St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster: Visual and Political Culture, 1292-1941

这个为期三年的项目是约克大学和历史研究所与议会大厦合作开展的，并得到议会历史信托基金的支持。位于威斯敏斯特宫中心的圣斯蒂芬教堂是英国公共生活中最不寻常的延续范例之一。圣斯蒂芬教堂由爱德华一世建立，爱德华三世装饰华丽，是统治中世纪后期英格兰的君主制和教会联盟的代表。随着宗教改革的到来，它的院长和教士学院变得多余，圣斯蒂芬教堂进入了一个戏剧性的新阶段，成为下议院的第一个永久会议地点。近三百年来，议员们在一座曾经是礼拜堂的建筑里开会，用相对的长椅取代唱诗班的隔间，议长的椅子曾经是祭坛的所在地。当下议院在1834年的毁灭性大火中被烧毁时，这个空间被重新命名为圣斯蒂芬大厅，并分配了另一个新的角色，作为由巴里和普金建造的哥特式复兴宫殿的入口，它的形式保存到今天。通过同时重建圣斯蒂芬教堂、大厅和修道院的历史、艺术和建筑，这个项目帮助我们理解一个伟大的国家故事：从神圣的王室权力向议会民主的过渡。我们的项目汇集了一个由资深和早期职业历史学家和艺术历史学家组成的团队，他们有着不同的工作方式，跨越了七个世纪的年表，以解决一系列单一学科无法理解的问题。圣斯蒂芬教堂在英国政治文化中扮演了什么角色，它的现代遗产是什么？圣斯蒂芬对艺术和建筑的发展做出了什么贡献，它的织物以什么方式构造或反映了它在国民生活中不断变化的角色？我们的多学科方法嵌入了该项目的结构中，该项目将历史学家和艺术历史学家在一系列互补的研究主题中配对，以便为这座宏伟的建筑制作尽可能完整的传记。调查的主题包括圣斯蒂芬教堂的中世纪学院和教规；从皇家学院礼拜堂到下议院的改造；克里斯托弗·雷恩对圣斯蒂芬教堂的整修，以及保护其建筑遗产的古董努力；以及1834年后的大厅和幸存的安德克罗夫特礼拜堂，作为对中世纪辉煌的再现，一个独特的国家记忆遗址。为什么这个故事的整个跨度从未被讲述过？之前对圣斯蒂芬学院的研究一直是杂乱无章的，出人意料地缺乏，其提出的术语限制了它的影响，超出了直接的学术专业。公众的欣赏受到阻碍，因为很难想象一座有着复杂历史的建筑，以及进入令人惊叹的修道院和安德克罗夫特教堂的问题，这两座教堂仍在日常使用；巴黎的圣教堂是圣斯蒂芬教堂的原型，它更引人注目，相应地也更出名。我们的项目通过三种方式解决了学术和公众理解方面的不足：出版了一系列书籍、文章和会议论文，涵盖了圣斯蒂芬大教堂历史、建筑和文化意义的方方面面；通过在2015年学术会议和2016年国际会议期间促进公众进入圣斯蒂芬大厅、修道院和安德克罗夫特；以及通过虚拟圣斯蒂芬小街，这是由约克大学基督教和文化中心设计的、对该遗址演变不同阶段的数字重建，并利用由调查人员、研究员和助理以及博士生核心团队产生的数据。由此产生的在线资源由议会大厦托管，将保证我们的研究产生的学术和公共影响远远超出该项目的资助期限。

This three-year project is a collaboration between the University of York and the Institute of Historical Research, in partnership with the Houses of Parliament and supported by the History of Parliament Trust. St Stephen's Chapel, at the heart of the Palace of Westminster, is one of the most extraordinary examples of continuity in British public life. Founded by Edward I and sumptuously decorated by Edward III, St Stephen's was representative of the alliance between monarchy and church which governed later medieval England. With the arrival of the Reformation, its college of dean and canons became redundant and St Stephen's entered a dramatic new phase in its existence, as the first permanent meeting place of the House of Commons. For nearly three hundred years, MPs met in a building that had once been a chapel, with opposing benches in place of choir-stalls and the Speaker's chair where the altar had once been. When the Commons' Chamber was gutted in the devastating fire of 1834, the space was re-named St Stephen's Hall and assigned another new role as the entry-way to the Gothic Revival palace built by Barry and Pugin, the form in which it survives to this day. By simultaneously reconstructing the history, art and architecture of St Stephen's Chapel, Hall and Cloister, this project helps us to understand one of the great national stories: the transition from sacred royal power to parliamentary democracy. Our project brings together a team of senior and early career historians and art historians, with different ways of working and across a chronology of seven centuries, to address a set of questions which no single discipline can comprehend. What role has St Stephen's played in British political culture, and what is its modern legacy? What contribution has St Stephen's made to the development of art and architecture, and in what ways has its fabric constructed or reflected its changing role in national life? Our multi-disciplinary approach is embedded in the structure of the project, which pairs historians and art historians in a series of complementary research topics in order to produce the fullest possible biography of this magnificent building. Topics investigated include the medieval college and canons of St Stephen's; the conversion from royal collegiate chapel to Commons' Chamber; Christopher Wren's refurbishment of St Stephen's, and antiquarian efforts to protect its architectural heritage; and the post-1834 Hall and surviving Undercroft chapel as a recreation of the splendour of the middle ages, a unique site of national memory.Why has the full span of this story never been told? Previous research on St Stephen's has been disjointed and surprisingly scant, presented in terms that limit its impact beyond the immediate academic specialism. Public appreciation is hindered by the difficulty in visualising a building with a complex history, and by problems of access to the stunning Cloister and Undercroft, both still in daily use; the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, on which St Stephen's was modelled, is far more visible and correspondingly better known. Our project tackles this deficit in scholarly and public understanding in three ways: by publishing a series of books, articles and conference papers covering all aspects of the historical, architectural and cultural significance of St Stephen's; by facilitating public access to St Stephen's Hall, Cloister and Undercroft during the 2015 colloquium and 2016 international conference; and through the Virtual St Stephen's strand, a digital reconstruction of the site during the different phases of its evolution, designed by the University of York's Centre for Christianity and Culture and utilising the data generated by the core team of investigators, research fellow and assistants, and PhD student. The resulting online resource, hosted by the Houses of Parliament, will guarantee the academic and public impact of our research far beyond the funded life of this project.