Table of Contents

I. Gothic Architecture

II. Architectural Character

A. Church Plan

B. Materials

C. Pointed Arch

D. Ribbed Vaults

E. Flying Buttress

F. Windows

G. Ornamentation

III. Different Gothic Architecture

A. Gothic Architecture in France

B. Gothic Architecture in the British Isles

C. Gothic Architecture in Germany and Central Europe

D. Gothic Architecture in Low Countries

E. Gothic Architecture in Spain and Catalan Countries

F. Gothic Architecture in Italy

IV. Gothic Revival

V. Bibliography

I. Gothic Architecture

Gothic Architecture is an architectural style that emerged in the first half of the 12th

century from Romanesque antecedents. Gothic Architecture originated from France and the style continued into the 16th century and was commonly known as the "French Style". The Gothic style was initiated by Abbot Suger who remodelled the Abbey of St. Denis monastery St. Denis was one of the last great monastic churches to be built; and it is known as the cradle of Gothic art.

Gothic Architecture is characterized by the vertical lines of tall pillars and spires, greater height in interior spaces, the pointed arch, rib vaulting, and the flying buttress. These features are evident in many cathedrals, abbeys and churches in Europe.

II. Architectural Character

A. Church PlanThe plan for most Gothic churches use the Latin

cross or "cruciform" plan, with a long nave making the body of the church, a transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it, an extension which may be called the choir, chancel or presbytery.. The nave is generally flanked on either side by aisles, usually singly, but sometimes double.

The nave is generally considerably taller than the aisles, having clerestory windows which light the central space. Gothic churches of the Germanic tradition often have nave and aisles of similar height and are called Hallenkirche. In the South of France there is often a single wide nave and no aisles, as at Sainte-Marie in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.

B. Materials

The types of materials that were used in construction during the earlier periods heavily depend on their local availability and accessibility.

In France, several types of limestone were readily available and the very fine white limestone from the Caen area was much favored for sculptural decoration. England had a coarser limestone, red sandstone and also a dark green Purbeck marble which took its name from a peninsula in the English county of Dorset from which it was quarried.In Italy, whereas stone was used for fortifications, brick was much preferred for buildings and because of the widespread and varied deposits of marble many buildings were faced with it. Because local building stone was unavailable in Northern Germany and Poland, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and in the Baltic countries there was a strong tradition of

Plan of Amiens Cathedral in France

A façade which ogival or pointed arches

Ribbed vault at the Neims Cathedral in France

building with brick which led to the term "Backsteingotik" in Germany and Scandinavia and the term can be rendered as "Brick Gothic".

C. Pointed Arch

A Gothic arch is a sharp-pointed arch, formed of two arc segments. The lower part of the arch is parallel sided, up to the level of the springing points.

The Gothic arch was a major feature of the architecture of the Middle Ages. The Gothic arch evolved from the round-topped Roman arch. The Gothic architects and builders discovered the amazing strength and stability of using pointed arches. The walls of Gothic buildings could be thinner because the weight of the roof was supported by the arches rather than the walls. The use of the Gothic arch gave the builders tremendous flexibility. The arch could not only support greater weights but could also span greater distances, allowing vaults to be taller and wider.

D. Ribbed Vaults

By the 12th century, architects realized the superiority of the groined vault compared to the barrel vault and started to add ribs, which were used to support the weight of the vault. Cross-ribbed vaulting functions as plain groined vaulting, except that it is reinforced with ribs, and can be made much thinner. The vault uses a diagonally reinforced

arch resting on thin pillars, permitting the walls to be hollowed out , and also allowing the vaults to extend higher.

At Amiens, for example, the introduction of an extra transverse rib between the diagonal ribs of the vault allowed for a lighter and more elevated interior. Such light, skeletal construction employing cross ribbed-vaults and other thin carrying structures, replaced the massiveness of Romanesque vaults. This had the revolutionary effect of opening up the interior space of a large building such as a church. As the Gothic era progressed, vaulting became increasing complex and saw the development of more varied forms such as the quatri-partite vault and the sexpartite vault. Slender columns and stained glass windows also gave the church a more spacious and heightened effect.

