Scholarly record

SPATIAL AND ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE HANSEATIC CITIES ON THE BALTIC SEACOAST IN THE 13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES

Silvija Ozola

Abstract

The Roman Catholic Church had a special influence. During the economic and cultural upswing, an abbey built in Cluny became a sample in the church building during the 9th–11th century. Various trends in the cathedral building existed in different regions of Western Europe. On the Baltic Sea coast, the Pope of Rome and the Holy Roman Emperor started to spread the Catholic faith by the mid-12th century. In cities, cathedrals took the leading position and replaced monastery churches in the 13th century. The commercial importance of the trading centre of Lubeck increased when it joined with Hamburg in 1241 to form the nucleus of the Hanseatic League. Churches for citizenship Catholic parishes became architectural dominates in Hanseatic cities. An important trade city of Riga became the main economic base of the Teutonic Order and the Riga Archbishopric Centre, where urban space developed. Research object: urban space of the 13th and 14th centuries in Hanseatic cities. Research problem: sacral buildings changed urban aesthetics and the development of cities’ planning; the spatial and artistic quality of Hanseatic cities had been sufficiently studied to preserve their identity during the development of the contemporary urban environment. Novelty: analysis of common and distinctive artistic features in European and Latvian Hanseatic cities in the 13th and 14th centuries. Research goal: analyse the impact of churches on the development of cities in the 13th and 14th centuries. Methods: analysis of archive documents, cartographic materials, studies of published literature, an inspection of churches in nature, photo fixation.

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