Architectural Masterpieces in England

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COLEGIUL NATIONAL “I.C. BRATIANU” PITESTI

ARCHITECTURAL MASTERPIECES IN ENGLAND

NAME:

GABRIELA COMANESCU

CLASS:

XII H

COORDINATOR:

PROF. GUTA CRISTINA

2011

Contents

  1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………....2

  1. Short overview of the architecture in England ……………………………….3

  1. Religious Monuments…………………………………………………………7

III.1. Salisbury Cathedral……………………………………………………...7

III.2. Westminster Abbey Cathedral…………………………………………..8

III.3. St. Paul’s Cathedral……………………………………………………..9

  1. Royal residences……………………………………………………………..10

IV.1. Hampton Court Palace…………………………………………………10

IV.2. The Buckingham Palace……………………………………………….11

IV.3. Palace of Westminster…………………………………………………12

  1. Conclusions…………………………………..………………………………13

Bibliography………………………………………………………………....14

I. Introduction

This work aims to present in an original manner one of the most representative architectural masterpieces of England. An appropriate selection would be enormously difficult given the amount of outstanding edifices that England has got. Therefore, a classification using the criteria of architectural trends has been made.

Architecture always has and always will be the cultural part of a nation that provides most information about the development of it since its origins. The architectural styles reflect in the most accurate way the characteristics of the era which they belong to. In order to better understand the essence, the genesis, the customs of a nation at a certain point of its existence, it is highly recommended that one should have good knowledge of both that nation’s architecture and the elements that influenced it.

The most important of these elements are the nations with which England interfered along the centuries, because to a certain extent they have obviously contributed to the way in which buildings were designed and constructed.

From an architectural point of view, England has a lot of reasons to be proud of, because the breathtaking buildings are witnesses of a glorious history, of the rich resources of the country and also of the spiritual beauty of the people that are living there.

II. Short overview of the architecture in England

English architecture, like all aspects of English culture, is marked by the history of the country and the influence of foreign ideas through invasions and more passive means. Foreign invasions brought with them their own forms of architecture. Each of these gradually became assimilated within English architectural culture.

The earliest known examples of  in England are the many  monuments such as those at  and . Very few examples of pre-Roman architecture remain extant and are limited to defensive earthworks such as  and  

However, the earliest domestic architecture is that bequeathed to the country by the , who occupied Britain from 43 until 406. The Romans imposed their own Mediterranean style of architecture and town planning and built the first cities and towns, which included , ,  and . Following the Roman's departure architecture seems to have regressed and little remains of the period immediately after the Roman withdrawal.

The fall of  at the beginning of the fifth century allowed an influx of invaders from northern Germany, the Anglo-Saxons.  buildings in  were generally simple, constructed mainly using  with  for roofing. Many remains of Anglo-Saxon church architecture, such as those at  and  both in .

The Norman invasion of 1066 brought the Norman architecture, or "English ", which categorises styles of  developed by the , in the 11th and 12th centuries. Normans introduced large numbers of  and  including Norman , and at the same time , ,  and , in a style characterised by the usual Romanesque rounded  and especially massive proportions compared to other regional variations of the style.

Furthermore, Gothic is the architectural style that flourished in England from about 1180 until about 1520. It has been neatly divided into 4 periods, or styles. The person who did the dividing that has been obediently followed by subsequent generations of writers and historians was Thomas Rickman (1776-1841). In his 1817 work "An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation" he labeled the styles Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular. Many of the largest and finest works of English architecture, notably the  are largely built in the Gothic style. The earliest large-scale applications of Gothic architecture in England are at  and . Another superb example of the style is , because it was built over a relatively short period (the main body between 1220 to 1258), it is relatively unmixed with other styles (except for its facade and famous tower and spire, which date from the 14th century).

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The Tudor  is the final development of medieval architecture during the  (1485–1603) and even beyond, for conservative college patrons. It followed the  and, although superseded by  in domestic building of any pretensions to fashion, the Tudor style still retained its hold on English taste, portions of the additions to the various colleges of  and  being still carried out in the Tudor style. Defining features of the style are the increased use of glass and the four-centred arch, known as the Tudor arch. During the Tudor period took place one of the most startling transformations in the history of English architecture. ...

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