GOTHIC ARCHITECTU

RE AND SCULPTURE

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period.

It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture.

Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century.

The term Gothic first appeared during the later part of the Renaissance.

Its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.

Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Europe.

Gothic arches The way in which the pointed arch was

drafted and utilised developed throughout the Gothic period. There were fairly clear stages of development, which did not, however, progress at the same rate, or in the same way in every country.

Lancet arch The simplest shape is the long opening

with a pointed arch known in England as the lancet.

Lancet openings are often grouped, usually as a cluster of three or five.

Lancet openings may be very narrow and steeply pointed.

Lancet arches are typically defined as two-centered arches whose radii are larger than the arch's span

Salisbury Cathedral  is famous for the beauty and simplicity of its Lancet Gothic, known in England as the Early English Style

Equilateral arch Many Gothic openings are based upon

the equilateral form When the arch is drafted, the radius is

exactly the width of the opening and the centre of each arch coincides with the point from which the opposite arch springs.

The type of tracery that evolved to fill these spaces is known in England as Geometric Decorated Gothic and can be seen to splendid effect at many English and French Cathedrals, notably Lincoln and Notre Dame

 Notre Dame in Paris

Plan of equilateral arch

Windows in the Chapter House at York Minster show the equilateral arch with typical circular motifs in the tracery

Rose windows A rose window or Catherine window is

often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery.

The name “rose window” was not used before the 17th century and according to the Oxford English Dictionary, among other authorities, comes from the English flower name rose.

Rose Window, Santa Maria del Pi Church, Barcelona a 14th-century Catalan Gothic church in

Barri Gotic quarter, Barcelona.

Exterior of the rose atStrasbourg Cathedral, France

Stained windows Probably the most important form of Gothic

architectural art was the stained glass window. Stained glass windows are closely tied to the

architectural developments of Gothic cathedrals. Most of the innovations of Gothic architecture

were developed for the very purpose of adding more stained glass windows to churches.

From pointed arches to rib vaults to flying buttresses, all of these techniques allowed Gothic architecture to replace the thick, dark walls of Romanesque cathedrals with thin, towering walls of colored glass.

Ribbed vaulting Early Gothic buildings commonly display

ribbed vaulting made of stone for the support of the weight of a wooden ceiling. Stone ceilings are stronger; for example, the chapter house at Southwell Minster has stone vaulting and no central pillar.

Examples of cathedrals in England that incorporate early Gothic style features can be found in Salisbury, Lincoln, Southwell in Nottinghamshire, Wells, Bristol, Norwich and Worcester

Cathedral of Reims, France

Flying buttress A flying buttress is a specific form

of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture.

The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground. 

South west exterior of York Minster

Flying buttresses at Lincoln Cathedral

Plan of flying buttress Villard de Honnecourt, drawing of a buttress at Reims, in his album of drawings, ca 1230 - 35

Gothic spire A spire declared the presence of

the gothic church at a distance and advertised its connection to heaven. The tall, slender pyramidal twelfth-century spire on the south tower Chartres Catedral is one of the earliest spires

Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres

Gothic sculpture It is essentially defined by Gothic

architecture, and does not entirely fit with the development of style in sculpture in either its start or finish.

The facades of large churches, especially around doors, continued to have large tympanums, but also rows of sculpted figures spreading around them.

The Western (Royal) Portal at Chartres Cathedral (ca. 1145). These architectural statues are the earliest Gothic sculptures and were a revolution in style and the model for a generation of sculptors.

French ivory Virgin and Child, end of the 13th century, 25 cm high, curving to fit the shape of the ivory tusk

Reims Figures of the Middle Portal to the West

Reims Figures of the Middel Portal to the West

14th Century International Gothic Mary Magdalene in St. John Cathedral in Toruń

Gargoyles The primary use of the gargoyle was to

illustrate evil through the form of the gargoyle In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved or

formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between

Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall.

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