Salisbury, England (Left) Amiens, France (Right)
For this assignment I analyzed the differences between two very similar, but very different cathedrals. The first cathedral is Salisbury which is located in England and the second is Amiens which is located in France. As you can see from the images above the two cathedrals look relatively similar, however Salisbury is considerably larger. Not only is the front facade wider than that of Amiens but it also has an extra space located on the side of it. Also the naves of both cathedrals are very similar but Amiens is slightly more narrow. The strangest part about Salisbury being so much larger than Amiens is the fact that Amiens took almost two centuries to build, stretching from 1220-1410, while Salisbury was constructed over a 38 year time span (1220-1258). Amiens was known to have multiple structural challenges and more than a few near collapses, which makes sense as to why it took so long to build.
Salisbury is one of few cathedrals to be built using only one plan and one architectural style, while Amiens was subject to many different styles and plans because of all of the trials and error as well as the enormous time span it took to build it. Salisbury predates the city around it and was used solely as a church, there were no extra amenities or even monastic facilities. Basically the entire city was built around the cathedral and in turn the cathedral was given a huge plot of land surrounding it where no one tried to build. Amiens, however, was built after the rest of the city was already there, giving much influence into what the cathedral should look like. Because of this Amiens had multiple uses instead of just a cathedral, and unfortunately does not have a lot of extra land or space around it like Salisbury does.
The comparison of these two cathedrals leads us to two conclusions. First is that the timing of the construction affects the practices put into it as well as the cohesion of the different cathedrals. An interesting quote that I found sums up this idea, “Is one a more rich story than the other due to time?”. And lastly, the towns in which the cathedrals were built has a huge impact on the construction, whether it predates or postdates the city surrounding it.
Interior Design as viewed by MG 