# Do you prefer western or eastern medieval architecture?



## melissandre (Oct 16, 2018)

Im stuck between the British and Asian world and travel often, but this gives me a lot of opportunities to see architecture in Europe and Asia.

Do you people here prefer western style architecture (those found in Europe, often influenced by greek, roman, etc)
or eastern style architecture (those found in China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, etc)?

and I want to restrict it to around the years of 1000-1700ish

Eastern









































Western


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## wakka12 (May 17, 2015)

The western styles look a lot more diverse to me, though maybe Im just not familiar with the nuances of asian architecture. I admire both in different ways, both are beautiful, I dont really care what style a building is in, its the thought and care put it into its design and construciton that matters


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## Architecture lover (Sep 11, 2013)

Are we allowed to love both?
Or showing affinity for one, instantly makes you discredit the other?


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## Architecture lover (Sep 11, 2013)

Also the medieval European architecture wasn't influenced by Roman or Hellenic times, that happened after medieval Europe, so it'll be the Renaissance, something awfully different from the medieval principles. In the precise middle ages XI till XV century, Gothic was the style all across France, UK, Italy, in the three of them the Romanesque presence was still very apparent.
The pointed arch was inspired from Israel, the rest was Romanesque stone and Celtic love for nature.
Anyways, here's more of what was once, since I feel like the photos you shared are misrepresenting us a little bit:

Christendom - *EUROPA *
*XI - XV*









 



Cathédrale de Reims by Vins 64, on Flickr


Rouen Trio by Albert, on Flickr











Church of Our Lady before Týn by Karl Davison, on Flickr


Lincoln Cathedral Quarter by Graham Howarth, on Flickr


Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg by sfp - sebastian fischer photography, on Flickr











IMG_0668 by aec20879, on Flickr


Bordeaux. Cathedral of St André by vs1k. 1 500 000 visits, Thanks so much !, on Flickr​


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## Cameraman89 (Aug 23, 2018)

My favorite styles are Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque and Rococo.

melissandre, you write about East Asian architecture, but what about Islamic one?


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## Architecture lover (Sep 11, 2013)

Last but not least, you should've added *Both *as an option, for those few like me, who do not like the idea of loving only one thing, therefore rejecting the other.


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## melissandre (Oct 16, 2018)

Architecture lover said:


> Last but not least, you should've added *Both *as an option, for those few like me, who do not like the idea of loving only one thing, therefore rejecting the other.


it is multiple choice, you can select both


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## melissandre (Oct 16, 2018)

Cameraman89 said:


> My favorite styles are Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque and Rococo.
> 
> melissandre, you write about East Asian architecture, but what about Islamic one?


sorry, i dont really know much about islamic architecture so I didnt mention it.
but i really urge you to do an islamic version of this thread to get more feedback


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## melissandre (Oct 16, 2018)

wakka12 said:


> The western styles look a lot more diverse to me, though maybe Im just not familiar with the nuances of asian architecture. I admire both in different ways, both are beautiful, I dont really care what style a building is in, its the thought and care put it into its design and construciton that matters


thats true. i think maybe I made a mistake about the time of the designs I chose that represents the west.

but I think there really is more diversity in western historical designs.


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## Architecture lover (Sep 11, 2013)

Well I already had my fair share of European medieval, so here's something for China.
Wiki says the city was built from 1406 to 1420, and it consists of 980 buildings. Since it is XV century I suppose we can still consider it medieval?

Forbidden City | *CHINA *
XV 






















The Forbidden City - View from Coal Hill
Pixelflake [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons









Forbidden City Beijing (3019178959)
Dave Proffer [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons











Beijing-Verbotene Stadt-Pavillon der Verbreitung von Rechtschaffenheit-02-gje
Gerd Eichmann [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons









Neun-Drachen-Mauer
Seebeer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

This last painting is done by an Italian guy, but I believe it captures the fashion nicely.









The Qianlong Emperor in Ceremonial Armour on Horseback
Giuseppe Castiglione
[Public domain]​


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## Architecture lover (Sep 11, 2013)

I voted western, because didn't know I can choose both. My opinion on such topics always was: it's architecture, so why limit ourselves.
I've seen people hanging onto just one specific type of architecture, and everything else was/is considered blasphemy for them. Never liked being that way.


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## Architecture lover (Sep 11, 2013)

Here's the:
Temple of Heaven | *BEIJING *









11 Temple of Heaven
Philip Larson [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

And some beautiful, roof tiles 











Lingshi Jingsheng Wangjia Dayuan 2013.08.24 14-14-08
Zhangzhugang [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons​


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## UztoUS (Nov 13, 2018)

Cameraman89 said:


> My favorite styles are Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque and Rococo.
> 
> melissandre, you write about East Asian architecture, but what about Islamic one?


i agree. Islamic architecture, along with those in Europe and East Asia, were probably the big three greatest influential designs of that era


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