144 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[May, 



ON THE ARCHITECTURF. OF WISBY IN THE ISLAND 



OF GOTHLAND, IN THE RALTIC SEA. 



By John Whitk, Esq., Architect. 



Read al the Royal Instilnle of Ilritish Archittcts ; March S, lil 1. 



The perusal of the passages in Mr. Laing's Tour in Sweden ^vhicli 

 relate to tlie arcliitecture of the city of Wisby,* have induced me to 

 make the following oliservations as to the origin of that incjdc of the 

 constructimi of edifices conniionly called Gothic, and to consider the 

 existing remains of that city, for which purpose 1 have availed mvself 

 of some nortliorn connexions in obtaining some further infornialion 

 beyond what is already before the British Institute, and feeling tliat 

 Mr. Laing has ninrh advanced th.e knowledge of architectural antiquity 

 by having recommended to the attention of the public, these very 

 early, if not the earliest, exanqdes of (tolhic construction, I submit the 

 following remarks. 



The well known observation of Sir Christopher Wren fParentalia, 

 page 3(lii,) " that what we now vulgarly call the Gothic, ought pro- 

 perly and truly to be named the Saracenic architecture velined by the 

 Christians, which first of all began in the East after the fall of the 

 Greek empire, by the prodigious success of those people that adhered 

 to Mahomcl's doctrine, who out of zeal to their religion, built mosques, 

 caravansar;is and sepulchres wherever they came," is to be opposed 

 by examining the structures of the Hlh century in those parts of Eu- 

 rope, especially the northern, where the Saracens never came, and 

 this I trust will be manifest, independently of other proofs, from the 

 examination of the arcliitecture of the remains of tliose churches of 

 Wisby so referred to by Mr. Laing, which are herewifli communicated 

 so far as the drawings of them are published. 



The biilh of Mahomet was in the year jti'.t, and the conquests of 

 the Saracens followed witli rapidity the commencement of the 7th 

 century, when the Saxon style of building is supposed to have been, in 

 the northern portion of Europe at least, the prevailing form ; of this, 

 however, in England, we liave few examples; Stukeley Church, in 

 Buckingljanishire, lias been quoted by most writers as the most an- 

 cient and perfect example of the pure Saxon; it has certainly nothing 

 Saracenic about it, excepting that all the arches are of a circular 

 character, in common witli the Roman and Saracenic, whereas what is 

 denominated the gothic arch is universally of two or more centres 

 describing portions of circles meeting at a point. 



It may, perhaps, assist the inquiry to refer to the periods of the 

 northern irruptions and conquests, \vhich are as follow : 



The buildings at Wisby are adadtted to la\e been constructed at 

 the following periods: 



11 111 Centir'i. j 12th C'e.xtcrv. 



CuuRCHi;... A.D. I Chvbchi;s. A.D. 



AllSaiiits lO.'iO ; St. Hans 113(1 



Holy Ghost 104ti I St. Catherine 1160 



St. Lawrence 1046 St. Gertrude 1167 



St. Diottcn 1086 1 St. Maria 1190 



St. Peter 1086 j 



St. Michael 1090 I 



St. Nicholi.s 1097 I 



Of the CLiislian religion the following orders were fcjunded : 



A.D. 



Knights Hospitalers IICO 



Augustine Canons 1 105 



Cistertians 1128 



Knights Templars 1146 



The followirg extracts from Grose's Antiquities may further eluci- 

 date the subject. See preface, page liH. 

 (Stowe's words on the Cathedral of London.) 



" Payis .SOL J.C. printed by Unigman and Co.. 1S3'>. 



"In tlie year 10S7 the church of Saint Paul's (in London) was burnt 

 with fire, and therewitli most part of the city, Mauricius, then Bishop, 

 began therefore the new foundations of a new church of St. Paul, a 

 work that men of that time judged would never have been finished, it 

 was then so wonderfid for length and breadth, as also the same were 

 budded upon arches, or vaults of stone, for defence of fire, which was 

 a manner of work before that time unknown to the people of this 

 nation, and then brought from France, and tlie stone was fetched from 

 Caen, in Normandy, S:c. 



This, doubtless, is tliat new kind of architecture the continuer of 

 Bede (whose words Malmsbury hath taken up) intends, when, speaking 

 of the Norman income, he saitli, " Vou may observe every where, in 

 villages, churches, and in cities and villages, monasteries, erected with 

 a new kind of arcliitecture." 



And again, speaking doubtfully of the age of the eastern part of the 

 choir of Canterbury, In; adds, " I dare constantly and confidentiv denv 

 it to be elder than the Norman conquest, because of the buihling it 

 upon arches, a form of architecture, though in use with and among 

 the Romans long before, yet, after their departure, not used here in 

 England, till the Normans brought it over with tliem from France. 

 (Somner's Antiquities of Canterburv.)" 



Grose further observes, page Ilj, (on Saxon architecture) : 



"This was the style of building practised all over Europe ; and it 

 continued to be used by tlic Xonnans after their arrival here, till the 

 introduction of what is called Gothic, which was not till about the end 

 of the reign of Henry the First, so that there seems little or no grounds 

 for the distinction between the Saxon and Norman architecture. In- 

 deed, it is said, th.it buildings of the latter were of larger dimensions, 

 both in height and area, and they were constructed with a stone brought 

 from Caen in Normandy, of which the workmen were particularly 

 fond ; but this was simply an alteration in the scale and materials, and 

 not in the manner of tlie building. The ancient pait of our cathedrals 

 are of this early Norman work." 



That building was carried on in northern com tries. Jonas Ramus 

 states, in Norwegia Antiqua et Etbnica, pages SO and '.'O : 



That Drontliiem was built by Olave Tryggo, who became king of 

 Norway, A.D. 9'.)G, and Bergen was built by Olave Harald Kyrre, wdio 

 completed the Cathedral of Drontliiem began by Magnus the Good 

 and his father. Olave Harald Kvrre was buried at Dronthiem, A.D. 

 1093. Magnus the Good died lU 17. 



Roger de Montgomery built Ludlow Castle after the Norman Con- 

 quest. In the enceiut there existed a circular entrance to a chapel now 

 destroyed; this circular entrance has considerable resemblance to that 

 of the Temple Church in l.uudoii. The drawings of Ludlow Castle 

 made in 1771, show this building, and I have ni.ide a drawing of the 

 plan of the Wisby Churches to the same scale as that of the Temple 

 Church, in order that their dimensions may be compared. 



The period of the introduction of arches described with more than 

 one centre, is the matter_of doubt; but it can hardly be conceived that 

 a general appellation should be used without any foundation. The 

 Gothic monarchy in Spain was destroyed in the beginning of the Sth 

 century by the Saracens, and of the many buildings erected by them, 

 the arches are all of a circular character, not concentric, but of more 

 than a semi-circular form in the void. 



The Cathedral of Barcelona was began in 1299. 



That of Tarragona about - • 1200. 



The monastery of Poblet, which in the interior much resembles the 

 Wisby churches, in 1149. 



It is nut impossible that at the time tlie city of Wisby flourished, it 

 had overland communication with India, as the troubles of the Eastern 

 Roman Empire rendered the Mediterranean and its territories unsafe 

 for merchandise, and as there exist in India many buildings constructed 

 with arches even of four centres, it is possible that the Gothic arch 

 may thence be derived, yet the Indian arches reseinlile more the vault- 

 ings of the Tudor style, and the must perfect of them are as late in 

 the reign of Schah Abbas, who died in lli29. 



Bishop Warbnrton, as (pioted by Grose, says, our Norman works 

 had a very ditierent original from Saxon builders, wlio took their ideas 

 from the buildings of the Holv Land, for when the Goths conquered 

 Spain, they struck out a new sjiecies of architecture nnknown to Greece 

 or Rome, upon original principles, and ideas much nobler than what 

 had given birth even to classic i'. magnifieeuce. 



it is dillicult to reconcile the style of our finest cathedrals as to their 

 internal ranges of coupled columns with the groves of northern coun- 

 tries, because the lir seldom assumes, though the planted elm does, 

 the general character of ribbed arches, but there is a natural progres- 

 siciu of form proceeding from a repetition of the squares or round 

 column to the octagonal, and afterwards to the coupled column, and 

 the ribbed arches springing from the octagonal exist in the beautiful 

 remains of St. Catherine's cliurch at Wisbv. 



