Gothic architecture

"Gothic style" redirects here. For the visual arts, see Gothic art. For the fashion of the subculture, see Gothic subculture § Fashion.

"Gothic church" redirects here. For the church of the Goths in the Early Middle Ages, see Gothic Christianity.

Gothic architecture
Top: West front of Wells Cathedral in England (1225–1240); middle: Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1238–1248); bottom: tympanum of Rouen Cathedral (15th century)
Additional media
Years active	Late 12th century–16th century
Location	Catholic Europe and West Asia
Influences	Romanesque architecture, Byzantine architecture, and possibly Armenian architecture
Influenced	Post-Gothic, Gothic Revival architecture, Baroque Gothic

Gothic architecture is an architectural style prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France. The style at the time was sometimes known as opus Francigenum (lit. 'French work'); the term Gothic was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance, by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity. The defining design element of Gothic architecture is the pointed arch. The use of the pointed arch in turn led to the development of the pointed rib vault and flying buttresses, combined with elaborate tracery and stained glass windows.

At the Abbey of Saint-Denis, near Paris, the choir was reconstructed between 1140 and 1144, drawing together for the first time the developing Gothic architectural features. In doing so, a new architectural style emerged that emphasized verticality and the effect created by the transmission of light through stained glass windows.

Common examples are found in Christian ecclesiastical architecture, and Gothic cathedrals and churches, as well as abbeys, and parish churches. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guildhalls, universities, and, less prominently today, private dwellings. Many of the finest examples of medieval Gothic architecture are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.

With the development of Renaissance architecture in Italy during the mid-15th century, the Gothic style was supplanted by the new style, but in some regions, notably England and what is now Belgium, Gothic continued to flourish and develop into the 16th century. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for churches and university buildings, into the 20th century.

Name

Further information: Name of the Goths

Medieval contemporaries characterised the style in Latin as opus Francigenum ("French work" or "Frankish work"), as opus modernum ("modern work"), or as novum opus ("new work"). Italian-speakers could call it maniera tedesca ("German style").

The term "Gothic architecture" originated as a pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his Lives of the Artists (1550) to describe what is now considered the Gothic style, and in the introduction to the Lives he attributes various architectural features to the Goths, whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome, and for erecting new ones in this style. When Vasari wrote, Italy had experienced a century of building in the Vitruvian architectural vocabulary of classical orders revived in the Renaissance and seen as evidence of a new Golden Age of learning and refinement. Thus the Gothic style, being in opposition to classical architecture, from that point of view was associated with the destruction of progress and of sophistication. The assumption that classical architecture was better than Gothic architecture was widespread and proved difficult to counter. Vasari was echoed in the 16th century by François Rabelais, who referred to "Gotz" and "Ostrogotz".

The polymath architect Christopher Wren (1632–1723) disapproved of the label "Gothic" for pointed architecture. He compared it to Islamic architecture, which he called the "Saracen style", pointing out that the pointed arch's sophistication was not owed to the Goths but to Islam, who in turn got it from the Greek. He wrote:

This we now call the Gothic manner of architecture (so the Italians called what was not after the Roman style) though the Goths were rather destroyers than builders; I think it should with more reason be called the Saracen style, for these people wanted neither arts nor learning: and after we in the west lost both, we borrowed again from them, out of their Arabic books, what they with great diligence had translated from the Greeks.

— Christopher Wren, Report on St Paul's

Wren was one of the few to spread the belief that it was not the Europeans, but the "Saracens" who had originated the Gothic style. (The term "Saracen", still in use in the 18th century, typically referred to all Muslims, including Arabs and Berbers.) Wren mentions Europe's architectural debt to the Saracens no fewer than twelve times in his writings. He also decidedly broke with tradition in his assumption that Gothic architecture did not merely represent a violent and bothersome mistake (as Vasari had suggested). Rather, Wren saw that the Gothic style had developed over time along the lines of a changing society, and that it was thus a legitimate architectural style in its own right.

It was no secret that Wren strongly disliked the building practices of the Gothic style. When he was appointed Surveyor of the Fabric at Westminster Abbey in the year 1698, he expressed his distaste for the Gothic style in a letter to the Bishop of Rochester:

Nothing was thought magnificent that was not high beyond Measure, with the Flutter of Arch-buttresses, so we call the sloping Arches that poise the higher Vaultings of the Nave. The Romans always concealed their Butments, whereas the Normans thought them ornamental. These I have observed are the first Things that occasion the Ruin of Cathedrals, being so much exposed to the Air and Weather; the Coping, which cannot defend them, first failing, and if they give Way, the Vault must spread. Pinnacles are no Use, and as little Ornament.

— Christopher Wren, Parentalia

The chaos of the Gothic left much to be desired in Wren's eyes. His aversion to the style was so strong that he refused to put a Gothic roof on the new St Paul's Cathedral, despite pressure to do so. Wren much preferred symmetry and straight lines in architecture, which is why he constantly praised the classic architecture of 'the Ancients' in his writings.

Even though he openly expressed his distaste for the Gothic style, Wren did not blame the Saracens for any apparent lack of ingenuity. Quite the opposite: he praised the Saracens for their "superior" vaulting techniques and their widespread use of the pointed arch. Wren claimed the inventors of the Gothic had seen the Saracen architecture during the Crusades, also called the religious war or "Holy War", originated in the Kingdom of France in the year 1095:

The Holy War gave the Christians, who had been there, an Idea of the Saracen Works, which were afterwards by them imitated in the West; and they refined upon it every day, as they proceeded in building Churches.

— Christopher Wren, Parentalia

Several chronological issues arise from this statement, which is one of the reasons why Wren's theory is rejected by many. The earliest examples of the pointed arch in Europe date from before the First Crusade of 1096–1099; this is widely regarded as proof that the Gothic style could not have possibly been derived from Saracen architecture. Several authors have nevertheless claimed that the Gothic style had most likely filtered into Europe in other ways, for example through Spain or Sicily. Spanish architecture influenced by the Moors could have favoured the emergence of the Gothic style long before the Crusades took place. This could have happened gradually through the influence of the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, and via merchants, pilgrims, and other travelers.

According to a 19th-century correspondent in the London journal Notes and Queries, "Gothic" was a derisive misnomer; the pointed arcs and architecture of the later Middle Ages differed radically from the rounded arches prevalent in late antiquity and in the period of the Ostrogothic Kingdom (493–553) in Italy:

There can be no doubt that the term 'Gothic' as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture was used at first contemptuously, and in derision, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the Grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. But, without citing many authorities, such as Christopher Wren, and others, who lent their aid in depreciating the old mediaeval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with every thing that was barbarous and rude, it may be sufficient to refer to the celebrated Treatise of Sir Henry Wotton, entitled The Elements of Architecture, ... printed in London so early as 1624. ... But it was a strange misapplication of the term to use it for the pointed style, in contradistinction to the circular, formerly called Saxon, now Norman, Romanesque, &c. These latter styles, like Lombardic, Italian, and the Byzantine, of course belong more to the Gothic period than the light and elegant structures of the pointed order which succeeded them.

Pointed arches in the 14th-century tower of the church of San Salvador at Teruel in Aragon

Influences

Main article: Influences upon Gothic architecture

The Gothic style of architecture was strongly influenced by the Romanesque architecture which preceded it; by the growing population and wealth of European cities, and by the desire to express local grandeur. It was influenced by theological doctrines which called for more light and by technical improvements in vaults and buttresses that allowed much greater height and larger windows. It was also influenced by the necessity of many churches, such as Chartres Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral, to accommodate growing numbers of pilgrims. It adapted features from earlier styles. According to Charles Texier and Josef Strzygowski, after lengthy research and study of churches in the medieval city of Ani, the capital of the medieval kingdom of Armenia, they believed that they had discovered the oldest Gothic arch. According to these historians, the architecture of the Saint Hripsime Church near the Armenian religious seat Etchmiadzin was built in the fourth century A.D. and was repaired in 618. The cathedral of Ani was built in 980–1012. However many of the elements of Islamic and Armenian architecture that have been cited as influences on Gothic architecture also appeared in Late Roman and Byzantine architecture, the most noticeable example being the pointed arch and flying buttress. The most notable example is the capitals, which are forerunners of the Gothic style and deviated with serpentine lines and naturalistic forms from the Classical standards of ancient Greece and Rome.

Periods

Architecture "became a leading form of artistic expression during the late Middle Ages". Gothic architecture began in the earlier 12th century in northwest France and England and spread throughout Latin Europe in the 13th century. By 1300, a first "International Style" of Gothic had developed, with common design features and formal language. A second "international style" emerged by 1400, alongside innovations in England and central Europe that produced both the Perpendicular and Flamboyant varieties. Typically, these typologies are identified as:

• c. 1130 – c. 1240 Early to High Gothic and Early English
• c. 1240 – c.1350 Rayonnant and Decorated Style
• c. 1350 – c. 1500 Late Gothic: Flamboyant and Perpendicular
• c. 16th–18th century Gothic Survival and Post-Gothic

• 
  Early Gothic: Basilica of Saint-Denis, west façade (1135–1340)
• 
  Early Gothic: nave of Sens Cathedral (1135–1176)
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  Early Gothic; nave of Notre-Dame de Paris (1185–1200)
• 
  High Gothic; Chartres Cathedral choir (1210–1250)
• 
  Cologne Cathedral (1248–1880)
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  Rayonnant: Sainte-Chapelle upper level (1238–1248)
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  Rayonnant Angel's Choir of Lincoln Cathedral (14th century)
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  Flamboyant; Butter Tower of Rouen Cathedral (1488–1506)
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  Post-Gothic; Orléans Cathedral (1601–1829)
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  Perpendicular Gothic; choir of York Minister (1361–1405)

History

Early Gothic triple elevation
Sens Cathedral (1135–1164)

Early Gothic

See also: Early Gothic architecture

Norman architecture on either side of the English Channel developed in parallel towards Early Gothic. Gothic features, such as the rib vault, had appeared in England, Sicily and Normandy in the 11th century. Rib-vaults were employed in some parts of the cathedral at Durham (1093–1133) and in Lessay Abbey in Normandy (1098). However, the first buildings to be considered fully Gothic are the royal funerary abbey of the French kings, the Abbey of Saint-Denis (1135–1144), and the archiepiscopal cathedral at Sens (1135–1164). They were the first buildings to systematically combine rib vaulting, buttresses, and pointed arches. Most of the characteristics of later Early English were already present in the lower chevet of Saint-Denis.

The Duchy of Normandy, part of the Angevin Empire until the 13th century, developed its own version of Gothic. One of these was the Norman chevet, a small apse or chapel attached to the choir at the east end of the church, which typically had a half-dome. The lantern tower was another common feature in Norman Gothic. One example of early Norman Gothic is Bayeux Cathedral (1060–1070) where the Romanesque cathedral nave and choir were rebuilt into the Gothic style. Lisieux Cathedral was begun in 1170. Rouen Cathedral (begun 1185) was rebuilt from Romanesque to Gothic with distinct Norman features, including a lantern tower, deeply moulded decoration, and high pointed arcades. Coutances Cathedral was remade into Gothic beginning about 1220. Its most distinctive feature is the octagonal lantern on the crossing of the transept, decorated with ornamental ribs, and surrounded by sixteen bays and sixteen lancet windows.

Saint-Denis was the work of the Abbot Suger, a close adviser of Kings Louis VI and Louis VII. Suger reconstructed portions of the old Romanesque church with the rib vault in order to remove walls and to make more space for windows. He described the new ambulatory as "a circular ring of chapels, by virtue of which the whole church would shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty." To support the vaults he also introduced columns with capitals of carved vegetal designs, modelled upon the classical columns he had seen in Rome. In addition, he installed a circular rose window over the portal on the façade. These also became a common feature of Gothic cathedrals.

Some elements of Gothic style appeared very early in England. Durham Cathedral was the first cathedral to employ a rib vault, built between 1093 and 1104. The first cathedral built entirely in the new style was Sens Cathedral, begun between 1135 and 1140 and consecrated in 1160. Sens Cathedral features a Gothic choir, and six-part rib vaults over the nave and collateral aisles, alternating pillars and doubled columns to support the vaults, and buttresses to offset the outward thrust from the vaults. One of the builders who is believed to have worked on Sens Cathedral, William of Sens, later travelled to England and became the architect who, between 1175 and 1180, reconstructed the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in the new Gothic style.

Sens Cathedral was influential in its strongly vertical appearance and in its three-part elevation, typical of subsequent Gothic buildings, with a clerestory at the top supported by a triforium, all carried on high arcades of pointed arches. In the following decades flying buttresses began to be used, allowing the construction of lighter, higher walls. French Gothic churches were heavily influenced both by the ambulatory and side-chapels around the choir at Saint-Denis, and by the paired towers and triple doors on the western façade.

Sens was quickly followed by Senlis Cathedral (begun 1160), and Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1160). Their builders abandoned the traditional plans and introduced the new Gothic elements from Saint-Denis. The builders of Notre-Dame went further by introducing the flying buttress, heavy columns of support outside the walls connected by arches to the upper walls. The buttresses counterbalanced the outward thrust from the rib vaults. This allowed the builders to construct higher, thinner walls and larger windows.

Early English; choir of Canterbury Cathedral (1174–1180)

High Gothic flying buttresses, Metz Cathedral (1220–1550)

High Gothic west front, Reims Cathedral (1211–1345)

Early English and High Gothic

See also: High Gothic and Early English Gothic

Following the destruction by fire of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, a group of master builders was invited to propose plans for the reconstruction. The master-builder William of Sens, who had worked on Sens Cathedral, won the competition. Work began that same year, but in 1178 William was badly injured by falling from the scaffolding, and returned to France, where he died. His work was continued by William the Englishman who replaced his French namesake in 1178. The resulting structure of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral is considered the first work of Early English Gothic. The cathedral churches of Worcester (1175–), Wells (c.1180–), Lincoln (1192–), and Salisbury (1220–) are all, with Canterbury, major examples. Tiercerons – decorative vaulting ribs – seem first to have been used in vaulting at Lincoln Cathedral, installed c.1200. Instead of a triforium, Early English churches usually retained a gallery.

High Gothic (c. 1194–1250) was a brief but very productive period, which produced some of the great landmarks of Gothic art. The first building in the High Gothic (French: Classique) was Chartres Cathedral, an important pilgrimage church south of Paris. The Romanesque cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1194, but was swiftly rebuilt in the new style, with contributions from King Philip II of France, Pope Celestine III, local gentry, merchants, craftsmen, and Richard the Lionheart, king of England. The builders simplified the elevation used at Notre Dame, eliminated the tribune galleries, and used flying buttresses to support the upper walls. The walls were filled with stained glass, mainly depicting the story of the Virgin Mary but also, in a small corner of each window, illustrating the crafts of the guilds who donated those windows.

The model of Chartres was followed by a series of new cathedrals of unprecedented height and size. These were Reims Cathedral (begun 1211), where coronations of the kings of France took place; Amiens Cathedral (1220–1226); Bourges Cathedral (1195–1230) (which, unlike the others, continued to use six-part rib vaults); and Beauvais Cathedral (1225–).

In central Europe, the High Gothic style appeared in the Holy Roman Empire, first at Toul (1220–), whose Romanesque cathedral was rebuilt in the style of Reims Cathedral; then Trier's Liebfrauenkirche parish church (1228–), and then throughout the Reich, beginning with the Elisabethkirche at Marburg (1235–) and the cathedral at Metz (c.1235–).

In High Gothic, the whole surface of the clerestory was given over to windows. At Chartres Cathedral, plate tracery was used for the rose window, but at Reims the bar-tracery was free-standing. Lancet windows were supplanted by multiple lights separated by geometrical bar-tracery. Tracery of this kind distinguishes Middle Pointed style from the simpler First Pointed. Inside, the nave was divided into by regular bays, each covered by a quadripartite rib vaults.

Other characteristics of the High Gothic were the development of rose windows of greater size, using bar-tracery, higher and longer flying buttresses, which could reach up to the highest windows, and walls of sculpture illustrating biblical stories filling the façade and the fronts of the transept. Reims Cathedral had two thousand three hundred statues on the front and back side of the façade.

The new High Gothic churches competed to be the tallest, with increasingly ambitious structures lifting the vault yet higher. Chartres Cathedral's height of 38 m (125 ft) was exceeded by Beauvais Cathedral's 48 m (157 ft), but on account of the latter's collapse in 1248, no further attempt was made to build higher. Attention turned from achieving greater height to creating more awe-inspiring decoration.

