Romanticism replaces the Age of Enlightenment and coincides with the industrial revolution, marked by the appearance steam engine, steam locomotive, steamship, photography and factory outskirts. If the Enlightenment is characterized by the cult of reason and civilization based on its principles, then romanticism affirms the cult of nature, feelings and the natural in man. It was in the era of romanticism that the phenomena of tourism, mountaineering and picnics took shape, designed to restore the unity of man and nature. The image of a “noble savage”, armed with “folk wisdom” and not spoiled by civilization, is in demand.

Romanticism (French romantisme), an ideological and artistic movement in European and American spiritual culture. 18 - 1st floor. 19th centuries Romanticism is a kind of reaction to the French Revolution (Karl Marx).

The Great French Bourgeois Revolution ended the Age of Enlightenment. Writers, artists, musicians witnessed grandiose historical events, revolutionary upheavals that transformed life beyond recognition. Many of them enthusiastically welcomed the changes and admired the proclamation of the ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

Romantics often idealized patriarchal society, in which they saw the kingdom of goodness, sincerity, and decency. Poetizing the past, they retreated into ancient legends and folk tales. Romanticism received its own face in every culture: among the Germans - in mysticism; among the English - in a personality that will oppose itself to reasonable behavior; among the French - in unusual stories. What united all this into one movement - romanticism?

Before the revolution, the world was orderly, there was a clear hierarchy in it, each person took his place. The revolution overturned the “pyramid” of society; a new one had not yet been created, so the individual had a feeling of loneliness. Life is a flow, life is a game in which some are lucky and others are not.

The painful discord between the ideal and social reality is the basis of the romantic worldview and art. Reflecting disappointment in the results of the Great French Revolution, in the ideology of the Enlightenment and social progress, romanticism contrasted utilitarianism and the leveling of the individual with the aspiration for boundless freedom and the “endless” thirst for perfection and renewal, the pathos of personal and civil independence.

Let's consider the difference between romanticism and classicism. We will see that classicism divides everything in a straight line, into good and bad, into black and white. Romanticism does not divide anything in a straight line. Classicism is a system, but romanticism is not. The main goal of romanticism was to depict the inner world, mental life, and this could be done using the material of stories, mysticism, etc. Characteristic of romanticism, attention to inner world man was expressed in the cult of the subjective, the craving for the emotionally intense. It was necessary to show the paradox of this inner life, its irrationality.

Affirmation of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the depiction of strong passions, spiritualized and healing nature, among many romantics - the heroes of protest or struggle are adjacent to the motives of “world sorrow”, “world evil”, the “night” side of the soul, clothed in the forms of irony and grotesque poetics of two worlds.

Interest in the national past (often its idealization), the traditions of folklore and culture of one’s own and other peoples, the desire to create a universal picture of the world (primarily history and literature), the idea of ​​a synthesis of arts found expression in the ideology and practice of romanticism.

Characteristic features of the romanticism style

The creative problems of romanticism, compared to classicism, were more complex and not so clear-cut. Romanticism at the very beginning was more of an artistic movement than a doctrine of a specific style. Therefore, it is only with great difficulty that we can classify its manifestations and consider sequentially the history of development until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

Romanticism at first had a lively, changeable character, preached individualism and creative freedom. He recognized the value of cultures that differed significantly from Greek and Roman antiquity. Much attention was paid to the cultures of the East, whose artistic and architectural motifs were adapted to European taste.

The architecture of the Middle Ages is being re-evaluated and the technical and artistic achievements of the Gothic style are being recognized. The concept of connection with nature gives rise to the concept of an English park and the popularity of free compositions of a Chinese or Japanese garden.

IN fine arts Romanticism manifested itself most clearly in painting and graphics, less clearly in sculpture and architecture (for example, false Gothic). Most national schools of romanticism in the fine arts emerged in the struggle against official academic classicism.

The main representatives of romanticism in the fine arts are the painters E. Delacroix, T. Gericault, F. O. Runge, K. D. Friedrich, J. Constable, W. Turner, in Russia - O. A. Kiprensky, A. O. Orlovsky . The theoretical foundations of romanticism were formed by F. and A. Schlegel and F. Schelling.

Construction features of romanticism

The development of classicism and romanticism in architecture coincided with the beginning of the use of new designs, building materials and construction methods. IN late XVIII and the beginning of the 19th centuries. metal structures were most common in England and France.

Initially, they were used in various engineering structures, which was accompanied by the development of scientific theories in this area. The question of creating a bridge from metal was first considered by French engineers in 1719, and then again in 1755. However, widespread use of these structures became possible with the advent of cheap technology for producing iron, first in the form of cast iron, and later steel.

Instead of the simplicity and isolation of the architectural form of classicism, romanticism offers a complex silhouette, richness of forms, freedom of planning solutions, in which symmetry and other formal compositional principles lose their dominant significance. Despite the fact that romanticism aroused widespread interest in different cultures, which until then were far from Europeans, Gothic became the main architecture for him.

