Honnencourt: The French Cathedrals Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Honnencourt: The French Cathedrals Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

You do not have to travel to France to learn about some of that country’s major contributions to world art and architecture, particularly for its Gothic cathedrals.

This Honnencourt: The French Cathedrals Game will prepare you for savvy armchair and in-country travel in France.  Many of the characteristics and symbols of French Gothic architecture can be found in other countries as well such a England and Northern Spain.

Level 1 – Background Information

Read about the Gothic style in these art history books:

Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism by Erwin Panofsky

The Art of the West: Gothic by Henri Focillon

Les Cathédrales de France by Auguste Rodin

Rodin’s book is a philosophical reflection on the Gothic cathedrals of France not really art history.  It is available in French only at the time of this writing.

Le Carnet de Vuillard de Honnencourt

Honnencourt was the architect for several cathedrals in Northern France.  These notebooks contain geometric drawings of labyrinths, flowers, people, and circular shapes for chapels.

You can look for these designs in almost all Gothic cathedrals and buildings when you view these places online or in person.

Level 2 – The Gothic Pointed Arch Game

The most characteristic feature of the Gothic architectural style is the pointed arch.

Using a pointed arch allowed the cathedrals to be taller with more wall space, which opened up to the walls to have stained glass windows.

This pointed arch was made possible by flying buttresses, stone supports that held up cathedral walls.  Some of the most famous flying buttresses are those of Nôtre Dame Cathedral (opposite the entrance to the cathedral and outside) and at Chartres Cathedral.

The way that these pointed arches are able to stand up is that each side of the arch presses against the other, so that neither side can fall down.

Most bridges are able to stand using this same principle that equal pressure applied by two sides against each other will hold up the bridge.  (The middle of a bridge is usually higher than the two sides for this reason.)

To test this principle, have the game players of equal height stand 2 ½ feet apart.  Ask them to hold their palms out towards each other.  Then, ask them to lean towards each other and touch their palms together.

The players will see that they are able to stand together in that position, but would fall down, if they were standing in that angle alone.

Players can look up bridges around the world as an extension to this game before moving to the next level.

Examples of bridges you might want to look up include:

The Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco)

The Mackinac Island Bridge (Upper Michigan)

The Detroit-Windsor Bridge (Between Canada and Detroit – Michigan)

Level 3 – Differences Between Romanesque and Gothic Art and Architecture

Romanesque art, found mostly in Southwestern France, is characterized by rectangular buildings with simple, half-circular roofs.

This rectangular building and semi-circular roof is based on the basilicas of Rome.  When the Christian religion was officially adopted in Rome, the first services were held in basilicas (market places – prior to this secret Christian services were held in the catacombs).

Architectural art styles often change when new, wealthy patrons displace one another.  Southwestern France (where most of the Romanesque churches are located) lost much of its political importance and tax collecting and tithe collecting powers when the Albigensian Crusade crushed the Count of Toulouse, the towns of Languedoc, and the Cathar heretics through the Inquisition held at Carcassonne.

When the Northern French economically placed the Southern French back in tax and tithe collecting coffers, they monitored them and made sure the Cathars did not become dominant again.  The Cathars took money away from the French crown and church.

The Romanesque churches of Southwestern France are beautiful with their sculptures that swirl around pillars and ornate foliage that makes you feel as if you have entered an earthly paradise when you enter them.  Many are pilgrimage sites in their own right and also sit along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella.

Pilgrimages brought in money in the form of donations and through paying for lodging and food in abbeys along the pilgrimage route to Compostella.

The churches in Northern France also wanted more pilgrimage money.  The churches here were starting points for the pilgrimage route to Compostella or points along the way with no lodging possibilities.

These Northern churches did have saints’ relics, but they needed to “upgrade” in modern parlance to offer something better than the Romanesque churches.

The Northern churches were limited in size by the basilica architectural plan and the semi-circular roof.  If you make the roof too wide to accommodate larger crowds in a basilica, it will fall, if there are no flying buttresses to hold up the wall. 

The Abbot Suger at the Basilica of Saint Denis outside Paris was the priest, who was trying to raise money for Paris, and accommodate larger crowds of pilgrims and religious tourists, who wanted to see the “bigger and better” churches of Paris and Northern France.

Abbot Suger’s solution to create a bigger and better church was to design wall supports, called flying buttresses, which allowed taller church walls for stained glass windows and a taller pointed roof.  These were the selling points for his newfangled Basilica, which brought in cash for Paris.

The Basilica at Saint-Denis is considered the first manifestation of the Gothic style in France.  It is a pilgrimage site as the burial site for the Kings of France.

Level 4 – Gothic Art and Architecture Basic Definitions

Look up the following word definitions with photos associated with them online.

Write a definition of the word in your own words.

Write out a pronunciation of the word that you understand.

Basic Gothic Words:

Aisle

Altar

Ambulatory

Apse

Arch

Baptismal Font

Baptistery

Barrel vault

Campanile

Cinqfoil

Clerestory

Choir

Cloister

Colonnade

Column

Crypt

Dome

Fleur-de-lys

Keystone

Flying buttress

Lintel

Mausoleum

Niche

Ogive

Pediment

Pilaster

Narthex

Façade

Quatrefoil

Refectory

Rib vault

Scriptorium

Spire

Trefoil

Trumeau

Basilica

Cathedral

Abbey

Monastery

Dome

Level 5 – Use Nôtre Dame Cathedral in Paris or Chartres Cathedral in Chartres (France) as examples for this exercise

Look up their websites and see if you can find examples of the Gothic art word definitions in Level 4.

Notredamedeparis.fr

Cathedrale-chartres.org

Level 6 – 10 Gothic Cathedrals that are most Representative of the Style

There are many Gothic cathedrals in France, but I picked what I think are the most representative of the Gothic style.  Most of the cathedrals have websites that are really online art exhibits:

Basilica Saint Denis

Saint-denis-basilique.fr

Nôtre Dame de Paris

Notredamedeparis.fr

Chartres Cathedral

Cathedrale-chartres.org

Amiens Cathedral

Cathedrale-amiens.fr

Sainte Chapelle

Sainte-chapelle.fr

Metz Cathedral

Cathedrale-metz.fr

Senlis Cathedral

Paroissesaintrieul.org

Rouen Cathedral

Cathedrale-rouen.net

Strasbourg Cathedral

Cathedrale-strasbourg.fr

Rheims Cathedral

Cathedrale-reims.com

Level 7 – Hagiographies (Religious Biographies)

Look up the religious biography or hagiography for the following saints’ names that appear in the cathedrals above:

Saint Denis

Saint Jacques

Sainte Marie

Write up a paragraph in French about the saint.

Level 8 – Gothic Church Interior Space Design

Look at the blueprints for the 10 cathedrals and write down what is similar about them.

Level 9 – Read the Following Books on Cathedral History

Nôtre Dame de Paris: A History by Richard Winston

Chartres: The Making of a Miracle by Colin Ward

Guides des Vitraux de Chartres by Jean Villette

Level 10 – How does Gothic Architecture Support the Saying of the Mass

To find out information about he Catholic Mass, priests’ sacramental clothing, and the liturgical year, check out the website below:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Usccb.org

Look under the tab “Prayer and Worship.”

What parts of the interior architecture support saying mass for the priests and participating in it by parishioners.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Ruth Paget Selfie