Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Endre Abkarovits: Teaching the Englishness of English Gothic cathedral architecture

cathedrals the English took advantage of this problem and by applying stunning inverted arches, they supported the central tower. The inverted arches, although originally not part of the plan, became from then on one of the highlights of the church. The most famous example is Wells (1338), but Salisbury also has similar constructions. Spires, and usually stone ones, were an essential component of the Englishness of these cathedrals. Most commonly the two Western towers and the central tower all had spires, but today only Lichfield preserves the three stone spires. Lichfield can give us an impression what the typical English cathedral may have looked like, although if we try to add spires to the towers of Lincoln in a photo, the upward pull of the cathedral is even more striking. From the point of view of towers it is also decisive that many English cathedrals were not built surrounded by narrow streets, but in the middle of the spacious 'cathedral close'. So, it was not just the Western facade, which people could look at from a distance, but the whole volume of the cathedral, often from all sides. Under such conditions the central tower had a far more important aesthetic and symbolic role, and this may be part of the explanation why the English insisted on it. (Cs. Tompos et al: 551) (Another feature of the English 'cathedral close' was that it was often surrounded by a stone wall, and with the cathedral and the buildings of the bishop and the cannons it was almost like another settlement within the town.) The application of substantial transepts and the insistence on the huge central tower are also in close connection, the former providing important support to the latter. The central tower of Beauvais collapsed, because the French built it before the construction of the nave, so it had no sufficient support from one side. Transepts were more projecting in England (also for the above mentioned structural reasons, which is also shown by the fact that where there are two pairs, the one supporting the central tower is more projecting than the other pair). The construction of two pairs of transepts does not come from the cathedrals of the Ile-de-France, but from Cluny, which was rebuilt in the 11th century. (Cluny III) In spite of the great length of English cathedrals, this feature is not disturbing when inside, because we usually can't see the whole vista to the end of the church, as a screen often separates the choir from the nave. The screen sometimes has an organ on top of it, and the whole construction has been the subject of frequent criticism for centuries, as in Exeter. Exeter, on the other hand, is the only exception in the field of the central tower, having none. The survival of two Norman towers on the sides made it unnecessary, bringing about in this way the longest unbroken vaulting of 52