At the same time, it seemed important not only to study it, but also to adapt it to modern tasks. Gothic artistic motifs were already used in the Baroque (for example, J. Santini), but only in the 19th century. they are becoming widespread. At the same time, the sprouts of a conscious movement for the protection of architectural monuments and their reconstruction are emerging.

Types of Romanticism style buildings

The first cast iron bridge was built only in 1779. It was a bridge over the Severn River in England. It had a short length (30.62 m), but already at the end of the century they began to build cast iron bridges over 70 m long, for example, Sunderland Bridge in England (1793 - 1796).

From the end of the 18th century. cast iron is beginning to be used in the construction of buildings. Of particular interest for that time was the project of a warehouse building in Manchester (1801), which was designed in the form of an eight-story cast-iron frame, as well as docks in Liverpool and London. Cast iron cathedral structures appeared in England already in the 80s of the 18th century, for example in Liverpool.

Neo-Gothic or pseudo-Gothic (from Italian gotiko - “barbaric”, neos - “new”) is a direction in the architecture of the 18th-19th centuries, reviving the forms and design features of medieval Gothic. The neo-Gothic style developed during the era of intensive development of capitalist relations, the emergence of imperialism and the colonization of continents by Europeans.

Neo-Gothic originated in the 40s. XVIII century in Great Britain, where the traditions of Gothic art were strongest, along with the flourishing of landscape art and "poeticization" medieval era. The neo-Gothic style was most widespread in the Holy Roman Empire, France, Italy, Spain, as well as in the colonial possessions of Great Britain, which erected many public buildings in the metropolises.

Neo-Gothic was recognized as an exemplary style for the construction of Catholic and Protestant churches, as well as for large public buildings and country houses. At this time, monuments of medieval architecture are being intensively completed and restored. For European neo-Gothic of the 19th century. characterized by the desire to revive the integrity of artistic thinking characteristic of Gothic art, awareness of the aesthetic value of the frame structure, along with the widespread use of cast iron structures. The decline of the neo-Gothic style in Europe occurred at the beginning of the century, when the strict forms of the Romanesque style replaced the excessive Gothic decor.

Unlike Europe, all neo-Gothic churches in Belarus were built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which is due to the ban on the construction of churches, which the Russian Emperor Nicholas II lifted only in 1905 with the famous Manifesto. After this, Catholic churches in the neo-Gothic style began to be built everywhere in Belarus. Three of the tallest religious buildings in Belarus were built in the neo-Gothic style: the Trinity Church in Gervyaty, the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Zhuprany, and the Church of St. Vladislav in Subotniki.

Neoclassicism

(Neoclassicism) - aesthetic direction that dominated in European art at the end of the 18th century - beginning. 19th century, which was characterized by an appeal to antiquity, and differed from classicism 17

century - beginning 18th century. In France, within the framework of neoclassicism, the Louis XVI, Regency, Directory and Empire styles emerged; in England - the style of Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton in furniture.

In the middle of the 18th century, the first archaeological excavations of ancient monuments began in Italy, and all the major representatives of English neoclassicism visited Rome. They went there to see the ruins of ancient buildings and perceive the true spirit of antiquity. Many English architects also went to Greece, where they studied ancient Greek buildings, which were practically unknown at that time.

Neoclassicism appears to have manifested itself most clearly in architecture, as evidenced by the works of the Adam brothers John Nash and Alexander Thompson in England; Langhans in Germany, Jean-François Chalgrin, Alexandre-Theodore Brongniart, Ledoux in France and Andreyan Zakharov in Russia.

Among the pioneers of neoclassicism is Jacques Ange Gabriel, who planned the Place de la Concorde in 1754, and his Petit Trianon at Versailles was considered the most perfect example of "attic" in French architecture. Of course, one cannot fail to mention Soufflot, who introduced elements of a new aesthetic into the plans for the reconstruction of Paris.

If in France neoclassicism found its expression mainly in the designs of public buildings, then in England architects built private estates and city houses in this style. Their very manner was different from the French. In France, neoclassicism acquired harsh, sometimes ponderous forms; in England, on the contrary, all buildings were lighter and more elegant. English neoclassical interiors are especially famous: they are always bright and decorative, as if they wanted to please the owners of the houses and their guests.

The most important role in the architecture of English neoclassicism was played by two masters - William Chambers (1723-1796) and Robert Adam (1728-1792).

Neoclassicism

"Adam style" in honor of its creator. In 1754-1756. Robert Adam traveled to Italy and returned from there a passionate admirer of antiquity.

The influence of English Palladianism was also felt in his work. At the same time, his style was very original and easily recognizable.