E. Flying Buttress

A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. It serves to transmit the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards (which may arise from stone vaulted ceilings or from wind-loading on roofs) across an intervening space and ultimately down to the ground. Flying buttress systems have two key components

(c) Rüdiger Wölk

(c) Magnus Manske

Gargoyles in Notre-Dame, Paris

Dog-tooth moulding

Sainte Chapelle’s Rose window

Sainte Chapelle’s stained window

- a massive vertical masonry block (the buttress) on the outside of the building and a segmental or quadrant arch bridging the gap between that buttress and the wall.

F. Windows

One of characteristic of Gothic Architecture is the expansive area of the windows. Sainte Chapelle, Gloucester Cathedral and Milan Cathedral are examples which use very large size of many individual windows. The increase in size between windows of the Romanesque and Gothic periods is related to the use of the ribbed vault, and in particular, the pointed ribbed vault which channeled the weight to a supporting shaft with less outward thrust than a semicircular vault.

Through the Gothic period, due to the versatility of the pointed arch, the structure of Gothic windows developed from simple openings to immensely rich and decorative sculptural designs like famous wheel or Rose window. The windows were very often filled with stained glass which added a dimension of colour to the light within the building, as well as providing a medium for figurative and narrative art.

G. Ornamentation

The most characteristic ornament is the dog-tooth, which was generally placed in hollow mouldings, and was used in great profusion. Chisel was generally used, taking the place of the axe in the Early Norman period. Carved foliage is conventional, and crisp and fine in treatment typical examples consisting of convex curling masses, known as " stiff leaf foliage." Flat surfaces are often richly diapered, as in Westminster Abbey.

Gargoyles are also used as ornamentation. Gargoyles are carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building. Many medieval cathedrals included gargoyles. The most famous examples are those of Notre Dame de Paris. Although most have grotesque features, the term gargoyle has come to include all types of images. Some gargoyles were depicted as monks, or combinations of real animals and people, many of which were humorous. The origins of the word 'gargoyle' are derived from the old French word 'gargouille' meaning throat. Gargoyles came into Gothic Architecture in the early 13th century.

III. Different Gothic Architecture

(c) Jean-Christophe BENOIST

Saint-Denis Cathedral

For nearly almost hundred years, Gothic style dominated the architecture of Western Europe. Originating in northern France, it spread rapidly across England, the empire of Scandinavia, the Byzantine provinces of Central Europe and the Near East and the Americas. In the 14th century, Gothic had become the universal style of building in the Western world, and it included many types of structures. Gothic architects designed town halls, royal palaces, courthouses and hospitals, they fortified cities and castles to defend lands against invasion, and they created bridges and hostelries to facilitate communication. But it was in the service of the Church that the Gothic style attained its most meaningful expression, for the Church was the most prolific builder of the Middle Ages, providing the widest scope for the development of architectural ideas and calling forth the best talents.

A. Gothic Architecture in France

French Gothic Architecture is a prevalent architectural style in France from 12th to 15 century. It is divided into four styles: Early Gothic, High Gothic, Rayonnant, and Flamboyant Gothic.

In France, during the first half of the 12th century, Gothic rib vaulting appeared sporadically in a number of churches. The particular phase of Gothic architecture that was to lead to the creation of the northern cathedrals, however, was initiated in the early 1140s in the construction of the chevet of the royal abbey church of Saint-Denis, the burial church of the French kings and queens near the outskirts of Paris. In the ambulatory of Saint-Denis, the slim columns supporting the vaults and the elimination of the dividing walls separating the radiating chapels result in a new sense of flowing space presaging the expanded spaciousness of the later interiors.

Saint-Denis led in the 1160s to the first of the great cathedrals, Notre Dame (begun 1163) in Paris, and to a period of experimentation in voiding the walls and in reducing the size of the internal supports. The addition of an extra story to the traditional three-story elevation of the interior increased the height dramatically. This additional story, known as the triforium, consists of a narrow passageway inserted in the wall beneath the windows of the clerestory (upper part of the nave of a church, containing windows) and above the large gallery over the side aisles. The triforium opens out into the interior through its own miniature arcade.

