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The Gothic Cathedral
The description for this book, The Gothic Cathedral: Origins of Gothic Architecture and the Medieval Concept of Order, will be forthcoming.
364 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 8, 2013
Von Simson's "The Gothic Cathedral" is a profound and deeply illuminating exploration of the cultural, religious, and aesthetic factors that shaped the development of those magnificent cathedrals of France beginning in the mid-twelfth century. In the light of his extensive preperatory analysis of medieval aesthetics and theology, he delves into two case studies, Abbott Suger's St.-Denis in the outskirts of present-day Paris, and the Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres. The former cathedral is the first full-fleged Gothic edifice; the latter is widely viewed as the masterpiece of the style.
Browsing through Thomas Aquinas, I stumbled upon a portion of his analysis of the Trinity in which he states that beauty requires three attributes: 1) integrity or wholeness; 2) harmony or proper proportion; and 3) intelligible radiance. These correspond exactly to the cardinal aesthetic virtues that von Simson identifies as guiding the Gothic imagination. The theory is rooted ultimately in the Neoplatonist philosophers - especially Plotinus and Proclus. It was transmitted to the great minds of the High Middle Ages through the line of Augustine, Boethius, and especially Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, whose influence on Gothic cathedrals can hardly be over-stated.
The basic idea is that the human sense of beauty corresponds to natural consonances, or integer relationships that are intrinsically harmonious. In music, it is observed that the simplest possible integer ratios in string length (1:2, 2:3, and 3:4) correspond to the perfect intervals and the octave. These ratios are believed to correspond to the deep structure of the cosmos.
Following the mystical cosmology of Pseudo-Dionysius, the theologians of the High Middle Ages suppose that through the contemplation of harmonious relationship, the mind can be led to the contemplation of pure ideas, and by the contemplation of pure ideas, the mind can find an analogous path upward to God. This capacity of abstract ideas to direct the mind heavenward is called the anagogical principle.
So we find in the Gothic Cathedral an ordered set of relations in the overall design, corresponding to the core religious and mathematical constructs. While the preceding Romanesque cathedral was a kind of canvas that contained and presented iconic paintings and statues, the Gothic cathedral is itself is the work of art, immediately and directly rending an image of the ideal forms that mediate between the mind and God.
Von Simson lays this all out in a most persuasive and exciting fashion. As a great fan of Pseudo-Dionysius myself, I was staggered to learn of the decisive role he had in guiding the explicit conceptual basis for the construction of these magnificent structures.
There is much more to the book, including a thorough history of the fascinating and singular figure of Abbott Suger. Von Simson traces his seminal influence on everything from politics to aesthetics to the composition of the Chansons des Gestes.
The final third of the book is given to an exhaustive study of Chartres, including an interesting consideration of the role of festivals in Medieval life and the cathedral movement, and a brief exploration of the cult of the Virgin Mary. For, if St.-Denis is the temple of Pseudo-Dionysius, Notre Dame de Chartres is without question a temple of the Great Goddess in Christian guise. She is overwhelmingly the controlling archetype of that magnificent creation.
It's an electrifying book, copiously illustrated with dozens of pictures - though take care to note that plate references are inexplicably given in the margin. I had to go back and re-read an entire chapter after noticing them.
If you're interested in the larger cultural and historical context of the Gothic cathedral, it would be difficult to imagine a better book. My only criticism is that it would have been appropriate for the frequent Latin quotations to be translated into English, as this book was written for a general audience as well as medievalists.
Browsing through Thomas Aquinas, I stumbled upon a portion of his analysis of the Trinity in which he states that beauty requires three attributes: 1) integrity or wholeness; 2) harmony or proper proportion; and 3) intelligible radiance. These correspond exactly to the cardinal aesthetic virtues that von Simson identifies as guiding the Gothic imagination. The theory is rooted ultimately in the Neoplatonist philosophers - especially Plotinus and Proclus. It was transmitted to the great minds of the High Middle Ages through the line of Augustine, Boethius, and especially Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, whose influence on Gothic cathedrals can hardly be over-stated.
The basic idea is that the human sense of beauty corresponds to natural consonances, or integer relationships that are intrinsically harmonious. In music, it is observed that the simplest possible integer ratios in string length (1:2, 2:3, and 3:4) correspond to the perfect intervals and the octave. These ratios are believed to correspond to the deep structure of the cosmos.
