Category: Architecture
How the Middle Ages were Built: Coming of Age, 1408-1530
Against a background of political instability architectural initiative was captured by a new class of patrons who built in a style that expressed confidence in their worldly position and fear of the afterlife. On the very eve of the Reformation English architecture had reached a perfection that was to be destroyed by Henry VIII and new world order.
This is a part if the series of lectures, God, Caesar and Robin Hood: How the Middle Ages were Built: The English Middle Ages saw the construction of some of the world's greatest buildings, structures that still shape our towns, cities and countryside and mould our national identity. These four lectures give a controversial new view of how medieval England was built starting with the departure of the Romans and ending with the Reformation.
GOD MEETS MAMMON: THE FINANCING OF THE NEW CATHEDRAL
St. Paul's is perhaps the greatest building to have emerged out of the carnage wreaked by the Great Fire of 1666, but how was this vast construction funded?
Part of the Craftsman's Art and Music's Measure lecture series in commemoration of the tercentenary of the topping out ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral when the last stone was put in place.
St Paul's is the masterpiece of Britain's most admired architect, Gresham Professor Sir Christopher Wren, who worked with Gresham Professor Robert Hooke to build one of the world's best-loved buildings. Work commenced in 1675 and the final stone was laid on 20 October 1708, Sir Christopher's 76th birthday. Information about the 300th anniversary restoration programme can be found at www.stpauls.co.uk.
How the Middle Ages were built: Exuberance to Crisis, 1300-1408
England's economic success peaked in 1300 amidst a riot of architectural excess and was followed by a series of disasters which lasted much of the fourteenth century. Yet against a catastrophic background English architectural individualism flourished and out of radically changed social structures an architectural consensus emerged.
This is a part of the series of lectures, God, Caesar and Robin Hood: How the Middle Ages were Built: The English Middle Ages saw the construction of some of the world's greatest buildings, structures that still shape our towns, cities and countryside and mould our national identity. These four lectures give a controversial new view of how medieval England was built starting with the departure of the Romans and ending with the Reformation.
A New Jerusalem: Reaching for Heaven 1130-1300
During the thirteenth century Jerusalem surplanted Rome as the inspiration for English architecture. Huge national wealth led to an outburst of building of great creativity and individuality. The new gothic style which emerged by the 1220s was a national style for England creating some of the most remarkable buildings in European history.
This is a part if the series of lectures, God, Caesar and Robin Hood: How the Middle Ages were Built. The English Middle Ages saw the construction of some of the world's greatest buildings, structures that still shape our towns, cities and countryside and mould our national identity. These four lectures give a controversial new view of how medieval England was built starting with the departure of the Romans and ending with the Reformation.
THE QUESTION OF BEAUTY IN ARCHITECTURE
Alain de Botton, writer, broadcaster and producer, ponders the question of beauty and its application to architecture.
Part of the City of London Festival.
