline of the Neo-Gothic style in Europe came at the beginning of the century, when the excessive Gothic decor was replaced by the strict forms of the Romanesque style.
Unlike Europe, all neo-Gothic churches in Belarus were built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which is associated with the ban on the construction of churches, which the Russian Emperor Nicholas II canceled only in 1905 with the famous Manifesto. After that, Catholic churches in the neo-Gothic style began to be built everywhere on the territory of Belarus. Three of the tallest places of worship in Belarus were built in the Neo-Gothic style: the Trinity Church in Gervyaty, the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Zhuprany, the Church of St. Vladislav in Subotniki.
Neoclassicism
(Neoclassicism) - an aesthetic trend that dominated European art in the late 18th century - early. 19th century, which was characterized by an appeal to antiquity, and differed from classicism 17
century - early 18th century. In France, within the framework of neoclassicism, the style of Louis XVI, regency, Directory and Empire style arose; in England - the style of Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton in furniture business.
In the middle of the 18th century, the first archaeological excavations of ancient monuments began in Italy, and all the major representatives of English neoclassicism visited Rome. They went there to see the ruins of ancient buildings and to perceive the true spirit of antiquity. Many English architects also went to Greece, where they studied ancient Greek buildings, which were practically unknown at that time.
Neoclassicism most clearly manifested itself, apparently, in architecture, which is confirmed by the work of the brothers Adam John Nash, Alexander Thompson in England; Langhans in Germany, Jean-Francois Chalgrin, Alexandre-Théodore Brongniard, Ledoux in France and Andrey Zakharov in Russia.
Among the pioneers of neoclassicism is Jacques Ange Gabriel, who planned the Place de la Concorde in 1754, and his Petit Trianon at Versailles was considered the most perfect example of "attica" in French architecture. Of course, one cannot fail to mention Souflot, who introduced elements of a new aesthetic into the plans for the reconstruction of Paris.
If in France neoclassicism found its expression mainly in the designs of public buildings, then in England architects built private estates and city houses in this style. Their very manner was different from the French. In France, neoclassicism acquired harsh, sometimes heavy forms, while in England, on the contrary, all buildings were lighter and more elegant. English neoclassical interiors are especially famous: always bright and decorative, they seemed to want to please the owners of houses and their guests.
The most important role in the architecture of English neoclassicism was played by two masters - William Chambers (1723-1796) and Robert Adam (1728-1792).
Neoclassicism
"style of Adam" in honor of its creator. In 1754-1756. Robert Adam traveled to Italy and returned from there a passionate admirer of antiquity.
In his work, the influence of English Palladianism was also felt. However, his style was very distinctive and easily recognizable.
Neoclassic" is a term adopted in modern art history to designate artistic phenomena of the last third of the 19th-20th centuries, different in social orientation and ideological content, which are characterized by an appeal to the traditions of ancient art.
often referred to simply
eclectic and modernist architecture
In a number of countries, neoclassicism of this period used new constructive techniques developed by "
modern",
In Russian architecture of the 1910s. the prevailing desire was to establish the basic principles of architectural classics (I. A. Fomin, I. V. Zholtovsky, V. A. Shchuko and others), although in the same years representatives of Russian modernism turned to the stylization of classical motifs (F. O. Shekhtep, F. I. Lidval, S. U. Soloviev, etc.). In the USA, France and Great Britain, neoclassicism of the 1910-30s. It developed mainly in official architecture and was distinguished by ceremonial representativeness and emphasized monumentality.
In the 1930s the means of neoclassicism, in their hypertrophied-monumental, emphatically coarsened forms, were widely used in the architecture of Italy (M. Piacentini and others) and Germany (P. L. Trost and others) to create structures that served the purposes of propagating fascist ideology.
The principles of neoclassicism also had a certain influence on the development of Soviet architecture in the 2nd half of the 1930s and early 1950s, as well as the architecture of the Scandinavian countries, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Bulgaria, Hungary, where they were often combined with an appeal to the motives of national architecture.
From the end of the 50s. neoclassicism developed predominantly in US architecture; among the most significant structures of this direction in the official and commercial
construction -
Lincoln Center in New York (1960s, architects F. Johnson, W. Harrison, M. Abramowitz, E. Saarinen), whose buildings form a strict and symmetrical frame of a rectangular square.
Palace "Peter Trianon" in Versailles
To the right of the Grand Canal of Versailles is the Trianon complex, consisting of the Grand and Petit Palaces with their own garden setting. The Small Palace, or Petit Trianon, is a true masterpiece of French neoclassicism of the 18th century.
In 1761, Madame de Pompadour suggested to Louis XV the idea of building a palace in the French Garden. Two years later, the king decided to fulfill the request of the favorite. The project is entrusted to Gabriel Jacques Anjou (1698-1782). In 1763, construction began, and already in 1768 the Petit Trianon was solemnly opened. But Madame de Pompadour was not destined to use the castle - she did not live 4 years before the completion of construction.
This masterpiece of neoclassical architecture is without a doubt Gabriel's finest creation. The building, located on a square platform, rests on a plinth, above it rises a floor and an attic, which ends with a balustrade that hides the roof in the Italian style. Due to the unevenness of the relief, the basement level is visible only from the side of the facade overlooking the Front Courtyard, as well as from the side of the Temple of Amur. The facades are decorated with pilasters and powerful Corinthian columns.
The facades of the building, which is square in plan, are made according to the same compositional scheme. The interior of the palace is decorated in the style
The proportions of the Petit Trianon are classically clear and noblely simple. This monument of world architecture embodies the idea of intimate comfort, achievable only in unity with nature. Bridges over seemingly overgrown canals, pavilions arranged on seemingly wild islands, trees growing in precisely calculated disorder, give the ensemble a charm of genuine romance.
Later, a mill, a poultry house and a dairy farm appeared in the royal village (1783-1786). Now in this place, guides usually tell visitors an entertaining story that cups are kept here, their shape representing a cast from the breasts of Marie Antoinette.
From these cups, the queen in "her dairy" loved to treat guests with milk from her cows. The guides also say that the private royal chambers subsequently often served as a place for scandalous adventures of influential people who came here to spend a comfortable night.
Queen Marie Antoinette was strongly influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea of the need to return to
"untouched nature".
She tried her best to learn how to provide at least her family with agricultural products by her own work: she looked after the cows, milked and fed them from the royal table. However, the revolutionary people for some reason regarded her works as a refined mockery of the starving Paris.
The emergence of neoclassicism (as a programmatic appeal to the art of the past) is due to the desire to oppose some "eternal" aesthetic values to the disturbing and contradictory reality. The ideological and formal structure of currents based on the search for a direct correspondence to reality in neoclassicism is opposed by the ideality and majesty of forms and images, "purified" from concrete historical content.
In the architecture of neoclassicism, 3 periods are distinguished: the first (around 1910 - mid-1920s), the second (mainly the 1930s) and the third (beginning in the late 1950s). In the first period, the logic of the organization of the classical form and its laconicism were put forward as an antithesis to stylistic arbitrariness and excessive decorativeness.