Following the mystical cosmology of Pseudo-Dionysius, the theologians of the High Middle Ages suppose that through the contemplation of harmonious relationship, the mind can be led to the contemplation of pure ideas, and by the contemplation of pure ideas, the mind can find an analogous path upward to God. This capacity of abstract ideas to direct the mind heavenward is called the anagogical principle.
So we find in the Gothic Cathedral an ordered set of relations in the overall design, corresponding to the core religious and mathematical constructs. While the preceding Romanesque cathedral was a kind of canvas that contained and presented iconic paintings and statues, the Gothic cathedral is itself is the work of art, immediately and directly rending an image of the ideal forms that mediate between the mind and God.
Von Simson lays this all out in a most persuasive and exciting fashion. As a great fan of Pseudo-Dionysius myself, I was staggered to learn of the decisive role he had in guiding the explicit conceptual basis for the construction of these magnificent structures.
There is much more to the book, including a thorough history of the fascinating and singular figure of Abbott Suger. Von Simson traces his seminal influence on everything from politics to aesthetics to the composition of the Chansons des Gestes.
The final third of the book is given to an exhaustive study of Chartres, including an interesting consideration of the role of festivals in Medieval life and the cathedral movement, and a brief exploration of the cult of the Virgin Mary. For, if St.-Denis is the temple of Pseudo-Dionysius, Notre Dame de Chartres is without question a temple of the Great Goddess in Christian guise. She is overwhelmingly the controlling archetype of that magnificent creation.
It's an electrifying book, copiously illustrated with dozens of pictures - though take care to note that plate references are inexplicably given in the margin. I had to go back and re-read an entire chapter after noticing them.
If you're interested in the larger cultural and historical context of the Gothic cathedral, it would be difficult to imagine a better book. My only criticism is that it would have been appropriate for the frequent Latin quotations to be translated into English, as this book was written for a general audience as well as medievalists.
December 27, 2023
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this book after I picked it up at an estate sale some time ago. I expected a technical analysis of Gothic infrastructure, intelligible only to architects and art historians. But the book is an excellent history of medieval thought, philosophy, aesethetics, politics, and anthropology.
Otto von Simson contends throughout the book that we must understand the Gothic cathedral as the result of a society that understood beauty as inseparable from the truth that "transcended human existence" and strove to represent that truth, the nature of God's perfection, in the cathedral, which was "the threshold to heaven." The cathedral is difficult to understand for the modern mind which "has severed the symbol, the image, from all metaphysical moorings."
In particular, von Simson focuses on three aspects of the history of these cathedrals. First, he argues that their architects focused intently on geometry and light as the representation of "the vision of heaven." This focus was derived from the School of Chartres, a neo-Platonist school which fused Augustinian thought with the Timaeus; St. Bernard of Clairvaux was also influential in his attempts to reform the aesthetics of Romanist architecture. As such, Gothic architecture was "no longer content with the mere image of truth but [insisted] on the realization of its laws." His account of light is particularly notable; "with its sublime thelology of light, [the Gothic cathedral] must have conveyed to those who listened a vision of the eucharistic sacrament as divine light transfiguring the darkness of matter."
von Simson's second focus is on the Gothic cathedral as the means to a great statesman's political end, even ask the expression of it. Abbot Suger of St. Denis created the Gothic style in the Abby of St. Denis, the first Gothic building, claims von Simson, as part of his great goal of uniting French power under the Capaetian monarchy and, simultaneously, uniting French political and religious power. By co-opting the Carolingian prestige, particularly Charlemagne's legacy, and linking it to St. Denis, Suger was able to grow his abby into the center of French religious and political influence. This did not mean that Suger was involved in some Machiavellian project. On the contrary, he believed that such an enterprise "requires an inner disposition, a state of grace, on the part of the builder." Building the cathedral is a sort of act of worship, of edification; it is the "illumination" of the architect's soul "by the vision of the divine harmony that is then reflected in the material work of art." As such, Suger is "an architect who built theology."
von Simson's last section deals with the Cathedral of Chartres, and is his least compelling. This is, in part, due to the fact that much of his discussion is more technical than the intellectual and political history which he had engaged in previously. But he still manages to maintain a compelling case as to why "Chartres Cathedral is the supreme vindication of this philosophy of beauty."
