The Crusades and the Near East
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most significant alteration concerned the rotunda of the tomb: through the addition of a large apse which encroached upon the inner courtyard it had now become a round church with an altar in an apse and was certainly comparable in its dimensions with middle Byzantine church structures of the eleventh century.5
This new structure is the one that greeted the crusaders upon their conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 and they utilised it initially for about fifteen years without considering any changes, since a sense of the church’s continuity in the Holy Land only gradually emerged in the crusaders’ kingdom.6 Only then, after barely one generation, did the wish to create their own new structures materialise. In the case of the church of the Holy Sepulchre this happened after the year 1114, when this wish led to a radical alteration of the sanctuary, completed by the year 1160 (the exact date of the consecration has not been recorded). There were several reasons for these changes, a notable one being the selection of the Augustinian canons to attend to the altars and the Latin services. This necessitated the creation of secluded buildings – cloisters, dormitories and a refectory, but the Augustinian canons also no longer considered the Byzantine choir – the apse by the rotunda
– sufficient for their needs. At a time when in Western Europe increasingly elaborate choir treatments were coming into being in accordance with Gregorian reforms (as can be see in the Romanesque churches of Cologne, for example), it was deemed necessary for the most distinguished church of Christianity to find a Figure 9.1 Plan of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, alterations of the twelfth century 217
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timely solution as well. In accordance with that goal, the Byzantine apse was torn down and in its place in the former inner court a choir aisle surrounded by radiating chapels was established at the rotunda. Choirs just like this were the recently constructed trademarks of the big pilgrimage churches on the way to Santiago de Compostela.
The design of such a pilgrimage church – transept, high choir and radiating chapels – can be clearly detected from the outline of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, yet in a strangely mangled form. This raises the question of whether perhaps a grander plan existed, according to which criteria the new structure had been erected but whose implementation had been only partially executed. An analysis of the building that emerges from numerous details, however, points clearly to a different explanation. This analysis indicates that even though the new choir building eliminated the former Byzantine construction practically in its entirety, at the same time it spared the old building – the original Constantinian structure – as much as possible. The rock of Golgotha was now modified as a two-storey chapel. The old inner courtyard remained clearly traceable with several of its typical components, such as coupled columns. It is evident that the architects and builders treated the original building materials with increasing reverence the closer they found themselves to sacred locations. The sanctuaries themselves – the Mount of Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre – remain completely preserved in their original states, and other parts have been added in a delicate manner. The
‘fragmental’ plan for a pilgrimage church turns out to be thus an intentionally executed partial structure which aims to preserve the original building in as complete a way as possible within the new structure.
The desire of crusading builders to preserve the early church can be clearly deduced from additional details.7 The Mount of Golgotha, for example, has contained two altar locations for a long while: the upper altar on the rocky ridge at a location where, according to tradition, a hole in the rock marks the position of the cross trunk; and a lower altar at the flank of the rock where the tomb of Adam was revered. This chapel of Adam contains several different building styles.
The Roman apse of the clergy is surrounded by the Byzantine apse, in front of which the stone blocks of the crusaders’ vault were added. This means that the earlier Byzantine builders were also intent on preserving the Roman apse and that the church from the crusaders’ time contained the former building structures in the manner of a reliquary. From such observable details it can be concluded that beyond those completed parts no further building components of a pilgrimage church ‘ à la compostelana’ had been planned. In particular, the rotunda was not to be replaced by a main aisle. The rotunda with the tomb in the middle instead created a second focus within the layout.
This leads to the question of the actual concept of the building additions to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the Spanish version the crypt is located under the high choir; it was and still is the place of the revered relics, and the high choir above it houses the clergy. This version dates back to a corresponding choir alteration of St Peter in Rome under Pope Gregory the Great around the year 600.
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In Jerusalem, however, a different approach was chosen. The Holy Sepulchre and high choir are located on an axis behind each other, not on top of each other.
Undoubtedly this is connected to the particular significance of the tomb, which did not permit its disappearance into a crypt. The gravesite and the Mount of Calvary are authentic places of veneration; in place of the (obviously non-existent) relics, the location itself becomes the object of worship, which therefore cannot be given up by any means and which remain the same until today. The location of the Holy Sepulchre always stays the same, regardless of any epoch, be it the fourth, the eleventh or the twelfth century, and this despite numerous reconstructions of the tomb even in periods that would have provided opportunities for change.8
The elaborations above create the impression that the religious architecture of the twelfth century was almost completely influenced by occidental ideas and that western models of architecture had been imported to the Holy Land. This impression is based primarily on the fragmentary state of building structures in the Holy Land. Yet there must have been a multitude of local builders and artisans who were enlisted to major projects of the crusaders. In particular, the Armenians represented a relatively strong group whose structures can still be viewed today in Jerusalem and whose influence we also detect in Helena’s chapel of the church of the Holy Sepulchre. A line of Armenian stonemason inscriptions can be observed at the central cupola of this chapel. Armenian architecture in Jerusalem distinguishes itself especially through the building of centred cupolas and creative tower decorations, elements that are rarely found in the contemporary Romanesque building style of churches.9
Having established that the evidence of the crusader constructions at the church of the Holy Sepulchre points to the conclusion that they brought their architectural ideas from the west, this chapter will now focus on two detailed questions, since an issue is often easier to perceive in regard to specific case studies. The first phenomenon to be discussed here concerns the use of spolia; the second with the search for distinct personalities in the artistry displayed in the craftsmanship of the masonry.
