Post #4 - Lecture Native American - Gothic Architecture

The Native Americans had their own idea of the architecture such as wigwam houses, teepees, long houses where their whole community could fit inside, etc. They also had their own idea for story telling, they believed in spirits and in nature, animism. They were indebted to Mother Nature. They cherished the animals and they were never killing just to kill, always for a purpose to use every single part. They danced together and performed in buffalo dances together. Then we went to the Greek Amphitheater and how this was the first place where entertaining was changed to how we know it - where the performers were on the stage, the chorus was in the pit, and the viewers were in the audience. It also was the first place the scene was used. In Maximus, performing was changed to a more violent and gruesome effort, it is where prisoners or slaves were put to a bloody chariot race to see who won in order to be freed. This is where the audience was separated in groups - poor, middle class, wealthy/upper class, then the ruler had a section. In Rome Italy, we see the Colosseum. This is where people (slaves/prisoners) were forced to battle with each other or animals for a chance of being freed, but mostly slaughtered for entertainment. Exotic animals were used to be slaughtered at halftime or to fight the people inside. Here, class separation went a bit further by separating upper class, middle class, poor, and women. Then in 00186, Romans created the Pantheon which was the first structure to have a dome without being reinforced. In 537 AD in Istanbul, the Hagia Sofia was build - this was the largest structure with a dome and a half dome on both sides of it. It acted as a stepping stone to the Gothic Cathedral where pointed arches and more windows were discovered. It is where they relied on buttresses to help support the walls that support the larger ribbed vaulted ceilings. The points surrounding the Cathedrals were used to symbolize being closer to heaven, but also as an advertisement to people - "this is where the cathedral is". These were the first buildings to use a lot of stained glass to allow for light to get in.