This work is particularly compelling given the various discussions of modern architecture which have become so prevalent in online circles today. In the first place, it is a rebuke of those who see traditional architecture as desirable only because of their aesthetics. Suger rejected "that very sense of detachment which is characteristic of purely aesthetic observation." In the second place, it passively accuses, by way of comparision, the aesthetic depravation of modern elites; both Abbot Suger and Cardinal Melior of Pisa, who inspired Chartres to rebuild the Cathedral after the fire of June 1194, were instrumental as statesman, theologians, and architects. It was under their careful watch and control that these buildings were built. In the last place, it is an explanation of why such buildings are no longer created.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand both the societal conditions which made the creation of the Gothic style possible and the individuals who actually built the style.
Otto von Simson contends throughout the book that we must understand the Gothic cathedral as the result of a society that understood beauty as inseparable from the truth that "transcended human existence" and strove to represent that truth, the nature of God's perfection, in the cathedral, which was "the threshold to heaven." The cathedral is difficult to understand for the modern mind which "has severed the symbol, the image, from all metaphysical moorings."
In particular, von Simson focuses on three aspects of the history of these cathedrals. First, he argues that their architects focused intently on geometry and light as the representation of "the vision of heaven." This focus was derived from the School of Chartres, a neo-Platonist school which fused Augustinian thought with the Timaeus; St. Bernard of Clairvaux was also influential in his attempts to reform the aesthetics of Romanist architecture. As such, Gothic architecture was "no longer content with the mere image of truth but [insisted] on the realization of its laws." His account of light is particularly notable; "with its sublime thelology of light, [the Gothic cathedral] must have conveyed to those who listened a vision of the eucharistic sacrament as divine light transfiguring the darkness of matter."
von Simson's second focus is on the Gothic cathedral as the means to a great statesman's political end, even ask the expression of it. Abbot Suger of St. Denis created the Gothic style in the Abby of St. Denis, the first Gothic building, claims von Simson, as part of his great goal of uniting French power under the Capaetian monarchy and, simultaneously, uniting French political and religious power. By co-opting the Carolingian prestige, particularly Charlemagne's legacy, and linking it to St. Denis, Suger was able to grow his abby into the center of French religious and political influence. This did not mean that Suger was involved in some Machiavellian project. On the contrary, he believed that such an enterprise "requires an inner disposition, a state of grace, on the part of the builder." Building the cathedral is a sort of act of worship, of edification; it is the "illumination" of the architect's soul "by the vision of the divine harmony that is then reflected in the material work of art." As such, Suger is "an architect who built theology."
von Simson's last section deals with the Cathedral of Chartres, and is his least compelling. This is, in part, due to the fact that much of his discussion is more technical than the intellectual and political history which he had engaged in previously. But he still manages to maintain a compelling case as to why "Chartres Cathedral is the supreme vindication of this philosophy of beauty."
This work is particularly compelling given the various discussions of modern architecture which have become so prevalent in online circles today. In the first place, it is a rebuke of those who see traditional architecture as desirable only because of their aesthetics. Suger rejected "that very sense of detachment which is characteristic of purely aesthetic observation." In the second place, it passively accuses, by way of comparision, the aesthetic depravation of modern elites; both Abbot Suger and Cardinal Melior of Pisa, who inspired Chartres to rebuild the Cathedral after the fire of June 1194, were instrumental as statesman, theologians, and architects. It was under their careful watch and control that these buildings were built. In the last place, it is an explanation of why such buildings are no longer created.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand both the societal conditions which made the creation of the Gothic style possible and the individuals who actually built the style.
March 13, 2022
kewl little book about gothic architecture, what it meant to medievals and how it emerged in relation to various currents of thought in medieval france. also has some close analysis of chartres cathedral, although i must admit i didn't pay enough attention to the uncle toby parts of tristram shandy to be very familiar with some of the architectural terms.
October 30, 2007
Only read this if you are really, REALLY into Gothic architecture. Otherwise, I'm sure there are more accessable books about famous Gothic cathedrals.
