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Deutsch: Kölner Dom, Ost-Ansicht.
English: Cologne Cathedral.
Photo: 6 June 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Rolf Heinrich, Köln.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the High- and Late-Mediaeval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture.
Originating in 12th-Century France and lasting into the 16th-Century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as Opus Francigenum ("French work"), with the term "Gothic" first appearing during the latter 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. It is also the architecture of many Castles, Palaces, Town Halls, Guild Halls, Universities and, to a less prominent extent, private dwellings.
It is in the great Churches and Cathedrals and in a number of civic buildings that the Gothic style was expressed most powerfully, its characteristics lending themselves to appeals to the emotions, whether springing from Faith or from civic pride. A great number of ecclesiastical buildings remain from this period, of which even the smallest are often structures of architectural distinction, while many of the larger Churches are considered priceless works of art and are listed with UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. For this reason, a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of Cathedrals and Churches.
A series of Gothic Revivals began in Mid-18th-Century England, spread through 19th-Century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and University structures, into the 20th-Century.
English: Basilica Saint Remigius, Reims, France.
Français: Basilique Saint-Remi (Basilica St. Remigius),
tombeau refait en 1847 avec les statues du XVIIème siècle,
vue est et nord, Reims, France.
Photo: 3 December 2007.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana - Mattis.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The term "Gothic architecture" originated as a pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style", in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, to describe what we now consider the Gothic style, and in the introduction to the "Lives" he attributes various architectural features to "the Goths", whom he holds responsible for destroying the ancient buildings, after they conquered Rome, and erecting new ones in this style. At the time in which Vasari was writing, Italy had experienced a century of building in the Classical architectural vocabulary, revived in the Renaissance, and seen as evidence of a new Golden Age of learning and refinement.
The Renaissance had then overtaken Europe, overturning a system of culture that, prior to the advent of printing, was almost entirely focused on the Church and was perceived, in retrospect, as a period of ignorance and superstition. Hence, François Rabelais, also of the 16th-Century, imagines an inscription over the door of his utopian Abbey of Thélème: "Here enter no hypocrites, bigots . . ." slipping in a slighting reference to "Gotz" and "Ostrogotz."
In English 17th-Century usage, "Goth" was an equivalent of "Vandal", a savage despoiler with a Germanic heritage, and so came to be applied to the architectural styles of Northern Europe from before the revival of classical types of architecture.
English: Saint Peter's Cathedral, Beauvais, Picardy, France.
Français: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais, Oise, Picardie, France.
Photo: 2 September 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Tango7174.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"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. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old Mediaeval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with everything that was barbarous and rude".
On 21 July 710, the Académie d'Architecture met in Paris, and among the subjects they discussed, the assembled company noted the new fashions of bowed and cusped Arches on chimney-pieces being employed "to finish the top of their openings. The Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic."
Coutances Cathedral,
Normandy, France,
from the North.
Photo: October 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Aroche.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Coutances Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Coutances) is a Gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral, constructed from 1210 to 1274, in the town of Coutances, Normandy, France.
It incorporated the remains of an earlier Norman Cathedral.
It is the Seat of the Bishop of Coutances and Avranches, previously the Bishops of Coutances.
Standing 80 metres (295 ft) tall, it dominates the town and can be seen from as far away
as the Island of Jersey. It is a classic example of the Gothic style of Normandy
in its use of long, straight, vertical lines.
As an architectural style, Gothic developed primarily in ecclesiastical architecture, and its principles and characteristic forms were applied to other types of buildings. Buildings of every type were constructed in the Gothic style, with evidence remaining of simple domestic buildings, elegant Town Houses, Grand Palaces, commercial premises, civic buildings, Castles, city walls, bridges, village Churches, Abbey Churches, Abbey complexes and large Cathedrals.
The greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are Churches. These range from tiny Chapels to large Cathedrals, and although many have been extended and altered in different styles, a large number remain either substantially intact or sympathetically restored, demonstrating the form, character and decoration of Gothic architecture. The Gothic style is most particularly associated with the great Cathedrals of Northern France, England and Spain, with other fine examples occurring across Europe.
The Vault, above the Ambulatory,
Coutances, Normandy, France.
Photo: 8 April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana - Mattis.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Coutances, Normandy, France.
Photo: 8 April 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Mattana - Mattis.
(Wikimedia Commons)
At the end of the 12th-Century, Europe was divided into a multitude of City States and Kingdoms. The area encompassing modern Germany, Southern Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and much of Northern Italy (excluding Venice and the Papal States) was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, but local rulers exercised considerable autonomy.
France, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, Scotland, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Sicily and Cyprus were independent Kingdoms, as was the Angevin Empire, whose Plantagenet Kings ruled England and large domains in what was to become modern France. Norway came under the influence of England, while the other Scandinavian countries and Poland were influenced by trading contacts with the Hanseatic League. Angevin Kings brought the Gothic tradition from France to Southern Italy, while Lusignan Kings introduced French Gothic architecture to Cyprus.
Throughout Europe, at this time, there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany, and the Low Countries, had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with each other, or united for mutual wealth, as in the Hanseatic League. Civic building was of great importance to these towns as a sign of wealth and pride. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their Kings, Dukes and Bishops, rather than grand Town Halls for their Burghers.
PART TWO FOLLOWS.
Throughout Europe, at this time, there was a rapid growth in trade and an associated growth in towns. Germany, and the Low Countries, had large flourishing towns that grew in comparative peace, in trade and competition with each other, or united for mutual wealth, as in the Hanseatic League. Civic building was of great importance to these towns as a sign of wealth and pride. England and France remained largely feudal and produced grand domestic architecture for their Kings, Dukes and Bishops, rather than grand Town Halls for their Burghers.
PART TWO FOLLOWS.
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