[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.88,0:00:07.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're in Beverley Minster in Beverley, England,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.89,0:00:13.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we wanted to talk about the basic elements of a Gothic church. And probably
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.87,0:00:21.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most basic element that identifies the Gothic style is the use of a pointed,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.28,0:00:24.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not a round, a pointed arch.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.36,0:00:28.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The pointed arch was a Gothic innovation that allowed Gothic
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.53,0:00:31.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,architects to do what they really wanted to do,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.33,0:00:33.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which was to build larger and
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.57,0:00:39.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brighter churches. Light was associated with God, with the divine.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.16,0:00:40.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a perfect metaphor.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.64,0:00:45.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Light has an almost magical quality in that it can pass through a solid,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.82,0:00:49.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it can pass through glass. Romanesque churches,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.34,0:00:53.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just before the Gothic period, required large thick
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.100,0:00:57.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,expanses of wall to hold up the ceiling,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.50,0:00:59.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,usually a barrel-vaulted ceiling.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.78,0:01:02.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So from the rounded barrel vault,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.56,0:01:06.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the architects moved on to the groin vault.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.13,0:01:09.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The weight of a round arch pushes outward and requires
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.91,0:01:13.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of buttressing, a big solid wall underneath. The
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.44,0:01:18.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pointed arch redirects its weight more directly downward so that
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.66,0:01:22.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the supports can be thinner and can be more delicate.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.22,0:01:27.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the Gothic architects brilliantly realized that that innovation would allow
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.28,0:01:30.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them to be able to have less wall and more window.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.94,0:01:33.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The weight of the vault didn't need to come down onto
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.74,0:01:38.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,continuous walls but could come down onto four columns,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.58,0:01:41.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,opening up not just the walls to windows,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.01,0:01:45.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but opening up the very space of the church itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.19,0:01:49.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We might ask them, how is the stone vaulting held up?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.20,0:01:51.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the answer can be found in two places.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.75,0:01:54.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,First, if you look in between the glass,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.89,0:01:59.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can see a major structural element which comes down to the nave
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.04,0:02:01.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the form of a pier.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.86,0:02:02.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.33,0:02:06.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Gothic architects camouflaged the massiveness of their piers
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.73,0:02:11.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by ornamenting them with delicate thin colonettes.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.61,0:02:17.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But this was a massive object that helps to support the stone vaulting above.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.25,0:02:20.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But there's another structural system that's at work.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.05,0:02:21.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even with the pointed arch,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.63,0:02:26.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the vaulting of these churches still created lateral thrust that pushed outward.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.76,0:02:28.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so the building had to be
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.31,0:02:33.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,contained, it had to be supported from the outside, it had to be buttressed.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.69,0:02:38.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's where we see one of the great features of Gothic architecture,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.66,0:02:40.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the flying buttress,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.30,0:02:46.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,essentially a bracing in between the windows on the outside of the church.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.38,0:02:49.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And because they are relatively delicate and pierced,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.84,0:02:54.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they allow light to get to the windows to flood the interior with brightness.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.49,0:02:56.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When we look up along the wall
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.14,0:03:02.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a typical Gothic church, we usually see three parts. We see the pointed
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.83,0:03:04.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,arches that form the nave
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.74,0:03:08.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,arcade, we see above that the triforium,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.34,0:03:13.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then above that, the clerestory, the level with windows. When we look at the
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.94,0:03:20.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,triforium, even there, we see the wall is pierced. Here in Beverley Minster, we see trefoil-
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.18,0:03:23.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shaped arches and within that
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.48,0:03:25.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trefoil arch, we see
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.52,0:03:25.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.68,0:03:26.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quatrefoil,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.49,0:03:30.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then below that yet another level of opening of
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.51,0:03:36.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these short, pointed arches that are separated by columns.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.23,0:03:39.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this layering that allows the wall to have a sense of depth.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.95,0:03:43.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,All of this brings our eye upward.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.23,0:03:45.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It emphasizes the heavenly.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.59,0:03:51.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The intent of the Gothic church is to create a sense of the heavenly on earth.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.39,0:03:54.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you imagine a typical person's home
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.71,0:04:00.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the 13th century, we imagine something rather dark and without a lot of windows.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.23,0:04:05.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so coming into a space like this must have seemed truly miraculous.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.12,0:04:10.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's even difficult, I think for us in the 21st century to imagine the workmanship,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.96,0:04:16.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the decades of labor and the enormous costs that
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.74,0:04:20.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,went into these buildings as places of worship,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.39,0:04:22.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of places of connection to the divine.