Art in an Early Global World at WAM: A WAM/College of the Holy Cross CollaborationMain MenuAmanda Luyster17d39c1ecea88fb7ff282fe74a410b89478b8327Created by the Worcester Art Museum and the College of the Holy Cross, with the Worcester Public Schools AP Art History class of 2024. Financial support provided by the Medieval Academy of America and "Scholarship in Action" at Holy Cross.
A ceiling is an essential part of any room, but ceilings rarely draw our attention like the Spanish Ceiling does. Roofs and ceilings provide shelter and define a space which is separate from the “outside” world. The long wooden beams of the Spanish Ceiling were also structurally important, as they could support upper floors. Many medieval buildings were designed to be seen from within: hence, decoration was focused on the floors, walls, and ceilings of rooms. These decorative elements were also concentrated on the lower floors, which were more public and utilized more frequently than the upper floors during the hot Spanish summers. This ceiling was decorated lavishly with geometric and floral ornament to suggest the wealth and power of its patrons. The ceiling functioned as a status symbol and would have impressed visitors. The intricate and elegant designs on the Spanish Ceiling would have drawn the eyes of all who gathered under it in the fifteenth century, just as it does today, more than half a millennium later.