High Gothic started with the construction of Chartres cathedral, which was the first cathedral to include flying buttresses from the first original plan of the building. High Gothic started to change the layout of the floor of the cathedral by evolving the early square schematics of Romanesque and Early Gothic into the rectangular bay system, again, opening up spaces and dissolving walls. This style also focused on developing an organic feel of space and light and further simplified the wall elevation style into tripartite elevation, getting rid of the gallery and lengthening the clerestory. An example of this is St. Chapelle, where the

clerestory was lengthened to such an extreme to form the most of the wall. Another attempt at simplifying and unifying the spaces inside the cathedrals was the simplification of the vault sections from sexpartite into quadripartite vaulting.

French cathedrals focus in on the rush to the sky and vertical upsweep of walls and flying buttresses in an attempt to again, unite space and light along an upward stretch for heaven. The most extreme example of this is Beauvais Cathedral, which is the highest of all Gothic Cathedrals and one of the last great High Gothic structures

From 1226 to 1270, Gothic architecture entered a new phase, known as the Rayonnant. The word Rayonnant is derived from the radiating spokes, like those of a wheel, of the enormous rose windows that are one of the features of the style. Height was no longer the prime objective. Rather, the architects further reduced the masonry frame of the churches, expanded the window areas, and replaced the external wall of the triforium with traceried glass. Instead of the massive effects of the High Gothic cathedrals, both the interior and the exterior of the typical Rayonnant church now more nearly assumed the character of a diaphanous shell. All these features of the Rayonnant were incorporated in the first major undertaking in the new style, the rebuilding of the royal abbey church of Saint-Denis. Of the earlier structure only the ambulatory and the west facade were preserved. The best example of Rayonnant is the Sainte-Chapelle, the spacious palace chapel built by Louis IX on the Île de la Cité in the center of Paris. Large windows, rising from near the pavement to the arches of the vaults, occupy the entire area between the vaulting shafts, thus transforming the whole chapel into a sturdy stone framework for the radiant stained-glass windows.

Late Gothic leaves many of the primary ideals of High Gothic behind. Late Gothic is most identified by the flamboyant style, which comes from the French term for "flame-like." The ornamentation is very lacy and flame-like, with many small detailed perforations, multiple buttressing, and a slight Celtic-Germanic style. The size also decreased, where the focus still remained on the inside unity, lightness of stone, and organic forms, but the sense of space and rush for height and size was entirely lost.

B. Gothic Architecture in the British Isles

The Gothic Architecture in the British Isles or the English Gothic Architecture, naturally evolved from the Romanesque Architecture which known in England as Norman Architecture. Many of the largest and finest works of English architecture, notably the medieval cathedrals of England, are largely built in the Gothic style. So also are castles, palaces, great houses, universities, and other buildings, including almshouses and trade halls. Another important group of Gothic buildings in England are the parish churches, which, like the medieval cathedrals, are often of earlier, Norman foundation.

The English Gothic Architecture is divided into three styles: The Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular.

Westminster Abbey

Early English of the English Gothic started from the late 12th century until midway through the 13th century. The most significant and characteristic development of the Early English period was the pointed arch known as the lancet. Pointed arches were used almost universally, not only in arches of wide span such as those of the nave arcade, but also for doorways and lancet windows. The arched windows are usually narrow by comparison to their height and are without tracery. For this reason Early English Gothic is sometimes known as the "Lancet" or "First Pointed" style. Although arches of equilateral proportion are most often employed, lancet arches of very acute proportions are frequently found and are a highly characteristic of the style. A notable example of steeply pointed lancets being used structurally is the apsidal arcade of Westminster Abbey.

The Decorated Style is characterised by wider windows. The windows were decorated with tracery and ornamentation. Gothic Rose Windows are associated with great Gothic Churches and Cathedrals however some small Rose Windows were featured in the Chapels of Gothic Castles. Rose Windows were a decorative by-product of the development of stained glass. The innovative use of vaults and buttresses in weight support allowed for the elaborate Rose Windows to be featured in the building as a major entry of light.

