All right. So, the building you see on the screen
is a Palantine Chapel. It's a Aachen, Germany. This is our primary structure, we're going to
discuss for a Carolingian architecture. We do have a architect Odo of Metz, and we're looking
at a reconstruction drawing of this. Because it's wow this structure still stands and we'll look
at interior photos of the Palatine Chapel. The exterior has been redone over the years. I feel
like I've been saying that a lot of lectures video lectures for today. So, we're you know just
for the outside we're gonna look at these we can strip drawings all right first and foremost and
the nice old yellow text on the screen this is stone construction that is significant we have
not seen stone construction since the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. Charlemagne
brings it back and so, we have to recognize that the material here now the thing is Charlemagne
admired Roman architecture. He wanted to recreate Roman architecture, but he didn't have Roman
construction techniques didn't have that knowledge he didn't have concrete most importantly and
so Carolingian construction techniques you know they were different they weren't the same
as the Romans so they couldn't achieve what the Romans achieved but it is incredible that after
years of really not having large-scale stone construction. Charlemagne was able to bring it
back. I imagine there was some trial and error in that process. Now the Palatine Chapel. This was
Charlemagne's personal chapel it was attached to the rural audience Hall and so Charlemagne would
attend services in the pounding Chapel. As would members of his court so if you're staying at
the moral Palace if you're part the World Court, you could attend service here and so Aachen served
as Charlemagne's capital city and yeah so you know we built this palace there. We have the Palantine
chapel. Now what I want to do let's look at the floor plan of the pounding Chapel and so the
chapel structure that we are going to focus on is this building right at the center here. Okay
so that is our Palantine Chapel. Now, here is our floor plan, so it's a central plan space and it
will be topped by a domed vault. it's octagonal. So the the core here this part. Okay, that has
an octagon and then the outer structure has 16 sides. Remember that symbolism of the baptistry
in the early Christian period. Right, the eight symbolizes ideas of rebirth of resurrection that's
here. That's why this is octagonal in shape. Now another reason this is central planned is that
there is influence from the Byzantine Empire. So, that's coming we're gonna get to that the one
vocabulary term that I wanted to talk about west work so I put up on the screen here a west work is
the narthex chapels and towers set at the entrance and of churches of the Carolingian and later
periods this is the great Carolingian addition to Western architecture so the west work is like
this portion in front right here I'm circling it and so we'll see this I'll point it out in other
structures as well it's just that clustering of everything right in the front for Carolingians
this is an essential part of a church structure or in this case a chapel it doesn't stay essential
not everyone is always going to use this but in areas that were part of the Carolingian Empire
particularly in life areas that are modern in Germany today we see the West work stay as a
common element in church architecture. Okay so here's a diagram of the interior so verticality
is important here. We have our Center or it says Isle but that's not the isle that's the nave
it's referring to this space right here which we are referring to as the ambulatory though Isle
is accurate as well but ambulatory implies it's curving so it's the proper terminology and then
we have our gallery space above that and then our clerestory windows and so let me now show you
some interior shots of this all right so we have a really luxurious interior there's really nice
materials here there's a lot of marble being used we can see that there's arches being used in the
arches we can see the colored loose wires right you can see the curve of the arch there is the top
vaulted portions like a vaulted dome space above the clerestory windows that's a mosaics and then
to the columns if I can get a closer here. Okay, here's another detailed shot we're looking
at the gallery space right you can see those fantastic columns were getting closer we have
classical columns here um a couple of things in construction this does have spogli at those
pieces from former classical buildings Aachen was during ancient Roman times there was a big
room and bath near here it was like a Roman spa town and so there was Roman ruins here that
could be where material could be salvaged so that's one of the places that they got material
from the other place they got material from which sounds crazy. I s Ravenna so here's our map
here we have Aachen and then we have Ravenna Charlamagne was born in northern Italy he was
familiar with Ravenna and so metier he moved the capital the Frankish capital was down
in northern Italy he moves to capital to Aachen he establishes the Carolingian Empire
and he has some elements of buildings taken from Ravenna up to Aachen and also the design
of the Carolingian not sorry the design it's a Palantine chapel ok looking at our floor
pan right here was inspired by a couple of buildings Church of the Holy Sepulchre which
we have not talked about but Basilica of San Vitale we did talk about San Vitale that
was a major influence on the design of the Palatine Chapel and that was a space that
Charlemagne knew now the designs between the two pounding Chapel is more rigid there are more hard
angles there's a lot more curves and flow in San Vitale right that sort of petal pattern where the
curves come out if I go back to the floor plans for a second you get my little annotation say
right we have much flowing curves in San Vitale that sort of petal design and at the pounding
Chapel it's hard edges it's an octagon right there's no smoothness in the curve so that's
the big one of the big differences between the two designs and honestly you know part of that
is a change in construction knowledge and then part of that is just designed preference but
Tim Vitale here definitely a model from which the design of the pounding Chapel came from okay
came back to the interior of the Palantine Chapel I want to talk about the top here so at the top
of our central nave space above the clerestory windows we have what we call a cloister Walt
and so a cloistered vault is a domed with a dome with corinne surfaces rising from a square
or octagonal base so we have an octagonal base here now the green surfaces this isn't a perfectly
round dome right I said this this space has hard edges and so if you look okay looking up at
our cloister vault let me just highlight some of these groins here to give you a sense right we
have these lines that you can see that's where we have the bends here okay it's not perfectly curved
we have an octagonal base this is rising from so it has those lines those bends that's typical of
a cloister vault what's important about this is this this is the first time a dome structure has
been built north of the Alps since the fall of the Roman Empire since decline of the Roman Empire
in the West so it really shows like Charlemagne's intense desires to revive on classical ideals
in architecture so it's exciting a lot of what Sherman's doing in terms of architecture really
exciting because he's reviving a lot of skills that have been lost okay um another note here
about Charlemagne's Palantine Chapel is that if you were if you were a member of Charlemagne's
Court and you came here for service you would gather on the ground floor on the ambulatory level
everyone would gather down there but if you were Charlemagne you would sit on the gallery level on
the second story here you would sit here on your throne and so this was right across sort of like
the axis with the altar so he was looking right to the altar he could watch the service address
the audience if needed however it was a way for him to observe others without being observed
himself and you couldn't necessarily see when he was there and when he wasn't so interesting also
just like social hierarchy being reinforced like with placement he is physically above everyone
else reinforcing his role in society now the Palantine chapel was when it was finished
in 805 Pope Leo the third came and opened the chapel the same Pope that crown Charlemagne
Holy Roman Emperor and this structure I mean it really works with like associating Charlemagne
to Christianity his power to Christianity the same ideas we talked about with the Hagia Sophia
with San Vitale about this you know showing the reinforcing the rulers Authority and tying his
right to reign to Christianity that's happening here as well and so then to like just this
structure becomes a very important structure in the history of medieval Western Europe after
Charlemagne passes away he's in tared here and and this is used for a coronation ceremonies for
like the next 700 years right so that people are always going to be associating themselves with
Charlemagne so he really becomes a father figure within Western Europe. Okay. So, that is it for
a Palantine Chapel one more video for today on the abbey gate house and then you are done and
so just go below here click on that next video