Cathedrals

Cathedrals During the medieval time period, peasants were affected by Gothic art, architecture, and music, because many peasants were illiterate. They could only learn about God’s word by symbols and hearing music. Also, during the medieval time period, peasants were not allowed to own a Bible, so they couldn’t learn by reading the bible even if they knew how to read. Cathedrals during this time period had many symbols that showed Christ through the symbols. Some ways were through music, architecture, art itself shown around the cathedrals. In music, the priest would sing Gregorian Chants. A Gregorian Chants are where the priest would say something from the bible and the congregation would repeat it back. This was a way peasants could learn about the Bible without reading. In architecture, the foundation of the cathedrals was shaped like a cross to symbolize Christ being the main reason of the cathedral, and our lives. In art, the cathedral had stained glass windows with scenes from the Bible for the peasants to see pictures of the people in the Bible. Such as scenes from Jesus life, Noah, and Mary were some of the paintings. I chose the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The design message of the Cathedral of Notre Dame was to find rest and safe haven from our lives through God. There are many reasons the building gives this message, such as, gargoyles, the height of the building, and the beautiful light shown through the cathedral. The gargoyles symbolize being safe, because the gargoyles are suppose to keep evil spirits and demons out of the cathedral. The height of the building symbolizes the little separation from the congregation and God. The only thing between the congregation and God is the roof. The roof was so high and weighed a lot that the architects had to make fly buttress to hold it up. The height shows that the cathedral was the closest thing to God. The light symbolizes the beautiful natural light coming from God throughout the cathedral. This comes