RR 6: Feb 14-18 : Why It Is Built The Way It Is

Why It Is Built The Way It Is (Plan of St. Gall)

Coke Can Cathedral/Perspectives

·         A 9^th century plan for the medieval monastery at St. Gall in Switzerland

·         Site is organized into three zones

1)      Area for the open population bottom of site

2)      Monastery in middle

3)      Cemetery, garden, infirmary at the top

·         Surrounding the church are buildings special to novices and abbots

·         St. Gall is a nave church-meaning it is the central approach to the alter or the main body of the church

·         The entire city behind walls is set aside for monks and the areas for essentials for living

The plan of St. Gall I believe was a good example of the concepts we talked about in class. It explains the coke cathedral, regions, and perspectives well. The coke cathedral is shown through this example with how the church was built. It must have been extremely difficult to build such a massive structure in the center of a miniature city back during this time. It was like when we went outside and tried to build our coke cathedrals. It was extremely difficult in terms of finding a foundation that would support such a great structure. It also depended on the region we were in. I was personally Germany while building. We had to towers that needed to be built for our cathedral. St. Gall has two towers at the end of the church that served as two different alters for the church dedicated to St. Michael and Gabriel. During the film we watched showing us the deep insight of how these cathedrals are built, this is a very time consuming project. I believe the church was built in terms of making a very dramatic entrance with the two towers. In terms of entering you had alters either on the left or right. If you had kept walking the church would have been a ways down and the main part of the church would have been shown. St. Gall also shows perspectives well. Friday in class when comparing cathedrals my term was language. I believe St. Galls has a lot of language associated within it. It tells the city that this is the reason this place is what it is. The city is revolved around the church and it tells us that it is important. The two towers on the end tell us that not only is this the spot for religion but the two fingers pointing to heaven and god. In the picture the main door in and out of the city also leads right into the main door for the church. This tells me that if you enter your entering into the house of god, it’s almost as if it is  leading you right into his arms.