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
2 The Englishness of English Gothic cathedral architecture 2.1 The importance of learning about English arts (Pragmatic and professional considerations) As I have already indicated in some papers (eg: Abkarovits, 1995), everyday experience induced me to start introducing art courses to the training of our students. When escorting groups of our graduating students on trips to England and witnessing their visits to cathedrals or other churches or when listening to accounts of their private journeys or by asking them to fill in questionnaires about basic concepts (Eg 'What is a cathedral?', 'Which English cathedrals have you heard about?', 'What English painters or sculptors do you know? 1, 'Name some English composers.', etc), I had to realize that they did not have any information about these fields and they were also lacking the basic vocabulary, very often not only in the foreign language, but also in their native tongue. When they were guided around a cathedral, they could not understand the guide properly for lack of this vocabulary and also because they did not understand the essential features of church architecture. When visiting cathedrals on their own, they usually turned out to have missed some of the most famous and best parts, because they simply did not suspect the existence of certain constructions behind or beside the main body of the building. On the other hand, we all have the experience that the first thing, if you go to some bigger English town, is to visit its cathedral. For me it is almost unthinkable that one should go to York, Canterbury or Exeter, and not want to see their cathedrals. So, there are very practical reasons to learn something about the history of English arts and acquire some vocabulary in this field. On the other hand, it is not just the practical consideration, which should make us study English art history. A teacher of English is expected to know the culture, and, within that, the arts of England (and perhaps other English-speaking countries), or at least the greatest achievements of the various branches of their arts. The knowledge of English literature cannot compensate for all other aspects of arts, what is more, even literature cannot be properly understood without seeing the processes of the age in a wider context of the state of arts and culture. 2.2 Why just Gothic cathedral architecture? As is the case with all nations, the English did not create outstanding works of arts in every century and in all fields of the arts. If we want to be honest, we have to admit that there have been relatively few periods and few 46
