(upbeat piano music)
- [Beth] We're standing in the square outside
of the beautiful 13th century Cathedral of Amiens.
This is a Gothic masterpiece both in architecture
and in sculpture.
- [Steven] This is such a great example of the Gothic
because the front of the building is not so much
a stone wall, but a kind of complex surface
that's almost like lace in a way that it's opened up.
- [Beth] Starting at the bottom,
we have these three large doorways
and that mirrors what we would find
inside the church, a large, central nave
and then smaller aisles on either side.
But, to call these doors is such an oversimplification.
These are decorated with dozens of figures
and almost act like funnels that draw us
into the church.
- [Steven] Yes, there is a sense of movement in,
but at the same time there's a sense
of amplification outward.
It's almost as if the messages of the figures
that are carved within these portals,
that their voices are amplified by the multiple arches
that radiate outward.
- [Beth] And, above the doorway, we see pointed arches
decorated with quatrefoils and then typically
for many Gothic churches, we see a row of figures
standing in niches and this is called the king's gallery.
- [Steven] And, then on either side, two towers
which are actually later additions.
- [Beth] And in between that, a rose window.
- [Steven] The king's gallery functions as a Tree of Jesse.
That is, the lineage of Old Testament kings
that Christians believe were the ancestors of Christ.
- [Beth] One way we could understand this is to think about
this left portal as telling us the stories of a local saint,
who would have been especially venerated
by the people of Amiens as their first bishop.
On the right we have Mary, the intercessor
between mankind and God.
And, then in the center, we see Christ presented to us
in three ways.
- [Steven] Let's take a close look at the portal
that's devoted to the Virgin Mary.
- [Beth] Here we see Mary holding the Christ child
on the trumeau.
- [Steven] She's stepping on a creature that has
a human head but attached to a lizard-like body
which represents evil that she is stamping out.
The virgin is so elegantly represented.
She holds the Christ child, her palm is forward
as if she's presenting him to us.
You can still make out the blue paint that would have
originally covered her dress.
- [Beth] So much of the paint is still visible.
You can see reds and blues and golds.
- [Steven] She's crowned because this is a representation
of Mary as the Queen of Heaven.
And above her we see an architectural structure
that is a kind of tabernacle.
And, within it is a representation
of the Ark of the Covenant.
And, that's the ark that would have held
the 10 Commandments.
- [Beth] And, on either side of that
we see three patriarchs.
And, above that in the tympanum,
two scenes from the life of the Virgin.
The Dormition, or the death of the Virgin.
- [Steven] That's on the left.
- [Beth] And, on the right, the Assumption
of the Virgin Mary.
Mary was understood to have been assumed bodily
into Heaven and we see angels lifting her up.
- [Steven] Both of those sculptures, although they tell
different stories seem so similar at first.
And, I love the slight distinctions
that help us tell one from the other.
On the right, Mary is lifted ever so slightly.
- [Beth] And, if we move up to the very top
of the tympanum, we see a scene that is quite common
in Gothic sculpture and that's the Coronation
of the Virgin Mary.
Angels are placing a crown on the head of the Virgin Mary
as Queen of Heaven and she's surrounded by angels.
- [Steven] Let's spend a moment looking
at some of the jamb figures on either side of the doorway.
We see the Annunciation.
On the left is the archangel Gabriel announcing
to the Virgin Mary that she will bear Christ.
- [Beth] And, then next to that we see the Visitation.
This is Mary being visited by her cousin Elizabeth
who's pregnant with St. John the Baptist.
Mary is pregnant with the Christ child.
- [Steven] I love the sense of naturalism
in these figures, the way in which they're interacting.
This is quite different from the earlier jamb figures
that we see at Chartres where the figures
are very separate, very columnar.
- [Beth] And, here the drapery falls quite naturally
in folds that appear three-dimensional.
But, there's not a lot of interest here in showing
the body underneath the drapery.
There is a plainness and simplicity of the figures
in their drapery and in their faces
that has been noted by art historians.
- [Steven] Just one aside.
Below the feet of the jamb figures there are
these architectural canopies and below that
wonderfully complex figures and in some cases
they seem to relate to the figures above them.
For instance, just below the Virgin Mary,
you see Eve who's being offered the apple
by the devil in the guise of the serpent.
- [Beth] Mary is understood in Christian theology
as the second Eve, who with Christ,
sets right the original sin created by Adam and Eve
in the Garden of Eden.
- [Steven] We've walked over to the central portal.
Let's start in the very center with the trumeau.
- [Beth] This figure is known as the Beau Dieu,
the Beautiful God and he is beautiful.
He looks peaceful, he's got his right hand raised
in the gesture of blessing, in his left hand
he holds a book.