Rayonnant Gothic west front
Strasbourg Cathedral (1276–)

Rayonnant Gothic and Decorated Style

See also: Rayonnant and Decorated Gothic

Rayonnant Gothic maximized the coverage of stained glass windows such that the walls are effectively entirely glazed; examples are the nave of Saint-Denis (1231–) and the royal chapel of Louis IX of France on the Île de la Cité in the Seine – the Sainte-Chapelle (c.1241–1248). The high and thin walls of French Rayonnant Gothic allowed by the flying buttresses enabled increasingly ambitious expanses of glass and decorated tracery, reinforced with ironwork. Shortly after Saint-Denis, in the 1250s, Louis IX commissioned the rebuilt transepts and enormous rose windows of Notre-Dame de Paris (1250s for the north transept, 1258 for the beginning of south transept). This first 'international style' was also used in the clerestory of Metz Cathedral (c. 1245–), then in the choir of Cologne's cathedral (c. 1250–), and again in the nave of the cathedral at Strasbourg (c. 1250–). Masons elaborated a series of tracery patterns for windows – from the basic geometrical to the reticulated and the curvilinear – which had superseded the lancet window. Bar-tracery of the curvilinear, flowing, and reticulated types distinguish Second Pointed style.

Decorated Gothic similarly sought to emphasize the windows, but excelled in the ornamentation of their tracery. Churches with features of this style include Westminster Abbey (1245–), the cathedrals at Lichfield (after 1257–) and Exeter (1275–), Bath Abbey (1298–), and the retro choir at Wells Cathedral (c.1320–).

The Rayonnant developed its second 'international style' with increasingly autonomous and sharp-edged tracery mouldings apparent in the cathedral at Clermont-Ferrand (1248–), the papal collegiate church at Troyes, Saint-Urbain (1262–), and the west façade of Strasbourg Cathedral (1276–1439)). By 1300, there were examples influenced by Strasbourg in the cathedrals of Limoges (1273–), Regensburg (c. 1275–), and in the cathedral nave at York (1292–).

Flamboyant Gothic east end,
Prague Cathedral (1344–)

Perpendicular Gothic east end, Henry VII Chapel (c. 1503–1512)

Late Gothic: Flamboyant and Perpendicular

See also: Flamboyant and Perpendicular Gothic

Central Europe began to lead the emergence of a new, international Flamboyant style with the construction of a new cathedral at Prague (1344–) under the direction of Peter Parler. This model of rich and variegated tracery and intricate reticulated rib-vaulting was definitive in the Late Gothic of continental Europe, emulated not only by the collegiate churches and cathedrals, but by urban parish churches which rivalled them in size and magnificence. The minster at Ulm and other parish churches like the Heilig-Kreuz-Münster at Schwäbisch Gmünd (c.1320–), St Barbara's Church at Kutná Hora (1389–), and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche (1407–) and St Martin's Church (c.1385–) in Landshut are typical. Use of ogees was especially common.

Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (1370s)

The flamboyant style was characterised by the multiplication of the ribs of the vaults, with new purely decorative ribs, called tiercons and liernes, and additional diagonal ribs. One common ornament of flamboyant in France is the arc-en-accolade, an arch over a window topped by a pinnacle, which was itself topped with fleuron, and flanked by other pinnacles. Examples of French flamboyant building include the west façade of Rouen Cathedral, and especially the façades of Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (1370s) and choir Mont-Saint-Michel's abbey church (1448).

In England, ornamental rib-vaulting and tracery of Decorated Gothic co-existed with, and then gave way to, the Perpendicular style from the 1320s, with straightened, orthogonal tracery topped with fan-vaulting. Perpendicular Gothic was unknown in continental Europe and unlike earlier styles had no equivalent in Scotland or Ireland. It first appeared in the cloisters and chapter-house (c. 1332) of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London by William de Ramsey. The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral (c. 1337–1357) and its latter 14th century cloisters are early examples. Four-centred arches were often used, and lierne vaults seen in early buildings were developed into fan vaults, first at the latter 14th century chapter-house of Hereford Cathedral (demolished 1769) and cloisters at Gloucester, and then at Reginald Ely's King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1461) and the brothers William and Robert Vertue's Henry VII Chapel (c. 1503–1512) at Westminster Abbey. Perpendicular is sometimes called Third Pointed and was employed over three centuries; the fan-vaulted staircase at Christ Church, Oxford was built around 1640.

Lacey patterns of tracery continued to characterize continental Gothic building, with very elaborate and articulated vaulting, as at Saint Barbara's, Kutná Hora (1512). In certain areas, Gothic architecture continued to be employed until the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in provincial and ecclesiastical contexts, notably at Oxford.

German Gothic

Elisabethkirche in Marburg, façade (1235)

There was an initial distrust in German-speaking countries regarding the new style coming from France. Since the time of Charlemagne, and later under the Ottonians and the Hohenstaufen, master builders of the western regions of the Empire — and particularly in the Rhine basin between Basel and Cologne — had developed an original architectural style of strong Romanesque matrix. The transition was slow, and initially, buildings were constructed that fused Gothic characteristics with elements that were still typically Romanesque. Examples of this phase are the choir of Magdeburg Cathedral (1208) and the collegiate church of St. George in Limburg an der Lahn (1211–35).

The first buildings that can be considered fully Gothic date back to the 1330s. By around 1230, all resistance had fallen: in Trier and Marburg, the new style coming from France was welcomed with enthusiasm, becoming the main centres from which French Gothic spread throughout the lands of the Empire.

One of the first and most significant examples is the Elisabethkirche in Marburg, in Hesse, whose construction began in 1236, and in which the influence of the cathedrals of Noyon and Reims is evident. The latter also served as a point of reference for the builders of the Liebfrauenkirche in Trier (c. 1233–83), an elegant central-plan polygonal church with multiple apses, declared the oldest Gothic church in Germany. Also noteworthy is Freiburg Minster, known for its 116-metre tower, the only Gothic tower in Germany to have been fully completed in the Middle Ages (1330).

Cologne Cathedral, exterior (begun 1248)

Amiens Cathedral, on the other hand, was the source of inspiration for Gerhard, the architect of Cologne Cathedral. Built starting in 1248 over the ruins of the previous Carolingian cathedral (destroyed by a fire), its project was extremely ambitious: the vaults of the choir exceed 43 metres in height. The choir was consecrated in 1322, but work progressed very slowly. The cathedral, which competes with Milan as one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world, was only completed in 1880, in the 19th century, when the original design drawings were found.

The construction of Strasbourg Cathedral (which at the time was a city of the Empire) followed the artistic vicissitudes linked to the penetration of the Gothic style. The initial Ottonian building was reconstructed between the 12th and 13th centuries in the late Romanesque style; the designers, however, changed direction after the arrival at the construction site of an architect of French origins, who adopted rayonnant solutions in the construction of the southern upper level. The Strasbourg workshop soon became an essential centre for the development of the Rayonnant style.

The typical late-Gothic taste for tall and slender forms is also noticeable in Regensburg Cathedral, which was built in the second half of the 13th century and is less tied to French models, presenting a more essential style. In Germany in particular, this new spirituality found expression above all in the creation of hall churches (Hallenkirchen), characterised by spaciousness, openness, and the absence of clerestory windows, such as the Wiesenkirche in Soest, Westphalia, built around 1330. The latter features a square plan in which the nave is indistinguishable from the choir, while the arcades, supported by slender columns, rise harmoniously to the vaults.

Mention must also be made of the choir of Aachen Cathedral (1355), adjacent to the Palatine Chapel, in which the influence of Cologne merges with that of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. The structure consists of walls covered in extremely high stained-glass windows, surmounted by a ribbed groin vault. The model adopted was that of the hall choir, which subsequently spread in the Austrian region (where St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, built between 1339 and 1365, also stands out for its characteristic polychrome roof).

Backsteingotik

In the northern regions, in the Hanseatic and Baltic cities (such as Northern Germany and Poland), the lack of quarries for extracting natural stone led to the creation of a particular Gothic style based on brick, called Backsteingotik (Brick Gothic). The builders of the time managed to combine the use of this poorer material with the elevation and lightness characteristic of French Gothic, simplifying its forms without sacrificing sumptuousness.

The main examples of this style include St. Mary's Church in Lübeck (1250–1350), St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk (1379–1502), St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków (1290–1365), and Malbork Castle (13th century). They were not limited only to religious architecture: entire urban plans were laid out according to the Gothic style of the Hanseatic regions, with the construction of civil and public buildings, such as the famous Holstentor gate in Lübeck, and structures in Chorin, Prenzlau, and Stralsund.

• 
  Strasbourg Cathedral, view from the south side (12th–13th centuries)
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  Regensburg Cathedral, interior (13th century)
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  Wiesenkirche in Soest, nave and choir (c. 1330)
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  Aachen Cathedral, vault and stained glass of the choir (1355)
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  Aachen Cathedral, choir decorations and tomb of Charlemagne
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  St. Mary's Church in Lübeck, exterior (1250–1350)
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  Holstentor in Lübeck, former city gate (1464–1478)

Swabia and Bohemia

Parish Church of the Holy Cross in Schwäbisch-Gmünd (1320)

In Swabia and Bohemia, the spread of the Gothic style is linked to the work of the Parlers, a dynasty of master builders who built a vast network of professional relationships. Originally, the term 'parler' indicated the first assistant to the master builder (magister operis), and only from the 14th century onwards did it become the family's surname. The patriarch was Heinrich I the Elder, whose descendants extended their artistic influence across a large part of Bohemia, in the German-Austrian area, reaching as far as Brabant and Flanders. In their works, recurring elements are recognized in the layout of spaces and the conformation of complex vaults, which justifies the term Parlergotik.

Heinrich Parler and his son Peter both worked at the parish church of the Holy Cross in Schwäbisch-Gmünd (1320), in Swabia, reviving the model of the hall church based on the simplicity of the mendicant orders, but with innovative solutions in the choir (begun in 1350).

St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, vault ceiling of the choir (1356)

Peter Parler, in particular, was one of the great protagonists of the Late Gothic. In 1356, he was summoned to Prague by Emperor Charles IV to complete St. Vitus Cathedral, begun in 1344 by the French architect Mathieu d'Arras. The sovereign had transformed Prague into the capital of the Empire and wanted to expand it with an ambitious monumental plan, which included a Gothic palace, Karlstejn Castle, and buildings for the new University of Prague.

Peter Parler demonstrated great inventiveness in St. Vitus: he broke the fluid rhythm of the ambulatory, added the monumental square-plan chapel dedicated to Saint Wenceslas, and crowned the interiors with a pioneering fillet vault (or intersecting ribs in a mesh pattern, which evokes the solutions of English Gothic), where the ribs intertwine in a continuous fashion. To Peter Parler we also owe the All Saints' Chapel on the Hradčany hill (using the Sainte-Chapelle as a model), the famous Charles Bridge over the Vltava (1357), the choir of Kolín (1360), and the Frauenkirche in Nuremberg.

Family members were active throughout Europe: Wenzel was architect of the cathedral of Vienna (1400–1404), Johann IV worked on the choir of Kutná Hora, and Heinrich III was at the construction site of Milan Cathedral in 1392. Many builders drew inspiration from them, such as Ulrich von Ensingen (who designed the enormous tower of Ulm Minster, begun in 1377, and worked on the facade of Strasbourg). At the end of the 14th century, the Parler style was also adapted to the brick churches of the north, as in Stargard and Brandenburg.

• 
  St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Saint Wenceslas chapel
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  All Saints' Chapel in Hradčany, Prague (1339)
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  Ulm Minster, facade and tower (begun in 1377)

Flanders, Brabant, and the Netherlands

Belfry of the Town Hall of Aalst (15th century)

In the Middle Ages, present-day Belgium and the Netherlands were part of the sphere of artistic influence of the Diocese of Cologne and France. However, it is in civil and public architecture that the Gothic style of this region reached its apogee. From the late 13th century onwards, the area of Flanders and Brabant was at the center of a very rich commercial and textile network. The opulence of the bourgeoisie favored the development of civic life, which manifested itself in grandiose buildings decorated in ashlar masonry: the hallen (large markets and merchandise warehouses) and municipal palaces (town halls). To symbolize secular power versus religious power, these civic buildings were endowed with towering belfries ('beffrois'), matching the scale of the great cathedrals.

The municipal palace of Aalst (1225) became the typological reference point, with its corner turrets and a continuous row of windows. The town halls of Bruges and Brussels present similar schemes, but with hyper-decorated facades, a taste for late-Gothic detail also visible in the palaces of Mons (1458), Ghent (1518), the daring palace of Leuven (1448), and the palace of Oudenaarde (1526–1536).

Town Hall of Bruges (1377-1387)

In regional religious architecture, the Brabantine Gothic style stands out. It is characterized by the use of light-colored sandstone or limestone (which allowed for very meticulous carved details), columns with capitals of stylized foliage (such as cabbage leaves), and sometimes ceilings or vaults with wooden structures due to soil conditions. Notable examples include the Church of Our Lady of the Sablon in Brussels (15th century), the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula (also in Brussels, begun in the 13th century), and the Church of St. Bavo in Haarlem, Netherlands, famous for its monumental structural wooden Gothic ceiling (c. 1479).

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  Interior of the Church of Our Lady in Trier (c. 1233–1283)
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  Cologne Cathedral, Germany (1248–1473/1880)
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  Central nave of Cologne Cathedral
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  St. Andrew's Church, Hildesheim, Germany (c. 1389–1504)
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  Saint Wenceslas Chapel in St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague
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  Karlstejn Castle in Central Bohemia
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  St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland (Brick Gothic)
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  St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk, Poland (Brick Gothic)
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  Wooden ceiling in Brabantine Gothic style of St. Bavo's Church in Haarlem
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  Church of Our Lady of the Sablon in Brussels (15th century)
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  Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels

Southern European Gothic

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  San Gil Abad in Burgos, where the Chapel of the Nativity of Mary (1529) uses squinches to convert the square plan into an octagonal one, crowned by a star vault with a central oculus. In the Chapel of the Sorrowful Mother, curved liernes (tertiary ribs), typical of Iberian Late Gothic, stand out. Meanwhile, the Chapel of the Three Kings (1489) is characterized by its geometric complexity and highly ornamented vault bosses. The ensemble reflects the direct influence, or even the participation, of the craftsmen of the Burgos Cathedral.
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  León Cathedral (1205–1472)
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  Toledo Cathedral (1227–1493)
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  Burgos Cathedral (1221–1260)
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  Valencia Cathedral (13th–15th c.)
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  Évora Cathedral, Portugal (1280–1340)
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  The Gothic nave of Évora Cathedral, in Portugal, leads to a Baroque chapel (1280–1340)
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  Batalha Monastery, Portugal
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  Batalha Monastery, Portugal (1387)

Italy

Upper Basilica of Assisi, interior (1228–1239)

The Gothic style arrived late in Italy and failed to take deep root due to the strong classical tradition present in the peninsula. Italian Gothic architecture was deeply influenced by the geopolitics of its city-states and the materials available in different regions: marble was available in large quantities in Tuscany, being generously used for surface cladding, while its scarcity in Lombardy induced the systematic and autonomous use of brick. Many transalpine architectural elements were rejected or profoundly subverted, reflecting architectural choices associated with Italian urban traditions and a detachment from the Île-de-France cathedral model.

Thus, instead of dissolving the wall mass into an abstract structural system dominated by glass, Italian architecture preserved the mass and two-dimensionality of the wall, converting it into an abstract plane of chromatic effects and an iconographic support for frescoes. The persistence of architectural solutions distinct from French cathedrals should not be understood as passive resistance or technical delay, but as an expression of Italian political and institutional structures. The monumental architecture of urban communes, the papacy, and the empire developed their own languages that hardly aligned with the model of centralized territorial monarchies of northern Europe.

The Cistercian monastic order played an important role in the initial diffusion of Gothic solutions in Italy, transmitting above all their own interpretation of Burgundian Gothic rather than direct models of French cathedrals, as seen in the Fossanova Abbey (consecrated in 1208) and the Casamari Abbey (1203–1217). Although they followed the basic plan of Gothic Cistercian churches in Burgundy, particularly Cîteaux Abbey, Cister's transmission role was locally requalified. Its aesthetics were absorbed not as a typological replica of French cathedrals, but as a decisive step to organize in a linear and abstract way the static and heavy structures of the Italian basilical tradition.

Among the earliest examples of Gothic religious architecture is the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (1228–1239). It is an extremely original building, to the point where it is impossible to recognize a specific model that served as a reference for the builders. The church has a simple structure, with a Latin cross plan devoid of side aisles and lacking the typical verticality of large French cathedrals. Furthermore, it features massive walls, following a model inherited from Roman and Romanesque architecture. These heavy walls were decorated with frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto, works that, in turn, strongly influenced later Italian painting. Romanesque elements are also present on the facade of the Church of San Francisco in Bologna, another of the earliest cult buildings constructed in the Gothic style. Its interior, however, shows a greater understanding of the Gothic, with its side aisles and an ambulatory equipped with radiating chapels.

The Basilica of Saint Francis would become a model for Italian Gothic, featuring vast wall surfaces that lent themselves to hosting important fresco cycles. This is a fundamental difference compared to large cathedrals in the rest of Europe, where the wall tended to thin out to be replaced by artistic stained glass. From the second half of the 13th century onwards, the mendicant orders also exercised a decisive influence on Italian architecture. Their churches, frequently located in expanding urban peripheries, adopted spatially vast and relatively simple solutions, prioritizing liturgical functionality and preaching, while assimilating construction characteristics specific to local traditions.

