The Geometry of Gothic Architecture and the Proportions of the Music of the Spheres

  • Josep LluisiGinovart School of Architecture Barcelona, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
  • Mónica López-Piquer
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/adr.v1i2.722

Abstract

The heptagonal shape and its geometric layout have been the subject of a great deal of speculation.  Because some apses in Gothic cathedrals are heptagonal, there must be a methodology implicit in the layout of the geometric shape. Two particularly important sources help us arrive at an understanding: the exceptional of the Capitular archive of the Cathedral of Tortosa, which contains the main neo-Platonic sources among its codices dating from thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the parchment known as la traça de Guarc (c.1345-1380), which shows the layout of the non-constructed cathedral. These sources show a heptagonal apse with an arithmetical and geometric dimension, based on a metrological and tonal musical proportion of 9/8, which is perfectly compatible with the bases of the quadrivium. The lateral and radial chapel, as the basic unit and feature element in fourteenth-century Gothic cathedral design, can be used as a pattern, and its measurement establish the basic unit for the overall proportions of the cathedral. This is the Music of Spheres that also appears at the Harmonices Mundi, Livri V (1619), by Johannes Kepler.

Author Biography

Josep LluisiGinovart, School of Architecture Barcelona, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Prof. Dr.Josep Lluis i Ginovart, is graduated in Architecture from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) and holds a PhD from the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. He is Professor of Architectural Heritage Intervention. He also is Dean at the School of Architecture Barcelona, Universitat Internacional Catalunya (Spain),where he also teaches intervention in architectural heritage. He also heads the research group “Architectural Heritage Patri-ARQ”, which activity is focused on the assessment of built heritage. He has also been Head of Architecture Department, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). He also is Magíster operis sedis Dertusae and Director of the Master Plan of Santa María de Tortosa Cathedral. His research focuses on medieval architecture and geometry from the point of view of historical construction.
Published
2021-06-10
Issue
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021)
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2021 Josep LluisiGinovart, Mónica López-Piquer

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