Neoclassicism" is a term adopted in modern art history to designate artistic phenomena of different social orientation and ideological content. last third 19-20 centuries, which are characterized by an appeal to the traditions of ancient art.

often called simply

Eclecticism and Art Nouveau architecture

In a number of countries, neoclassicism of this period used new constructive techniques developed by "

modern",

In Russian architecture of the 1910s. the prevailing desire was to establish the basic principles architectural classics(I. A. Fomin. I. V. Zholtovsky. V. A. Shchuko and others), although in the same years representatives of Russian modernism also turned to stylization of classical motifs (F. O. Shekhtep, F. I. Lidval, S. U. Soloviev and others). In the USA, France and Great Britain, neoclassicism of the 1910-30s. developed mainly in official architecture and was distinguished by ceremonial representativeness and emphasized monumentality.

In the 1930s the means of neoclassicism, in their hypertrophied-monumental, emphatically coarsened forms, were widely used in the architecture of Italy (M. Piacentini and others) and Germany (P. L. Trost and others) to create structures that served the purposes of promoting fascist ideology.

The principles of neoclassicism also had a certain influence on the development of Soviet architecture in the 2nd half of the 30s and early 50s, as well as the architecture of the countries of Scandinavia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Bulgaria, Hungary, where they were often combined with an appeal to the motifs of national architecture.

Since the late 50s. neoclassicism developed mainly in US architecture; among the most significant buildings of this direction in official and commercial

construction -

Lincoln Center in New York (1960s, architects F. Johnson, W. Harrison, M. Abramowitz, E. Saarinen), the buildings of which form a strict and symmetrical frame of a rectangular area.

Petit Trianon Palace in Versailles

To the right of the Grand Canal of Versailles is the Trianon complex, consisting of the Grand and Petit Palaces with their own garden surroundings. The Small Palace, or Petit Trianon, is a true masterpiece of French neoclassicism of the 18th century.

In 1761, Madame de Pompadour suggested to Louis XV the idea of ​​building a palace in the French Garden. Two years later, the king decided to fulfill the favorite’s request. The project is entrusted to Gabriel Jacques Anjou (1698-1782). In 1763, construction began, and already in 1768 the Petit Trianon was inaugurated. But Madame de Pompadour was not destined to use the castle - she did not live 4 years before the completion of construction.

This masterpiece of neoclassical architecture is, without a doubt, Gabriel's most perfect creation. Located on a square site, the building rests on a plinth, above it rises a floor and an attic, which ends with a balustrade that hides the roof in the Italian style. Due to the uneven terrain, the basement level is visible only from the side of the facade facing the Main Courtyard, as well as from the side of the Temple of Amur. The facades are decorated with pilasters and powerful Corinthian columns.

The facades of the building, which are square in plan, follow the same compositional scheme. The interior of the palace is decorated in the style

The proportions of the Petit Trianon are classically clear and nobly simple. This monument of world architecture embodies the idea of ​​intimate comfort, achievable only in unity with nature. Bridges across seemingly overgrown channels, pavilions built on seemingly wild islands, trees growing in precisely calculated disorder give the ensemble the charm of true romance.

Later, a mill, a poultry house and a dairy farm appeared in the royal village (1783-1786). Nowadays, in this place, guides usually tell visitors an entertaining story that cups are kept here, their shape representing a cast of Marie Antoinette’s breasts.

From these cups, the queen loved to treat guests with milk from her cows in “her dairy.” The guides also say that the private royal chambers subsequently often served as a place for scandalous adventures of influential people who came here to spend the night comfortably.

Queen Marie Antoinette was strongly influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea of ​​the need to return to

"untouched nature"

She tried her best to learn with her own labor to provide at least her family with agricultural products: she looked after the cows, milked them and fed them from the royal table. However, for some reason the revolutionary people regarded her works as a subtle mockery of starving Paris.

The emergence of neoclassicism (as a programmatic appeal to the art of the past) is due to the desire to contrast certain “eternal” aesthetic values ​​with an alarming and contradictory reality. The ideological and formal structure of movements based on the search for direct correspondence with reality in neoclassicism is opposed by the ideality and majesty of forms and images, “purified” of concrete historical content.

Neoclassical architecture is divided into three periods: the first (around 1910-mid-1920s), the second (mainly the 1930s) and the third (starting in the late 1950s). In the first period, the logic of the organization of the classical form and its laconicism were put forward as the antithesis of stylistic arbitrariness and excessive decorativeness

The neo-Gothic style in architecture (also known as pseudo-Gothic) is an architectural style that incorporates elements of Gothic and classical compositions. This style appeared in the 40s years XVIII century. It was then that such famous buildings as the Palace of Westminster in London and Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany were built. What are the main features of neo-Gothic?

What is the difference between Gothic and Neo-Gothic?

Neo-Gothic appealed to the traditions of traditional medieval Gothic. Numerous Catholic cathedrals were built in the neo-Gothic style in various cities - in New York, Melbourne, etc.