The Italian plan is generally regular and symmetric; cathedrals have few and widely spaced columns, which unify the interior space along the entrance-choir axis. Proportions are generally mathematically balanced, based on the square and the concept of armonia, and except in Venice—where extravagant arches of great decorative exuberance were appreciated—arches are almost always equilateral. Italian Gothic cathedrals frequently retained Romanesque features and conservative static choices. Also Gothic in style is the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, erected by the Dominicans, which features a lighter and airier structure. Founded in 1279, it is the best example of Italian Gothic from the second half of the 13th century, as well as one of the most original, given the scarce impact of French Gothic on its conception. Inside, the side aisles communicate directly with the central nave through wide arcades, generating a unitary space. The circular window rises over flat, bare walls, while the vault is very elevated, a feature that allowed the use of buttresses and flying buttresses to be dispensed with. A similar style is found in Santa Croce in Florence, the Franciscan church designed by Arnolfo da Cambio. In general, a certain reticence toward the Gothic can be observed in other cathedrals that emerged across the peninsula between the 13th and 14th centuries, such as in Siena and Orvieto, where Romanesque elements survived alongside the more typical features of the new style.

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, facade (begun in 1296)

The cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the see of Florence, was designed in 1296 by Arnolfo da Cambio. Italian cathedrals were not as tall as French ones; they rarely used flying buttresses and generally had only two levels—an arcade and a clerestory with small windows—maintaining the tectonic integrity of the wall. Inside Santa Maria del Fiore, the central nave and side aisles merge into a single, immense fluid space. Arnolfo's original design was later partially modified by Francesco Talenti, who took over direction of the works around 1350. A lively debate ensued, involving various masters, including sculptors, painters, and goldsmiths. The initial project also anticipated an imposing dome that no one was able to erect until the 15th century, at which point the complex technical problems were brilliantly solved by Filippo Brunelleschi—although these works already enter the full Renaissance period. The bell tower ('campanile') of the cathedral, begun according to Giotto's design, continued by Andrea Pisano, and completed by Talenti, recovers a tradition typical of Florentine Romanesque yet distant from the Gothic. It presents an elegant square base and is adorned with marble decorations in rectilinear compartments. The transept crossing in Italian cathedrals is generally surmounted by an exposed octagonal dome, reinforcing the dialogue between the longitudinal system and the central head, while the bell tower and baptistery remained typologically independent structures.

The smallest notable Italian Gothic church is Santa Maria della Spina in Pisa (c. 1330), which exemplifies the exuberant explosion of the Late Gothic, resembling a Gothic jewelry box in which the decorative language overflows the modesty of the structures. On the other hand, the Basilica of Bologna (San Petronio, begun in 1388) adopted the hall church style (Hallenkirche) and rivaled the Bourges Cathedral in France in height.

In 14th-century Tuscany, a Gothic style very far from the Radiant style and extremely original spread, developing a rich decoration technique visible in both civil buildings and religious architecture. The masterpiece of this style is the facade of the Orvieto Cathedral, whose reconstruction began after 1290 from an ambitious project that still retained Romanesque traits. The nave of Orvieto Cathedral maintained the spirit of classical and paleochristian antiquity through solemn arcades and an original wooden ceiling, deliberately evoking the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore under the patronage and political ideology of the papacy. The sculpted polychrome decoration on the facade is due to the Sienese Lorenzo Maitani, who took over the direction of works starting in 1310.

A distinctive feature of Italian Gothic is the use of polychrome decoration, both externally (as marble cladding over brick facades) and internally, where arches and pillars are often made of alternating segments of light and dark stone. Italian church facades, often conceived as wall surfaces independent of the church body (such as Lombard "a vento" facades), feature open porches (protiros) and oculus or circular windows rather than complex rose windows. The eastern end generally features a relatively low and rectilinear projecting apse adapted to the urban scale. Although stained glass is frequently found, the primary narrative medium of the interior was the fresco, ceding the leading role in instructing the faithful to painting. Another innovation of Italian Gothic is the bronze door covered with sculptures (the most famous examples being the doors of the Florence Baptistery by Andrea Pisano (1330–1336)). Lacking the elaborate sculptural tympanums over entrances typical of French cathedrals, Italian architecture featured abundant realistic sculptural decoration integrated into the surface, notably the works of Nicola Pisano in the Baptistery of the Pisa Cathedral (1259–1260) and the Siena Cathedral, and of his son Giovanni Pisano on the western facade of the latter (1284–1285).

Milan Cathedral, exterior (after 1387)

In Italy, the only attempt to build a cathedral that fully and coherently followed the canons of French Gothic was carried out at Milan's Duomo. The first project was prepared in 1387, followed by a debate among builders that assumed international proportions. Between 1387 and 1401, the Milanese requested assistance from masters from Campione, Bologna, Paris, and Germany. The works spanned centuries, and the cathedral was only completed in 1858. The entire structure conveys a sense of grandeur and solemnity, starting with the pink marbles that clad both the exterior and interior. The naves are delimited by pillars topped by edicule-shaped capitals housing statues.

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, numerous civil buildings inspired by the Gothic style also sprang up in many Italian cities, although they do not share the aspiration to verticality that characterizes the Gothic in France and other countries. This architectural flourishing was a direct consequence of the peninsula's prosperity, which at the time constituted the main financial center of Europe. This was combined with the strong civic identity asserted in each commune, where violent factional clashes for control of political power frequently broke out. One of the earliest examples was the Piazza del Campo in Siena, built starting in 1298. The square, with its celebrated fan shape, is dominated by the Palazzo Pubblico (1298–1348), seat of the municipal government, whose plan consists of a complex network of rooms and offices, many decorated with frescoes by celebrated artists. Rising above the palace is the Torre del Mangia. Florence's Palazzo Vecchio (1299–1314), seat of the Florentine government, retains the volumetry and characteristics of the defensive fortress it once was. Next to it stands the Loggia della Signoria, built around 1370, which already displays elements of transition to the Renaissance.

Particularly exquisite are the palaces built in southern Italy. Among them stands out the fortified palace commissioned by Frederick II at Castel del Monte (completed after 1250), with an octagonal plan where French Gothic elements merge with aspects of Roman ancestry. In northern Italy, on the other hand, the construction of military buildings continued, exemplified by the castles of Sirmione on the shores of Lake Garda and Fénis in the Aosta Valley. However, the most refined palaces of Italian medieval architecture are found in Venice, which in the 15th century was the most prosperous commercial city in the Mediterranean. The Doge's Palace, whose reconstruction began in the mid-14th century, acquired its current appearance in the 1420s. It features a two-tiered arcade gallery, topped by an upper body clad in white and pink marble slabs.

Spain

Seville Cathedral, interior (1401)

Intense architectural activity in Spain remained steady until the end of the Middle Ages. Among the cathedrals planned at the beginning of the 15th century, the most majestic is Seville Cathedral (1401), designed with a five-aisled plan and chapels embedded directly into the exterior buttresses. The vaults rise to the level of the upper clerestory-style clerestory windows.

In 1469, the country achieved political unification as a result of the marriage between Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile; in 1492, this was followed by the annexation of the Kingdom of Granada, until then the last Muslim domain, and in 1412 the Kingdom of Navarre was conquered. In the 16th century, Spain would become the hegemonic power of Europe, consolidated by the coronation of Charles V (Charles I of Spain) as Holy Roman Emperor. In the late eighteenth century, a new style called Isabeline thus spread, fusing the characteristics of Flamboyant Gothic with elements of Mudéjar affiliation and early Renaissance influxes.

One of the exponents of this period is the church of San Gil Abad in Burgos, where the Chapel of the Nativity of Mary (1529) uses squinches to convert the square plan into an octagonal one, crowned by a star vault with a central oculus. In the Chapel of the Sorrowful Mother, the curved liernes (tertiary ribs), typical of Iberian Late Gothic, stand out, while the Chapel of the Three Kings (1489) is characterized by its geometric complexity and highly ornamented vault bosses, reflecting the direct influence of the craftsmen of Burgos Cathedral.

Spanish Gothic from this phase resulted from close collaboration between local, German, Flemish, and French architects and artisans. Among the most prominent figures is Juan Guas, author of the monastery of San Juan de los Reyes in Toledo. This is a Franciscan convent endowed with unusual ornamental sumptuosity, filled with sculptural programs. The church, commissioned directly by the Catholic Monarchs, was intended to house the royal pantheon until the conquest of Granada (1492). To Simón de Colonia we owe, in turn, the Capilla del Condestable (1482–1494), inserted inside Burgos Cathedral. Established by the hereditary constable of Castile, Pedro Fernández de Velasco, it features an octagonal plan crowned by complex spires and flamboyant tracery. The same architect later worked on the exuberant facade of the church of Saint Paul in Valladolid (1495–1505). Spain also possesses a vast heritage of medieval urban centers, although it preserves fewer Gothic civil buildings compared to Italy or Flanders. Its castles, dating mostly from the 15th century, are in excellent condition. There is no shortage, however, of exceptional references from the previous century, such as Bellver Castle, on the outskirts of Palma de Mallorca, commissioned for King James II of Aragon. It features a perfectly circular plan and the palatial quarters develop around a central courtyard, where an elegant two-story arcade gallery stands out. The body of the castle connects externally to the keep, also of circular plan.

Kingdom of Castile

Zamora Cathedral, ribbed vault (1139–1174)

In the Iberian Peninsula, French Gothic elements were introduced by the Cistercians in the second half of the 12th century. The earliest examples were the monasteries of Veruela, Poblet, and Santes Creus. Ribbed vaults were very early applied inside buildings of still fully Romanesque matrix, such as the Portico of Glory of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral or Zamora Cathedral, which would also influence the Collegiate Church of Santa María la Mayor in Toro. The Gothic style in the Iberian Peninsula presents surprisingly different variations from the rest of Europe, the result of a transitional period in which the end of the Romanesque alternated with rare expressions of pure Gothic.

In 1172, the French architect Giral Fruchel designed the territory's first Gothic cathedral, Ávila Cathedral in Castile, which represents precisely this fusion between Romanesque and Gothic. Inspired by the Basilica of Saint-Denis, King Alfonso VIII of Castile demanded for Ávila a plan with radiating chapels and a double ambulatory. Standing out within the cathedral are the unusual flying buttresses in the transept and nave, making it one of the earliest works of Gothic architecture in Spain. Among the first buildings to consistently employ Gothic style elements are the church of San Vicente and Ávila Cathedral itself, a cathedral-castle where battlements, machicolations, and watchtowers combine with its structure.

In the 13th century, however, fundamental historical-political shifts occurred with direct repercussions on Hispanic architecture. Muslims lost control of most of the peninsula: following the conquest of Seville in 1248, only the Kingdom of Granada remained under their domain. The kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and later Mallorca asserted themselves, alongside the Kingdom of Portugal, as the new Iberian powers. It is precisely in this 13th century that the so-called Full Gothic (or High Gothic) arrived with full force through the pilgrimage routes of the Way of St. James, a time when the purest cathedrals, closely linked to French and German Gothic, were erected. These are fully manifested in the cathedrals of Toledo, Burgos, and León, located in the territories of the Kingdom of Castile.

The distinctive feature of the Iberian Peninsula's Gothic cathedrals is their spatial complexity, with many areas of different shapes interconnecting. They are comparatively wide and frequently feature very high arcades topped by low clerestories, giving them a spatiality similar to German hall churches. This chronological categorization is often preferable to stylistic classification, applying the qualifier "Gothic" with caution and favoring the term "low medieval".

Toledo Cathedral, interior (15th century)

The reconstruction of Toledo Cathedral, begun in 1227 by Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, was completed in the late 15th century. It exemplifies the richness of this period, erected over an old mosque and maintaining a plan that partially recalled the original Islamic structure; the fusion of French Gothic with local elements generated a unique style. It recovers some characteristics of Bourges Cathedral, featuring a double ambulatory and double side aisles of decreasing height. It differs, however, from its model due to its marked horizontal expansion, large bronze doors on the central portal, simple vaults, elaborate stonework with colored marbles, profuse decorations, and a transept that interrupts the continuity of the aisles. Some Mudéjar elements—typical of Hispano-Moorish Islamic architecture—are also integrated. An example of this is the ambulatory, where three- or five-lobed arches are found, surmounted by a larger arch; of Islamic root are also the decorations of the archivolts and rose windows located in that same area.

Burgos Cathedral, triforium (1260)

Burgos Cathedral is contemporary to Toledo's: begun around 1221, it underwent multiple subsequent alterations, and was completed and consecrated in 1260. It has a more homogeneous structure than Toledo's, incorporating pier arcades, clerestories, flying buttresses, and a large rose window, with the choir singularly positioned in the center of the nave rather than between the nave and the altar. The influence of French cathedrals is perfectly perceptible: the spaces are wide, abundantly lit, and approach the forms of Reims and Paris. Particularly original is the triforium which, as in Toledo, exhibits typical Hispano-Moorish influenced decorations. Also noteworthy are the German-influenced towers on the west facade (combining intricate ornamentation with broad flat surfaces), begun in 1444 by architect John of Cologne, and subsequently complemented by a central tower completed in 1540 by his grandson.

León Cathedral, interior (begun around 1255)

León Cathedral was supposedly begun around 1255. Its west facade typically resembles French facades, although it presents wider proportions relative to height. Its plan evokes that of Chartres Cathedral, while the ambulatory with five radial chapels and the transept endowed with side aisles were imported from Reims. The traceried triforium clearly approaches the Radiant Gothic, with a total absence of the Hispano-Moorish decorations observed in Toledo and Burgos. León Cathedral presents a very slender volumetry, typical of French Radiant Gothic, with its shafts and clustered colonnettes rising vertically to the vaults.

Many Iberian cathedrals are completely surrounded by chapels which, as in English cathedrals, are frequently stylistically diverse. In Oviedo Cathedral, the Chapter House (built between 1293 and 1314) exemplifies this diversity with its Aquitaine-Spanish group vaulting, using ribbed squinches to cover a square plan with an octagonal vault. The absence of an ambulatory in buildings such as Oviedo Cathedral—which differs from Bayonne and Pamplona in this aspect—was due to liturgical and functional reasons; if relics were kept in an independent building (such as the Holy Chamber), a peripheral ambulatory lost its meaning. Although León Cathedral is frequently proposed as a model for the new San Salvador of Oviedo, the latter's morphology reveals a closer relationship with Bayonne Cathedral, begun around 1310. It is important to note that the Gothic style also includes lower quality constructions of a more popular character, where technical crudeness conceals scholarly international models reinterpreted through popularization processes.

Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia

Architectural development in this region is inseparable from its political, social, and territorial reality. The monarchy, consolidated from the time of Ramon Berenguer IV and the union with the Kingdom of Aragon, determined the guidelines of ecclesiastical architecture and allied with the urban bourgeoisie and merchant aristocracy, driving institutional growth and city urbanism.

During the first half of the 13th century, there was a stagnation of Romanesque forms and the maintenance of contacts with Italy and Languedoc (Toulouse), especially in secondary centers of Old Catalonia. However, under the reign of James I (1213–1276), who redefined Catalan politics with the conquest of Majorca and Valencia, the landscape changed profoundly:

In the final decades of the 13th century, new Gothic forms began to be introduced in major urban centers (Barcelona, Girona, Perpignan) and in newly reconquered cities from Islam (Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia), being superimposed and adapted to pre-existing spatiality and structures. Thanks to available resources, the Church erected cathedrals and parishes in the reconquered areas, such as Tarragona Cathedral, the old Lleida Cathedral, Sant Llorenç, Sant Martí, and Santa Maria de Agramunt. In Barcelona, a new episcopal see was planned and the chapel of Santa Llúcia was built, while in Perpignan the church of Saint-Jean-le-Vieux was erected. The period was also marked by the construction activity of major Cistercian abbeys (Poblet, Santes Creus, and Vallbona de les Monges), mendicant orders (convents of Santa Caterina and Sant Francesc in Barcelona), and chivalric orders (the Peñíscola Castle of the Templars, and the church of Sant Joan de l'Hospital in Valencia).

The 13th-century building activity also included the projection of Barcelona's city wall to protect new neighborhoods (such as Santa Maria del Mar and Sant Pere de les Puelles), the first restorations of the Palau Reial Major, and the foundation of the drassanes (naval shipyards) by Peter III the Great (1281). Added to this are the municipal palace of La Paeria in Lleida, the chapels of the Palais des Rois de Majorque in Perpignan, and rural and urban residences of the nobility, such as the castles of Maldà and Verdú.

In Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia—territories then controlled by the Crown of Aragon, whose Mediterranean and urban expansion culminated in its apogee under the reigns of James II, Alfonso III, and above all Peter the Ceremonious (1336–1387)— very original characteristics developed between 1262 and 1393, inspired in part by the churches of the mendicant orders, whose strong urban presence dated back to the previous century, which privileged a single nave flanked by side chapels.

Among these, the most important is the church of Santa Maria del Pi in Barcelona (begun in 1322), in which the large unitary interior volume is punctuated by chapels inserted into the flanks. This parochial typology mirrors the great construction increase associated with the development of new urban neighborhoods in the 14th century, also visible in churches like Santa Maria del Mar and Sant Just i Pastor in Barcelona, Sant Feliu in Girona, Santa Maria de l'Aurora in Manresa, and the homonymous churches of Santa Maria in Castelló d'Empúries, Cervera, and Montblanc.

An identical spatial conception is found in multi-aisled structures, such as Barcelona Cathedral, begun in 1298 to replace the aforementioned episcopal see, but completed only in the 19th century. The chapels are integrated into the load-bearing structure itself, making the dividing walls assume the function of internal buttresses. Furthermore, it features towering arcades, reducing upper windows to mere oculus openings. The central nave is covered by four large square vault bays, which discharge their weight onto the chapels, tribunes, and buttresses. This 14th-century architecture is based on a classical ascension spatiality that favors the homogenization of internal space, modulated by harmoniously proportioned bays, formally resorting to groin vaults and clustered pillars.

Simultaneously, Valencia Cathedral (13th to 15th centuries) developed following this regional tendency of ample spatiality, with the process of introducing Gothic forms beginning in the late 13th century over the structures of the recently reconquered city, later becoming in the 15th century one of the great centers of concentration of artistic and public resources after the extinction of the main line of the house of Barcelona.

Girona Cathedral, begun in 1312, shares similar traits with Toledo Cathedral, differing, however, in the elevation of the choir, which features ample windows and an open triforium over its large arcades. The reconstruction of this 14th-century cathedral replaced the earlier Romanesque structure, with the worksite counting on the collaboration of local masters, such as the Borrassà family, in producing its stained glass windows. In the 15th century, the structure was profoundly altered: architect Guillaume Boffy erected an immense single nave with powerful buttresses to support the vault, abutting it against the three aisles of the initial sanctuary. The transition and closure between the two sections were achieved through a frontal wall pierced by three large rose windows.

Particularly ambitious is Palma Cathedral, endowed with a nave of colossal proportions, supported on the exterior by a veritable jungle of buttresses and flying buttresses. The structure began to be erected in the early years of the 14th century over the urban space reconquered in the previous century by James I, and its chevet was completed in 1327. Around mid-century, the worksite was reopened and work extended into the 17th century. The choir lacks an ambulatory and is lower than the nave, which lacks a triforium but compensates with soaring frestas and tall windows. The towering vaults are supported by slender octagonal pillars.

The Gothic model of the region expanded strongly into civil architecture and major laic public works financed by municipalities (especially Barcelona's) and professional corporations. Outstanding examples include public palaces (the palaces of the Generalitat and the municipal palaces of Barcelona and Valencia), large merchant exchanges (Llotges of Barcelona, Palma, Perpignan, and Valencia), the expansions of Barcelona's drassanes, and hospitals such as Santa Creu. This civil and religious language would exert a direct influence on other Mediterranean areas, serving as a model for Castel Nuovo in Naples and Palazzo Bellomo in Siracusa.

Portugal

Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória in Batalha, facade (1387)

A genuinely national religious architecture only consolidated itself in the Romanesque period, predominantly in the northwestern Iberian peninsula. Initially inspired by early Cluniac style, with a single nave and wooden ceiling, it evolved into three-aisled structures with vaulted roofs (such as the 12th-century cathedrals of Braga, Porto, Coimbra, Lamego, Lisbon, and Évora), incorporating decorative elements of Byzantine and Visigothic matrix.

Gothic architecture was introduced to Portugal in the late 12th century, progressively asserting itself over the following centuries within the context of the kingdom's consolidation, the expansion of the Catholic Church, and the affirmation of the territorial independence. Moving away from the scale and monumentality of contemporary European cathedrals, the national architecture of that phase is characterized by restrained and refined volumes, conditioned by local resources. Pedro Dias defends the Gothic as an autonomous language vis-à-vis the Romanesque, while other authors emphasize the coexistence and mutual influence between both currents, preferring a reading of continuity rather than rupture.

The first to introduce the style were the Cistercian monks, who adopted an austere model based on modular rhythms and broken barrel vaults, as seen in the Alcobaça Monastery (begun in 1178, founded in 1152 by King Afonso Henriques and inhabited from 1222 onwards). Founded for the Cistercian Order, it constitutes the country's first entirely Gothic building. The cloister of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra also belongs to this initial phase. However, the transition between Romanesque and Gothic proceeded slowly, with Romanesque-Gothic structures persisting throughout the 13th and 14th centuries.

With the impetus of monastic and chivalric orders (Cluniacs, Cistercians, Templars, Hospitallers, and Knights of Christ), complexes of a transitional character multiplied, notably the Alcobaça Monastery, the Monastery of Almoster near Santarém (1289), the Monastery of Odivelas (1295–1305), and the Monastery of Santa Clara of Vila do Conde (founded in 1318). Santarém established itself as the main hub of this transitional architecture, gathering, alongside Almoster, the churches of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara.

In the Coimbra region, the church of the Convent of Santa Clara stands out, attributed to architect Domingos Domingues, which singles itself out in the contemporary panorama by presenting an integrally vaulted ceiling, contrasting with the traditional wooden roof of mendicant architecture. In the municipality of Porto, the same transitional vocabulary manifests in the Monastery of Leça do Balio and, in the interior, in the church of the Monastery of Cete in Paredes—the latter still marked by a Romanesque spatiality, although provided with pointed arches and vegetal capitals. Also integrating this cycle are the east end of the church of Vera Cruz de Marmelar in the Alentejo and the east end of the Lisbon Cathedral.

The assimilation of Gothic structural solutions was favored by contacts with the western French coastline and dynastic relations with the House of Évreux, introducing models that linked Portugal and the Asturias to southwestern France. The stereotomy of the period depended on regional raw materials: granite in the north, soft limestone in the Coimbra region, and lioz limestone in Lisbon.

The full consolidation of the Gothic occurred in the 14th century, driven by the establishment of mendicant orders—Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites, and Dominicans—whose foundations accompanied the growth of urban centers. The mendicant branch of Portuguese Gothic defined itself by formal sobriety: three-aisled plans covered in wood, absence of vaults in the central nave, clerestory lighting over arcades, and projecting transepts with stone-vaulted apse chapels. Exemplifying this typology are the convents of São Francisco of Santarém, São Francisco of Porto, São Francisco of Estremoz, São Domingos of Évora, and the Santa Clara-a-Velha Monastery in Coimbra. Female convents adapted spatiality to the demands of enclosure: the nave frequently appeared divided into two bays, reserving the western sector for the nuns and the front area for the faithful, a layout that conditioned the elimination of the western portal in favor of accesses on the southern facade. Simultaneously, military orders played a decisive role in spreading the new language, as observed in the church of São João de Alporão in Santarém, the Monastery of Leça do Balio (Hospitallers), and the Church of Santa Maria dos Olivais in Tomar (a Templar foundation). Alongside the Évora Cathedral, these last two buildings define the milestones of early Portuguese Gothic (second half of the 13th century to the first quarter of the 14th century). The Templar church of Tomar remains the sole national example of a centralized plan derived from the typology of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Episcopal sees, such as those of Porto, Coimbra, Lamego, and Lisbon, initiated in the Romanesque period, were completed according to Gothic principles, frequently incorporating cloisters of Cistercian influence. In Porto, besides the Romanesque body and the cathedral's cloister, the church of São Francisco—inserted into the stylistic cycle of Batalha—and the Fernandine wall stand out. In turn, Évora Cathedral (13th–14th centuries) and Silves Cathedral (14th–15th centuries) configure themselves as fully Gothic structures. According to historian Mário Tavares Chicó, Silves Cathedral ranks among the most expressive Gothic examples in the south of the country, reflecting the stylistic irradiation of the Batalha worksite, whose influence extended into the Algarve between the late 14th and late 15th centuries, accompanying formal evolution from the design of Afonso Domingues to the Manueline era. This constructive burst developed essentially during the reigns of Afonso III (1248–1279), Dinis (1279–1325), and Afonso IV (1325–1357).

Parochial and local architecture maintained, in many cases, paleochristian, Visigothic, and Romanesque archaisms: single naves topped by a polygonal main chapel under an ogival arch and refined facades, with ogival portals surmounted by oculus windows or modest rose windows, as observed in the Church of Graça in Santarém, the Mother Church of Lourinhã, and the churches of São Pedro of Arganil, São Salvador of Travanca, and Santo André of Mafra. Among the fully stone-vaulted Gothic edifices are counted only the Alcobaça Monastery, Santa Clara-a-Velha, Évora Cathedral, the Guarda Cathedral, and the Batalha Monastery.

Batalha Monastery, the Unfinished Chapels (15th century)

During the course of the 14th century, the pace of construction slowed down, renewing itself under the dynamic of the House of Aviz in the reign of João I (1385–1433), a phase designated as Joanine Gothic. The nuclear monument of this stage is the Mosteiro de Santa Maria da Vitória in Batalha (begun in 1387), erected in fulfillment of the vow formulated at the Battle of Aljubarrota. The structure reflects a formal eclecticism: in the early 15th century, the worksite incorporated Flamboyant Gothic solutions and a facade of marked horizontality, aligned with the English Perpendicular style. The Batalha worksite converted itself into the diffusing center of 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese architecture, gathering masters and sculptors who fixed Gothic models throughout the kingdom. Its influence propagated through masters trained at Batalha, called to direct works in various regions, such as at the collegiate church of Guimarães and the Carmo Convent in Lisbon—the latter founded by Nuno Álvares Pereira and ruined in the 1755 earthquake. Under the action of João I, the language of Batalha extended to the north via the Convent of São Domingos in Vila Real, the collegiate church of Barcelos, and the mother church of Ponte de Lima, while in the center it manifested itself in the Guarda Cathedral. Affiliating with this cycle are also the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pena (Leiria), the Church of Graça (Santarém), the parish church of Lourinhã, and the mother church of Tavira.

In the second half of the 15th century, interventions in northern worksites were maintained; however, the financial modesty of local communities limited the hiring of Batalha masters, perpetuating Romanesque-affiliated solutions executed by regional artisans. In the center and south of the territory, the Synagogue of Tomar, the Church of Santiago of Marvão, the Mother Church of Tavira, Faro Cathedral, and Silves Cathedral stand out in this period.

In Batalha, the country's first royal pantheon was likewise defined, materialized in the Founder's Chapel (1434). King Duarte subsequently initiated the construction of an octagonal funerary rotunda adjoined to the main chapel, which remained unfinished (designated as the Unfinished Chapels).

D. Manuel I (1495–1521) pushed the completion of the rotunda, adding seven radial chapels and a monumental portal sculpted by Mateus Fernandes. His reign marks the affirmation of the Manueline style, a variant of Late Gothic fueled by economic resources and the cultural context of the Age of Discovery. Manueline articulated the decorative exuberance of Late Gothic with a naturalist, heraldic, and maritime iconography. The paradigmatic expression of the style is found in the Chapter House window of the Convent of Christ in Tomar (1510–1514), designed by Diogo de Arruda. Also constituting fundamental landmarks of this current are the Jerónimos Monastery and the Belém Tower in Lisbon, the Convent of Jesus of Setúbal in Setúbal, and the sacristy portal of Alcobaça. In sepulchral plastics, the Gothic produced striking works such as the tombs of D. Pedro and D. Inês de Castro in Alcobaça, the tombs of the Illustrious Generation in Batalha, and the recumbent statuary of the sees of Braga and Évora. In the domain of painting, the Panels of Saint Vincent de Fora, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves, rank among the highest testimonies of 16th-century European art, characterized by a descriptive rigor of emotional and naturalist synthesis.

Decline and transition

Paris, Saint-Eustache (1532–1633)

Beginning in the mid-15th century, the Gothic style gradually lost its dominance in Europe. It had never been popular in Italy, and in the mid-15th century the Italians, drawing upon ancient Roman ruins, returned to classical models. The dome of Florence Cathedral (1420–1436) by Filippo Brunelleschi, inspired by the Pantheon, Rome, was one of the first Renaissance landmarks, but it also employed Gothic technology; the outer skin of the dome was supported by a framework of twenty-four ribs. In the 16th century, as Renaissance architecture from Italy began to appear in France and other countries in Europe. The Gothic style began to be described as outdated, ugly and even barbaric. The term "Gothic" was first used as a pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his 1550 Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style. In the introduction to the Lives he attributed various architectural features to the Goths whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome, and erecting new ones in this style. In the 17th century, Molière also mocked the Gothic style in the 1669 poem La Gloire: "...the insipid taste of Gothic ornamentation, these odious monstrosities of an ignorant age, produced by the torrents of barbarism..." The dominant styles in Europe became in turn Italian Renaissance architecture, Baroque architecture, and the grand classicism of the style Louis XIV.

The Kings of France had first-hand knowledge of the new Italian style, because of the military campaign of Charles VIII to Naples and Milan (1494), and especially the campaigns of Louis XII and François I (1500–1505) to restore French control over Milan and Genoa. They brought back Italian paintings, sculpture and building plans, and, more importantly, Italian craftsmen and artists. The Cardinal Georges d'Amboise, chief minister of Louis XII, built the Chateau of Gaillon near Rouen (1502–1510) with the assistance of Italian craftsmen. The Château de Blois (1515–1524) introduced the Renaissance loggia and open stairway. François I installed Leonardo da Vinci at his Chateau of Chambord in 1516, and introduced a Renaissance long gallery at the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1528–1540. In 1546 François I began building the first example of French classicism, the square courtyard of the Louvre Palace designed by Pierre Lescot.

Nonetheless, new Gothic buildings, particularly churches, continued to be built. New Gothic churches built in Paris in this period included Saint-Merri (1520–1552) and Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. The first signs of classicism in Paris churches did not appear until 1540, at Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais. The largest new church, Saint-Eustache (1532–1560), rivalled Notre-Dame in size, 105 m (344 ft) long, 44 m (144 ft) wide, and 35 m (115 ft) high. As construction of this church continued, elements of Renaissance decoration, including the system of classical orders of columns, were added to the design, making it a Gothic-Renaissance hybrid.

In Germany, some Italian elements were introduced at the Fugger Chapel of St. Anne's Church, Augsburg (1510–1512), combined with Gothic vaults; and others appeared in the Church of St. Michael in Munich, but in Germany Renaissance elements were used primarily for decoration. Some Renaissance elements also appeared in Spain, in the new palace begun by Emperor Charles V in Granada, within the Alhambra (1485–1550), inspired by Bramante and Raphael, but it was never completed. The first major Renaissance work in Spain was El Escorial, the monastery-palace built by Philip II of Spain.

Under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, England was largely isolated from architectural developments on the continent. The first classical building in England was the Old Somerset House in London (1547–1552) (since demolished), built by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who was regent as Lord Protector for Edward VI until the young king came of age in 1547. Somerset's successor, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, sent the architectural scholar John Shute to Italy to study the style. Shute published the first book in English on classical architecture in 1570. The first English houses in the new style were Burghley House (1550s–1580s) and Longleat, built by associates of Somerset. With those buildings, a new age of architecture began in England.

Gothic architecture, usually churches or university buildings, continued to be built. Ireland was an island of Gothic architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the construction of Derry Cathedral (completed 1633), Sligo Cathedral (c. 1730), and Down Cathedral (1790–1818) are other examples. In the 17th and 18th century several important Gothic buildings were constructed at Oxford University and Cambridge University, including Tom Tower (1681–82) at Christ Church, Oxford, by Christopher Wren. It also appeared, in a whimsical fashion, in Horace Walpole's Twickenham villa, Strawberry Hill (1749–1776). The two western towers of Westminster Abbey were constructed between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, opening a new period of Gothic Revival.

Gothic architecture survived the early modern period and flourished again in a revival from the late 18th century and throughout the 19th. Perpendicular was the first Gothic style revived in the 18th century.

Survival, rediscovery and revival

Main article: Gothic Revival architecture

Thistle Chapel at Edinburgh's High Kirk (completed 1910)

In England, partly in response to a philosophy propounded by the Oxford Movement and others associated with the emerging revival of 'high church' or Anglo-Catholic ideas during the second quarter of the 19th century, neo-Gothic began to become promoted by influential establishment figures as the preferred style for ecclesiastical, civic and institutional architecture. The appeal of this Gothic Revival (which after 1837, in Britain, is sometimes termed Victorian Gothic), gradually widened to encompass "low church" as well as "high church" clients. This period of more universal appeal, spanning 1855–1885, is known in Britain as High Victorian Gothic.

