bipirate:

i think one of the most interesting things is how, ever since the 19th century, the gothic has become almost synonymous with dark and eerie things, vampires and the like. artists and writers in the 19th century looked at those old and grimy buildings and were like, hell yeah, spooky shit. but it becomes even more interesting when you realise that those dark and grimy buildings weren’t dark or grimy at all when they were built; that darkness comes from years and years of smoke from candles and other grime building up. look at this picture from the restoration of the cathedral of chartres:

how fucking cool is this? so not only are those dark and creepy gothic stories from the 19th century just a fiction of the imagination of 19th century edge lords, but the actual medieval cathedrals were light and colourful. it makes you think about what age in history really deserves the term ‘the dark ages’, huh