In my own way appearance Neo-Gothic is almost similar to traditional Gothic - the same pathetic columns, massive vaults, spiers. However, contemporaries decided to look at them in a new way, to modify them, as a result of which neo-Gothic appeared.

The revival of Gothic architecture occurred thanks to English magnates and aristocrats. At that time in Britain there were many different cathedrals, castles built in the Gothic style, which belonged to cultural heritage countries. New buildings also often repeated the features of the Gothic style.

Such deliberate isolation from numerous European stylistic innovations (for example, Baroque) led to the fact that many prominent artists began to introduce Gothic forms even into the decoration of their estates. The fashion for Gothic decor was first established by Horace Walpole, who stylized his estate as a castle from the Middle Ages. This trend was supported by numerous aristocrats.

Main features of the neo-Gothic style:

• frame vault at the base,
• battlements,
• stained glass windows, the glass in which is made using stained glass technique,
• carved stucco moldings,
• openwork details (from iron fences to interior decoration),
• elongated structures,
• columns supporting vaults and arches.

English Gothic Revivalism reached its peak in 1795, when the son of the mayor of London, William Beckford, decided to build his estate in Wiltshire called Fonthill Abbey. The “heart” of the Fonthill Abbey project is an octagonal tower 90 meters high. The appearance of the neo-Gothic castle resembled a real abbey, but the estate itself did not survive to this day: it collapsed three times during its thirty-year history.

After the death of William Beckford, it was decided to finally raze the estate to the ground. However, the fame of this estate gave an additional impetus to the active development and introduction of neo-Gothic architecture into various architectural forms. Neo-Gothic in English architecture of the 18th–19th centuries takes shape in a stable style, and in mid-19th century it becomes officially recognized national style UK. Augustus Pugin, a famous architect and admirer of the neo-Gothic style, together with Charles Barry, erects the world-famous Palace of Westminster, built in the neo-Gothic style and being a real icon of it.

Railway stations, town halls, bridges, as well as some government buildings in Britain were reconstructed in the neo-Gothic style of architecture. Under Queen Victoria, the new Parliament was also built within this direction. This building immediately became business card London. It has been noted in numerous images. Universities also began to be built in the New Gothic style, and this trend became popular not only in Britain, but also in the United States. Neo-Gothicism was closely intertwined with classicism, borrowing from it various shapes, styles, ideas, brought them to perfection.

Neo-Gothic in the 20th century

Gothic-style buildings were quite tall, had narrow windows and featured internal load-bearing columns. Steel frames, elevators and other technological elements discovered in the 20th century gradually led to the fact that the style lost its relevance. Buildings in the neo-Gothic style began to use steel frames instead of arched vaults and buttresses, which made it possible to develop wide spaces in the interior without the use of numerous columns. Neo-Gothic architecture in the 19th century was replaced by a new understanding of the 20th century.

Neo-Gothic ornament was used by some architects even in iron frames. For example, individual neo-Gothic features can be found in the Tribune Tower and Woolworth Building skyscrapers. In the first half of the 20th century, modernism took the place of neo-Gothic. The modernists considered themselves heirs of the neo-Gothic tradition.

After the 1930s, the number of buildings in the neo-Gothic style decreased sharply, but construction did not stop completely. For example, in 2005, the Cathedral of St. Edmundsbury Cathedral (UK) acquired a neo-Gothic style tower, which has been under construction since 2000.

Neo-Gothic in Russia

Russian neo-Gothic is different from European. Houses in the neo-Gothic style belong to V. I. Bazhenov - Tsaritsyn buildings. Churches, cathedrals and temples were used characteristic features style, but also mixed with Russian Baroque.

In the two capitals, Moscow and St. Petersburg, neo-Gothic also appeared in a more classical, Western style. This is, for example, the mansion of G.I. Morozova.

Publications in the Architecture section

Russian pseudo-Gothic and European neo-Gothic: architectural cousins

And mane XVIII century- the age of powdered wigs, pink men's stockings and huge crinolines had not yet come to an end, but the souls of the European aristocracy already wanted something different. Exuberant, exciting and unusual. This is how romanticism arose - a style “for true intellectuals”, full of strong passions and loving wild, pristine beauty. And also ancient history, because ancient history, as you know, is completely full of strong passions and completely devoid of boredom. We study together with Sofia Bagdasarova.

Nicola Lancret. Marie Camargo. OK. 1730. Hermitage

Caspar David Friedrich. Sunset (Brothers). 1830–1835. Hermitage

Jean Honore Fragonard. Stolen kiss. 1780s. Hermitage

The Middle Ages suddenly became incredibly popular: every writer, poet or artist necessarily created something kind of romantic, medieval... Architects did not lag behind, especially since the example was before their eyes. After all, throughout Europe there were many gothic buildings, which in the era of classicism were considered old-fashioned, but now suddenly have become role models. The British set the tone. Thus, in the 1740s–50s, neo-Gothic was born, and in the 1780s it reached the Russian Empire.