The Palace of Westminster in London by Sir Charles Barry with interiors by a major exponent of the early Gothic Revival, Augustus Welby Pugin, is an example of the Gothic revival style from its earlier period in the second quarter of the 19th century. Examples from the High Victorian Gothic period include George Gilbert Scott's design for the Albert Memorial in London, and William Butterfield's chapel at Keble College, Oxford. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, it became more common in Britain for neo-Gothic to be used in the design of non-ecclesiastical and non-governmental buildings types. Gothic details even began to appear in working-class housing schemes subsidised by philanthropy, though given the expense, less frequently than in the design of upper and middle-class housing.

The middle of the 19th century was a period marked by the restoration, and in some cases modification, of ancient monuments and the construction of neo-Gothic edifices such as the nave of Cologne Cathedral and the Sainte-Clotilde of Paris as speculation of mediaeval architecture turned to technical consideration. London's Palace of Westminster, St Pancras railway station, New York's Trinity Church and St Patrick's Cathedral are also famous examples of Gothic Revival buildings. The style also reached the Far East in the period, for instance the Anglican St John's Cathedral located at the centre of Victoria City in Central, Hong Kong.

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  Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham (begun 1749, completed in 1776), designed for Horace Walpole
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  Friedrichswerder Church, Berlin (1824–1831) by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
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  Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) (completed in 1859) and the Houses of Parliament in London (1840–1876)
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  Sainte-Clotilde, Paris (1846–1857)
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  Votivkirche, Vienna (1856–1879)
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  Ohel David Synagogue, Pune (completed 1867)
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  Frere Hall, Karachi, (completed 1865)
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  St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, (completed 1878)
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  Hungarian Parliament Building, Budapest (1885–1904)
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  Palazzo del Governatore, Rhodes (1927) designed by Florestano Di Fausto

Structural elements

The south western tower at Ely Cathedral, England

The nave vault with pointed transverse arches at Durham Cathedral

The sexpartite ribbed vault at Saint Etienne, Caen

Interior of the Cathedral of Cefalu

Pointed arches

Main article: Pointed arch

The defining characteristic of the Gothic style is the pointed arch, which was widely used in both structure and decoration. The pointed arch did not originate in Gothic architecture; they had been employed for centuries in the Near East in pre-Islamic as well as Islamic architecture for arches, arcades, and ribbed vaults. In Gothic architecture, particularly in the later Gothic styles, they became the most visible and characteristic element, giving a sensation of verticality and pointing upward, like the spires. Gothic rib vaults covered the nave, and pointed arches were commonly used for the arcades, windows, doorways, in the tracery, and especially in the later Gothic styles decorating the façades. They were also sometimes used for more practical purposes, such as to bring transverse vaults to the same height as diagonal vaults, as in the nave and aisles of Durham Cathedral, built in 1093.

The earliest Gothic pointed arches were lancet lights or lancet windows, which are narrow windows terminating in a lancet arch. A lancet arch has a radius longer than their breadth (width) and resembles the blade of a lancet. In the 12th-century First Pointed phase of Gothic architecture (also called the Lancet style) and before the introduction of tracery in the windows in later styles, lancet windows predominated Gothic building.

The Flamboyant style of Gothic architecture is particularly known for lavish pointed details such as the arc-en-accolade, where a pointed arch over a doorway was topped by a pointed sculptural ornament called a fleuron and by pointed pinnacles on either side. The arches of the doorway were further decorated with small cabbage-shaped sculptures called chou-frisés.

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  Eastern end of Wells Cathedral (begun 1175)
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  West front of Reims Cathedral, pointed arches within arches (1211–1275)
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  Lancet windows of transept of Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1258)
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  Pointed arches in the arcades, triforium, and clerestory of Lincoln Cathedral (1185–1311)
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  A detail of the windows and galleries of the west front of Strasbourg Cathedral (1215–1439)

Rib vaults

Main article: Rib vault

Structure of an early six-part Gothic rib vault. (drawing by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc)

The Gothic rib vault was one of the essential elements that made the great height and large windows of Gothic architecture possible. Unlike the semi-circular barrel vault of Roman and Romanesque buildings, where the weight pressed directly downward, and required thick walls and small windows, the Gothic rib vault was made of diagonal crossing arched ribs. These ribs directed the thrust outwards to the corners of the vault, and downwards via slender colonnettes and bundled columns, to the pillars and columns below. The space between the ribs was filled with thin panels of small pieces of stone, which were much lighter than earlier groin vaults. The outward thrust against the walls was countered by the weight of buttresses and later flying buttresses. As a result, the massive, thick walls of Romanesque buildings were no longer needed, as since the vaults were supported by columns and piers, the walls could be made thinner and higher, and filled with windows.

The earlier Gothic rib vaults, used at Sens Cathedral (begun between 1135 and 1140) and Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1163), were divided by the ribs into six compartments. They were very difficult to build and could only cross a limited space. Since each vault covered two bays, they needed support on the ground floor from alternating columns and piers. In later construction, the design was simplified, and the rib vaults were divided into only four compartments. The alternating rows of alternating columns and piers receiving the vaults' weight were replaced by simple pillars, each receiving the same weight. A single vault could cross the nave. This method was used at Chartres Cathedral (1194–1220), Amiens Cathedral (begun 1220), and Reims Cathedral. The four-part vaults made it possible for taller buildings to be constructed. Notre-Dame, which had begun with six-part vaults, reached a height of 35 m (115 ft). Amiens Cathedral, which had begun with the newer four-part ribs, reached a height of 42.3 m (139 ft) at the transept.

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  Early six-part rib vaults in Sens Cathedral (1135–1164)
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  Rib vaults of choir of Canterbury Cathedral (1174–77)
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  Stronger four-part rib vaults in nave of Reims Cathedral (1211–1275)
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  A rectangular four-part vault over a single bay in Salisbury Cathedral (1220–1258)

A crossing vault in Seville Cathedral

Later vaults (13th–15th century)

In France, the four-part rib vault, with two diagonals crossing at the center of the traverse, was the type used almost exclusively until the end of the Gothic period. However, in England, several imaginative new vaults were invented which had more elaborate decorative features. They became a signature of the later English Gothic styles.

The first of these new vaults had an additional rib, called a tierceron, which ran down the median of the vault. It first appeared in the vaults of the choir of Lincoln Cathedral at the end of the 12th century, then at Worcester Cathedral in 1224, and then the south transept of Lichfield Cathedral.

The 14th century brought the invention of several new types of vaults which were more and more decorative. These vaults often copied the forms of the elaborate tracery of the Late Gothic styles. These included the stellar vault, where a group of additional ribs between the principal ribs forms a star design. The oldest vaults of this kind were found in the crypt of Saint Stephen at Westminster Palace, built about 1320. A second type was called a reticulated vault, which had a network of additional decorative ribs, in triangles and other geometric forms, placed between or over the traverse ribs. These were first used in the choir of Bristol Cathedral in about 1311. Another late Gothic form, the fan vault, with ribs spreading upwards and outwards, appeared later in the 14th century. An example is the cloister of Gloucester Cathedral (c. 1370).

Another new form was the skeleton vault, which appeared in the English Decorated style. It has an additional network of ribs, like the ribs of an umbrella, which criss-cross the vault but are only directly attached to it at certain points. It appeared in a chapel of Lincoln Cathedral in 1300. and then several other English churches. This style of vault was adopted in the 14th century in particular by German architects, particularly Peter Parler, and in other parts of central Europe. Another exists in the south porch of the Prague Cathedral

Elaborate vaults also appeared in civic architecture. An example is the ceiling of the Vladislav Hall in Prague Castle in Bohemia designed by Benedikt Ried in 1493. The ribs twist and intertwine in fantasy patterns, which later critics called "Rococo Gothic".

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  Lierne vaults of Gloucester Cathedral (Perpendicular Gothic)
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  Skeleton-vault in aisle of Bristol Cathedral (c. 1311–1340)
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  Lincoln Cathedral – quadripartite form, with tierceron ribs and ridge rib with carved bosses
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  Bremen Cathedral, Germany – north aisle, a reticular (net) vault with intersecting ribs
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  Church of the Assumption, St Marein, Austria – star vault with intersecting lierne ribs
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  Salamanca Cathedral, Spain Flamboyant S-shaped and circular lierne ribs. (16th–18th century)
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  Church of the Jacobins, Toulouse – palm tree vault (1275–1292)
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  Peterborough Cathedral, retrochoir – intersecting fan vaults
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  "Rococo Gothic" vaults of Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle (1493)

Columns and piers

See also: Column and Pier (architecture)

In early French Gothic architecture, the capitals of the columns were modeled after Roman columns of the Corinthian order, with finely-sculpted leaves. They were used in the ambulatory of the Abbey church of Saint-Denis. According to its builder, the Abbot Suger, they were inspired by the columns he had seen in the ancient baths in Rome. They were used later at Sens, at Notre-Dame de Paris and at Canterbury in England.

In early Gothic churches with six-part rib vaults, the columns in the nave alternated with more massive piers to provide support for the vaults. With the introduction of the four-part rib vault, all of the piers or columns in the nave could have the same design. In the High Gothic period, a new form was introduced, composed of a central core surrounded several attached slender columns, or colonettes, going up to the vaults. These clustered columns were used at Chartres, Amiens, Reims and Bourges, Westminster Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral. Another variation was a quadrilobe column, shaped like a clover, formed of four attached columns. In England, the clustered columns were often ornamented with stone rings, as well as columns with carved leaves.

Later styles added further variations. Sometimes the piers were rectangular and fluted, as at Seville Cathedral, In England, parts of columns sometimes had contrasting colours, using combining white stone with dark Purbeck marble. In place of the Corinthian capital, some columns used a stiff-leaf design. In later Gothic, the piers became much taller, reaching up more than half of the nave. Another variation, particularly popular in eastern France, was a column without a capital, which continued upward without capitals or other interruption, all the way to the vaults, giving a dramatic display of verticality.

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  Early Gothic – Alternating columns and piers, Sens Cathedral (12th century)
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  High Gothic – Clustered columns of Reims Cathedral (13th century)
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  Early English Gothic – Clustered columns in Salisbury Cathedral (13th century)
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  Perpendicular Gothic – Columns without interruption from floor to the vaults. Canterbury Cathedral nave (late 14th century).
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  Late Gothic - Clustered columns in Certosa di Pavia (15th century).
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  Post-Gothic - Columns with Renaissance capitals in the city church in Bückeburg (17th century)

Flying buttresses

Main article: Flying buttress

An important feature of Gothic architecture was the flying buttress, a half-arch outside the building which carried the thrust of weight of the roof or vaults inside over a roof or an aisle to a heavy stone column. The buttresses were placed in rows on either side of the building, and were often topped by heavy stone pinnacles, both to give extra weight and for additional decoration.

Buttresses had existed since Roman times, usually set directly against the building, but the Gothic vaults were more sophisticated. In later structures, the buttresses often had several arches, each reaching in to a different level of the structure. The buttresses permitted the buildings to be both taller, and to have thinner walls, with greater space for windows.

Over time, the buttresses and pinnacles became more elaborate supporting statues and other decoration, as at Beauvais Cathedral and Reims Cathedral. The arches had an additional practical purpose; they contained lead channels which carried rainwater off the roof; it was expelled from the mouths of stone gargoyles placed in rows on the buttresses.

Flying buttresses were used less frequently in England, where the emphasis was more on length than height. One example of English buttresses was Canterbury Cathedral, whose choir and buttresses were rebuilt in Gothic style by William of Sens and William the Englishman. However, they were very popular in Germany: in Cologne Cathedral the buttresses were lavishly decorated with statuary and other ornament, and were a prominent feature of the exterior.

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  Canterbury Cathedral with simple wall buttresses and flying buttresses (rebuilt into Gothic 1174–1177)
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  East end of Lincoln Cathedral, with wall buttress, and chapter house with flying buttresses. (1185–1311)
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  Flying buttresses of Notre Dame de Paris (c. 1230)
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  Buttresses of Amiens Cathedral with pinnacles to give them added weight (1220–1266)
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  Section of Reims Cathedral showing the three levels of each buttress (1211–1275)
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  Decorated buttresses of Cologne Cathedral (1248–1573)

Rouen Cathedral from the south west – façade towers 12th–15th century, the flamboyant tower to the 15th century, spire rebuilt in 16th century

Towers and spires

Oxen sculpture in High Gothic towers of Laon Cathedral (13th century)

See also: Steeple, Spire, and Bell tower

Towers, spires and flèches were an important feature of Gothic churches. They presented a dramatic spectacle of great height, helped make their churches the tallest and most visible buildings in their city, and symbolised the aspirations of their builders toward heaven. They also had a practical purpose; they often served as bell towers supporting belfries, whose bells told the time by announcing religious services, warned of fire or enemy attack, and celebrated special occasions like military victories and coronations. Sometimes the bell tower is built separate from a church; the best-known example of this is the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The towers of cathedrals were usually the last part of the structure to be built. Since cathedral construction usually took many years, and was extremely expensive, by the time the tower were to be built public enthusiasm waned, and tastes changed. Many projected towers were never built, or were built in different styles than other parts of the cathedral, or with different styles on each level of the tower. At Chartres Cathedral, the south tower was built in the 12th century, in the simpler Early Gothic, while the north tower is the more highly decorated Flamboyant style. Chartres would have been even more exuberant if the second plan had been followed; it called for seven towers around the transept and sanctuary.

In the Île-de-France, cathedral towers followed the Romanesque tradition of two identical towers, one on either side of the portals. The west front of the Saint-Denis, became the model for the early Gothic cathedrals and High Gothic cathedrals in northern France, including Notre-Dame de Paris, Reims Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral.

The early and High Gothic Laon Cathedral has a square lantern tower over the crossing of the transept; two towers on the western front; and two towers on the ends of the transepts. Laon's towers, with the exception of the central tower, are built with two stacked vaulted chambers pierced by lancet openings. The two western towers contain life-size stone statues of sixteen oxen in their upper arcades, said to honour the animals who hauled the stone during the cathedral's construction.

In Normandy, cathedrals and major churches often had multiple towers, built over the centuries; the Abbaye aux Hommes (begun 1066), Caen has nine towers and spires, placed on the façade, the transepts, and the centre. A lantern tower was often placed the centre of the nave, at the meeting point with the transept, to give light to the church below.

In later periods of Gothic, pointed needle-like spires were often added to the towers, giving them much greater height. A variation of the spire was the flèche, a slender, spear-like spire, which was usually placed on the transept where it crossed the nave. They were often made of wood covered with lead or other metal. They sometimes had open frames, and were decorated with sculpture. Amiens Cathedral has a flèche. The most famous example was that of Notre-Dame de Paris. The original flèche of Notre-Dame was built on the crossing of the transept in the middle of the 13th century, and housed five bells. It was removed in 1786 during a program to modernize the cathedral, but was put back in a new form designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. The new flèche, of wood covered with lead, was decorated with statues of the Apostles; the figure of St Thomas resembled Viollet-le-Duc. The flèche was destroyed in the 2019 fire, but is now restored in the same design.

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  Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen (tall west towers added in the 13th century)
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  Towers of Chartres Cathedral; Flamboyant Gothic on left, Early Gothic on the right
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  The 13th century flèche of Notre Dame, recreated in the 19th century, destroyed by fire in 2019, now restored

In English Gothic, the major tower was often placed at the crossing of the transept and nave, and was much higher than the other. The most famous example is the tower of Salisbury Cathedral, completed in 1320 by William of Farleigh. It was a remarkable feat of construction, since it was built upon the pillars of the much earlier church. A crossing tower was constructed at Canterbury Cathedral in 1493–1501 by John Wastell, who had previously worked on King's College at Cambridge. It was finished by Henry Yevele, who also built the present nave of Canterbury. The new central tower at Wells Cathedral caused a problem; it was too heavy for the original structure. An unusual double arch had to be constructed in the centre of the crossing to give the tower the extra support it needed.

England's Gothic parish churches and collegiate churches generally have a single western tower. A number of the finest churches have masonry spires, with those of St James Church, Louth; St Wulfram's Church, Grantham; St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol; and Coventry Cathedral. These spires all exceed 85 m (280 ft) in height.

Westminster Abbey's crossing tower has for centuries remained unbuilt, and numerous architects have proposed various ways of completing it since the 1250s, when work began on the tower under Henry III. A century and half later, an octagonal roof lantern resembling that of Ely Cathedral was installed instead, which was then demolished in the 16th century. Construction began again in 1724 to the design of Nicholas Hawksmoor, after first Christopher Wren had proposed a design in 1710, but stopped again in 1727. The crossing remains covered by the stub of the lantern and a 'temporary' roof.

