Your favourite medieval window (and stone buildings general) - We're all grown-ups here.

[pink cupcake frosting]

rose, oriel, tudor, in that order

 

[fist_of_khonshu]

Honestly love the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres. Not only because this thing has withstood 4 fires, multiple reconstructions, restorations and so forth in its extensive history. But also because 80 percent of the stain glass is the orignal installation.

 

[Beelzebub's Lawyer]

I like the 3rd story window of Prague's Hradcany castle, the one famous for the Defenestration of Prague.
It's probably the only medieval window with actual historical importance.

 

[OutInTheRain]

I like the 3rd story window of Prague's Hradcany castle, the one famous for the Defenestration of Prague.
It's probably the only medieval window with actual historical importance.
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There were three Defenestrations of Prague, turns out the Czechs really enjoy tossing out people from windows.

The one that occurred in the tower pictured led to the Thirty Years War and eventually lead to the greatest atrocity of the 19th century...the unification of Germany.

 

[biguglyboy]

It's hard for me to exalt tudor when looking at the window in isolation there, but something about the style as a whole tickles my fancy right.

 

[Otterly]

I would love to see Rosslyn chapel myself. But functional beehive? Bees in the cathedral? THERE ARE BEES IN THE CATHEDRAL!

https://www.rosslynchapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/256_Rosslyn_Article_Medieval_Beehives_hr3.pdf

There are! The place is well worth a visit. It’s beautiful and weird.

 

[Overly Serious]

It's hard for me to exalt tudor when looking at the window in isolation there, but something about the style as a whole tickles my fancy right.

I think there weren't as many great religious buildings made in the period after the Reformation. So we have fewer grand examples of the style in churches. But you had a rise in the Middle Class I think so a lot of new houses in both town and country. I think Tudor style houses of the day look beautiful:


And this interior view of one shows what I think to be a real strong point - they bring in so much light whilst still having that feeling of strength due to the stonework. A window should make the interior of a place uplifting. Especially a house of God.



Decorated Gothic is beating it out in the poll by more than 3:1 though, with only Oriel even passing the half-way mark to its popularity. People really love that Decorated Gothic for some reason.

https://www.rosslynchapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/256_Rosslyn_Article_Medieval_Beehives_hr3.pdf

There are! The place is well worth a visit. It’s beautiful and weird.

God loves bees!

Honestly, it's a lovely image, sitting in a warm Church on a Sunday morning as the bees drone above and the bishop drones below.

 

[Otterly]

they bring in so much light whilst still having that feeling of strength due to the stonework.

These would be my preference from your list for a home I lived in. I love houses flooded with light and old stonework and period features. For a church, unless a tiny one, I prefer the grander soaring styles because of the vertical elevation (however I realise ‘what’s your favourite church window’ was not your original question.)
One of my pet hates about modern houses is the windows. Older houses have proportionally pleasing and larger windows, and modern ones are often really odd proportions so it looks like some kind of machine gun nest. Windows narrow and wide, rather than taller and proportioned. It feels liked you’re trapped.
Golden ratio all the way, please.

 

[Overly Serious]

These would be my preference from your list for a home I lived in. I love houses flooded with light and old stonework and period features. For a church, unless a tiny one, I prefer the grander soaring styles because of the vertical elevation (however I realise ‘what’s your favourite church window’ was not your original question.)
One of my pet hates about modern houses is the windows. Older houses have proportionally pleasing and larger windows, and modern ones are often really odd proportions so it looks like some kind of machine gun nest. Windows narrow and wide, rather than taller and proportioned. It feels liked you’re trapped.
Golden ratio all the way, please.

There's so much about modern homes that just disregards all the accumulated wisdom of the past and windows one of those aspects (see what I did there?). Like in the Sixties or Seventies suddenly there was a vogue for fully floor to ceiling windows which has never gone away. A nightmare for damp accumulation as well a ripping away the normal warm feeling of enclosure and safety a home should give you.

I see your point about the grander soaring style being perhaps more suitable for some large religious building. They have a majestic quality about them.

 

[Philipp Amthor]

I went with decorated Gothic, but I like them all.

 

[KebabShopSauce]

Honestly love the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres. Not only because this thing has withstood 4 fires, multiple reconstructions, restorations and so forth in its extensive history. But also because 80 percent of the stain glass is the orignal installation.

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I've also been to this one. The international stained glass centre and gallery located next door to it is also very, very good.

 

[Otterly]

Like in the Sixties or Seventies suddenly there was a vogue for fully floor to ceiling windows which has never gone away. A nightmare for damp accumulation as well a ripping away the normal warm feeling of enclosure and safety a home should give you.

Urgh yeah. There’s some near me which have such big windows you can see the whole room. That sort of thing is ok in a modern house if you overlook a lake or something but these are just suburban. Zero privacy, you’d feel on display all the time.
Homes should be a good balance of light and airy amd cosy. Older houses do miles better

 

[femboy fart huffer]

https://www.rosslynchapel.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/256_Rosslyn_Article_Medieval_Beehives_hr3.pdf

There are! The place is well worth a visit. It’s beautiful and weird.

Don't beehives need to be cleaned out every few years though? How the fuck do you do that when it's 30m high and the hive is a 50kg block of stone.

 

[The best and greatest]

Perhaps one of the Decorated Gothic gang can explain to me what makes it so superior.

Sublime and perfect symmetry of threes, pleasing balance between ornate and austere (my primary grievance with the oriel): neither overcomplex nor simple. Its the optimal window

 

[Otterly]

Don't beehives need to be cleaned out every few years though? How the fuck do you do that when it's 30m high and the hive is a 50kg block of stone.

Carefully, I’d imagine.

 

[Xenia]

Oreo.

 

[Overly Serious]

Oreo.

Oh, you!

 

[VMM_]

Both the Orvieto and Milan cathedrals are is probably my favorite use of rose windows.

Milan Cathedral. The sun motif is a nod to the Visconti family, who financed the construction of the church.


Orvieto Cathedral

 

[Looney Troons]

Likely goes without being stated for anyone autistic enough to post in this thread with a modicum of earnestness, but the arches that frames these beautiful pieces of lost art were often load bearing. Same basic principle of bridges. You’re not only getting a work of art, but you’re getting something that is important to the entire structural integrity of the building.

I love art when it is both wondrous and functional.

 

[Overly Serious]

Both the Orvieto and Milan cathedrals are is probably my favorite use of rose windows.

Milan Cathedral. The sun motif is a nod to the Visconti family, who financed the construction of the church.
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Orvieto Cathedral
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Those interior shots really bring home to me how different Eastern Orthodox churches often are inside. Look how bright these interiors are. Especially considering the typically smaller windows:



Even the British version of an Orthodox church carries this feel over. This is the interior (and exterior) of the Greek Orthodox Church in Toxteth (Liverpool).


The stonework is certainly simpler, less ornate. And the windows are probably closest to Lancet or Norman. I can't help but wonder about both the difference in mindset that the different styles might imply, or the difference in mindset they might bring about.

Likely goes without being stated for anyone autistic enough to post in this thread with a modicum of earnestness, but the arches that frames these beautiful pieces of lost art were often load bearing. Same basic principle of bridges. You’re not only getting a work of art, but you’re getting something that is important to the entire structural integrity of the building.

I love art when it is both wondrous and functional.

There is a beauty in functionality. Yet that brings to mind Brutalist architecture and is perhaps a reason I dislike it so much. It affects a triumph of functionality and yet often it is less functional than the classic architecture it tries to replace.