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08580_Field_TCGG T345.txt
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1996-04-10
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941b
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16 lines
In a Romanesque church, light is something distinct from
and contrasting with the heavy, somber, tactile
substance of the walls. The Gothic wall seems to be
porous: light filters through it, permeating it, merging
with it, transfiguring it. . . . Light, which is ordinarily
concealed by matter, appears as the active principle; and
matter is aesthetically real only insofar as it partakes of,
and is defined by, the luminous quality of light. . . . In this
decisive aspect, then, the Gothic may be described as
transparent, diaphanous architecture.
These effects of diaphanous stone are obtained by stained
glass, but they are quite relevant to the medieval approach to
the human senses and to the senses of scripture above all. It is
interesting that Simson points out the tactile quality of stone.
An oral manuscript culture had no fear of tactility, the very