Cathedral of Toledo - Model and Influence of The Cathedral in Religious Architecture

Model and Influence of The Cathedral in Religious Architecture

Bishop Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada and those who followed him used master builders who had worked in or had experience designing in the French Gothic style. The cathedrals of Paris or Le Mans were their points of reference. The constructive solutions of the French Gothic builders were well-accepted, such as counter-rests, buttresses and pointed arches; nevertheless, the Spanish builders resisted the importation of the layout of the French cathedrals, where the choir and the altar were located in impressive sanctuaries, opting for smaller ones and situating the choir in the central nave. This was the syncretic solution of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which came first; all of this developed in Spain as much by the influence of the Mozarabic rite, as also by the Visigothic tradition and the Castilian liturgy.

This historical evolution, combined with the status of the Primate Cathedral, encouraged the adoption of the Toledan model by the rest of the Spanish cathedrals, with the exception of that of Burgos and that of León which followed the French model with more fidelity. A similar arrangement of spaces can be seen in the cathedrals of Cádiz, of Seville, of Palma de Mallorca, among others. And, as was foreseeable, the Spanish Empire carried the model of the Dives Toletana beyond, influencing those constructed in the Americas and the Philippines.

Read more about this topic:  Cathedral Of Toledo

Famous quotes containing the words model, influence, cathedral, religious and/or architecture:

    Your home is regarded as a model home, your life as a model life. But all this splendor, and you along with it ... it’s just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse.
    Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)

    A healthy soul stands united with the Just and the True, as the magnet arranges itself with the pole, so that he stands to all beholders like a transparent object betwixt them and the sun, and whoso journeys towards the sun, journeys towards that person. He is thus the medium of the highest influence to all who are not on the same level.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    ... and met
    At numerous cathedral cities
    Unknown to the clergy.
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    We are now in the Me Decade—seeing the upward roll of ... the third great religious wave in American history.
    Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)

    In short, the building becomes a theatrical demonstration of its functional ideal. In this romanticism, High-Tech architecture is, of course, no different in spirit—if totally different in form—from all the romantic architecture of the past.
    Dan Cruickshank (b. 1949)