Medieval Cathedrals Were Garishly Painted
Movies and TV often depict medieval castles and churches as consisting mainly of unadorned plain stone. However, people back then went for vibrant – even garish – colors when it came to buildings. New cathedrals, for example, were riots of color when they were inaugurated. Walls, saints, and even gargoyles were coated in the brightest paints available. Over the years, however, the paint faded. Then, as tastes evolved – and budgets diminished – repainting in the original vibrant colors was done with less and less frequency.
Eventually, such repainting was abandoned all together. Because of that, what we see of medieval churches and cathedrals that have survived into the present is that they are usually plain and unadorned. However, we should not assume that how those buildings look today is how they looked back in the Middle Ages. For example, the first photo, above, is of the façade of Notre Dame Cathedral of Reims today. The second photo is a laser projection on that façade, that depicts how it actually looked in the 1400s, based on bits of paint in the stone’s pores.
