Gothic architecture
Patrons
Empresses
Islam
Saints
Books
99

Gothic cathedral ceilings are composed of this type of vault, named for its intersecting elements.

RIB Vaults

99

He solved the problem of overcrowding in the old Romanesque cathedral of Chartres by redesigning it in a new style to promote his doctrine of “Nova Lux.”

Abbott SUGER

99

The Prima Porta Augustus was found at a villa belonging to this woman, the mother of Tiberius and wife of Augustus.

LIVIA

99

It’s the term for stripey alternation of different colored stone, especially in the arches of Islamic buildings, as in the hypostyle hall of the Mosque of Cordoba.

ABLAQ

99

Title pages of this evangelist’s gospel always feature a lion, sometimes with wings. 

Saint MARK

99

It's the earliest of the three big Insular Gospel Books, and includes a man in a checkerboard cloak as the incipit page of the gospel of Matthew.

Book of DURROW

200

Filled with tracery and stained glass, this is the big round window at the narthex end of the nave in a Gothic cathedral.

ROSE Window

200

He’s the Maurya dynasty ruler of India who commissioned the Great Stupa of Sanchi.

ASHOKA

200

She is shown presenting the eucharistic chalice in a mosaic in Ravenna’s church of San Vitale.

The Empress THEODORA

200

It’s located in the Mesjid Al-Haram in Mecca, and is the centre of much circumambulation during the Hajj.

The QA’ABA

200

They’re the two saints beseeching Jesus in the Deesis mosaic of the Hagia Sophia. 

MARY and JOHN THE BAPTIST

200

Blanche of Castile was the mother of this French king, depicted with her on the title page of the Moralised Bible from 1234 AD.

LOUIS IX

300

These are the structural solution to the problem of thin, tall walls. They provide exterior force to keep them upright.

FLYING BUTTRESSES

300

This Ottoman sultan was the patron of the architect Sinan, whom he commissioned to build a mosque with a bigger dome than the Hagia Sophia.

SELIM II

300

The wife of this ruler was a member of the powerful Fujiwara family, and she urged her husband to make Buddhism the official religion of Japan.

The Emperor SHOMU

300

The year 2024 AD is 1445 in the Muslim calendar, which dates from this event. 

The HEJIRA

300

These two saints flank the virgin Mary and baby Jesus in the encaustic icon from St. Catherine’s monastery.

Saints THEODORE and GEORGE

300

The Annals of Ulster record that this book was stolen in 1007 and found again hidden under a sod, but its jeweled cover was never recovered. 

The BOOK OF KELLS

400

These are the ornaments on the top of the piers of a Gothic cathedral.

PINNACLES

400

He is the probable patron of the Bayeux tapestry, since he was the bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of William the Conqueror.

Bishop ODO

400

She rose from the lowly position of a 14 year old concubine to become empress of China during the Tang Dynasty, and sponsored artwork in the Longmen Caves.

WU ZETIAN (WUHOU)

400

It’s an elevated platform or podium in a mosque.

MINBAR

400

She’s the mother of the Virgin Mary, depicted in scenes in Giotto’s Arena chapel and in a tondo by Fra Filippo Lippi.

St. ANNE

400

It's the script in which the Vatican Virgil is written.

RUSTIC CAPITALS

500

A visitation with classical drapery and an annunciation with a smiling Gabriel are among the almost-Renaissance jamb figures of this French cathedral.

RHEIMS

500

DAILY DOUBLE

This Safavid ruler of Persia commissioned the Shahnameh that includes the miniature painting of the Court of Gayumars.

500

She's the only person who went by the title "Empress of India."

Queen Victoria

500

Islamic architecture often features this type of arch, which is round at the top and narrower at the bottom than on the sides.

HORSESHOE arch

500

DAILY DOUBLE

This 12-year old girl was tortured to death with a red-hot brazier during the persecutions under Diocletian, and her relics were stolen from Agen by a monk from Conques.

500

It’s the book that contains Bahram Gur Fights the Karg and the Death of Iskander, and it assimilates its illustrations to the fashions and ethnicity of the dynasty that commissioned it. 

GREAT MONGOL SHAHNAMEH

M
e
n
u