The quest for possible ideological reasons behind the reuse of building materials
– often termed spolia – has been a focus of increasing study over the last few decades.10 Great caution has to be used in such inquiry and argumentation, however, since nothing is more obvious than that builders would reuse existing material near a construction site. It is often easier to spoliate a no-longer-utilised building structure than to import new building material from far away. The many structures of the Roman period at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean provided a natural reservoir for medieval construction activities, and, at the same time, the lack of material in this region encouraged the reuse of materials from antiquity. The reuse of capitals was especially favoured, since they were generally very elaborately finished and diminished the workload significantly when put to new use. Yet there was not always such a readiness to incorporate older capitals into new buildings during every epoch. In Romanesque times this inclination was relatively strong
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since the style of Roman and Romanesque architecture display a certain affinity.
The capitals of the hall of the Holy Communion in Jerusalem can serve as an example for this – that is, those dating to the Romanesque building epoch.11
Since the reuse of spolia from antiquity can be observed relatively frequently and is often discussed, another issue is more interesting: the conscious contempt for the ancient body of the capital. In the area of the church of the Holy Sepulchre a capital has been preserved from antiquity (it is believed that there were several of that kind), which was slated for the belfry.12 At that time (c.1160/70), however, the early Gothic style was desired; obviously, a new perception of style had evolved. The existing capitals were now utilised in such a way that their ancient surface was no longer visible and orientated so that the side facing the spectator contained early Gothic bud ornamentation.
In many places interpreting the architectural findings in the church of the Holy Sepulchre demands great effort. While the singular building components – among them the rotunda, the Golgotha rock and the high choir with the radiating chapels
– are already so intertwined with each other that the many different building phases and restorations are barely distinguishable, the situation is further complicated by today’s façade.13 This is located on a spot where one would expect the southern surrounding wall of the Constantine layout, yet it appears with an early Gothic twin portal. The architectural décor, however, is once more steeped Figure 9.2
Roman capital, remodelled
in early Gothic style, on the
terrace of the church
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Figure 9.3 Capitals of the façade of the church
in such an intensively ancient style that the question as to when the particular parts of the décor were created has for a long time been answered in a contradictory manner. The ‘windswept capitals’, the plastic frieze and other parts bring to mind structures like the Simeon monastery – qualat Siman – near Antioch (now in northern Syria, reachable from Aleppo). Only a few details, such as that the capitals were created for staggered portal walls, disclose the fact that the façade with its embellishment has to be a product of the twelfth century. Thus the façade of the church of the Holy Sepulchre belongs to the genre of buildings of the so-called proto-Renaissance, similar to structures in Florence or Provence. But whereas in the European regions stylistic inspiration is drawn from classical antiquity, the décor of the church of the Holy Sepulchre refers to late antiquity, in particular to early Christian buildings of the Near East. Thus it arises from a specific sense of the Christian architecture of the region. This façade therefore indicates an end to a tradition of communal architecture centred in Western Europe in favour of more local influences.
Turning to the question of distinct artists obliges us to make this conclusion rather more nuanced. It is increasingly recognised that there were local traditions and artists within the Holy Land. It is, however, very difficult to capture them due to the rarity of the preserved sources. One artist that we do know of, for example, was the creator of the mosaic of the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, who designated himself with an inscription as ‘monk, painter and mosaic artist Ephraim’ and who was also responsible for the mosaics of that main aisle.14
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Figure 9.4 Capital in the north aisle of the church, perhaps done by the
‘Plaimpied-Master’
Yet, along with the development of local traditions, there seem to have been migrations of artists from Europe to Palestine. The most spectacular case concerns the sculptor who created the famous capitals of Nazareth.15 Although we cannot give him a name, we can trace him through his distinct style. It begins near Bourges, in the church of Saint-Martin in Plaimpied. This church possesses a capital on its long aisle supports as well as an undated grave marker in the southern side aisle, both of which have been carried out in a similar manner. Certain similar features can be detected in churches in the Rhone Valley and in Upper Italy. After them, similarly formed capitals occur again only in the Holy Land. Two little-appreciated capitals of the church of the Holy Sepulchre are among them.