But we did not have our own majestic cathedrals and gloomy castles that Russian architects could look back at. Just a lot of brick churches and chambers and the extraordinary patterns of the Moscow “Naryshkin Baroque”. From this mixture, Russian pseudo-Gothic emerged - an amazing stylization that combined features of both architectural styles. Let's compare Gothic buildings of the same age in Europe and Russia in order to better feel the uniqueness of the Russian invention.

Tsaritsino and Strawberry Hill House

The Tsaritsyno palace and park ensemble began to be built in 1776 according to the design of the architect Vasily Bazhenov for Empress Catherine the Great. It is believed that Russian pseudo-Gothic began precisely with this project.

Strawberry Hill House (“House on Strawberry Hill”) is the villa of Count Horace Walpole, not just the son of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, but also the founder of the Gothic novel genre. The construction of the “castle” invented by the writer lasted from 1749 to the 1770s. Walpole's housing and his books have long been defined world fashion Gothic.

Palace and park ensemble "Tsaritsyno"

Strawberry Hill House. Photo: Chiswick Chap/Wikimedia Commons

Petrovsky Travel Palace and Beaver Castle

Petrovsky Travel Palace, the second important example of Moscow pseudo-Gothic, was also built by order of Catherine the Great. In 1776–1780 it was erected by Matvey Kazakov, who finished Tsaritsino after Bazhenov.

Beaver Castle has been the residence of the Dukes of Rutland from the 16th century to this day. At the end of the 18th century, the ancient building was completely rebuilt in the spirit of the then fashionable “brick Gothic” (renovated in 1801–1832 after a fire). The castle is considered one of the best examples of this style during the Regency era.

Petrovsky Travel Palace

Beaver Castle. Photo: Craigy/Wikipedia Commons

Chesme Church and Gothic House

The Chesma court church was founded in 1777 by order of Catherine II in honor of the anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Chesma. The architect was the German Yuri (Georg Friedrich) Felten. The church turned out to be elegant and unlike anything else.

The Gothic house in the Park Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz of the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau was built in 1773–1813. The “kingdom” itself is one of the first English landscape parks not only in Germany, but also in continental Europe in general. Of course, he could not do without a pavilion in the Gothic spirit, which the Duke of Anhalt liked so much during his visit to Strawberry Hill House.

Chesme Church

Gothic house. Photo: Heinz Fraäßdorf/Wikimedia Commons

Priory Palace and Church of the Holy Cross

The Priory Palace in Gatchina was built in 1799 by the architect Nikolai Lvov by order of Emperor Paul as the residence of the prior of the Order of Malta, who settled in Russia because of Napoleon. The architect in his project was guided not by the then fashionable pointed Gothic, but by the more boring Swiss castles and Lutheran churches. Neo-Gothic churches in this style have not yet been created, in large quantities they will begin to appear only in the 2nd half of the 19th century. The Priory Palace is the only building in Russia built using earthmoving technology (from compressed loam).

The Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg, USA, is another neo-Gothic building made of earthenware. Built between 1850 and 1852 on the land of the legendary General Sumter, it stands in a city that was founded in 1783 in South Carolina, one of the most “aristocratic” states. Its author was the famous architect Edward C. Jones.

Priory Palace

Church of the Holy Cross. Photo: Pollinator/Wikimedia Commons

Mozhaisk St. Nicholas Cathedral and Mariahilfkirche

St. Nicholas Cathedral in the Mozhaisk Kremlin was built in 1802–1814 by the architect Alexei Bakarev. It is curious that during its construction, the ancient fortress gates of the 14th century were included in the first tier of the church. As in other Russian pseudo-Gothic buildings, in its ornaments one finds mysterious signs associated with Freemasonry.

The Mariahilfkirche (Church of Mary Help of Christians) in Munich was built in 1831–1839. During this period, architects were already tired of romantic Gothic cliches, stopped reading Walter Scott and began to copy medieval churches in neighboring neighborhoods, rather than English samples from albums and books.

Mozhaisk Cathedral. Photo: Ludvig14/Wikimedia Commons

Mariahilfkirche. Photo: AHert/Wikimedia Commons

Nicholas Tower and Chapel in Krakow

The Nikolskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin was built in 1491 by Pietro Antonio Solari, but until 1806 it had only one lower quadrangular tier. The familiar tall tower with “white lace” brick patterns was built on top by the Swiss Luigi Rusca. It is curious that in his project he follows the example of Moscow, and not Western architects. After the fire of 1812, the restoration of the tower was carried out by Osip Bove.

