Dějiny evropské architektury IIl. – Mencl Václav (2022)

Following the previous two volumes – The Art of Ancient Empires and The Art of the Ancient World – the third volume of Mencl's History of European Architecture is released, containing Medieval Art of European West. It begins with the Carolingian Renaissance and Ottonian art, subtitled The Polarity of Power in the Holy Roman Empire (9th-10th centuries), and continues with Romanesque Art, specified as Dawn from Cluny (11th-12th centuries). Emperor Charlemagne († 814) programmatically built upon the universality of the Western Roman Empire and ancient art. Since then, Rome has co-determined medieval development. Mencl observes the transformation of ancient form in Charlemagne's palaces, the bipolar basilica, and in the new arrangement of the monastery. In the 10th century, the cult of matter and the magic of crypts becomes active, and fortified settlements are built. Crypts with radial chapels form the basis of future cathedral choirs. The author notes the differences in development in France and Germany. While in the Frankish Empire Otto I the Great (936–973) strives for a renaissance of the empire, the development in France is different. A new impulse came from the reform that emerged from the Burgundian monastery in Cluny. The material of the temple became a source of spiritual energy, deep directional alignment towards the altar increases, and there is an effort for tectonic articulation. Different regional systems create structure, a new Romanesque is born...