Medieval Heritage

These images are from the book "The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain" (1807-14) by John Britton.

Despite the illustration are very typical for 19th century books they are surprising in a historical context. Only few years before artists used to travel to Italy where they painted classical ruin scenarios.

Kenilworth


Lindisfarne

In the aesthetic of ruins this was a great step from these classical roman ruins to the own "homemade" ones. It was a step towards romanticism and towards national history. The ruins of Romanesque and Gothic architecture became symbols of a national heritage.