The Chapel of Blessed Bronislawa in Krakow was built in 1856–1861 according to the design of Felix Księżarski. Previously there was a medieval building there, which was destroyed by the Austrians. The demolition caused great outrage, and the chapel had to be rebuilt - this time inside the fortification lines. It ended up being built into the wall. In these decades of the 19th century, historicism had already emerged, sometimes with meticulous copying of ancient buildings, and this neo-Gothic chapel is quite in the spirit of the times.

Nikolskaya Tower. Photo: Vladimir Tokarev / Wikimedia Commons

Chapel of St. Bronislava. Photo: Dawid Galus 2/Wikimedia Commons

Chapel in Peterhof and Palace of Westminster

The Church of St. Alexander Nevsky ("Capella") in Alexandria Park, Peterhof, was built in 1831–1833 by order of Nicholas I and designed by Karl Schinkel under the supervision of Adam Menelas. This building is no longer patterned Russian pseudo-Gothic, but real European neo-Gothic. After all, it was erected for the educated German princess, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who adored the Middle Ages and even decorated her palace chambers in this style.

Palace of Westminster, former residence English kings, now the British Parliament, was built on the remains of a medieval building that burned down in 1834. The current palace, designed by architects Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin, is a neo-Gothic exercise in historical topic, although extremely successful.

Chapel in Peterhof

Palace of Westminster. Photo: Clpo13/Wikimedia Commons

Muromtsevo and Neuschwanstein

Khrapovitsky estate in Muromtsevo, Vladimir region, - an estate on the territory of which in 1884–1889 the architect Pyotr Boytsov built a real neo-Gothic castle, of which many were then built throughout Europe. These days, the luxurious estate is in ruins. It was recently transferred to the Vladimir-Suzdal Nature Reserve, which is planning its reconstruction. It was built in 1893–1898 for the wife of a millionaire

Bakhrushin Museum and Palazzo Genovese

The building of the Bakhrushin Theater Museum was erected by order of the museum's founder in 1896 and designed by the architect Karl Gippius. The facades of the building, inspired by English Gothic examples, also resemble Moscow projects of the 18th century. As in the Shekhtel mansion, you can also feel the Art Nouveau reigning around with its smooth lines.

Palazzo Genovese (Palace of the Genovese Family) on the Gran Canal in Venice was built in 1892 by the architect Edoardo Trigomi Mattei. In fact, this is an example of the late neo-Gothic style of the 19th century, but the author follows historical models so carefully that the palazzo does not stand out at all against the backdrop of medieval Venetian buildings. By the way, Gothic in such southern latitudes suddenly turns out to be some kind of “Moorish”; it is not without reason that there is a theory that the crusaders spotted many of its elements in Arab countries.

Bakhrushin Museum. Photo: Ludvig14/Wikimedia Commons

Palazzo Genovese. Photo: Wolfgang Moroder/Wikimedia Commons

Hello dear community and guests of the resource!
Have you ever wondered what the Victorian era owes its charm to? Of course, there are many factors here, and unbridled progress and new ways of studying the world and the emergence of philosophies that deny the morality of the church, against the backdrop of religious fanaticism and the first protests against the ingrained norms of behavior in society... and a lot of things. True, it seems to me that the Victorian era owes the lion's share of this charm to its architecture. So let's talk about......NEGOTHIC!

This amazing style is inextricably associated with the Victorian era, and it is not surprising, given that it was the British Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries that marked the beginning of the triumphant march of neo-Gothic around the world, as well as the fact that it was in the British Empire that this style was especially widespread. This happened in two stages: early British neo-Gothic and Victorian neo-Gothic. I won't carry out detailed analysis Victorian architecture, this is more of a review article, although I tried to look at the reason for the flourishing of such an unusual style. Let's start in order.
The emergence of the fully formed neo-Gothic style is associated with the name of the fourth Earl of Orford, Horace Walpole.

Horace Walpole.

This English writer became the first author to publish a "Gothic" novel in 1764, the action of which takes place in the castle of Oranto during the era of the first crusade. The plot of this work, which became a bestseller, was inspired by the buildings of the Strawberry Hill estate, which he acquired in 1747 (some sources mention both 1746 and 1748). It was then that he decided to turn the estate into his own “medieval” castle, which, among other things, even had a knight’s hall.

Strawberry Hill.

Now, strictly speaking, we cannot classify this castle as neo-Gothic, since part of it was built in the Rococo style, but it was Walpole’s idea that gave impetus to the development of the Neo-Gothic style. However, the writer himself admitted that he did not strive for a strict Gothic style, so as not to deprive himself of convenience; the estate had to satisfy his imagination and nothing more. It was from Strawberry Hill that the passion for Gothic decor of estates began. It has become a fashionable feature.
And the Duke of Argyll, for example, even involved William, the brother of the most fashionable architect at that time, the founder of the “Adam style” Robert Adam, in the construction of his “medieval” castle on the Scottish estate of Inveraray.

Inverary.