The Perpendicular Gothic period is the third historical division of English Gothic architecture, and is so-called because it is characterised by an emphasis on vertical lines; it is also known as International Gothic, the Rectilinear style, or Late Gothic.

The Perpendicular style began to emerge c. 1350. Harvey (1978) puts the earliest example of a fully formed Perpendicular style at the chapter house of Old St Paul's Cathedral, built by William Ramsey in 1332. It was a development of the Decorated style of the late 13th century and early 14th century, and lasted into the mid 16th century. It began under the royal architects William Ramsey and John Sponlee, and fully developed in the prolific works of Henry Yevele and William Wynford.

C. Gothic Architecture in Germany and Central Europe

During the 15th century Germany experimented with their Gothic and Medieval Architecture designs. German architects worked with Gothic vault structures in an attempt to create the largest possible spaces with ceiling design. Emphasis was placed on creating hall churches, which were built with a long section where people could sit, called the nave. On each side of the nave there was a lower aisle; the nave and the isle were fashioned to be the same height. Examples of these hall churches in Germany include St. Martin’s, Landshut.

German Gothic designs used double choirs, that is, churches with apses (a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome). Typically, they were

situated at both the east and west ends of the building. Details incorporated into designs were borrowed from Italian Gothic design.

Mouldings used were simple and basic. The most internal distinctive feature of German Gothic design was the great height of the triforium, a shallow gallery of arches within the thickness of inner wall, which stands above the nave. German designers experimented with geometrical figures and lines, which mostly translated into elaborate tracery for windows and paneling. German architects created a large collection of brick buildings in their medieval designs, a collection that is not seen as much in other European countries. Part of this is attributed to the fact that brick was an easy natural resource for builders.

Although Gothic buildings in Germany possess many universal structures specific of Gothic Architecture, many of the buildings possess a distinct national character that is not found in other European countries. The trademark building of German Gothic are the, Heidelberg Castle, Altes Rathaus in Wildeshausen and the Regensburg Cathedral.

D. Gothic Architecture in Low Countries

Low Countries, also called Benelux Countries, coastal region of northwestern Europe, consisting of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The Low Countries are bordered by Germany to the east and France to the south.

Metal work was the art of the Low Countries. This was carried on to the Gothic Period. Gothic shrine-builders became experts in metal structures. An example is S. Gertude at Nivelles. These designs could assume a delicacy and a degree of fantastic elaboration far beyond the scope of masonry or timber work. Aside from this, the distinct characteristic of the Gothic Architecture in the Low Countries cannot be determined because the relevant structures have disappeared.

E. Gothic Architecture in Spain and Catalan Countries

Spanish Gothic Architecture started as a result of Central European influence in the 12th century when late Romanesque alternated with few expressions of pure Gothic architecture. The High Gothic arrives with all its strength through the pilgrimage route, the Way of Saint James, in the 13th century. Some of the most pure Gothic cathedrals in Spain, with German and French influence, were built at this time.

The most important post−thirteenth-century Gothic styles in Spain are the Levantino & Isabelline Gothic. Levantino is characterized by its structural achievements and the unification of space. An example of the Levantino style is the Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma or commonly known as La Seu. Isabelline Gothic is made under the Catholic Monarchs,that supposed a transition to Renaissance. An example of Isabelline Gothic is the Royal Chapel of Grenada which is a mausoleum that houses the remains of the Catholic Monarchs.

Cathedral of Santa Maria or also known as La Seu

Chiaravalle Abbey

Gothic Architecture in the Catalans grew up and was strengthened during the 13th and 14th centuries a moment of prosperity in trade and of prestige for the monarchy and the church. The result was the adoption of characteristic architectural forms and construction methods in civil, military and religious architecture.

F. Gothic Architecture in Italy

The Gothic architecture appeared in Italy in the 12th century. Italian Gothic always maintained peculiar characteristic which differentiated its evolution from that in France, where it had originated, and in other European countries. Italian architects preferred to keep the construction tradition established in the previous countries. Aesthetically, in Italy the vertical development was rarely important.