- [Steven] And, look how his drapery points upward
towards the Bible, drawing our eye to the word of God.
- [Beth] We get a sense of being blessed
as we enter the church.
We also note that Christ is standing on two creatures,
one that looks like a lion, another that looks a dragon
or a serpent.
So, again that idea of good overcoming evil.
- [Steven] What I find fascinating is
that this is the lowest of three representations of Christ.
We also find Christ as judge in the tympanum
and above that an apocalyptic Christ.
Let's take a look at the tympanum more closely.
- [Beth] The tympanum is in a way a warning.
- [Steven] Christ sits as judge, in this case
on a low stool.
His palms are up and if you look very closely,
you can just make out drops of blood
coming from his wounds from the cross.
- [Beth] All of these figures who look very real to us today
would have appeared so much more lifelike
when they were painted.
- [Steven] Christ's pupils are still painted.
His eyes look out at us with wonderful intensity.
- [Beth] So this is the Last Judgment.
On the left we see Mary, on the right St. John,
on either side of them angels holding the instruments
of the passion.
- [Steven] And, then kneeling angels at the far corner.
In the register just below Christ, we see the blessed
and the damned.
The damned are on the right, they're naked,
and they're being forced by devils into the mouth
of Hell itself.
- [Beth] Angels above them brandish fiery swords,
pushing them into that mouth of Hell.
- [Steven] And, if you look closely, the figures
that are closest to the mouth of Hell,
who seem to be trying to turn away,
are being pulled in by a devil's arm.
- [Beth] And, of course, escape is impossible.
On the left, we see the blessed who are being escorted
in an orderly way into Heaven where they're being crowned.
Angels gently guide them by placing a hand on their back.
And, the angels above them place crowns on their heads.
- [Steven] At the bottom of the tympanum,
we see four angels blowing trumpets.
They are waking the dead and we can see souls
rising out of their tombs,
lifting the heavy stone slabs from their coffins.
Some have their hands in prayer
and some seem simply bewildered.
Each of these souls will be judged.
- [Beth] In the center we see St. Michael
who's weighing souls.
He's got a scale and on the left side
we see a lamb, the Lamb of God,
which is understood as Christ.
On the right, a demon.
And, it looks as though the weight of the scale
is toward the side of the lamb,
toward the side of the blessed.
So, souls are being weighed to decide their fate
whether they go to Heaven or they go to Hell.
- [Steven] And, if you look very closely,
you can see that there's a demon below the scales
who's lifting his arm as if trying to tip the balance.
He's trying to cheat.
At the very top we see the third representation of Christ.
But, this is the apocalyptic Christ
that comes directly from the Book of Revelation.
- [Beth] And in that book it says,
"In his right hand he held seven stars
"and coming out of his mouth was a sharp,
"double-edge sword.
"His face was like the sun shining
"in all of its brilliance."
- [Steven] And, we see two angels.
The angel on the left holds the sun
and the angel on the right, the moon.
So, the Last Judgment is this division
between the blessed and damned.
Above the central portal, it's a reminder
to everybody entering and leaving the church,
that they can live their life
in a way that is is accordance with God or not.
But, we see that also in the lower registers
of the portal.
- [Beth] The tympanum is addressing what will happen
in our afterlife based on the choices we make
while we're alive.
And, we're reminded of those choices in the quatrefoils
just below the jamb sculptures where we see,
in some cases, representations of virtues and vices.
And the one I love the most
is the pair of courage and cowardice.
Courage shows us a knight holding a shield and a sword.
- [Steven] And on the shield we see a representation
of a powerful creature.
I think that might be a bear.
- [Beth] That sword has been dropped quickly.
- [Steven] We see this figure of cowardice
turning back startled by two little animals,
a rabbit and a bird.
And, he seems to be running away.
And, it is a wonderful contrast.
But, even though this is carved in a very light-hearted way,
below the surface is a serious message.
Those that come into the church are being reminded
that they have choices that will have powerful consequences
in the afterlife.
- [Beth] And that the Virgin Mary is available
to intercede on our behalf and we're reminded of that
in the right portal.
And, the first bishop of Amiens is also there for us
as we're reminded in the left-hand portal.
And, so we have these tools available to us
to aid in our salvation as we enter the miraculous space
of Amiens Cathedral.
- [Steven] It's quieter but surprisingly bright.
- [Beth] The stained glass windows that would have been here
in the 13th century don't survive
and so we're not quite seeing the interior
the way it would have been seen back then.
Standing in the nave, the main, wide, central space
of the church, we notice that there's one aisle
on either side.
And, when we look down the nave, we see the holiest part
of the church, the east end where the altar is.
- [Steven] If we follow the great piers
that do much of the work of the building,
supporting the vaulting above, our eye rises up
to the triforium and then to these massive walls of glass,
what art historians call a clerestory.
