Windows in Church Architecture
From the beginning Christian churches, in contrast to the ancient
temples, were intended to be places for the assembling of the
faithful. The temperament of the people of the East and of the
South where Christian houses of worship first appeared, required
the admission of much light by large openings in the walls, that
is, by windows. As a matter of fact the early Christian basilicas
were richly provided with large windows, placed partly in the
central nave, that was raised for this purpose, partly in the side
aisles and facade. In Western Europe, or rather in the countries
under Roman influence, the places where the windows existed on the
side aisles can no longer be identified with absolute certainty,
owing to the chapels and additions that were later frequently
built. In the East, however, where it was customary to select
isolated sites for church buildings large windows were the rule.
The place of the window was determined by the architectural
membering of the basilica, the distance between two columns
generally indicating the position of a window. However, there were
endless exceptions to this rule in the East; thus at Bakusa in
Syria the windows are close together as well as over the columns;
at Kalat-Seman each intercolumnar space contained two windows. In
general two or three windows united in a group, as was later the
rule in Roman architecture, were even then of frequent occurrence
in the early Christian architecture of Asia Minor. The form of the
window is nearly everywhere the same; a rectangle that usually has
a rounded top, but seldom a straight lintel. When the latter is
used it is generally balanced by a semicircular arch of wedge-
shaped stones. Ornamentation of the windows was hardly possible in
the basilicas of Western Europe, which were generally built of
brick, while the Syrian stone churches, and as an exceptional case
those of the school of Spoleto, displayed rich contours and
ribbon-like ornamentation. Of that troublous period which extended
to the time of Charlemagne and later until the beginning of
Romanesque art, few monuments remain that give a clear conception
of the window architecture then in vogue. According to Haupt's
researches, the windows of the earliest Germanic churches had a
round arch above, which was generally a hollowed stone. Towards
the bottom these windows, strange to say, were frequently somewhat
broader than above. It was not unusual in Spain, England, and
France to finish the window-casement with a horseshoe arch, the
upper part being formed by two stone shafts set obliquely, that
is, like ribs of an arch. An example of this method is found at
Deerhurst in England. The windows of this period are frequently
very different on the inner and outer sides, the richer
ornamentation being found on the inner side, as at Saint-Germain-
des-Pre in France where there are engaged columns and ornamented
archivolts.
Up to the twelfth century the windows of the Romanesque churches
had small openings for light, a sloping intrados, and an inclined
sill. Originally without decoration, they later received a
framework, that is, they were surrounded by a border of slender
shafts as by a frame. In the further development these round
shafts received small bases and capitals, the intrados was divided
into rectangular intervals in which small columns were set. Gothic
art adopted this framework, merely changing the round arch into a
pointed one, and later replacing the rectangular intervals of the
intrados by flutings. As the style grew the small capitals of the
round shafts were abandoned and later the shafts themselves, by
which the style returned to the simple framework. The late Gothic
ceased to use even the framework and employed the sloping intrados
alone, without further ornament. Naturally there were innumerable
exceptions to the development sketched here only in its general
features. In Romanesque art the sills had originally only a slight
inclination. This gradually became greater until it became more
than a right angle. characteristic of the Romanesque style is the
grouping together of two to four windows, the so- called clustered
window. Above the window the flat surface of the arch remained
without ornamentation or was pierced by small round windows.
Romanesque art used, in addition to windows enclosed by the round
arch, others surrounded by the trefoil or fan-arch, and even
openings for light entirely Baroque in design with arbitrarily
curved arches. In the Gothic period the windows were longer and
broader, in a number of cathedrals they almost replace the walls.
Although the clustered window with three openings did not entirely
disappear, yet it was more customary to use two narrow windows
combined by a common shaft and a common pointed arch above them.
The shafts grew constantly more slender and a circular arch was
introduced under the pointed arch. This led in the course of time
to the appearance of tracery which was so largely used in window
ornamentation in the Gothic period that it became almost the most
important consideration in the construction of windows. Tracery is
formed by setting together separate parts of a circle called
foils; their points of contact are named cusps. By means of
tracery the pointed arches of the windows were constantly filled
with new forms and devices, simple in the early Gothic, artificial
and confused the more the style developed, until finally in the
late Gothic or Flamboyant style the wavy tracery was used which no
longer consisted of circles and segments of circles but assumed
forms comparable to flames, a style particularly in vogue in
England and France. Towards the end of the Gothic period greater
sobriety of form came into use and tracery began to decline. The
elaboration undergone by the tracery was also shared by the shafts
of the windows and intrados. Undivided at first they gradually
received richer contours and were separated into main and
subordinate pillars. The earliest tracery of which the date is
known is that still existing in the choir chapels of the cathedral
at Reims (1211).
The Renaissance returned to the round-arched clustered windows of
the Romanesque style, particularly in brick buildings. Still light
openings with slender connexions between them and enclosed in
rectangular frames are to found in houses built of stone,
particularly in the late Renaissance. They generally received as
ornament, in imitation of antiquity, a frame of broad profile,
which at the height of the Renaissance was generally surrounded by
two supports, pilasters, or columns, and the entablature rested
upon these. Framing of this kind has many forms, but the following
are the most noticeable styles:
�The opening for light is enclosed by a frame running parallel to
it which has the profile of an architrave and generally has a
horizontal cornice as a finish at the top (simple framework);
�instead of the simple framework supports, pillars, pilasters, or
columns, are arranged on the perpendicular sides, which carry
above them a straight entablature, a gable-cornice, or an
archivolt (truss-frame);
�the most frequent and most artistic form is the combination of
the simple frame and the truss-frame, from which spring the most
varied combinations, as sometimes the simple frame encloses a
truss-frame, or the reverse, or sometimes two truss-frames are
combined with each other (combined frame);
�abandoning frames and supports the openings for light are
surrounded only by quarry-faced ashlar. In costly buildings the
windows had an ornamental finish below, either a breast-moulding
resting on consoles, or a panel surrounded by a frame or carried
by supports.
The Baroque style added to the round-arched and rectangular light-
openings those in the shape of a basket handle-arch and even of an
oval shape, and sought to enrich them by drawing in the corners
and by curving the sides in and out. This led to the appearance of
a great variety of lines the number and lack of repose of which is
characteristic of the Baroque. The framing which the Renaissance
had given the windows remained customary during the Baroque
period, but in agreement with the entire development of the style
they were augmented, were more artificial, and had less repose.
The most frequently used was the flat or profiled framing, in
which the cornice no longer ran parallel to the light- opening,
but assumed an independent arbitrary form; at times the frame was
interrupted by quarry-faced ashlar. The support-framing was seldom
used, the combined framing was changed so that the frames were no
longer laid one by the other, but one over the other, only a small
part of the under one being visible on the two sides. The part of
the frame above the window received a rich development; it was
generally either a horizontal cornice or a gable cornice; where
the windows were arched it also followed the curved line, with the
result of an unlimited variety of artistic forms. Classicism first
abandoned the combination of the two framings, it next gave up the
truss-frame, so that finally nothing remained of the former
variety but the simple unadorned frame with or without a top
piece. As regards the Louis XVI and Empire styles the simplifying
of the frame was retained and ornamentation was limited almost
exclusively to the top-piece, which was supported by consoles and
adorned with garlands of fruit and other ornaments in imitation of
the antique.
BEDA KLEINSCHMIDT
Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
http://www.knight.org/advent
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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