Ascribing diverse anonymous building sculptures to a single creator is common in the field of art history, but it should be done only with the greatest care. The nucleus of the sculptures’ formation that is displayed in these three locations (Plampied, Jerusalem and Nazareth), however, is so closely related and, at the same time, so original that it seems very far fetched to assign the work to different artists. At any rate, it is possible to conjure a connection of workshops, which in our case would also be sufficient for the above argumentation.
An additional question connected to these capitals is the chronological sequence of their parts. As in all cases, the capitals are not dated, so the date of their creation can be determined and estimated only on the basis of circumstantial evidence. It can be stated with great certainty, though, that the capitals in Nazareth were made around 1187. In Jerusalem, it can be deduced from the 222
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building components of the church of the Holy Sepulchre that its capitals are earlier – around 1160. Consequently, it can be concluded that the sculptor of Plampied came to the Holy Land and migrated northwards, from Jerusalem. This matches the building history of the French churches well. The possibility that the sculptor worked first in Jerusalem and Nazareth and only later (around 1190) in Plampied is not feasible.16
How far were there any influences upon European architecture from the establishment of crusader kingdoms and lordships in the Near East? The answer must be considered in two respects: namely, with regard to how far certain architectural styles travelled and to what extent architectural motives were transferred
– that is, the question of form and content.
Not too long ago, it was stated that Gothic architecture (which primarily denotes the method of working with pointed arches) was invented in the Holy Land and exported to Europe.17 Primary evidence for this hypothesis was the compound of the Knights of St John in Akko, where the so-called hall of the refectory exhibits such arches. This hall, which is very impressive, has been connected to the appearance of the first foundation of the Knights of St John in Akko and thereby provided an early dating and the corollary that such a style must have migrated from Akko to Europe. The excavations in Akko, however, have progressed considerably in the meantime and now provide a much better picture of the medieval town than was available a few years ago. As a result, some correction is needed to the dating of building components. Thus it is generally acknowledged today that the compound of the Knights of St John does not belong to the building Figure 9.5 So-called Refectory of the Knights of St John in Acco 223
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Figure 9.6 Figured sculpture from the portal of the lost church of S. Maria in the Muristan; now in the Museum of the Greek Patriarchate
phases of the twelfth but the thirteenth century.18 In making this correction, art historians are also obliged to recognise that the example no longer serves as evidence for the migration of the Gothic style from the Near East. In any case, current debates on the architectural history of the early development of the Gothic building style no longer argue in such a mono-causal manner: the style has many roots and they are widely scattered in the European cultural area.
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The second possibility concerns the deliberate export of Near Eastern architecture. Here, especially, a large group of recreations of sacred localities needs to be mentioned. Such emulations of the holy places may have taken place in all times, yet they clearly blossomed during the Middle Ages. In investigating such recreations, the focus, by tradition, has primarily been on copies of Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre
– such as the Holy Sepulchre of Eichstaett – but the topic has scarecly been investigated fully. Many monuments have not been recognised and perceived as being inspired by the original church of the Holy Sepulchre. And even the mainstays of this genus, like the Holy Sepulchre in Eichstaett, have not been researched thoroughly.19 Thus this field of architectural research is still in its infancy.
Most of the copies were embedded within liturgical and private forms of devotion. Another assembly of monuments has been preserved in the area of Worms, the so-called ‘Saracene turrets’. A few churches, starting with that of St Paul in Worms, added turrets – mostly located on the façade – which were, according to tradition, connected to the return of people who had been on crusade. The turrets display exceptionally creative embellishments on their tops, which cannot have been developed within the regional Romanesque architecture; and an eastern motif seems to be apparent. Scarce sources meant that their dating always used to be controversial. Nobody could be sure whether the warriors who commissioned these structures had just returned from the Second or the Third Crusade. However, the latest dendrochronological probes into the few wooden beams that were found within the turrets suggest a dating of the whole group to shortly after 1100. Of course, this finding generated considerable surprise: if these turrets were indeed donated by returning crusaders – possibly in thanks for a safe homecoming – a considerable section of the knighthood of Worms must have participated in the First Crusade, something which had never previously been suggested. But are the findings accurate? The stylistic markers hardly point to such an early date of construction. And, unfortunately, art-historical methods of analysis were under-utilised in the above investigation, so the end results are open to question. Further investigation is therefore eagerly anticipated in order to solve the mystery of the saracene turrets.20
Artistic exchange between east and west has always been multifaceted. There have been no one-way streets, as was previously supposed. Instead, there have been reciprocal relationships, developments which were initiated within a geographical region and continued from there, in addition to quite purposeful