Eastern VS Europe

Hey peeps! I'm back to blogging life again. I'm really exhausted these few days, homework starts to kick in, i need more sleep TT Anyway I've mentioned about the exterior of my Eastern country case study which is Taj Mahal and also my European country case study, Chartres Cathedral on my past few posts. One is built for the followers of Christianity while another is for Muslims, so is there actually any similarity in architecture form? I'm going to analyze more in depth and make comparison on the appearances of these two religious buildings. So let's get onto it!

First of all, religion art. The exterior of both Taj Mahal and Chartres Cathedral have obvious significant religious art on them. One of the main differences between Islamic and Christian art is the fact that Islam does not allowed any depiction of Allah. While on the other hand, Christianity literally narrates the stories from the Bible through statues, sculptures or even on the stained glass. Remember my last post? Chartres Cathedral was decorated with lots and lots of door jambs which illustrated the Christ's important stages of life and also the magnificent medieval stained glass. The reason of why religion arts were so prevalent in the ancient times might be due to the fact that there was many illiterate at that time or perhaps there was an artistic period where artists emerged and painting, stone carving, sculpture shaping were common. Moreover, Islamic structures are usually decorated with arabesque, calligraphy and geometric art. Most of the time it depicts the Koran, it can be found on almost everywhere and is spread throughout of an Islamic structures and Taj Mahal is a great example. Both of the Eastern and European countries' religious buildings are highly ornamented.

Sculptures that can be seen at Chatres Cathedral

(Sunshine, 2012)

Calligraphy on the exterior of Taj Mahal.
(Taj Mahal, 2016)

Moving on, the structure of both religious buildings. Both religious buildings are tall with points expecting to reach to the sky. Islamic architecture often uses a rounded arch with a point at the top of every arch. Remember the top of Taj Mahal? The top of the dome is decorated with a lotus design. According to Anis, my Muslim friend, Mosque originally meant to remind one of where Muhammad (said to be the last prophet) stood while preaching about the religion. The use of inexpensive materials like wood and clay were used in the ancient times was due to a restriction that was imposed by Muhammed. Moreover, the stained windows in a cathedral tend to make the space looks darker as it won't allow much natural light to penetrate in. Not sure why is it so but it might be due to the influences of Gothic style. Since the word ''Gothic'' always naturally associated with dark spaces. You may realize that there might be a demand for every cathedrals or churches to be designed in Gothic style in the ancient times. Take Chatres Cathedral as an example, Gothic cathedrals often used architectural elements such as high vaults,flying buttresses and stone roof.

Exterior of Taj Mahal

(Sindia,2014)

Exterior of Chartres Cathedral.

(Miou Miou 362190)

Dark interior of Chartres Cathedral.

(Fleturis, 2016)

To wrap it up, both the exterior religious buildings from Eastern and European countries widely apply respective religious art on their buildings but with one depicts God while another doesn't. Moreover, one of the similarities between those two are the fact that they use pointed arch. It may be due to the fact that arch was an ''essential element'' of the architecture of early civilizations. That's it from me today! Hope you guys enjoyed!


Image Resources :

SIndia. (2014). [image] Available at: http://www.tourpackagesforrajasthan.com/gallery/gallery.html [Accessed 13 Jun. 2016].

Fleturis, H. (2016). France's Most Beautiful Stained-Glass Windows. [image] Available at: http://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/frances-most-beautiful-stained-glass-windows/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2016]

Fleturis, H. (2016). France's Most Beautiful Stained-Glass Windows. [image] Available at: http://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/frances-most-beautiful-stained-glass-windows/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2016].

Taj Mahal. (2016). [image] Available at: http://www.unknownworld.co/taj-mahal/ [Accessed 13 Jun. 2016].