Document Type
Forum Theme 1
Abstract
In these remarks I will discuss Gothic architecture, geometry, and what I call the aesthetics of transcendence. I’ll focus mainly on the design of great buildings like Strasbourg Cathedral, whose spire is the tallest surviving work of the Middle Ages, a 466-foot symphony of intricately carved stone. I also want to talk about how I came to study and admire this material, starting out from a curiously backdoor approach involving the sciences. Ultimately, therefore, I will argue that Gothic architecture can be fruitfully compared to a variety of things, such as fractals, heavy metal guitar music, and dinosaurs. These are some of my very favorite things, and I think that they actually go together in some important ways.
Publication Date
2011-2012
Journal Title
UNIversitas
Volume
7
Issue
1
First Page
1
Last Page
21
Copyright
©2011-2012 Robert Bork
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Bork, Robert
(2012)
"Gothic Architecture, Geometry, and the Aesthetics of Transcendence,"
UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity: Vol. 7:
No.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/universitas/vol7/iss1/4