- [Beth] Amiens is a high Gothic church
and so this vocabulary of Gothic architecture
is being utilized here to its fullest.
And, that clerestory is so important.
The idea of letting light into the church,
of opening up the walls and that spiritual quality
of light so important to the Gothic architects.
- [Steven] The clerestories themselves
are much more elaborate that had been seen
in earlier Gothic cathedrals.
They're made up of the pair of arches,
each with a pair of lancet windows.
And, then above there are smaller oculi,
in this case round, four-lobed windows.
And, above that a larger round rose window.
- [Beth] And, even the spaces between the double arches
and that large rose are opened up to the light.
- [Steven] Now all of this seems absolutely miraculous.
There's this massive stone vault above.
How is it possible that the glass holds that up?
Some of the weight is held up by the piers,
but if you look closely through the now clear glass,
you can see the shadows of one of the great innovations
of Gothic architecture, the flying buttress.
This draws the weight of the vaulting outside
so that the interior walls and the interior piers
can be much more slender than had been possible
in earlier forms of architecture.
- [Beth] Those buttresses are helping
from outside to support the building.
- [Steven] And if you look very closely,
you'll know that they're pairs of flying buttresses
and that's because the lower of the two was added later
when the great weight of the cathedral was creating
a kind of buckling and this helped stabilize the structure.
- [Beth] This is before modern engineering.
This is a little bit of trial and error involved
by the master builders who worked on this church,
by the way whose names were mentioned in the labyrinth
that once occupied the crossing of the church.
So, there was a recognition of the importance
of these master builders.
- [Steven] And, their role in creating
an architecture that was a reflection of Heaven
in the earthly sphere.
- [Beth] It's important to notice too,
that the Gothic architects are making use
of the pointed arch which allowed them
much greater flexibility than the round arches
used by Romanesque architects.
- [Steven] The thrust of a pointed arch
pushes down more directly.
A rounded arch pushes out more
and this allows the architects to build higher.
- [Beth] And we also notice in Gothic architecture
that they're making use of the ribbed groin vault,
yet another technical achievement
that allowed the architects to build so high
and to build such vast spaces.
So, we have this space that is incredibly high and open
with very thin columns that support this roof
that doesn't appear to weigh anything at all.
- [Steven] The entire space feels miraculous even today.
- [Beth] Romanesque churches in the period
before the Gothic, you walked in and you were met
with vast expanses of walls that were covered
with paintings, with murals that told biblical stories.
But, here those walls are opened up.
It's the light that is communicating the divine.
- [Steven] A great example of that can be seen
in one of the later parts of the cathedral.
Here the solid wall of the triforium is opened up
and becomes an additional set of windows
making the church feel even more diaphanous.
- [Beth] And, as we look at the piers which are doing
much of the work of carrying the weight of the vault,
the way that they appear to be almost like bundled groups
of smaller columns again give us that sense of lightness,
of delicacy, of removing that sense of weight.
- [Steven] Of masking their massiveness.
- [Beth] And one of my favorite parts of the church
is the lovely sculpting that we see on the stringcourse
just above the nave arcade that helps to draw
our eye down toward the east end.
This is the time when
the University of Paris is established.
There's a going back to ancient philosophers
especially Aristotle and a desire to unify
the kind of logical thinking found in Aristotle
with Christian theological ideas.
We know that geometry was very important
to Gothic architecture.
- [Steven] The idea was that the church's proportions
ought to correspond to the ideal of Heaven.
And one of the ways that architects would do that
is to think about dimensions that are spoken of
in the Bible.
And, one of the most famous is Noah's Ark
which was known to be 50 cubits.
Architectural historians have surmised
that the central square of the church right in the middle
of the crossing is the basis for the proportions
of the church as a whole.
And, this theory suggests that that inner square
is 50 feet on each side.
But, that square is then extended 30 feet
on each side in accordance with the golden section
making a great square which is 110 feet on each side.
- [Beth] And so this unit forms a module that gets repeated
through parts of the church.
- [Steven] For example, in order to get the width
of the transept of the great crossing
that makes the outline of the church into a cruciform,
into the shape of a cross, one needs to simply
take 50% of the great square and add that again
to either side.
And, similarly, if you take the diagonal
of the great square, that is the length of the nave.
And, again, if you take the diagonal of the great square
and you turn it 90 degrees upward,
you have the height of the nave.
- [Beth] What all of this suggests is a desire
to unify the church, to use a system of measurement
that is somewhat consistent.
- [Steven] But also based on a kind of ideal
that comes from the Bible because this entire enterprise,
this entire cathedral is meant to represent Heaven on Earth.
- [Beth] To lead the human mind toward the divine
and, therefore, toward our salvation.
(lively piano music)