The first Italian Gothic structures were Cistercian abbeys. They spread in the whole Italian territory, often adapting the construction techniques to the local traditions. The most important Gothic structures in the 12th century include the Chiaravalle Abbey in northern Italy and the Casamari Abbey in central Italy. Among the non-Cistercian buildings of this century which were influenced by the Gothic style, though still presenting important Romanesque features, are the Parma Baptistery by Benedetto Antelami and the church of Sant'Andrea in Vercelli, also featuring Antelami's influences.

The distinctive characteristic of Italian Gothic is the use of polychrome decoration, both externally as marble veneer on the brick façade and also internally where the arches are often made of alternating black and white segments, and where the columns may be painted red, the walls decorated with frescoes and the apse with mosaic. The plan is usually regular and symmetrical. Italian cathedrals have few and widely spaced columns. The proportions are generally mathematically simple, based on the square, and except in Venice where they loved flamboyant arches, the arches are almost always equilateral. Colours and mouldings define the architectural units rather than blending them. Italian cathedral façades are often polychrome and may include mosaics in the lunettes over the doors. The façades have projecting open porches and occular or wheel windows, and do not usually have a tower. The crossing is usually surmounted by a dome. There is often a free-standing tower and baptistery. The eastern end usually has an apse of comparatively low projection. The windows are not as large as in northern Europe and, although stained glass windows are often found, the favourite narrative medium for the interior is the fresco.

IV. Gothic Revival

Strawberry Hill interior

Gothic Revival, which is also known as Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic, is an architectural movement in England which began in the 1740s. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early 19th century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles wanted to revive medieval forms, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time.The style became widespread for its intrinsic appeal in the third quarter of the 19 th

century. In parallel to the dominance of neo-Gothic styles in nineteenth-century England, interest spread rapidly to the continent of Europe, in Australia, South Africa and to the Americas.

The earliest documented example of the revived use of Gothic architectural elements is Strawberry Hill, the home of the English writer Horace Walpole. As in many of the early Gothic Revival buildings, the Gothic was used here for its picturesque and romantic qualities without regard for its structural possibilities or original function. Another early example of the tendency toward ornamentation and decoration was Fonthill Abbey, designed by James Wyatt, a country house with a tower 270 feet high.

Gothic Revival architecture came to America from England about 1830. Its most famous practitioner is English born Richard Upjohn. Upjohn's best known work is Trinity Church in New York City, consecrated in 1846. He designed St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo, completed in 1851. His churches served as patterns for countless buildings throughout the country.

The Gothic Revival was to remain one of the most potent and long-lived of the 19th-century revival styles. Although it began to lose force after the third quarter of the 19th century, buildings such as churches and institutions of higher learning were constructed in the Gothic style in England and in the United States until well into the 20th century.

V. Bibliography

Internet Sites:

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Art/DF_art3.shtmlhttp://www.castles.me.uk/gothic-architecture.htmhttp://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/forlang/new_llc/faculty_websites/courses/rus_cult/gothic_art.pdfhttp://www.gothic-architecture.com/node/12http://www.aquinas-multimedia.com/stjoseph/architecture.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture#19th_and_20th_century_Gothic_Revivalhttp://www.buffaloah.com/a/archsty/gothic/index.htmlhttp://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0001560.htmlhttp://www.codesmiths.com/shed/workshop/techniques/arches.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture

Books:

Fletcher, S. B., & Cruinkshank, D. (1996) Sir Banister Fletcher's a history of architecture. Architectural Press

Rickman, T., & Parker, J. H. (1817) An attempt to discriminate the styles of architecture in England, from the Conquest to the Reformation: with a sketch of the Grecian and Roman orders; notices of numerous British edifices; and some remarks on the architecture of a part of France. NY: J.H. Parker, 1848

Parker, J. H. (2008) A B C of Gothic Architecture. BiblioBazaar, LLC

Paley, F.A. (2008) A Manual of Gothic Architecture. Wildhern Press