Scribd
Upload
132 views7 pages

Gothic Architecture

The document summarizes the origins and key developments of Gothic architecture from the 12th to 15th centuries. It discusses how Abbot Suger at St. Denis introduced elements like pointed arches, rose windows, and rib vaulting that combined to create taller, lighter structures. Gothic cathedrals used flying buttresses and pointed arches to support greater heights while maintaining interior light. Chartres Cathedral epitomized the new style, and later periods like Rayonnant and Flamboyant Gothic focused more on decorative elements and maximizing window space.

Uploaded by

SAMRAH IQBAL
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
132 views7 pages

Gothic Architecture

The document summarizes the origins and key developments of Gothic architecture from the 12th to 15th centuries. It discusses how Abbot Suger at St. Denis introduced elements like pointed arches, rose windows, and rib vaulting that combined to create taller, lighter structures. Gothic cathedrals used flying buttresses and pointed arches to support greater heights while maintaining interior light. Chartres Cathedral epitomized the new style, and later periods like Rayonnant and Flamboyant Gothic focused more on decorative elements and maximizing window space.

Uploaded by

SAMRAH IQBAL
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

[ CITATION Fra111 \l 1033 ]

ching, F. D. (2011). A global history of Architecture. New jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Introduction to Gothic Architecture

The term Gothic, as applied to the architectural period dating from the middle of the twelfth to
the end of the fifteenth century, is purely conventional.
Gothic, used in the last century merely as the opprobrious synonym of barbaric, of the Goths or
Visigoths
was of purely French birth; its cradle was the nucleus of modern France. Aquitaine, Anjou, and
Maine were the provinces in which it first took root.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE BY ÉDOUARD CORROYER

Abbot Suger and the Birth of the Gothic Style

Compared with the Norman facade of St. Étienne (1067–87) in Caen, France, with its small
windows and imposing, solid-looking wall of stone, St. Denis, with its broad and decorated
portals seems to almost float above the ground. The church was begun by the Normans but was
transformed by Abbot Suger (1081–1155). Actively engaged in France’s political life, Suger
played a leading role in running the kingdom while King Louis VI was away on crusade. He
wanted cathedrals to accommodate large crowds that could then move easily past the relics.
He thus created for St. Denis a space behind the high altar known as a chevet (French for
“headpiece”) where the church’s more precious relics could be displayed. He also redesigned
the cathedral’s facade, introducing a triple portal that served as symbol of the Trinity. The
Trinity had become important to theological speculation in the second quarter of the 12th
century, and its restatement signified support for an orthodox interpretation of the Bible and
for papal authority. The tympanum over the central door of St. Denis was the most important
element of the facade, as it portrays Christ sitting in judgment. The sculptures were once again
a concession to the unlettered, for few in the general population at the time could read and
write. In this, St. Denis reflects a change in religious attitudes. Whereas Romanesque cathedrals
were designed primarily for the elite, St. Denis and later cathedrals were buildings meant to
appeal to the popular imagination. On a more elevated plane, Abbot Suger held that the
religious experience was one of transcendence, symbolized by disembodied light. The rose
window in the center of the facade, for example, was one of the first of its kind—a grand wheel
of light. The function of the facade, so Suger held, was to foretell the program of the interior.
“By what shines here within, through palpable visual beauty, the soul is elevated to the truly
beautiful and, rising from the earth where it was submerged, an inert thing, it is resuscitated
into heaven by the radiance of its glory.” For Suger, the use of precious materials in the
furnishings of the church was also important, as it served as a presentiment of the splendors of
heaven. For all these reasons, St. Denis broke new ground and is thus heralded as initiating the
Gothic style. For the first time, features such as cross-rib vaulting and flying buttresses
(although present in prior churches) were here all combined into an integrated stylistic
statement along with sharply pointed spires, a rose window, clustered columns, pointed arches,
and a stress on luminosity
To obtain the soaring height that the Gothic age aspired to, flying buttresses made their
appearance. While they achieve the desired result on the inside, they tended to pose a problem
on the exterior. At first the flying buttresses were a purely structural element, as at St.-
Germain-des-Prés, where they were added as reinforcements around 1180, but thereafter they
were integrated into the plan from the start. Flying buttresses consist of a tower that supplies
the necessary counterweight and an arch that transfers the lateral loads to the tower. Because
of the flying buttresses, a church interior could become a spatial unit, although this occurred at
the expense of the exterior’s legibility
The epitome of the new style was Chartres Cathedral (1194–1220), where the nave on the
outside is almost completely obscured behind an intimate tangle of buttresses.
Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Reims
Amiens Cathedral
The transition from the Romanesque to the early Gothic lies to some degree in the
systematization of the nave elevation and in the integration of the nave with rib vaulting. By
1300, architects, increasingly confident, began to explore the decorative qualities inherent in
structure, creating styles that historians variously call Decorated, Perpendicular, or Flamboyant
Gothic
Durham Cathedral is considered a forerunner of what is now called the Gothic style, largely
because of the fusion of the ribbed vault and the pointed arch, which are considered essentially
Gothic features.
A global history of architecture
History of Architecture by Sir Fletcher

 The rib vault, flying buttress, and pointed (Gothic) arch were used as


solutions to the problem of building a very tall structure while
preserving as much natural light as possible.
Early gothic: Salisbury Cathedral.
Early Gothic is the style of architecture that appeared in northern France, Normandy and then
England between about 1130 and the mid-13th century. It combined and developed several key
elements from earlier styles, particularly from Romanesque architecture, including the rib vault, flying
buttress, and the pointed arch, and used them in innovative ways to create structures,
particularly Gothic cathedrals and churches, of exceptional height and grandeur, filled with light from
stained glass windows. Notable examples of early Gothic architecture in France include the
ambulatory and facade of Saint-Denis Basilica; Sens Cathedral (1140); Laon Cathedral; Senlis
Cathedral; (1160) and most famously Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1160).
Rayonnant style, French building style (13th century) that
represents the height of Gothic architecture. During this period
architects became less interested in achieving great size than in
decoration, which took such forms as pinnacles, moldings, and
especially window tracery. The style’s name reflects the radiating
character of the rose window. Other features include the thinning of
vertical supporting members, the enlargement of windows, and the
combination of the triforium gallery and clerestory into one large
glazed area, until walls became largely undifferentiated screens of
tracery, mullions, and glass. Amiens Cathedral (1220–70) is cited as
its earliest manifestation. Especially fine achievements include Notre-
Dame de Paris, the church of Saint-Urbain in Troyes (founded 1262),
and the extraordinary Sainte-Chapelle, Paris (consecrated
1248), Louis IX’s palace chapel. See also cathedral.
Flamboyant style, phase of late Gothic architecture in 15th-
century France and Spain. It evolved out of the Rayonnant
style’s increasing emphasis on decoration. Its
most conspicuous feature is the dominance in stone window tracery of
a flamelike S-shaped curve. Wall surface was reduced to the minimum
to allow an almost continuous window expanse. Structural logic was
obscured by covering buildings with elaborate tracery. Attractive
French examples include Notre-Dame d’Épine near Châlons-sur-
Marne, Saint-Maclou in Rouen (c. 1500–14), and the northern spire
of Chartres Cathedral. Spanish Flamboyant architects developed their
own intricate forms of vaulting with curvilinear patterns; the Capilla
del Condestable in Burgos Cathedral (1482–94) and Segovia Cathedral
(begun 1525) provide examples. Flamboyant Gothic, which became
increasingly ornate, gave way in France to Renaissance forms in the
16th century.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy