Photos of the Historic Middle Ages Sites & Art Antiquities

Photos of the Medieval Middle Ages Sites & Art Antiquities

Photos of Medieval Middle Ages Art, Museum Antiquities & Medieval Historic Sites & Places. From 500 AD to 1500 AD.

The Middle Ages were one of the most fascinating periods of western history. It was a period that saw the restoration of an ordered civilisation in the West, after the decline of the Western Roman Empire in the 6th century. It was a period of dramatic rise and falls of civilisations and a period of great innovations.

Early Medieval Middle Ages – Lost In the Dark

6th – 10th century. The Early Middle Ages started in near darkness from the point of view of the written and artistic records. Writings and artworks are sparse from the early Early Middle Ages as a new emerging Europe pieced itself together after the Roman infrastructure had slowly disintegrated. People had to re-learn lost skill and re-invent civilisation.

Slowly culture started to re-start and new building projects were undertaken for the first time for many years. Initially early medieval architecture and art was based on Roman designs, this became known as the Romanesque. The Church was a driving force behind most of the re-imergence of architectural projects and art.

In Ireland and then the North of England, Christian texts had been kept safe and were held in monasteries. All art was being produced in the Early Middle Ages was Christian art to glorify god. Some of the best examples of early Middle Ages art can be seen in the illuminated texts of the monasteries.

The Middle Ages in the Eastern Roman Empire

When the Roman Western Roman Empire started its decline from the 6th century onwards, Western history suggest that that was the end of the Roman Empire. That was far from true and the Roman Empire didn’t end until 1453 and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.

As the Western Roman Empire collapsed and was taken over by Barbarians, the Eastern Roman Empire was alive and very well. At times the Eastern Romans attempted to retake the Western Europe and at times they had some success.

Since 324 Constantinople had been the Capitol of the Roman Empire, not Rome. It was a spectularily beautiful city full of wonderful palaces and churches. Incredibly ambitious building projects were undertaken. Between 532 and 537 Emperor Justinian I built the great Hagia Sophia. It huge dome that was not surpassed for 1000 years until the Duomo of Florence was built. The magnificence of Hagia Sophia was great taking.

The Eastern Romans have come to be known as Byzantine, a term they would not have recognised themselves . Over time the Eastern Romans came to speak Greek but they still called themselves Romans. I will call them the Eastern or Byzantine Romans in this text.

It was from the Eastern Romans that the emerging West learnt building and art styles.

The Romanesque churches of the Byzantine Romans were based on the Roman Basilica design. Traditionally these churches had a central aisle and two naives. At the eastern end of the church was an apse where the altar stood. In front of the Apse was an altar screen.

Roman rounded arches were used which could only support low loads. This meant that Romanesque buildings had very thick walls and the windows very small.

The Interior of churches were highly decorated with painting. The Byzantine Romans liked to use mosaic panels in the apse roof of churches and fresco panels depicting saints or scenes from the bible. They used a flat two dimensional style and, the way they depicted Christ and the saints was strictly regulated. The Eastern Christian always had a fear that they might be breaking the second Commandment which says “though shalt not make false idols”.

Today Eastern Orthodox Icon painting still follow strict rules. Three dimensional representations in Eastern Christianity was forbidden. There are no sculptures of Christ on a cross in the East as there are in Roman Catholic churches. Eastern crosses only have a flat painted Christ.

For a long time the Roman Catholic Pope embraced Eastern Byzantine building styles and art. The Pope though never had a problem with depicting Christ and the saints in sculptures or as statues. This led to the decoration of the exterior of Roman Catholic Churches with sculpted panels depicting scenes form the Bible.

The Pope knew that he had an illiterate flock who needed to be taught the story of Christ. It was forbidden for any one else but priests to read the Bible, and anyway it was only in Latin. As the Mass was said in Latin by the priest, nobody in the congregation could understand exactly what was being said. By decorating the inside of churches with story panels the congregations could be taught how to lead a good moral Catholic life. They could also be shown what happens to sinners in graphic detail.

At the end of the Late Middle Ages Arabs came out of the desert with deviating effect and in an incredibly short time had taken control of all of North Africa, Spain and much of the Western Mediterranean. They got as far North as Southern France before they were stopped.

These New Arab rulers brought the new religion of Islam to Western Europe and for a short time it looked like Christianity might be wiped out. The Islamic rulers soon became incredibly learned and cultured rulers. They excelled at science, mathematics and medicine which they learnt form Ancient Greek Texts. In fact without these Islamic Rulers Ancient Greece and its writings could well have been lost for ever.

Like the Byzantine Romans, Islamic Rulers built incredible buildings. The lived in wonderful Palaces and built great mosques.

The High Middle Ages

1000 to 1300 AD. The driving force in Western Europe in the High Middle ages was the Pope in Rome. He saw himself as the successor to the Western Roman Emperor and began to build a power base. Once the pagans of Western Europe were converted to Christianity, the Pope, as the successor of St Peter, wielded enormous power. Firstly he took it upon himself to confirm the right of office of the Kings of Western Europe who then paid him homage and tithes.

To take control of the people the Pope ordered churches to be built so spreading of the Roman Catholic Creed. Once he had enslaved the people by threatening them with Hell and damnation unless they obeyed him, he took control of Western Europe.

Of course different Popes held control with varying levels of success and the Nobility were always in conflict with Papal decisions, but the Pope and the Papacy survived and thrived.

Apart from castles building, the only major building projects of the Early Medieval Era were Christian and nearly all art was Christian Art.

By the middle of the High Middle Ages the French had grown in prominence and were very devout Christians. French Masons learnt the power of the pointed arch from the Islamic Scholars in Spain. A pointed arch can support many times more weight that a Roamesque round arch. This meant that Churches could be built with higher walls, all the better to glorify God. Further the churches could have thinner walls with big windows to let more light in.

Masons persuaded the forward thinking Abbot Suger (c. 1081 – 1151) , to allow them to rebuild Sant Denis Basilica with pointed arches and the result was so spectacular that the French Style took off. Jealous Italian architects renamed it Gothic architecture after the Barbaric Goths that conquerored Northern Europe. They considered that nothing cultured could be produced by the French.

Gothic Architecture swept through Northern Europe with churches getting higher and higher. New artworks were needed to fill the huge windows in Gothic churches so the art of stained glass windows were born. To further glorify God, hundreds of Gothic style statues adorned the outside of the new churches and cathedrals.

The Late Middle Ages

1300 to 1500 AD. By the beginning of the Late Middle Ages the fortunes of Western Europe and the East had changed dramatically. The Empire of the Byzantine Romans had shrunk dramatically with the onslaught of Islam and the loss of Africa and much of the Nears East. The Pope in Rome had stabilised the borders of Western Europe and was going strength to strength. The Pope used the Franks of France as his main support and made Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor.

The inventiveness of the Gothic pushed architecture and art to the limit. Flying buttresses let building grow higher. Magnificent vaulted ceilings made interiors even more spectacular.

All of these great works were paid for by the Church, or more accurately by collecting tithes from the poor and persuading Kings to endow projects. Either way the poor paid for these building projects with their sweet, blood & devotion.

As the Gothic progressed new art style appeared. More realistic styles were developed and sculpture became more skilful. The flat art of the Roman Byzantines was superseded in the West by realistic art that made the stories of the Bible and Christ look more real. Western Churches had become truly awe inspiring, and the great Gothic Cathedrals remain so today.

The End of the Middle Ages

The end of the middle ages saw a complete reversal of the start of the Middle Ages.

In 1453 the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Islamic Ottomans never to reappear. In 1492 with the fall of Granada the Christian Kings of Spain had retaken the Iberian Peninsular. Islam was pushed back to North Africa where it remains today.

The Pope and the Roman Catholic church was incredibly wealthy and had expanded power significantly through the monasteries that covered Western Europe.