One of the most bright examples This kind of eccentricity was the construction of the impressive estate of Fonthill Abbey, the son of a wealthy English planter, William Beckford, who, after the death of his wife, decided to build a grandiose building reminiscent of a Gothic cathedral.

William Beckford.

Fonthill Abbey.

The splendor of this building can only be matched by its sad fate. Its architect was James Wyeth, who was not particularly familiar with the techniques for constructing such structures. Main feature became an octagonal tower, reaching ninety meters during its initial construction. Its first version was made of wood and cement. It collapsed a few months later, and Beckford sincerely regretted that he had not seen this grandiose spectacle with his own eyes. The second tower, from the same material, took six years to build, it also collapsed, but the third, stone version, which took seven years to build, finally collapsed in 1825, 12 years later, after the completion of the entire castle. In 1822, Beckford went bankrupt after losing his Jamaican plantations and sold the building to John Farquhar. Gradually, the remaining parts of the building collapsed and the castle was demolished, leaving only a small part of the northern wing.

Surviving northern wing.

Less wealthy Englishmen used in construction only elements characteristic of Gothic, such as pointed arches, loopholes, etc.

The starting point for the next stage of the spread of neo-Gothic was the fire of 1834 Palace of Westminster, owned by the British Parliament.
The construction of the new building was entrusted to Augustus Pugin and Charles Barry. A competition was held and out of ninety-seven (!) contestants, the project that exists today was chosen. Ironically, Pugin, who had been fascinated by the Gothic architecture of Normandy since the age of fifteen and converted to Catholicism, was an active proponent of Roman Catholic Gothic architecture in England. He believed that all useful elements of the building should not be hidden, but decorated. Pugin expressed his views in his work “Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture in England.” Barry, after the visit Ottoman Empire, at the age of 22, was impressed by Italian Renaissance architecture. It was this journey and the magnificent fortresses from the times of the first crusades that he saw that forced him to study architecture.

Augustus Pugin.

Charles Barry.

These two neo-Gothic enthusiasts left only the Westminster Auditorium (1097) and the Jewel Tower (for the treasury of Edward III) from the original medieval palace. The splendor they created became the hallmark of the entire neo-Gothic style, no joke, the palace clock tower, Big Ben is a symbol of the whole of Great Britain, although, strictly speaking, this name was originally given to the bell on the tower, and the palace itself was included in the UNESCO heritage list in 1987.

Palace of Westminster.

Another striking work of Pugen is Nottingham Cathedral, dedicated to St. Barnabas.

Cathedral of St. Barnabas.

And Charles Barry, among other works, was involved in the reconstruction of Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar Square.

And then, as they say, it started. Instead of the term “neo-Gothic”, the word “revival” was then used. The style has become native British; town halls, universities, schools and train stations are built in this style. The Royal Court of Justice, the highest court in England and Wales, was built in the neo-Gothic style, built according to the design of George Edmund Street.

Royal courtyard.

St Pancras station building, named after the nearby St. Pancras Church. Pankratia. Erected in 1865-68 by architect Georg Gilbert Scott.

St Pancras.

The same architect designed the Prince Albert Memorial, in London's Kensington Park, opened in 1875 by Queen Victoria in honor of her husband.

Memorial.

St Stephen's College. 1876

Harris College of Manchester. 1889

Tower Bridge over the River Thames, near the Tower of London. Designed by Horace Jones, opened in 1894.

Tower Bridge.

This style was adopted by other countries. Gothic architecture, first of all, affected the colonies, although it took root poorly in America. Antique and neo-Greek styles were very popular there. In the countries of German-speaking Europe, neo-Gothic underwent some changes associated with the intense competition of the neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque styles. And to a greater extent, the revival of the Gothic style was perceived there as the completion of medieval long-term construction projects, such as the Cologne Cathedral.

Cologne Cathedral.

However, the Bavarian king Ludwig II launched the construction of Neuschwanstein Castle in 1869, which became one of the symbols of the world neo-Gothic style.

Neuschwanstein.

In the Romanesque countries they were mainly interested in the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. Neo-Gothic came to France rather late and took weak roots. The monumental majesty of neo-Gothic was alien to the frivolous French. But we must admit that Victor Hugo’s novel “The Cathedral” Notre Dame of Paris"(1830) made the French think about preserving the heritage of medieval architecture.

The greatest Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudí, who has many whimsical works to his credit, created perhaps the most monumental work of the Gothic Revival, the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia.

Antonio Gaudi.

Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family.

Due to a lack of funds, the Spanish government has not been able to complete it since 1882.