April 5, 2019
With extensive illustrative reference to the structural and design details of Chartres and St.-Denis, Von Simson identifies the pythagorean-neoplatonic notions of mathematical harmony and the pseudo-Dionysian metaphysics of light which the high-Medieval cathedral builders sought to manifest in architectural creations that would mirror a divinely-ordered cosmos. Indeed, the aesthetic appeal of these works, the author argues, is neither the result of a purely artistic vision to which engineers' ingenuity was subordinated, nor of a simply decorative superstructure, but rather a function of the very tectonic principles that made the architects' gravity-defying aspirations possible. At the same time, these edifices were also expressions of royal favor and guarantors of legitimacy, deeply enmeshed in networks of patronage and revenue generation, and subject to politics both local and transnational.
March 7, 2023
A phenomenal essay/history of the origins of the Gothic Cathedral. My only complaint is with the quality of the printing, and the muddiness of the images. I guess in relation to that, the publisher could have also included additional diagrams or images that correspond to the original images of the text, without diluting the author's reference images. It's been over a decade since I learned many of these architectural terms in school, and I would have appreciated comprehensive diagrams and/or a glossary to brush up on them. I didn't always have Google at the ready while reading, and it's sometimes difficult to find good diagrams quickly.
I loved reading about the mindset and working methods of the great masters, and was reminded of why I fell in love with architecture in the first place. If only we built things as consequential as this nowadays...
I loved reading about the mindset and working methods of the great masters, and was reminded of why I fell in love with architecture in the first place. If only we built things as consequential as this nowadays...
October 6, 2025
Fin dalle prime pagine questo libro sgretola il preconcetto del Medioevo come “epoca buia” popolata da ignoranti. La perizia dietro le magnifiche costruzioni giunte fino a noi merita di essere (ri)conosciuta, così come le vicende storiche e l’affascinante spiritualità del tempo. Complessi teoremi geometrici e riflessioni di mistici si intrecciano in un affresco di parole (e di chiese) che conquista.
Un volume imperdibile per chi ama il Medioevo, l’arte, l’architettura o anche solo per chi è curioso di scoprire quanto fosse vivace quell’epoca.
Alcuni capitoli sono un po' lenti, ma ne vale la pena
Un volume imperdibile per chi ama il Medioevo, l’arte, l’architettura o anche solo per chi è curioso di scoprire quanto fosse vivace quell’epoca.
Alcuni capitoli sono un po' lenti, ma ne vale la pena
September 24, 2025
You gotta really want to learn about Gothic Cathedrals for this one.
It's absolutely an invaluable read if you want a deep, mariana trench/kola borehole deep dive into the cosmological, theological, mathematical, and architectural exploration of Gothic. It can get very boring: the philosophy of Suger that led to St. Denis is probably very important but god is it a chore to read through.
Still, I walk away from the book feeling a far better understanding of the architecture that none of the other books I'm studying would consider exploring, so that's a win.
It's absolutely an invaluable read if you want a deep, mariana trench/kola borehole deep dive into the cosmological, theological, mathematical, and architectural exploration of Gothic. It can get very boring: the philosophy of Suger that led to St. Denis is probably very important but god is it a chore to read through.
Still, I walk away from the book feeling a far better understanding of the architecture that none of the other books I'm studying would consider exploring, so that's a win.
August 8, 2022
Brilliant book on the Gothic cathedral that explores not just the architecture but the impetus behind the design. A knowledge of this style would be helpful before reading this. I wouldn't recommend it as the place to start, but definitely the place to dig deeper into the Medieval mind.
October 18, 2022
A fantastic intro to gothic architecture. Mind = blown.
June 17, 2016
As the subtitle makes clear, the focus of this book is the origin of the revolutionary concepts embodied in the Gothic Cathedral. While it goes into plenty of detail about the architectural details, what fascinated me was the historical and cultural context, and especially the examination of the medieval mindset in general and in particular the philosophical developments of the 12th century – the metaphysics of "measure and number and weight" being applied to the arena of architecture.
February 7, 2016
Outstanding. Argues that the Gothic cathedral is the result of Platonic metaphysics and cosmology, a building in which light and proportion override all other architectural considerations, making a structure that participates in the medieval ideal of heaven, where clarity and order are all.
Read
August 10, 2011I need to find resources`
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2021
San Bernardo era muy aburrido con eso des ascetismo estético 🥱
Saint-Denis supremacy
Si no apruebo el parcial de medieval me muero
Saint-Denis supremacy
Si no apruebo el parcial de medieval me muero
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews