The Church as a Cultural Force

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The Church as a Cultural Force
Santa Maria de Leon Cathedral, Leon, Spain A
masterpiece of Gothic style
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Painting and the Fine Arts

• Medieval painting holds a lower place to
  Renaissance art
• Compared with Michelangelo and Raphael, Medieval
  paintings seem oversimplified and one dimensional
  lacking in real human emotion
• However, this subtle art that is imitative, is
  symbolic and has rare beauty

The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ by Giotto
(1267-1337)
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The Maesta by Duccio di Buoninsegna
(1255-1319) The enthroned Madonna and child
surrounded by Saints was installed behind the
altar in the Siena Cathedral This is a
restoration completed in 1956 and is in the
Cathedrals museum
4

• The paintings of the Middle Ages often come from
  altarpieces that were set behind the tabernacle
  in the sanctuary of the church
• They were meant as objects of devotion and
  reflection
• Artists focussed on symbolic meaning and facial
  expression of the subjects, trying to reveal the
  inner souls of the saints through subtle artistic
  representation
• The faces of Mary and others reflect the agony
  and ecstasy of the Christian religious experience

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Gothic Cathedrals
The Chartres Cathedral in France
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• Architecture in the Medieval period was the most
  extraordinary and long lasting artistic and
  cultural advancement
• From the time of Constantine, Christian
  architecture centred around the Roman Basilica
• The Romanesque style succeeded the basilica but
  they were also heavy structures with a round
  rather than a flat roof
• With the emphasis on Christ, the Light of the
  World, Christians looked towards the new Gothic
  style that provided a space that held light,
  music and air in a suitable way
• This reflected Gods transcendence, power and
  beauty

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• Architects developed ribbed vaulting and the
  pointed arch, which crisscrossed arches and
  allowed the rood weight to displace more
  effectively
• Roofs resembles a series of triangles that held
  light slabs of stone effortlessly
• The arches were more vertical and could be raised
  higher and rested on lighter pillars
• Huge stain glass windows allowed in light and
  created a huge, open internal space
• The buildings were dressed with works of art
• Statues were carved into the structures of
  doorways and pillars
• The buildings displayed soaring grace, delicate
  poise and perfect balance flooded with light and
  space brimming with warmth and joy

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Scholasticism
Training and spiritual life! These two things
are inseparable for anyone who aspires to lead a
Christian life which is truly committed to
forming and building a more just and more
brotherly society. If you wish to be faithful in
your daily lives to the demands of God and to the
expectations of humanity and history, you must
constantly nourish yourselves on the word of God
and the sacraments, so that Christs word may
dwell in you abundantly (Col 3 16). John
Paul II, Homily, Viedma, Argentina, April 6, 1987
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The Universities
The Sorbonne in Paris
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• Scholasticism is the system of philosophy and
  theology developed in the Medieval schools in
  Europe
• It used technical language to synthesize human
  and divine knowledge
• The University of Paris is the most famous
  school in Medieval times (The Sorbonne)
• The University of Bologna in Italy became known
  for its study of jurisprudence
• The University of Salerno in Italy became an
  important center for the sciences and later added
  philosophy and Arabic related texts to its
  curriculum

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• The guild system developed an environment of
  free inquiry and unobstructed explorations into
  all aspects of learning
• The Stadium generale was the course of study that
  included theology, philosophy, medicine, and the
  arts

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References
Cover page picture http//www.travellerspoint.com
/photos/46723/thumb_Leon-July-..10_T_we.jpg
Picture slide 2 http//upload.wikimedia.org/wik
ipedia/en/thumb/2/24/Giotto.mourning.750pix.jpg/24
0px-Giotto.mourning.750pix.jpg Picture slide
3 http//www.solarnet.org/Travel/art/S10laMaesta.
jpg Picture slide 4 http//cache.eb.com/eb/image
?id20338rendTypeId4 Picture slide
9 http//nodens.physics.ox.ac.uk/oi/Album/Paris/
sorbonne.jpg Religion 11 text The History of
the Church, Armenio, 2005