Contest of the cathedrals – the Gothic period | DW Documentary

sometimes not much is needed to change history sometimes all it takes is one idea and a person who runs with it the abbot of sandini monastery near paris was such a person nine centuries ago he boldly implemented new architectural concepts that were already in the air abbott tsujir let in the light colored light romanesque builders had occasionally experimented with such innovations but sugar incorporated them into the rebuilding of his abbey church to create a total work of art [Music] light glass pointed arches and ribbed vaults these were architectural elements already known in romanesque times but now they were finer and more translucent than ever before let there be light that is the message that this church broadcasts it spurred the start of an era in which architects vied to build ever higher and more light-filled cathedrals the gothic the desire for more light in a church interior is one thing making it technically possible is another for the thick walls to be replaced by thin windows the weight of the building had to be distributed outward onto columns and vaulted arches the structural shell became a skeleton and glass was needed glass that could be melted and colored using a new technique that may have reached western europe from the middle east in the 10th century soon the stained glass fragments were joined with strips of lead to compose symphonies of color in the summer of 1144 the abbey church of sandini set off an architectural revolution across france in the following century more than 20 major gothic churches arose in the region around paris it became a contest to build the highest and most beautiful churches within a generation this development had gathered momentum still further afield strasbourg's cathedral was changed over to the gothic style in the first half of the 13th century artistic influences from across europe came together in this space [Music] it was only much later that this pride of the alsace became a nationalist bone of contention between france and germany german or french was not an issue more than seven hundred years ago when erwin feinsteinbach master builder from modern outdid all previous interiors with this rose window of course all this splendor was for the glory of god but these achievements also fired up the competition among architects and artists to create more masterpieces [Music] the so-called angel's pillar it's a depiction of judgment day the sculptures are palpable proof of the gothic artist's desire to make hard stone appear supple is there a limit to what artists can achieve in this endeavor [Music] the new self-assurance of the gothic gazes down from the gallery the master builder put himself in the artwork on the lookout from above for the latest architectural marvels one marvel took place at the start of the construction the facade was enveloped in a curtain of delicate stonework the famous harp string tracery with its mighty rose window sixty years later two tower levels were built a central story made the construction more imposing but more clunky its heaviness was relieved by a tower extending almost crazily toward heaven the former stonemasons lodge now a museum contains a collection of what made this building a champion of the gothic the building plans of the ingenious architects the greatest jewel of this collection is the oldest plan for strasbourg cathedral drawn on parchment it's an initial design for the rebuilding of the west facade the central portal and the large rose window are already in place and here we also have open work tracery and gables that's a fantastic architectural drawing but unfortunately we don't know who made it the names of most of the first architects who worked on the cathedral are unknown today but they were the ones who optimized the gothic principle of skeletal construction it comprised elements such as the open timber roof truss to reduce the load of the roof the flying buttresses that gave lateral support to the nave and the ribbed vaults that gave the isles their sense of lightness [Music] and the ingenious wooden constructions that enabled the masonry of the rounded arches and domes but which devoured entire forests behind all this decorative design is the gothic principle of thrust and counterbalance which the competition among the architects reduced to its essentials they were driven by the idea of converting the thick stone space into a shrine of glass [Music] the sheer radicality of the way irvin feinsteinbach spun his ever finer web of stone marked a new high point in the contest of gothic architecture [Music] we don't know how ervin feinstein buck really looked this sculpture made long after his time shows him with raised index finger it's a finger that is less didactic than thoughtful ready to suddenly point out a tiny detail after all building a gothic cathedral also involves attention to the smallest things how many hammer blows went into the 142 meter tall strasbourg cathedral it must have been like a goldsmith's atelier crossed with a major construction site demanding not only the master builders love of detail but the ability to keep track of the overall structural engineering but in irvine's time the science of architectural construction was not yet developed experimentation was his constant companion he drew on the experience his masons brought with them from building sites across europe and these ideas flowed into the great plaster or clay panels where the building plans were drawn when irvin began the rebuilding of the west work the west facing entrance in 1277 the ground level of the building was already standing over the next forty years he was able to complete the next level which culminated in the breathtaking rose window it was a symphony of light an illustration of god's love radiating to all sides a hint of paradise where earthly things dissolve in a mystical color space [Music] could this grandiose idea be taken still further some 80 kilometers upriver from strasbourg in freiburg even fensteinbach realized an even bolder vision a very special church spire the translation of his rose window into three dimensions left a great legacy to the workers of the mason's lodge the workshop of the freiburg minster a great legacy in need of great care every year the stonemasons have to climb up the tower to ensure that none of the crumbling stone fragments land on the market on minster square from a height of more than 100 meters [Music] a gothic cathedral is essentially a mountain of sandstone and like every other rocky crag it is eaten away by erosion the more gothic it is the more delicate its details but the more delicate the more vulnerable cathedrals like the freiborg minster are never ending construction sites the most recent renovation of the tower an undertaking that lasted 12 years hasn't relieved the stone masons from regularly inspecting every centimeter of the structure crumbling fragments are removed by hand while larger damaged areas are secured with wire mesh until the next overhaul which is certain to come this first tracery spire in history will remain in the hands of stonemasons for eternity what creative daring must have driven architect irvin van steinbach to design a roof for this tower a roof made of stone but full of holes [Music] [Music] the gothic marvel took around 300 years to build and something distinguished it from the other places of worship the freiburg minster never belonged to the catholic church it was commissioned by an aristocratic family as a sign of its power and influence soon after it belonged to the people of the city the radiating chapels and the apps were funded as was common in the late gothic period by the sale of indulgences these kinds of richly appointed family chapels sometimes reached a level of extravagance as families vied to outdo each other in the late gothic ceiling the rib vaulting was not only used in the traditional way to support the roof but additionally added as purely decorative diagonal ribs which grew together in wildly branching patterns [Music] bear told the fifth the last duke of ceringan who had commissioned the rebuilding of the church 300 years earlier as a prestigious burial site had had very different ideas he was a pious knight who still viewed a church as a center of royal or clerical power but his heirs ran out of money for the upkeep of the project around 1300 the citizens of freiburg took over the administration of the church they founded a minster factory an association which financed the building work its members were obliged to give it the shirt off their backs literally when they died they bequeathed their best piece of clothing to fund the building work now the church windows did not only feature stories of the bible but bore the symbols of the guilds that were the financial backers the smiths the tailors the shoemakers the coopers and the bakers and they celebrated a line of business that was making freiburg richer than ever silver mining in the competition of the cathedrals the freiburg minster was in the lead with what was at the time the highest building and the community spirit was reflected in the humorous depiction of the birth of christ here in the manger the ox is trying to eat the infant jesus's diaper but joseph intervenes with his staff today the floor of the minster has been paved with solid stone tiles but that was not always the case those who could afford it sought to be buried under the floor not only to be close to the saints but also to remain even in death a part of the citizens community assembled here as late as the 17th century a visitor complained that in the minster one trips over hundreds of tombstones as a true citizens church it also provided practical services for the living it told time for example and the units of measure engraved on the outer wall let buyers at the market check that the prices of the goods were fair but the price of grain varied enormously in the year 1270 customers could get a plump loaf of bread in the great famine of 1317 they were lucky to get a scanty roll for the money this 1500 is the 14th century was a time of serious crises above all the great plague catastrophe but even earlier in the first half of the 14th century we see famines floods failed harvests shortages but also the whimsical architectural details that today almost seem ironic [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in times of crisis many certainties are called into question in strasbourg ii the balance of power was shifting the emerging middle class had already rebelled against the all-powerful bishop [Music] as a result not only judgment day and the saints adorned the entrance of the cathedral but also the statue of a controversial politician count rudolf of hapsburg once excommunicated by the pope as an enemy of the church and later king of germany in the holy roman empire udov sided with the citizens of strasbourg to rid the city of their unpopular bishop from then on the minster architect was no longer accountable to the clergy but to freely elected city councillors they would have to be convinced that the minster would be a prestige object symbolizing the might of their city but the city councillors were not necessarily the arbiters of artistic taste instead of continuing to construct the two planned towers they decided on a central section to contain the bells it went up in just five years and transformed the facade into a rectangular box [Music] imposing yes but also clunky and a distraction from ervin's beautiful rose window soon calls grew loud to beautify this block with special towers but was it possible to find competent builders on short notice [Music] the municipal archive in home holds a special piece of evidence that may answer that question anna cristina braim has spent six years studying the medieval account books of the olm minster it's a treasure trove of information about the movements of builders at the time it tells us where the stone masons came from here is heinrich from dula paid 15 shillings hans from straubing who also gets 15 shillings we have one from brandenburg near um from and in the course of this week two stone masons immigrate from steya conrad fonstair and thomas von steyer who get five shillings they were taken on for a week by all the workshops they would always have an opportunity to work for a week or at least until the next payout [Music] and around a quarter of the stone masons were wandering journeymen they'd stay at the building site for just a week or two and then move on to the next building site [Music] the analysis of the account books the daily schedules and hiring contracts from the 15th century helps to decipher the network that connected the gothic cathedral workshops by compiling the names of the artisans it is possible to reconstruct the workers movements and the phases of the construction one document in particular proves how closely connected these medieval church building specialists were this is one of the most important building plans we have because it tells us a great deal about the masons lodges in the middle ages on the one side we have the tower on the strasbourg cathedral with the pyramidal tower with the many stairs and on the other side written in the same hand we have the plan for the tower of the oil minster that means that they knew precisely what was going on in other works what designs were being developed there and they shared this information the towns were competing for the most famous master builders but the architects communicated amongst themselves and shared their knowledge the two-sided plan is proof that gothic builders had several irons in the fire and worked simultaneously at different sites spurred on by the city's appetite for these prestigious projects [Music] the builders in strasbourg had heard that the wealthy textile exporting city of om was planning a church with a gigantic tower that was exactly what they wanted to aspire to turn the blocky front into a thing of beauty a messenger was dispatched to own there is only one contemporary depiction of the man known to history as an inspired master builder of towers the sculpture of the architect ulrich enzinga eroded by time shows him gazing upward to where his spires grew up into the sky [Music] ulrich designed the towers in strasbourg and om but he was never to see them completed a precious document in the ulm central library shows the ambitious planning that went into the project in the up-and-coming city it's a 15th century chronicle of the city written by a dominican monk named felix fabri fabrice candid account of what happened in ulm in the late middle ages includes major events but also plenty of gossip one event particularly fascinated him the laying of the cornerstone of the om minster the start of the construction work was quite unusual fabri wrote the citizens build their church as he put it without the support of the clergy and nobility it was a daring undertaking not churchmen but city councilmen climbed into the building pit to lay the foundation what courage what optimism fabri names 1377 as the start of construction and praises the boldness of the olm citizens who had grown rich through the textile trade [Music] but felix fabry did not know that it would take another 513 years for the building to shine in all its splendor today the old minster is still the tallest church in the world but for centuries this glory was neglected because soon after its completion in the 16th century om became protestant and the lutheran preachers did not appreciate such soaring spaces for their somber sermons martin luther visited om and called the minster gigantic but quite impractical gothic was out [Music] and status symbols like the precious glass windows the besserers a merchant family had placed in their chapel went against the tastes of the iconoclastic protestants as did presumably the gothic humor of this depiction of mary and saint peter st peter is wearing spectacles [Music] or when the travails of the master builder were commemorated by showing him kneeling under the weight of his work was working in parallel on his second tower project an exclusive eight-sided north tower with the help of novel cranes he wanted to raise the minster to 140 meters in height in the 20 years until his death he was to achieve half of the 80 meters that were still [Music] planned but his plan gave reality to a special construction it was one of the most ingenious designs of the entire gothic period [Music] the star architect did manage to complete his four slender towers containing the stairways but when ulrich died in 1419 his work stood like a hollow tooth luckily the gothic style was still all the rage until the mid-15th century and strasbourg was determined to finish its prestige project so by 1439 the highest church tower at the time reached a height of 142 meters [Music] when things are too perfect people sometimes lose interest in them and by the end of the 15th century the public had seen too much of the ever more finely carved stone the pulpit in strasbourg made by master builder hans hammer can perhaps be seen as both the high point of and farewell to 300 years of gothic architecture [Music] but what the builders created we inherit and inheriting is not always easy inheritance is also a mission [Music] when in the 19th century these pillars began to sink under the weight of ensinger's tower it was clear that a cathedral of this size is never finished the strasbourg cathedral museum the former masons lodge has a book of photos that document a nearly 20-year long battle to preserve the minster this is a family portrait