And yet, why exactly this style? Possibly due to hobby romantic stories the medieval era in the works of writers of that time, the revival of interest in Spenser, Milton, Shakespeare, despised in the era of the dominance of classical forms; perhaps due to the growth of patriotic sentiments against the backdrop of the power of the British Empire and, as a consequence, the refusal French style in architecture and the search for one’s own; perhaps “everything new is a well-forgotten old.” Or maybe all this taken together and several other factors that I do not indicate here, but we cannot dispute the fact that we partly owe such unusual and majestic architecture to the splendor of the Victorian era and, as a result, to the culture of steampunk. Of course, in the architecture of the bygone era there was also Gregorian style and neo-Renaissance and late colonial, but you must agree that when remembering the stories of Conan Doyle, Dickens and Wilde, the imagination pictures precisely neo-Gothic England, with pointed arches, towers, imaginary loopholes, Tower Bridge and Big Ben .

I hope you weren't bored! :-)

List of sources.

I bring to the attention of architecture lovers a small selection of historical buildings educational institutions in style neo-Gothic on the territory of Russia (dedicated tothe beginning of the new school year).
Here are photographs of 20 buildings from various Russian cities, united by the fact that they are built in late XIX- early 20th century style eclecticism , which dominated in Russia at this time, one of the manifestations of which is neo-Gothic.
The fact that neo-Gothic style was widely popular among architects during this period is evidenced by the fact that buildings in the neo-Gothic style were built throughout the country, and not just in the region that became Russian only in 1945 (Kaliningrad region), from Karelia and Central Russia to the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia.

Here is just a list of cities from this photo collection:
1. Grayvoron (Belgorod region);
2. Simferopol;
3. Sortavala (Karelia);
4. Vyborg (Karelia);
5. Ozyorsk (Kaliningrad region);
6. Sovetsk (Kaliningrad region);
7. Baltiysk (Kaliningrad region);
8. Kaliningrad;
9. Ulyanovsk;
10. Astrakhan;
11. Saratov;
12. Pyatigorsk;
13. Buzuluk ( Orenburg region);
14. Biysk ( Altai region);
15. Omsk;
16. Barnaul;
17. Plavsk (Tula region).

And note that only buildings intended for educational institutions are presented here. And how many others were there - various administrative buildings, warehouses, factory buildings, etc., not to mention churches and churches. And, as you probably already noticed, Moscow and St. Petersburg are not represented in the list of cities.

All photographs include the address of the property, the year of construction and, in most cases, the name of the architect.

2. The building of the parish school at the German Lutheran Church (now the Department of Justice), 1900, architect. V.A. Hecker.
Republic of Crimea, Simferopol, st. Dolgorukovskaya, 16. Photo: Yandex panoramas.

3. The building of the Sortavala Women's Gymnasium (now a branch of Petrozavodsk University), 1909-1911, architect. Y.Ya. Arenberg.
Republic of Karelia, Sortavala district, Sortavala, st. Gagarina, 14. Photo: Artem Noyer.

4. Complex of buildings of a real school (now a technical school for environmental management), 1892.
Kaliningrad region, Ozersk, st. Pogranichnaya, 23. Photo:otp39.rf

5. Uhland School, Folk School (now Education Center), 1895-1896.
Kaliningrad, Moskovsky Ave., 98. Photo:on-walking.com

6. Saratov State Conservatory, 1902/ gothic. rec. 1912, architect. A.Yu. Yagn / S.A. Kallistratov.
Saratov, Kirova Ave., 1. Photo:promodj.com

7. Building public school Tilsit (now a boarding school), 1905-1906.
Kaliningrad region, Sovetsk, st. Turgeneva, 6 B. Photo: Igor Vishnyakov

8. The building of the Simbirsk Land Surveying School (now the educational building of Ulyanovsk State Technical University), 1913-1914.
Ulyanovsk, st. Engelsa, 3. Photo:fotokto.ru

9. Parish school at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the name of Jesus, 1908-1909, arch. S.I. Karyagin.
Astrakhan, st. Kazanskaya, 104. Photo:love-astrakhan.ru

10. Men's gymnasium (now a school named after M.Yu. Lermontov), ​​1896-1903, architect. Ya.G. Lukashev.
Stavropol Territory, Pyatigorsk, 40 Let Oktyabrya Ave., 99. Photo:news-kmv.ru

11. The building of the women's gymnasium (now the Pedagogical College), 1902, architect. Ian Adamson.
Orenburg region, Buzuluk, st. M. Gorky, 59. Photo:tema-travel.ru

12. The building of the Sortavala Lyceum (now Sortavala College), 1901, architect. Y.Ya. Arenberg.
Republic of Karelia, Sortavala district, Sortavala, st. Gagarina, 12. Photo: Artem Noyer.

13. Real school named after. A.S. Pushkin (now the building of the Faculty of Geography of the BSPU), 1902.
Altai Territory, Biysk, st. Sovetskaya, 11. Photo: Leonid Demidov

14. Building of the School of Railway Management (now the School of Arts), 1894.
Omsk, st. Marchenko, 1. Photo: Artem Noyer

15. Vyborg school of joint education (now the Palace of Creativity), 1903, architect. L. Ikonen.