Revision on Gothic Architecture. It includes elements, main buildings and geographical differences.
Citation preview
1. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Revision
2. Introduction
Gothic Art is the expression of the new city life
It is going to have to different areas:
Religious Civilian 3. Introduction
The term was coined with a deceptive sense
It is deter by a series of elements:
Economic and social transformations of the late Middle
Ages
Consolidation of the new monarchies and modern states
A new spirituality, with the Cister reform
4. Introduction
The style had an evolution:
12th century: origin
13th century: plenitude
14th century until mid 15th century: international
Second half of the 15th century: flamboyant
5. Architectonical elements Lancet arches Tudor Ogee
Three-centered 6. Architectonical elements Windows Gablet Gargoiles
Capital 7. Cathedral
Cathedrals are the most representative building
They are full of accessional spirit
The technical innovations made possible the construction of
these buildings, something ethereal.
8. Cathedral
Plans continue being of Latin cross but it is more difficult to
distinguish because the number of naves increases in the
transept
They have three or five nave, normally five after the
crossing
They have ambulatory
There are radial chapel
The cover is of ribbed vaults
There are two towers in the faade.
9. Cathedral
The plans can be:
Basilical Saloon 10. Cathedral In the elevation it can be seen
the aisles, over them the triforium and finally, the clerestory.
11. Cathedral
The inside is full of light thanks to the numerous windows
The cathedral has three levels: low, gallery and
clerestory
The walls are open, allowing a lot of light into the church,
with different levels of intensity (more light in the highest parts
because light comes directly).
Windows can be open because there are new supports that are not
glued to the wall.
12. Cathedral
The cover evolved from the barrel vault
The lancet arch permits higher structures
The most common covers are:
Rib vault
Crossing vault
All of them stand on slim and delicate pillars
The nerves cross and there is a decorated boss in the
intersection
13. Cathedral
Supports are essential for the new buildings
The most common in the outside is the flying buttress
On top of them pinnacles appear in order to transmit the
strength to the floor
Flying buttress Pinnacle 14. Cathedral
Thanks to the use of flying buttress, the wall is liberated and
may be open with windows
Town halls were the residence of the citys government
There are two kind of models:
Northern (Netherlands) : very decorated, with ogee and lancet
arches
Southern (Italian): closer, sometimes as a fortress
Leuven Siena 18. Civilian Architecture
Palaces were the residences of the nobility
They lose their defensive character
19. Civilian Architecture
Markets were the places for keeping the products and to sell
them
They have big rooms with this purpose
The spaces are clear, with high and stylised columns
20. French Gothic
The distinctive characteristic of French cathedrals, and those
in Germany and Belgium that were strongly influenced by them, is
their height and their impression of verticality.
They are compact, with slight or no projection of the transepts
and subsidiary chapels.
The west frontshavethree portals surmounted by a rose window,
and two large towers.
The east end is polygonal with ambulatory and sometimes a
chevette of radiating chapels.
In the south of France, many of the major churches are without
transepts and some are without aisles
21. British Gothic
The distinctive characteristic of English cathedrals is their
extreme length and their internal emphasis upon the horizontal
.
It is not unusual for every part of the building to have been
built in a different century and in a different style, with no
attempt at creating a stylistic unity.
English cathedrals sprawl across their sites, with double
transepts projecting strongly andLady Chapelstacked on at a later
date.
In the west front the doors are not significant
The West window is very large and never a rose, which are
reserved for the transept gables.
The west front may have two towers or none.
There is nearly always a tower at the crossing and it may be
very large and surmounted by a spire.
The distinctive English east end is square .
22. Italian Gothic
Ituse spolychrome decoration, both externally as marble veneer
on the brick facade and also internally where the arches are often
made of alternating black and white segments .
The plan is usually regular and symmetricalandhave few and
widely spaced columns.
The proportions are generally mathematically simple, based on
the square, the arches are almost always equilateral.
Itmay include mosaics in the lunettes over the doors.
The facades have projecting open porches and occular or wheel
windows rather than roses, and do not usually have a tower.
The crossing is usually surmounted by a dome.
There is often a free-standing tower and baptistry.
The windows are not as large as in northern Europe and,
although stained glass windows areused , thedecoration is fresco or
mosaic.
23. German Gothic
It is characterised by huge towers and spires.
The west front generally follows the French formula, but the
towers are taller, and if complete, are surmounted by enormous
openwork spires .
The eastern end follows the French form.
The distinctive character of the interior of German Gothic
cathedrals is their breadth and openness.
Cathedralstend not to have strongly projecting transepts.
There are also manyhallenkirkewithout clerestorey windows
.
They are comparatively short and wide, and are often completely
surrounded by chapels.
Spanish Cathedrals are stylistically diverse.
I nfluences on both decoration and form are Islamic
architecture, and towards the end of the period, Renaissance
details combined with the Gothic in a distinctive manner.
The West front resembles a French west front,
T here are spires of German style.
F ew pinnacles.
Th ere are often towers and domes of a great variety of shapes
and structural invention rising above the roof .