Hello, I'd like to welcome you to this episode of exploring art history with Ian. My name is Ian McConnell. And today's lesson is about the Chaitya hall in Karle, India. As we're watching the video feel free to pause, move forward, or rewind as many times as you feel is necessary. And as soon as you're ready we can begin.
Today's objectives of the things we're going to learn today are listed below. By the end of the lesson today you'll be able to identify and define today's key terms, and describe the stylistic elements of the Chaitya Hall in Karle. Key terms is always are listed in yellow throughout the lesson.
First key term is Chaitya Hall. A Prayer hall in a Buddhist or Jain shrine. And Gandhara Style is stucco or stone sculptures, a style of Buddhist art which showed Greek and Indian influences. The big idea for today is that the Chaitya Hall is a type of prayer hall in a Buddhist or Jain shrine.
So when in history does is take place? Well construction began in the first century BC, but additional elements were added in the first century AD. And Karle, India is nearby Sanchi, India where the location the Great Stupa is but it's position closer to the west coast of India and the Indian Ocean, not quite on the coast but very close.
So Chaitya Hall in Karle incorporates stylistic elements from the Gandhara period in India and what's referred to as the Gandhara Style. And the Gandhara Style demonstrated a blending of Greek and Indian styles. And the spread of the Empire of the Greece-- or Empire of Greece during the reign of Alexander the Great went as far as the Northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. And the exchange of cultural ideas is apparent in the architecture of Chaitya Hall, particularly in the stone columns that line the central hall.
The other interesting architectural element is the use of rounded arches which are wooden, not stone. And this combination with the columns in the rounded arches resembles the architectural design of Christian churches, hundreds of years later. So in this close up you can see how the architectural style of later Christian churches is similar to this. Here I'm showing the wooden rounded arches and the Greek style stone column, as opposed to the altar that you would find at the end of the hallway of a Christian church, the central nave is what it's called. Here we have the stone stupa, characteristic of a Buddhist shrine.
So that's the end of the lesson, let's take a look at our objectives to see how we did. Now that you've seen the lesson are you able to identify and define today's key terms? Can you describe the stylistic elements of the Chaitya Hall in Karle? Once again, the big idea for today is at the Chaitya Hall is a type of prayer hall in the Buddhist or Jain shrine. And that is it. Thank you for joining me today. See you next time.