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  Salisbury Cathedral tower and spire over the crossing (1320)
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  West towers of York Minster, in the Perpendicular Gothic style.
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  The perpendicular west towers of Beverley Minster (c. 1400)
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  Crossing tower of Canterbury Cathedral (1493–1505)

Later Gothic towers in Central Europe often followed the French model, but added even denser decorative tracery. Cologne Cathedral had been started in the 13th century, following the plan of Amiens Cathedral, but only the apse and the base of one tower were finished in the Gothic period. The original plans were conserved and rediscovered in 1817, and the building was completed in the 19th century following the origin design. It has two spectacularly ornamented towers, covered with arches, gables, pinnacles and openwork spires pointing upwards. The tower of Ulm Minster has a similar history, begun in 1377, stopped in 1543, and not completed until the 19th century.

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  Cologne Cathedral towers (begun 13th century, completed 20th century
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  Tower of Ulm Minster (begun 1377, completed 19th century)
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  Tower of Freiburg Minster (begun 1340) noted for its lacelike openwork spire
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  Prague Cathedral (begun 1344)

Regional variants of Gothic towers appeared in Spain and Italy. Burgos Cathedral was inspired by Northern Europe. It has an exceptional cluster of openwork spires, towers, and pinnacles, drenched with ornament. It was begun in 1444 by a German architect, Juan de Colonia (John of Cologne) and eventually completed by a central tower (1540) built by his grandson.

In Italy the towers were sometimes separate from the cathedral; and the architects usually kept their distance from the Northern European style. the leaning tower of Pisa Cathedral, built between 1173 and 1372, is the best-known example. The Campanile of Florence Cathedral was built by Giotto in the Florentine Gothic style, decorated with encrustations of polychrome marble. It was originally designed to have a spire.

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  West towers of Burgos Cathedral (1444–1540)
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  Giotto's Campanile of Florence Cathedral (1334–1359)

Tracery

Beauvais Cathedral, south transept (consecrated 1272)

Main article: Tracery

Tracery is an architectural solution by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone bars or ribs of moulding. Pointed arch windows of Gothic buildings were initially (late 12th–late 13th centuries) lancet windows, a solution typical of the Early Gothic or First Pointed style and of the Early English Gothic. Plate tracery was the first type of tracery to be developed, emerging in the later phase of Early Gothic or First Pointed. Second Pointed is distinguished from First by the appearance of bar–tracery, allowing the construction of much larger window openings, and the development of Curvilinear, Flowing, and Reticulated tracery, ultimately contributing to the Flamboyant style. Late Gothic in most of Europe saw tracery patterns resembling lace develop, while in England Perpendicular Gothic or Third Pointed preferred plainer vertical mullions and transoms. Tracery is practical as well as decorative, because the increasingly large windows of Gothic buildings needed maximum support against the wind.

Plate tracery, in which lights were pierced in a thin wall of ashlar, allowed a window arch to have more than one light – typically two side by side and separated by flat stone spandrels. The spandrels were then sculpted into figures like a roundel or a quatrefoil. Plate tracery reached the height of its sophistication with the 12th century windows of Chartres Cathedral and in the "Dean's Eye" rose window at Lincoln Cathedral.

At the beginning of the 13th century, plate tracery was superseded by bar-tracery. Bar-tracery divides the large lights from one another with moulded mullions. Stone bar-tracery, an important decorative element of Gothic styles, first was used at Reims Cathedral shortly after 1211, in the chevet built by Jean D'Orbais. It was employed in England around 1240. After 1220, master builders in England had begun to treat the window openings as a series of openings divided by thin stone bars, while before 1230 the apse chapels of Reims Cathedral were decorated with bar-tracery with cusped circles (with bars radiating from the centre). Bar-tracery became common after c. 1240, with increasing complexity and decreasing weight. The lines of the mullions continued beyond the tops of the window lights and subdivided the open spandrels above the lights into a variety of decorative shapes. Rayonnant style (c. 1230 – c. 1350) was enabled by the development of bar-tracery in Continental Europe and is named for the radiation of lights around a central point in circular rose windows. Rayonnant also deployed mouldings of two different types in tracery, where earlier styles had used moulding of a single size, with different sizes of mullions. The rose windows of Notre-Dame de Paris (c.1270) are typical.

Plate tracery, Lincoln Cathedral "Dean's Eye" rose window (c.1225)

The early phase of Middle Pointed style (late 13th century) is characterized by Geometrical tracery – simple bar-tracery forming patterns of foiled arches and circles interspersed with triangular lights. The mullions of Geometrical style typically had capitals with curved bars emerging from them. Intersecting bar-tracery (c.1300) deployed mullions without capitals which branched off equidistant to the window-head. The window-heads themselves were formed of equal curves forming a pointed arch and the tracery-bars were curved by drawing curves with differing radii from the same centres as the window-heads. The mullions were in consequence branched into Y-shaped designs further ornamented with cusps. The intersecting branches produced an array of lozenge-shaped lights in between numerous lancet arched lights.Y-tracery was often employed in two-light windows c.1300.

Second Pointed (14th century) saw Intersecting tracery elaborated with ogees, creating a complex reticular (net-like) design known as Reticulated tracery. Second Pointed architecture deployed tracery in highly decorated fashion known as Curvilinear and Flowing (Undulating). These types of bar-tracery were developed further throughout Europe in the 15th century into the Flamboyant style, named for the characteristic flame-shaped spaces between the tracery-bars. These shapes are known as daggers, fish-bladders, or mouchettes.

Third Pointed or Perpendicular Gothic developed in England from the later 14th century and is typified by Rectilinear tracery (panel-tracery). The mullions are often joined by transoms and continue up their straight vertical lines to the top of the window's main arch, some branching off into lesser arches, and creating a series of panel-like lights. Perpendicular strove for verticality and dispensed with the Curvilinear style's sinuous lines in favour of unbroken straight mullions from top to bottom, transected by horizontal transoms and bars. Four-centred arches were used in the 15th and 16th centuries to create windows of increasing size with flatter window-heads, often filling the entire wall of the bay between each buttress. The windows were themselves divided into panels of lights topped by pointed arches struck from four centres. The transoms were often topped by miniature crenellations. The windows at Cambridge of King's College Chapel (1446–1515) represent the heights of Perpendicular tracery.

Tracery was used on both the interior and exterior of buildings. It frequently covered the façades, and the interior walls of the nave and choir were covered with blind arcades. It also often picked up and repeated the designs in the stained glass windows. Strasbourg Cathedral has a west front lavishly ornamented with bar tracery matching the windows.

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  Lancet Gothic, Ripon Minster west front (begun 1160)
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  Plate tracery, Chartres Cathedral clerestory (1194–1220)
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  Geometrical Decorated Gothic, Ripon Minster east window
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  Rayonnant rose window, Strasbourg Cathedral west front
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  Flamboyant rose window, Amiens Cathedral west front
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  Curvilinear window, Limoges Cathedral nave
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  Perpendicular four-centred arch, King's College Chapel, Cambridge west front
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  Blind tracery, Tours Cathedral (16th century)

Elements of Romanesque and Gothic architecture compared

#	Structural element	Romanesque	Gothic	Developments
1	Arches	Round	Pointed	The pointed Gothic arch varied from a very sharp form, to a wide, flattened form.
2	Vaults	Barrel or groin	Ribbed	Ribbed vaults appeared in the Romanesque era and were elaborated in the Gothic era.
3	Walls	Thick, with small openings	Thinner, with large openings	Wall structure diminished during the Gothic era to a framework of mullions supporting windows.
4	Buttresses	Wall buttresses of low projection.	Wall buttresses of high projection, and flying buttresses	Complex Gothic buttresses supported the high vaults and the walls pierced with windows
5	Windows	Round arches, sometimes paired	Pointed arches, often with tracery	Gothic windows varied from simple lancet form to ornate flamboyant patterns
6	Piers and columns	Cylindrical columns, rectangular piers	Cylindrical and clustered columns, complex piers	Columns and piers developed increasing complexity during the Gothic era
7	Gallery arcades	Two openings under an arch, paired.	Two pointed openings under a pointed arch	The Gothic gallery became increasingly complex and unified with the clerestory

 

Plans

Plan of a Gothic cathedral

The plan of Gothic cathedrals and churches was usually based on the Latin cross (or "cruciform") plan, taken from the ancient Roman Basilica, and from the later Romanesque churches. They have a long nave making the body of the church, where the parishioners worshipped; a transverse arm called the transept and, beyond it to the east, the choir, also known as a chancel or presbytery, that was usually reserved for the clergy. The eastern end of the church was rounded in French churches, and was occupied by several radiating chapels, which allowed multiple ceremonies to go on simultaneously. In English churches the eastern end also had chapels, but was usually rectangular. A passage called the ambulatory circled the choir. This allowed parishioners, and especially pilgrims, to walk past the chapels to see the relics displayed there without disturbing other services going on.

Each vault of the nave formed a separate cell, with its own supporting piers or columns. The early cathedrals, like Notre-Dame, had six-part rib vaults, with alternating columns and piers, while later cathedrals had the simpler and stronger four-part vaults, with identical columns.

Following the model of Romanesque architecture and the Basilica of Saint Denis, cathedrals usually had two towers flanking the west façade. Towers over the crossing were common in England (Salisbury Cathedral, York Minister) but rarer in France.

Transepts were usually short in early French Gothic architecture, but became longer and were given large rose windows in the Rayonnant period. The choirs became more important. The choir was often flanked by a double disambulatory, which was crowned by a ring of small chapels. In England, transepts were more important, and the floor plans were usually much more complex than in French cathedrals, with the addition of attached Lady Chapels, an octagonal Chapter House, and other structures (See plans of Salisbury Cathedral and York Minster below). This reflected a tendency in France to carry out multiple functions in the same space, while English cathedrals compartmentalized them. This contrast is visible in the difference between Amiens Cathedral, with its minimal transepts and semicircular apse, filled with chapels, on the east end, compared with the double transepts, projecting north porch, and rectangular east end of Salisbury and York.

Notre Dame de Paris, France, length 128 m.

Amiens Cathedral, France, length 145 m.

Cologne Cathedral, Germany, length 144 m, Its plan was modeled after Amiens Cathedral, but widened

Salisbury Cathedral, England, length 135 m, with a central tower over the crossing

York Minster, England, length 159 m, with its attached octagonal Chapter House

Elevations and the search for height

Arcade

Tribune

Triforium

Clerestory

Early Gothic Laon Cathedral (1150s–1230)

Gothic architecture was a continual search for greater height, thinner walls, and more light. This was clearly illustrated in the evolving elevations of the cathedrals.

In Early Gothic architecture, following the model of the Romanesque churches, the buildings had thick, solid walls with a minimum of windows in order to give enough support for the vaulted roofs. An elevation typically had four levels. On the ground floor was an arcade with massive piers alternating with thinner columns, which supported the six-part rib vaults. Above that was a gallery, called the tribune, which provided stability to the walls, and was sometimes used to provide seating for the nuns. Above that was a narrower gallery, called the triforium, which also helped provide additional thickness and support. At the top, just beneath the vaults, was the clerestory, where the high windows were placed. The upper level was supported from the outside by the flying buttresses. This system was used at Noyon Cathedral, Sens Cathedral, and other early structures.

In the High Gothic period, thanks to the introduction of the four part rib vault, a simplified elevation appeared at Chartres Cathedral and others. The alternating piers and columns on the ground floor were replaced by rows of identical circular piers wrapped in four engaged columns. The tribune disappeared, which meant that the arcades could be higher. This created more space at the top for the upper windows, which were expanded to include a smaller circular window above a group of lancet windows. The new walls gave a stronger sense of verticality and brought in more light. A similar arrangement was adapted in England, at Salisbury Cathedral, Lincoln Cathedral, and Ely Cathedral.

An important characteristic of Gothic church architecture is its height, both absolute and in proportion to its width, the verticality suggesting an aspiration to Heaven. The increasing height of cathedrals over the Gothic period was accompanied by an increasing proportion of the wall devoted to windows, until, by the late Gothic, the interiors became like cages of glass. This was made possible by the development of the flying buttress, which transferred the thrust of the weight of the roof to the supports outside the walls. As a result, the walls gradually became thinner and higher, and masonry was replaced with glass. The four-part elevation of the naves of early Cathedrals such as Notre-Dame (arcade, tribune, triforium, clerestory) was transformed in the choir of Beauvais Cathedral to very tall arcades, a thin triforium, and soaring windows up to the roof.

Beauvais Cathedral reached the limit of what was possible with Gothic technology. A portion of the choir collapsed in 1284, causing alarm in all of the cities with very tall cathedrals. Panels of experts were created in Sienna and Chartres to study the stability of those structures. Only the transept and choir of Beauvais were completed, and in the 21st century, the transept walls were reinforced with cross-beams. No cathedral built since exceeded the height of the choir of Beauvais.

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  Noyon Cathedral nave showing the four early Gothic levels (late 12h century)
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  Three-part elevation of Wells Cathedral (begun 1176)
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  Nave of Lincoln Cathedral (begun 1185) showing three levels; arcade (bottom); tribune (middle) and clerestory (top)
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  Notre-Dame de Paris nave (rebuilt 1180–1220)
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  Three-part elevation of Chartres Cathedral, with larger clerestory windows
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  Nave of Amiens Cathedral, looking west (1220–1270)
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  Nave of Strasbourg Cathedral (mid-13th century), looking east
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  The medieval east end of Cologne Cathedral (begun 1248)

West front

Notre-Dame de Paris – deep portals, a rose window, balance of horizontal and vertical elements. Early Gothic

Churches traditionally face east, with the altar at the east, and the west front, or façade, was considered the most important entrance. Gothic façades were adapted from the model of the Romanesque façades. The façades usually had three portals, or doorways, leading into the nave. Over each doorway was a tympanum, a work of sculpture crowded with figures. The sculpture of the central tympanum was devoted to the Last Judgement, that to the left to the Virgin Mary, and that to the right to the Saints honoured at that particular cathedral. In the early Gothic, the columns of the doorways took the form of statues of saints, making them literally "pillars of the church".

In the early Gothic, the façades were characterized by height, elegance, harmony, unity, and a balance of proportions. They followed the doctrine expressed by Saint Thomas Aquinas that beauty was a "harmony of contrasts". Following the model of Saint-Denis and later Notre-Dame de Paris, the façade was flanked by two towers proportional to the rest of the façade, which balanced the horizontal and vertical elements. Early Gothic façades often had a small rose window placed above the central portal. In England the rose window was often replaced by several lancet windows.

In the High Gothic period, the façades grew higher, and had more dramatic architecture and sculpture. At Amiens Cathedral (c. 1220), the porches were deeper, the niches and pinnacles were more prominent. The portals were crowned with high arched gables, composed of concentric arches filled with sculpture. The rose windows became enormous, filling an entirely wall above the central portal, and they were themselves covered with a large pointed arch. The rose windows were pushed upwards by the growing profusion of decoration below. The towers were adorned with their own arches, often crowned with pinnacles. The towers themselves were crowned with spires, often of open-work sculpture. One of the finest examples of a Flamboyant façade is Notre-Dame de l'Épine (1405–1527).

While French cathedrals emphasized the height of the façade, English cathedrals, particularly in earlier Gothic, often emphasized the width. The west front of Wells Cathedral is 146 feet across, compared with 116 feet wide at the nearly contemporary Amiens Cathedral, though Amiens is twice as high. The west front of Wells was almost entirely covered with statuary, like Amiens, and was given even further emphasis by its colors; traces of blue, scarlet, and gold are found on the sculpture, as well as painted stars against the dark background on other sections.

Italian Gothic façades have the three traditional portals and rose windows, or sometimes simply a large circular window without tracery plus an abundance of flamboyant elements, including sculpture, pinnacles and spires. However, they added distinctive Italian elements. as seen in the façades of Siena Cathedral ) and of Orvieto Cathedral, The Orvieto façade was largely the work of a master mason, Lorenzo Maitani, who worked on the façade from 1308 until his death in 1330. He broke away from the French emphasis on height, and eliminated the column statutes and statuary in the arched entries, and covered the façade with colourful mosaics of biblical scenes (The current mosaics are of a later date). He also added sculpture in relief on the supporting contreforts.

Another important feature of the Italian Gothic portal was the sculpted bronze door. The sculptor Andrea Pisano made the celebrated bronze doors for Florence Baptistry (1330–1336). They were not the first; Abbot Suger had commissioned bronze doors for Saint-Denis in 1140, but they were replaced with wooden doors when the Abbey was enlarged. Pisano's work, with its realism and emotion, pointed toward the coming Renaissance.

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  Wells Cathedral (1176–1450). Early English Gothic. The façade was a Great Wall of sculpture
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  Amiens Cathedral, (13th century). Vertical emphasis. High Gothic
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  Salisbury Cathedral – wide sculptured screen, lancet windows, turrets with pinnacles. (1220–1258)
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  Strasbourg Cathedral (1275–1486), a façade entirely covered in sculpture and tracery
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  Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, a towered highly decorated façade
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  Flamboyant façade of Notre-Dame de l'Épine (1405–1527) with openwork towers
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  Orvieto Cathedral (1310–), with polychrome mosaics
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  Late Gothic façade of Church of St. Anne in Vilnius (ca. 1500)

East end

Cathedrals and churches were traditionally constructed with the altar at the east end, so that the priest and congregation faced the rising sun during the morning liturgy. The sun was considered the symbol of Christ and the Second Coming, a major theme in Cathedral sculpture. The portion of the church east of altar is the choir, reserved for members of the clergy. There is usually a single or double ambulatory, or aisle, around the choir and east end, so parishioners and pilgrims could walk freely easily around east end.