with johann knolt later celebrated as the savior of the minster knaut a native of cologne and his team succeeded in an engineering feat without which strasbourg cathedral would probably not be standing today the problem was the pillar and its foundation that was too weak it was not only sinking but leaning to one side and threatening to collapse and crash through the nave canal developed a bold plan to envelop the pillar in reinforced concrete this meter thick mantle was to be based on a foundation ring cast out of pressure resistant reinforced concrete so the ground under the pillar had to be dug up and replaced by a concrete base using hydraulic presses it would be possible to raise the pillar again a hydraulic press acting laterally would correct the twist to the left it was all a question of mathematics and engineering science at the start of the 20th century look at these amazing photos from 1922 of the incredible reinforcement seven meters of this giant pillar is sheathed in a reinforced concrete corset this was the biggest restoration measure carried out on strasbourg cathedral and it contributed significantly towards securing the cathedral tower and the entire building they worked directly beneath the pillar under a weight of ten and a half thousand tons [Music] and then came the moment when the concrete corset had to be removed again sandstone is softer than reinforced concrete and very sensitive in october 1926 the rescue of the minster was celebrated with a lot of fanfare but johan knaut was not present as a german he had been expelled from what was now [Music] france a cathedral architect's work is never done in home andreas boom is in charge of a project to repair or replace damaged stones there are 4 500 of them marked in blue or yellow on the diagram [Music] in the case of the olm minster the stone masons needed a century to carry out a thorough renovation and once that was over the next one hundred years began and that is the way it's always been fun i found a book from 1492 one person wrote once on a sunday the people were at the noon service when two stones fell down from the vaulted ceiling the minster started to sink we were scared it would fall over problem the problems are the same as today stones don't fall from the ceiling nowadays but to ensure that it stays that way even the tiniest cracks in the building have to be regularly monitored [Music] andreas berm does that with this canon-like device [Music] with a laser he pinpoints the often inaccessibly high cracks and with the telescope he can recognize whether and when the walls might break apart it's okay i've got it now it's sharp this crack has in fact shrunk by three millimeters there are hardly any changes compared to last year we're looking at about a tenth so that's okay that's a relief the table of measurements goes back to the 19th century a time at which investigations turned up quite different values in the 1850s irreverent caricatures appeared poking fun at the half-finished and dilapidated state of the building the tower was not even 100 meters tall but it was dangerously shaky the well-behaved passers-by slinked by in silence the police cautioned those who speak audibly a sign warns talking loudly on minster square is forbidden it seems the risk was so high that loud conversation or laughter could cause the beautiful gothic structure to tumble down 170 year old photographs reveal the truly pitiful state of this super building which had hardly been worked on since luther's time but now in the mid 19th century it was time to rescue the minsters as in strasbourg buttresses in the original style were added to stabilize the shaky walls of the nave and the east towers planned in enzinger's time were finally erected and at the entrance soon a super tower rose high one which might have pleased ulrich enzinger to no end [Music] a group photo with the capstone which seen up close is truly impressive so around 1900 the minster envisioned by the citizens of om 500 years earlier was finally completed for the moment [Music] it soon became clear that the world's new tallest church tower was so heavy that it destabilized the entire building a rescue plan was needed and it can be seen down here at the end of a long basement shaft the heart of steel that holds it all together these 14 crop steel pieces were derived from experiences in building mines to retrofit the tower the steel parts were heated to 380 degrees celsius then these clamps were tightened and as it cooled the steel was pulled together and all 14 steel parts exerted tensile force of a thousand tons to hold the minster tower together and stabilize the entire building did the architects six centuries ago building ever higher believed their cathedrals would last this long their faith in god clearly led them to presume they would succeed and they were right [Music] daniel wagner and andre young are natives of om and their church is still the highest in the world to celebrate that superlative they thought up a special tribute they planned to fly a camera drone to capture the beauty of the minster in a single take i'd say let's take it over minster square and slowly up the minster towards the flying buttresses and then through it yes i'd go relatively deep 22 23 meters through and then go down through the buttresses and then emerge with these buttresses we're around 22 25 meters and then here all the way up to 86 and then circle around you mean up to the top yes once around the outside let's go super [Music] eyes have a good flight [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

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Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2021, documentary, cathedrals, sacred buildings, Catholic Church, Gothic, Middle Ages, nobility, bourgeoisie, craft guilds

Id: 4eGWHxbTSO8

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021