Emily's blog

  Robert de Luzarches, Thomas de Cormont, and Renaud de Cormont, Amiens Cathedral, Amiens, France, begun 1220 This cathedral is known as the Amiens Cathedral in Amiens France and was built in the 13th century, the tallest height the cathedral reaches is around 139 feet with and 476 feet long. This cathedral is known to be the largest of the three gothic cathedrals built of this century in France. The Gothic architecture although very complex, it is very beautiful the amount of detail sculpted into such buildings. Each piece of the outer entry way of this church symbolizes a story. The bottom portion of the entrance near the three doorways has several figures sculpted in order to invite people into the church. The way the archways funnel inward presents an invitation. Above the doors there is a strip across the whole front that has several figures standing next to each other and this is known as a kings gallery. The kings gallery consists of several figures that Christians believed ...

  House Altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti  and Three of their Daughters, c.1350 BCE This sculpture carved from limestone depicts the relationship between the king Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. This scene also features their three kids and shows a form of unity between them all as a family and their connection with one another. This piece goes to show Akhenaten's belief in monotheism (belief in only one god), which was controversial to other Egyptian beliefs. Traditionally, other Egyptians believed there to be multiple Gods, but Akhenaten made up his own God named Aten known to be the Sun God. This is where he came up with his own name Akhenaten, which stands for 'Aten is pleased.' The sun in this piece represents this God and there are rays of light shining down on the family with certain rays holding Ankhs were refer to the the Egyptian sign for life. This represents Aten giving the two life and only these two. They are also sitting on their own thrones which shows ...

  Mimar Sinan, courtyard of the Süleymaniye Mosque, İstanbul, 1558 The Suleymanive Mosque was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent or Suleiman I, known as the lawgiver of the Ottoman Empire who reigned from 1520 to about 1566. He was known for his long term of ruling and also his authority over at least 25 million people."Süleyman played many roles in his time as Sultan. He personally led the military through several important battles, introduced and passed new laws, wrote poetry, and invested in the culture of the Ottoman Empire by being at the helm of its “Golden Age.” (Architecture Courses, n.d.)  The mosque was constructed starting in 1550 and was not finished  until 1558 in Istanbul, Turkey. Now what exactly is a Mosque? Mosque is term to describe a place where people gather to mostly pray. Another part of the mosque are the towers surrounding it that are known as 'Minarets' and their purpose is to announce when it is time for prayer. "The courtya...

  Large kneeling statue of Hatshepsut c. 1479-58 B.C.E     This sculpture was made of the pharaoh Hatshepsut who was not a male king she was actually a woman who ruled Egypt up to two decades. She had a huge influence on Egyptian art and had many temples made and sculptures of herself made. This is how Hatshepsut portrayed her royalty is through the different sculptures made in her honor. The image above is one of the many she had made of herself kneeling gifting the gods. These specific sculptures were lined outside of her mortuary temple that she had made carved out of a cliff face. Hatshepsut ruled during the New Kingdom ( C. 1550-1070 B.C.E) and adopted the older Egyptian style and that is why she is portrayed wearing the headdress, beard, small pronounced breasts, and broad shoulders. She wanted to be known as king therefore she was going to portray herself as a king. There were not a lot of women that ruled as kings in this time period...

Terracotta amphora with lid                                                                                                                                                                                                              The history behind the Etruscan's is pretty fascinating considering how they began their civilization and how they developed a vibrant artistic culture. ...

Laocoon and His Sons Antiphas and Thymbraeus.  The Lacoon is a very popular marble sculpture that stands 8 feet high and is assumed to have been sculpted around 42-20 BCE. Another interesting thing to note is the uncertainty of whether this sculpture is an original Roman piece or if it is a copy of an earlier on Greek sculpture. If this is the case, it is hypothesized that its three sculptors Hagesander, Athenodoros, and Polydorus were all very skilled at copying Greek pieces for the wealthy Romans. With this theory in mind, it is probable that this piece is a copy of a bronze Hellenistic version. The story behind this sculpture explains how the Trojan priest Laocoon tried warning the Trojans about sneaking into the city of Troy for it might be a trap. In doing so, the Greek goddess Athena punished Laocoon in order to protect the Greeks, by sending two giant snakes after him and his two sons. As you can see one son breaks free from the grasp of the snakes while the other two perish...

  Restoration project Rome's Colosseum      What precautions are being taken when either trying to conserve or restore an archaeological site? What is the difference between conservation and restoration? In order for us to conserve an artifact of any sort it must be handled with expertise and care so there is no loss of important historic data. Mistreatment of any artifact would ultimately result in loss of history and no one wants that! Conserving may consist of cleaning, documentation, analysis, and or making sure the artifact is stable in the state it is discovered. Restoration on the other hand deals with fixing damaged parts or replacing of parts that might have gone missing or that have deteriorated over time. Recognizing the importance of preserving these artifacts whether it be through conservation or restoration or even both, can make studying said artifacts much easier. A good example of a restoration project is the C...

The Great Sphinx ( around 2603-2578 B.C.).                  The Great Sphinx is known to be one of the largest monuments in the world, located in Giza, Egypt. It stands 66 feet tall and lays 240 feet long and was carved from a giant piece of limestone. This monument is theorized to be sculpted for the King Khafre when he reigned in (c. 2575–c. 2465 BCE). The head of the sculpture is thought to be the head of King Khafre, which is attached to the body of a lion hence why it gets the name sphinx. "The statue was never known as 'the sphinx' by the ancient Egyptians. The word 'sphinx' is Greek and came to be applied to the Egyptian sculpture at Giza, according to Verner (and others) through a translation of the Egyptian name shesep-ankh ("living image") by which the Egyptians referred to the piece as well as to other representations of royal figures." (Mark, Joshua)    " The lion was a royal symbol as well as being connected with t...