In Romanesque churches, the east end was very dark, due to the thick walls and small windows. In the ambulatory of the Basilica of Saint Denis, Abbot Suger first used the novel combination rib vaults and buttresses to replace the thick walls and replace them with stained glass, opening up that portion of the church to what he considered "divine light".

In French Gothic churches, the east end, or chevet, often had an apse, a semi-circular projection with a vaulted or domed roof. The chevet of large cathedrals frequently had a ring of radiating chapels, placed between the buttresses to get maximum light. There are three such chapels at Chartres Cathedral, seven at Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens Cathedral, Prague Cathedral and Cologne Cathedral, and nine at Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua in Italy. In England, the east end is more often rectangular, and gives access to a separate and large Lady Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Lady Chapels were also common in Italy.

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  High Gothic Chevet of Amiens Cathedral, with chapels between the buttresses (13th century)
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  Ambulatory and Chapels of the chevet of Notre Dame de Paris (14th century)
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  The Henry VII Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey (begun 1503)
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  Ely Cathedral – square east end: Early English chancel (left) and Decorated Lady Chapel (right)
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  Interior of the Ely Cathedral Lady Chapel (14th century)

Sculpture

Portals and tympanum

Sculpture was an important element of Gothic architecture. Its intent was present the stories of the Bible in vivid and understandable fashion to the great majority of the faithful who could not read. The iconography of the sculptural decoration on the façade was not left to the sculptors. An edict of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 had declared: "The composition of religious images is not to be left to the inspiration of artists; it is derived from the principles put in place by the Catholic Church and religious tradition. Only the art belongs to the artist; the composition belongs to the Fathers."

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  Monsters and devils tempting Christians – South portal of Chartres Cathedral (13th century)
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  Gallery of Kings and Saints on the façade of Wells Cathedral (13th century)
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  West portal Annunciation group at Reims Cathedral with smiling angel at left (13th century)
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  Notre-Dame d'Amiens, tympanum detail – "Christ in majesty" (13th century)
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  Amiens Cathedral illuminated as it may have appeared when painted

In Early Gothic churches, following the Romanesque tradition, sculpture appeared on the façade or west front in the triangular tympanum over the central portal. Gradually, as the style evolved, the sculpture became more and more prominent, taking over the columns of the portal, and gradually climbing above the portals, until statues in niches covered the entire façade, as in Wells Cathedral, to the transepts, and, as at Amiens Cathedral, even on the interior of the façade.

Some of the earliest examples are found at Chartres Cathedral, where the three portals of the west front illustrate the three epiphanies in the Life of Christ. At Amiens, the tympanum over the central portal depicted the Last Judgement, the right portal showed the Coronation of the Virgin, and the left portal showed the lives of saints who were important in the diocese. This set a pattern of complex iconography which was followed at other churches.

The columns below the tympanum are in the form of statues of saints, literally representing them as "the pillars of the church". Each saint had his own symbol at his feet so viewers could recognize them; a winged lion meant Saint Mark, an eagle with four wings meant Saint John the Apostle, and a winged bull symbolized Saint Luke. Floral and vegetal decoration was also very common, representing the Garden of Eden; grapes represented the wines of Eucharist.

The tympanum over the central portal on the west façade of Notre-Dame de Paris vividly illustrates the Last Judgement, with figures of sinners being led off to hell, and good Christians taken to heaven. The sculpture of the right portal shows the coronation of the Virgin Mary, and the left portal shows the lives of saints who were important to Parisians, particularly Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary.

To make the message even more prominent, the sculpture of the tympanum was painted in bright colors. following a system of colours codified in the 12th century; yellow, called gold, symbolized intelligence, grandeur and virtue; white, called argent, symbolized purity, wisdom, and correctness; black, or sable, meant sadness, but also will; green, or sinople, represented hope, liberty and joy; red or gueules (see gules) meant charity or victory; blue or azure symbolised the sky, faithfulness and perseverance; and violet, or pourpre, was the colour of royalty and sovereignty.

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  More naturalistic later Gothic: Temptation of the Foolish Virgins, Strasbourg Cathedral
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  Sculpture from façade of Siena Cathedral by Nino Pisano (14th century)

In the later Gothic, the sculpture became more naturalistic; the figures were separated from the walls, and had much more expressive faces, showing emotion and personality. The drapery was very skilfully carved. The torments of hell were even more vividly depicted. The late Gothic sculpture at Siena Cathedral, by Nino Pisano, pointing toward the Renaissance, is particularly notable. Much of it is now kept in a museum to protect it from deterioration.

Grotesques and Labyrinths

Grotesque of Selby Abbey (14th century, modern copy)

Besides saints and apostles, the exteriors of Gothic churches were also decorated with sculptures of a variety of fabulous and frightening grotesques or monsters. These included the chimera, a mythical hybrid creature which usually had the body of a lion and the head of a goat, and the strix or stryge, a creature resembling an owl or bat, which was said to eat human flesh. The strix appeared in classical Roman literature; it was described by the Roman poet Ovid, who was widely read in the Middle Ages, as a large-headed bird with transfixed eyes, rapacious beak, and greyish white wings. They were part of the visual message for the illiterate worshippers, symbols of the evil and danger that threatened those who did not follow the teachings of the church.

The gargoyles, which were added to Notre-Dame in about 1240, had a more practical purpose. They were the rain spouts of the church, designed to divide the torrent of water which poured from the roof after rain, and to project it outwards as far as possible from the buttresses and the walls and windows so that it would not erode the mortar binding the stone. To produce many thin streams rather than a torrent of water, a large number of gargoyles were used, so they were also designed to be a decorative element of the architecture. The rainwater ran from the roof into lead gutters, then down channels on the flying buttresses, then along a channel cut in the back of the gargoyle and out of the mouth away from the church.

Many of the statues at Notre-Dame, particularly the grotesques, were removed from the façade in the 17th and 18th century, or were destroyed during the French Revolution. They were replaced with figures in the Gothic style, designed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc during the 19th-century restoration. Similar figures appear on the other major Gothic churches of France and England.

Another common feature of Gothic cathedrals in France was a labyrinth or maze on the floor of the nave near the choir, which symbolised the difficult and often complicated journey of a Christian life before attaining paradise. Most labyrinths were removed by the 18th century, but a few, like the one at Amiens Cathedral, have been reconstructed, and the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral still exists essentially in its original form.

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  Gargoyle of Amiens Cathedral (13th century)
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  A strix at Notre-Dame de Paris (19th century copy)
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  Labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral (13th century)
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  Labyrinth with Chartres pattern at Amiens Cathedral

Windows and stained glass

Windows of Sainte-Chapelle (13th century)

See also: Tracery

Increasing the amount of light in the interior was a primary objective of the founders of the Gothic movement. Abbot Suger described the new kind of architecture he had created in the east end of the Saint-Denis: "a circular ring of chapels, by virtue of which the whole church would shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty."

Religious teachings in the Middle Ages, particularly the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a 6th-century mystic whose book, De Coelesti Hierarchia, was popular among monks in France, taught that all light was divine. When the Abbot Suger ordered the reconstruction of choir of the abbey church at Saint-Denis, he had the builders create seventy windows, admitting as much light as possible, as the means by which the faithful could be elevated from the material world to the immaterial world.

The placement of the windows was also determined by religious doctrine. The windows on the north side, frequently in the shade, had windows depicting the Old Testament. The windows of the east, corresponding to the direction of the sunrise, had images of Christ and scenes from the New Testament.

In the Early Gothic period, the glass was particularly thick and was deeply coloured with metal oxides; cobalt for blue, copper for a ruby red, iron for green, and antimony for yellow. The process of making the windows was described in detail by the 12th-century monk known as Theophilus Presbyter. The glass of each colour was melted with the oxide, blown, shaped into small sheets, cracked with a hot iron into small pieces, and assembled on a large table. The details were painted onto the glass in vitreous enamel, then baked in a kiln to fuse the enamel on the glass. The pieces were fit into a framework of thin lead strips, and then put into a more solid frame or iron armatures between the panels. The finished window was set into the stone opening. Thin vertical and horizontal bars of iron, called vergettes or barlotierres, were placed inside the window to reinforce the glass against the wind.

The use of iron rods between the panels of glass and a framework of stone mullions, or ribs, made it possible to create much larger windows. The three rose windows at Chartres (1203–1240) each were more than 12 m (40 ft) in diameter. Larger windows also appeared at York Minster (1140–1160) and Canterbury Cathedral (1178–1200)

The stained glass windows were extremely complex and expensive to create. King Louis IX paid for the rose windows in the transept of Notre-Dame de Paris, but other windows were financed by the contributions of the professions or guilds of the city. These windows usually had a panel which illustrated the work of the guild which funded it, such as the drapers, stonemasons, or coopers.

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  Abbey of Saint-Denis, Abbot Suger represented at feet of Virgin Mary (12th century)
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  Detail of the Apocalypse window, Bourges Cathedral, early 13th century
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  Thomas Becket figure from Canterbury Cathedral (13th century)
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  Glass of Sainte-Chapelle depicting a baptism (13th century), now in Cluny Museum
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  Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (14th century)
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  Windows of King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1451)

The 13th century saw the introduction of a new kind of window, with grisaille, or white glass, with a geometric pattern, usually joined with medallions of stained glass. These windows allowed much more light into the cathedral, but diminished the vividness of the stained glass, since there was less contrast between the dark interior and bright exterior. The most remarkable and influential work of stained glass in the 13th century was the royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle (1243–1248), where the windows of the upper chapel, 15 m (49 ft) high, occupied all of the walls on the three sides, with 1,134 individual scenes. Sainte-Chapelle became the model for other chapels across Europe.

The 14th century brought a variety of new colours, and the use of more realistic shading and half-toning. This was done by the development of flashed glass. Clear glass was dipped into coloured glass, then portions of the coloured glass were ground away to give exactly the right shade. In the 15th century, artists began painting directly onto the glass with enamel colours. Gradually the art of glass came closer and closer to traditional painting.

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  The Visitation window (1480) from Ulm Minster, by Peter Hemmel of Andlau. Late Gothic with fine shading and painted details.
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  Late Gothic grisaille glass and painted figures, depicting Saint Nicholas (France, 1500–1510), Cluny Museum
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  Detail of the Late Gothic stained glass of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, (1531)

One of the most celebrated Flamboyant buildings was the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (1370s), with walls of glass from floor to ceiling. The original glass was destroyed, and is replaced by grisaille glass. King's College Chapel (15th century), also followed the model of walls entirely filled with glass.

The stained glass windows were extremely complex and expensive to create. King Louis IX paid for the rose windows in the transept of Notre-Dame de Paris, while other windows were often financed by the contributions of the professions or guilds of the city. These windows usually incorporated a panel which illustrates the work of the guild which funded it, such as the drapers, stonemasons, or barrel-makers.

In England, the stained glass windows also grew in size and importance; major examples were the Becket Windows at Canterbury Cathedral (1200–1230) and the windows of Lincoln Cathedral (1200–1220). Enormous windows were also an important element of York Minster and Gloucester Cathedral.

Much of the stained glass in Gothic churches today dates from later restorations, but a few, notably Chartres Cathedral and Bourges Cathedral, still have many of their original windows

Rose windows

Rose windows were a prominent feature of many Gothic churches and cathedrals. The rose was a symbol of the Virgin Mary, and they were particularly used in churches dedicated to her. The French Gothic cathedrals of Chartres, Notre Dame de Paris, Reims, and Laon have them in the west façade, and in the transepts as well. Amiens Cathedral, Strasbourg Cathedral and Westminster Abbey also have them in transepts. The designs of their tracery became increasingly complex, and gave their names to two periods; the Rayonnant and the Flamboyant. Two of the most famous Rayonnant rose windows were constructed in the transepts of Notre-Dame in the 13th century.

• 
  Notre Dame de Laon west window (13th century)
• 
  South rose window of Notre Dame de Paris (13th century)
• 
  South rose window of Chartres Cathedral (13th century)
• 
  West rose window of Reims Cathedral (13th century)
• 
  Grand rose of Strasbourg Cathedral (14th century)
• 
  Orvieto Cathedral rose window (14th c.)

High Gothic architectural elements, 1180–1230

• Flying buttresses developed
• Higher vaults were possible because of the flying buttresses
• Larger clerestory windows because of the flying buttresses.
• Clerestory windows had geometric tracery
• Rose windows became larger, with geometric tracery
• The west front of Notre-Dame set a formula adopted by other cathedrals.
• Transept ends had ornate portals like the west front

Rayonnant Gothic architectural elements, 1230–1350

• Cathedrals increasingly tall in relation to width, facilitated by the development of complex systems of buttressing
• Quadripartite vaults over a single bay
• Vaults in France maintained simple forms but elsewhere the patterns of ribs became more elaborate.
• Emphasis on the appearance of high internally.
• Abandonment of fourth stage, either the deep triforium gallery or the shallow tribune gallery, in the internal elevation.
• Columns of classical proportion disappear in favour of increasingly tall columns surrounded by clusters of shafts.
• Complex shafted piers
• Large windows divided by mullions into several lights (vertical panels) with geometric tracery in the arch
• Large rose windows in geometric or radiating designs

Flamboyant Gothic architectural elements, 1350–1550

• The design of tracery no longer dependent on circular shapes, developed S curves and flame-like shapes.
• Complex vaults with Flamboyant shapes in the ribs, particularly in Spain and Central Europe, but rare in France
• Many rose windows built with Flamboyant tracery, many in France.
• Large windows of several lights with Flamboyant tracery in the arch
• The Flamboyant arch, drafted from four centres, used for smaller openings, e.g. doorways and niches.
• Mouldings of Flamboyant shape often used as non structural decoration over openings, topped by a floral finial (poupée)

Palaces

Medieval Louvre in early 15th century

The Gothic style was used in royal and papal residences as well as in churches. Prominent examples include the Palais de la Cité the Medieval Louvre, the Chateau de Vincennes in Paris, residences of the French kings, the Doge's Palace in Venice, and the Palace of the Kings of Navarre in Olite (1269–1512). Another is the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes), the former Papal residence in Avignon. It was constructed between 1252 and 1364, during the Avignon Papacy. Given the complicated political situation, it combined the functions of a church, a seat of government and a fortress.

The Palais de la Cité in Paris, close to Notre-Dame de Paris, begun in 1119, which was the principal residence of the French kings until 1417. Most of the Palais de la Cité is gone, but two of the original towers along the Seine, of the towers, the vaulted ceilings of the Hall of the Men-at-Arms (1302), (now in the Conciergerie); and the original chapel, Sainte-Chapelle, can still be seen.

The Louvre Palace was originally built by Philippe II of France beginning in 1190 to house the King's archives and treasures, and given machicoulis and features of a Gothic fortress. However, it was soon made obsolete by the development of artillery, and in the 15th century it was remodelled into a comfortable residential palace. While the outer walls retained their original military appearance, the castle itself, with a profusion of spires, towers, pinnacles, arches and gables, became a visible symbol of royalty and aristocracy. The style was copied in chateaux and other aristocratic residences across France and other parts of Europe.

• 
  Palais de la Cité (1119–) and Sainte-Chapelle (1238–48), Paris
• 
  Hall of men-at-arms, Conciergerie of the Palais de la Cité
• 
  Façade of the Palais des Papes, Avignon (1252–1364)
• 
  The Doge's Palace, Venice (1340–1442)
• 
  Palace of the Kings of Navarre, Olite (1269–1512)
• 
  Great Gatehouse at Hampton Court Palace, London (1522)

Civic architecture

Main article: Gothic secular and domestic architecture

In the 15th century, following the late Gothic period or flamboyant style, elements of Gothic decoration began to appear in the town halls of northern France, Flanders and the Netherlands. The Rouen Courthouse in Normandy is representative of Flamboyant Gothic in France. The Hôtel de Ville of Compiègne has an imposing Gothic bell tower, featuring a spire surrounded by smaller towers, and its windows are decorated with ornate accolades or ornamental arches. Similarly flamboyant town halls were found in Arras, Douai, and Saint-Quentin, Aisne, and in modern Belgium, in Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Audenarde, Mons and Leuven.

Gothic civil architecture in Spain includes the Silk Exchange in Valencia, Spain (1482–1548), a major marketplace, which has a main hall with twisting columns beneath its vaulted ceiling.

• 
  Hildesheim Town Hall, Germany (13/14th c.)
• 
  Gdańsk Town Hall, Poland (15th c.)
• 
  Brussels' Town Hall (15th century)
• 
  Belfry of Bruges in Bruges, Belgium (13th c. (lower stages), 15th c. (upper stages)
• 
  Silk Exchange, Valencia (1482–1548)
• 
  Gallery of Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona (1403)
• 
  Middelburg Town Hall, Netherlands (1520)
• 
  Town Hall Gouda, Netherlands (1459)
• 
  Bell tower of the Hotel de Ville of Douai, France (14th c.)

University Gothic

"University Gothic" redirects here. For North American university Gothic architecture, see Collegiate Gothic.

Plateresque façade, University of Salamanca (late 15th century)

The Gothic style was adopted in the late 13th to 15th centuries in early English university buildings, with inspiration coming from monasteries and manor houses. The oldest existing example in England is probably the Mob Quad of Merton College at Oxford University, constructed between 1288 and 1378.

The style was further refined by William of Wykeham, Chancellor of England and founder of New College, Oxford, in 1379. His architect, William Wynford, designed the New College quadrangle in the 1380s, which combined a hall, chapel, library, and residences for Fellows and undergraduates. A similar kind of academic cloister was created at Queens' College, Cambridge in the 1440s, likely designed by Reginald Ely.

The design of the colleges was influenced not only by abbeys, but also the design of English manor houses of the 14th and 15th century, such as Haddon Hall in Derbyshire. They were composed of rectangular courtyards with covered walkways which separated the wings. Some colleges, like Balliol College, Oxford, borrowed a military style from Gothic castles, with battlements and crenelated walls.

King's College Chapel, Cambridge is one of the finest examples of the late Gothic style. It was built by King Henry VI, who was displeased by the excessive decoration of earlier styles. He wrote in 1447 that he wanted his chapel "to proceed in large form, clean and substantial, setting apart superfluity of too great curious works of entail and busy moulding." The chapel, built between 1508 and 1515, has glass walls from floor to ceiling, rising to spreading fan vaults designed by John Wastell. The glass walls are supported by large external buttresses concealed at the base by side chapels.

Other European examples include Collegio di Spagna in the University of Bologna, built during the 14th and 15th centuries; the Collegium Carolinum of the Charles University in Prague in the Czech Republic (c. 1400); the Escuelas mayores of the University of Salamanca in Spain; and the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.

• 
  Mob Quad of Merton College, Oxford University (1288–1378)
• 
  Balliol College, Oxford, front quad, with decorative battlements (1431)
• 
  Fan vaults and glass walls of King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1508–1515)
• 
  Gothic oriel window, Karolinum, Charles University, Prague (c. 1380)
• 
  Cloister, Collegium Maius, Kraków (late 15th century)

Military architecture

Donjon of the Château de Vincennes, (1337–)

Main article: Castle

In the 13th century, the design of the castle (French: château fort) evolved in response to contact with the more sophisticated fortifications of the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world during the Crusades. These new fortifications were more geometric, with a central high tower called a keep (French: donjon) which could be defended even if the curtain walls of the castle were breached. The donjon of the Château de Vincennes, begun by Philip VI of France was a good example. It was 52 m (171 ft) high, and, even though within the moat and walls of the fortress, had its own separate drawbridge to going to higher floor.

Towers, usually round, were placed at the corners and along the walls in the Phillipienne castle, close enough together to support each other. The walls had two levels of walkways on the inside, a crenellated parapet with merlons, and projecting machicolations from which missiles could be dropped on besiegers. The upper walls also had protected protruding balconies, échauguettes and bretèches, from which soldiers could see what was happening at the corners or on the ground below. In addition, the towers and walls were pierced with arrowslits, which sometimes took the form of crosses to enable a wider field of fire for archers and crossbowmen.

Castles were surrounded by a deep moat, spanned by a single drawbridge. The entrance was also protected by a grill of iron which could be opened and closed. The walls at the bottom were often sloping, and protected with earthen barriers. One good surviving example is the Château de Dourdan, near Nemours.

After the end of the Hundred Years War (1337–1453), with improvements in artillery, the castles lost most of their military importance. They remained as symbols of the rank of their noble occupants; the narrowing openings in the walls were often widened into the windows of bedchambers and ceremonial halls. The tower of the Château de Vincennes became a part-time royal residence until the Palace of Versailles was completed.

• 
  Restored outer walls of the medieval city of Carcassonne (13th–14th century)
• 
  Malbork Castle in Poland (13th century)
• 
  Alcazar of Segovia (12th–13th centuries)
• 
  Hohenzollern Castle (1454–1461) in Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany
• 
  Visconti Castle, 1360–1365, Pavia

Synagogues

• 
  Romanesque Worms Synagogue from the 11th century with Gothic windows (after 1355)
• 
  Scolanova Synagogue, Trani, Apulia (1247)
• 
  Old New Synagogue, Prague (c. 1270)
• 
  Main portal of the Old New Synagogue, Prague (c. 1270)
• 
  Old Synagogue, Erfurt (c. 1270)
• 
  Late Gothic vaulting of Pinkas Synagogue, Prague (1535)
• 
  Post-Gothic interior of the Old Synagogue in Kraków using Gothic vaults (1570)

Although Christianity played a dominant role in the Gothic sacred architecture, Jewish communities were present in many European cities during the Middle Ages and they also built their houses of prayer in the Gothic style. Unfortunately, most of the Gothic synagogues did not survive, because they were often destroyed in connection with persecution of the Jews (e. g. in Bamberg, Nürnberg, Regensburg, Vienna). One of the best preserved examples of a Gothic synagogue is the Old New Synagogue in Prague which was completed around 1270 and never rebuilt.

Influences

Romanesque and Norman influence

• 
  The transition from Romanesque to Gothic styles is visible at the Durham Cathedral in England, (1093–1104). Early Gothic rib vaults are combined with round arches and other Romanesque features.
• 
  The south transept of Lessay Abbey in Normandy (1064–1178)
• 
  Cefalù Cathedral built in Norman Sicily (1131–1267)
• 
  Nave of Monreale Cathedral in Norman Sicily (1172–1267)

Romanesque architecture and Norman architecture had a major influence upon Gothic architecture. The plan of the Gothic cathedral was based upon the plan of the ancient Roman basilica, which was adopted by Romanesque architecture. The Latin cross form, with a nave and transept, choir, disambulatory, and radiating chapels, came from the Romanesque model. The grand arcades of columns separating the central vessel of the nave from the collateral aisles, the triforium over the grand arcades, and the windows high on the walls allowing light into the nave were all also adapted from the Romanesque model. The portal with a tympanum filled with sculpture was another characteristic Romanesque feature, as was the use of the buttress to support the walls from the outside. Gothic architects improved them by adding the flying buttress with high arches connecting the buttresses to the upper walls. In the interior, Romanesque architecture used the barrel vault with a round arch to cover the nave, and a groin vault when two barrel vaults met at right angles. These vaults were the immediate ancestors of the Gothic rib vault. One of the first use of the Gothic rib vaults to cover a nave was in the Romanesque Durham Cathedral, (1093–1104).

Norman Architecture, similar to the Romanesque style, also influenced the Gothic style. Early examples are found in Lessay Abbey in Normandy, which also featured early rib vaults in the nave similar to the Gothic vaults. Cefalu Cathedral (1131–1267) in Sicily, built when Sicily was under Norman rule, is another interesting example. It featured pointed arches and large Gothic rib vaults combined with ornamental mosaic decoration.

Romanesque architecture had become a pan-European style and manner of construction, affecting buildings in countries as far apart as Ireland, Sweden and Sicily. The same wide geographic area was then affected by the development of Gothic architecture, but the acceptance of the Gothic style and methods of construction differed from place to place, as did the expressions of Gothic taste. The proximity of some regions meant that modern country borders did not define divisions of style. Many different factors like geographical/geological, economic, social, or political situations caused the regional differences in the great abbey churches and cathedrals of the Romanesque period that would often become even more apparent in the Gothic. For example, studies of the population statistics reveals disparities such as the multitude of churches, abbeys, and cathedrals in northern France while in more urbanised regions construction activity of a similar scale was reserved to a few important cities. Such an example comes from Roberto López, wherein the French city of Amiens was able to fund its architectural projects whereas Cologne could not because of the economic inequality of the two. This wealth, concentrated in rich monasteries and noble families, would eventually spread certain Italian, Catalan, and Hanseatic bankers. This would be amended when the economic hardships of the 13th century were no longer felt, allowing Normandy, Tuscany, Flanders, and the southern Rhineland to enter into competition with France.

Islamic influence

• 
  Al-Ukhaidir Fortress (completed 775 AD), Iraq
• 
  Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem
• 
  Vaulted central dome of Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral, Spain (784–987 A.D.). Ribs decorate the Pendentives which support the dome.
• 
  Delal Bridge, Iraq
• 
  Arches at Al-Raqqah, Syria

The pointed arch, one of the defining attributes of Gothic, was earlier featured in Islamic architecture, Though it did not have the same functions. Precursor of pointed arch appeared in Byzantine and Sassanian architectures, This was evidenced in early church building in Syria and occasional secular structures, like the Karamagara Bridge; in Sassanian architecture, employed in palace and sacred construction. These pre-Islamic arches were decorative rather than structural in their function. The pointed arch as an architectonic principle was first clearly established in Islamic architecture; as an architectonic principle, the pointed arch was entirely alien to the pre-Islamic world. Use of the pointed arch seems to have taken off dramatically in Islamic architecture. It begins to appear throughout the Islamic world in close succession after its adoption in the late Umayyad or early Abbasid period. Some examples are the Al-Ukhaidir Palace (775 AD), the Abbasid reconstruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque in 780 AD, the Ramlah Cisterns (789 AD), the Great Mosque of Samarra (851 AD), and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun (879 AD) in Cairo. It also appears in one of the early reconstructions of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, and the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba in 987 AD. The pointed arch had already been used in Syria, but in the mosque of Ibn Tulun we have one of the earliest examples of its use on an extensive scale, some centuries before it was exploited in the West by the Gothic architects.

A kind of rib vault was also used in Islamic architecture, for example in the ceiling of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. In Cordoba, the dome was supported by pendentives, which connected the dome to the arches below. The pendentives were decorated with ribs. Unlike the Gothic rib vault, the Islamic ribs were purely decorative; they did not extend outside of the vault, and they were not part of the structure supporting the roof.

The military and cultural contacts with the medieval Islamic world, including the Norman conquest of Islamic Sicily in 1090, the Crusades (beginning 1096), and the Islamic presence in Spain, may have influenced Medieval Europe's adoption of the pointed arch. Another feature of Gothic architecture, a kind of rib vault, had also earlier appeared in Islamic architecture, and spread to Western Europe via Islamic Spain and Sicily. The early rib vaults in Spain were used to support cupolas, and were decorative. The dome of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba was supported by pendentives, rather than the vault. These were frequently used in Romanesque and Byzantine architecture, as in the dome of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which also was supported by pendentives. The Gothic rib vault, among other features, such as the flying buttress, have their antecedents in Romanesque architecture, such as Durham Cathedral, constructed between 1093 and 1096.

In those parts of the Western Mediterranean subject to Islamic control or influence, rich regional variants arose, fusing Romanesque and later Gothic traditions with Islamic decorative forms. For example, in Monreale and Cefalù Cathedrals, the Alcázar of Seville, and Teruel Cathedral.

Armenian influence

• 
  Cupola of Odzun Basilica in Armenia, supported by squinch vaulting, an early form of pendentive. (8th century)
• 
  The Armenian cathedral of Ani, completed in the early 11th century.

A number of scholars have cited the Armenian Cathedral of Ani, completed 1001 or 1010, as a possible influence on the Gothic, especially due to its use of pointed arches and cluster piers. However, other scholars such as Sirarpie Der Nersessian, who rejected this notion as she argued that the pointed arches did not serve the same function of supporting the vault. Lucy Der Manuelian contends that some Armenians (historically documented as being in Western Europe in the Middle Ages) could have brought the knowledge and technique employed at Ani to the west.

Subvarieties

• French Gothic
  • Early Gothic
  • High Gothic
  • Rayonnant
  • Flamboyant
• Southern French Gothic

Mediterranean styles

• Iberian Gothic
  • Portuguese Gothic
    • Manueline
• Spanish Gothic
  • Castilian Gothic
  • Levantine Gothic
  • Valencian Gothic
  • Catalan Gothic
    • • Balearic Gothic
    • Isabelline
    • Plateresque
• Italian Gothic
  • Sicilian Gothic

Northern styles

• English Gothic
  • Early English Gothic
  • Decorated Gothic
  • Perpendicular Gothic
• Low Country Gothic
  • Scheldt Gothic
  • Mosan Gothic
  • Brabantian Gothic
• Czech Gothic
• Sondergotik
• Lithuanian Gothic
  • Belarusian Gothic
• Polish Gothic

Chronological subsets

• Romano-Gothic
• Post-Gothic
• Neo-Gothic

Type

• Brick Gothic
• Jettied buildings
• Gothic ecclesiastic architecture
  • Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
• Gothic secular architecture
  • Military

See also

• Architectural history
• Architecture of cathedrals and great churches
• Carpenter Gothic
• Collegiate Gothic in North America
• Gothicmed
• Gothic cathedrals and churches
• List of Gothic architecture
• Mudéjar
• Tented roof
• Abbey de Sainte-Marie-au-Bois

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Further reading

• Buttitta, Antonino, ed. (2006). Les Normands en Sicile. Musée de Normandie. ISBN 978-88-7439-328-2.
• Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan, Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition, 1996 (first published 1896). ISBN 0-7506-2267-9. Cf. Part Two, Chapter 14.
• Bumpus, T. Francis (1928). The Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium. T. Werner Laurie. ISBN 978-1-313-40185-2. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Ceccarini, Patrizio (2013). La structure fondatrice gothique. Théologie, sciences et architecture au XIIIe siècle à Saint-Denis (tomeI). Vol. I. L'Harmattan Editions Distribution. ISBN 978-2-336-30184-6.
• Ceccarini, Patrizio (2013). Le système architectural gothique. Théologie, sciences et architecture au XIIIe siècle à Saint-Denis. Vol. II. L'Harmattan Editions Distribution. ISBN 978-2-336-30185-3.
• Clifton-Taylor, Alec (1967). The Cathedrals of England. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-18070-9.
• Cram, Ralph Adams (1909). "Gothic Architecture." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.
• Gardner, Helen; Kleiner, Fred S.; Mamiya, Christin J. (2004). Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-15-505090-7.
• Harvey, John (1961). English Cathedrals. Batsford. ASIN B0000CL4S8.
• Huyghe, René, ed. (1963). Larousse Encyclopedia of Byzantine and Medieval Art. Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-02357-9. {{cite encyclopedia}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Icher, Francois (1998). Building the Great Cathedrals. Abrams Books. ISBN 978-0-8109-4017-8.
• Simson, Otto Georg (1988). The Gothic cathedral: origins of Gothic architecture and the medieval concept of order. Princeton Univ. P. ISBN 978-0-691-09959-0.
• Glaser, Stephanie, "The Gothic Cathedral and Medievalism", in: Falling into Medievalism, ed. Anne Lair and Richard Utz. Special Issue of UNIversitas: The University of Northern Iowa Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity, 2.1 (2006). (on the Gothic revival of the 19th century and the depictions of Gothic cathedrals in the Arts)
• Moore, Charles (1890). Development & Character of Gothic Architecture. Macmillan and Co. ISBN 978-1-4102-0763-0. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Rivière, Rémi; Lavoye, Agnès (2007). La Tour Jean sans Peur, Association des Amis de la tour Jean sans Peur. ISBN 978-2-95164-940-8
• Rudolph, Conrad ed., A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe, 2nd ed. (2016)
• Sitwell, Sacheverell (1969), Gothic Europe. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
• Summerson, John (1983). Pelican Books (ed.). Architecture in Britain, 1530–1830. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-056003-9.
• Swaan, Wim (1982). Art and Architecture of the Late Middle Ages. Omega Books. ISBN 978-0-907853-35-0.
• Tatton-Brown, Tim; Crook, John (2002). The English Cathedral. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84330-120-2.
• Tonazzi, Pascal (2007) Florilège de Notre-Dame de Paris (anthologie), Editions Arléa, Paris, ISBN 2-86959-795-9
• Wilson, Christopher (2005). The Gothic Cathedral – Architecture of the Great Church. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-27681-5.

External links

• Mapping Gothic France—a project by Columbia University and Vassar College with a database of images, 360° panoramas, texts, charts and historical maps.
• Gothic Architecture—Encyclopædia Britannica
• Holbeche Bloxam, Matthew (1841). Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer. Gutenberg.org, from Project Gutenberg
• Brandon, Raphael; Brandon, Arthur (1849). An analysis of Gothick architecture: illustrated by a series of upwards of seven hundred examples of doorways, windows, etc., and accompanied with remarks on the several details of an ecclesiastical edifice. Archive.org, from Internet Archive
• Parker, J. H. (1881), A B C of Gothic Architecture. Oxford: Parker & Co.