Gothic (Part Two).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,

unless otherwise stated.

The Nave, 

Cologne Cathedral, Germany.

Photo: 6 September 2004.

Source: From de.wp

Author: Thomas Robbin.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Gothic East End of Cologne Cathedral 

represents the extreme of verticality. 

(Nave, dating to the 19th-Century).

The Catholic Church prevailed across Europe at this time, influencing not only Faith but also wealth and power. Bishops were appointed by the Church and often ruled as virtual Princes over large estates. The early Mediaeval periods had seen a rapid growth in Monasticism, with several different Orders being prevalent and spreading their influence widely. Foremost were the Benedictines, whose great Abbey Churches vastly outnumbered any others in England. A part of their influence was that they tended to build within towns, unlike the Cistercians, whose ruined Abbeys are seen in the remote countryside. The Cluniac and Cistercian Orders were prevalent in France, the great Monastery at Cluny having established a formula for a well-planned Monastic site, which was then to influence all subsequent Monastic building for many centuries.

In the 13th-Century, Saint Francis of Assisi established the Franciscans, or so-called "Grey Friars", a mendicant Order. The Dominicans, another mendicant Order founded during the same period, but by Saint Dominic, in Toulouse and Bologna, were particularly influential in the building of Italy's Gothic Churches.

From the 10th-Century to the 13th-Century, Romanesque architecture had become a pan-European style and manner of construction, affecting buildings in countries as far apart as Ireland, Croatia, 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.

English: Cathedral of Saint-Gatien, Tours, France.

Français: Cathédrale Saint-Gatien de Tours.

Photo: 22 April 2008.

Source: Own work; this file is adapted from the file 

by this uploader on Wiki Commons.

Author: Goldmund100.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The proximity of some regions meant that modern country borders do not define divisions of style. On the other hand, some regions, such as England and Spain, produced defining characteristics rarely seen elsewhere, except where they have been carried by itinerant craftsmen, or the transfer of Bishops. Regional differences, that are apparent in the great Abbey Churches and Cathedrals of the Romanesque period, often become even more apparent in the Gothic.

The local availability of materials affected both construction and style. In France, limestone was readily available in several grades, the very fine white limestone of Caen being favoured for sculptural decoration. England had coarse limestone and red sandstone, as well as dark green Purbeck marble, which was often used for architectural features.

English: Saint Gatien Cathedral, Tours, France.

High Altar and Choir.

Français: Cathédrale Saint-Gatien, Tours, 

Indre-et-Loire, Centre, France.

Maître-autel et chœur.

Photo: 22 September 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tango7174.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In Northern Germany, Netherlands, Northern Poland, Denmark, and the Baltic countries, local building stone was unavailable, but there was a strong tradition of building in brick. The resultant style, Brick Gothic, is called "Backsteingotik" in Germany and Scandinavia and is associated with the Hanseatic League. In Italy, stone was used for fortifications, but brick was preferred for other buildings. Because of the extensive and varied deposits of marble, many buildings were faced in marble, or were left with undecorated façade so that this might be achieved at a later date.

The availability of timber also influenced the style of architecture, with timber buildings prevailing in Scandinavia. Availability of timber affected methods of roof construction across Europe. It is thought that the magnificent Hammer-Beam roofs of England were devised as a direct response to the lack of long straight seasoned timber by the end of the Mediaeval period, when forests had been decimated, not only for the construction of vast roofs, but also for ship building.

Gothic architecture grew out of the previous architectural genre, Romanesque. For the most part, there was not a clean break, as there was to be later in Renaissance Florence with the revival of the Classical style by Filippo Brunelleschi in the early 15th century, and the sudden abandonment in Renaissance Italy of both the style and the structural characteristics of Gothic.

Amiens Cathedral 

Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens, 

France.

Photo: 9 January 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Amiens Cathedral

Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens,

France.

The Last Judgment Tympanum.

Photo: 9 January 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mattana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

By the 12th century, Romanesque architecture (termed Norman architecture in England because of its association with the Norman invasion), was established throughout Europe and provided the basic architectural forms and units that were to remain in evolution throughout the Medieval period. The important categories of building: thecathedral church, the parish church, the monastery, the castle, the palace, the great hall, the gatehouse, the civic building, had been established in the Romanesque period.

Many architectural features that are associated with Gothic architecture had been developed and used by the architects of Romanesque buildings. These include ribbedvaults, buttresses, clustered columns, ambulatories, wheel windows, spires and richly carved door tympana. These were already features of ecclesiastical architecture before the development of the Gothic style, and all were to develop in increasingly elaborate ways.

It was principally the widespread introduction of a single feature, the pointed arch, which was to bring about the change that separates Gothic from Romanesque. The technological change permitted a stylistic change which broke the tradition of massive masonry and solid walls penetrated by small openings, replacing it with a style where light appears to triumph over substance. With its use came the development of many other architectural devices, previously put to the test in scattered buildings and then called into service to meet the structural, aesthetic and ideological needs of the new style. These include the flying buttresses, pinnacles and traceried windows which typify Gothic ecclesiastical architecture.

Interior of the Middle Temple Hall, London, 

with its Double Hammer Beam roof.

Photo: September 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Cmglee.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The Steeple of the Cathedral of Saint Lazarus, Autun, France.

Français: Clocher de la cathédrale Saint-Lazare d'Autun (Saône-et-Loire, France)

Photo: 14 October 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Kokin.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Autun Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Lazare d'Autun) is a Roman Catholic Cathedral, and a national monument of France, in Autun. Famous for its Cluniac inspiration, and its Romanesque sculptures by Gislebertus, it is a highlight in Burgundy and it is the seat of the Bishop of Autun. The Bishop of Autun set forth the construction of the Cathédrale Saint-Lazare, as a result of the large movement of pilgrims travelling to Vezelay, as they progressed 

on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

Due to social practices, that involved pilgrims venerating the Relics of Saints in this period, the Bishop of Autun ordered the creation of a larger Cathedral, to house the Relics and accommodate the influx of pilgrims into Autun. The Column Capitals and main façade of the Church are embellished with realistic sculptures carved by Gislebertus. The artwork is a means of teaching the population of Christian ethics, with dramatic scenes of Heaven and Hell.

But while Pointed Arch is so strongly associated with the Gothic style, it was first used in Western architecture in buildings that were, in other ways, clearly Romanesque, notably Durham Cathedral in the North of England, Monreale Cathedral and Cathedral of Cefalù in Sicily, and Autun Cathedral in France.

The Pointed Arch, one of the defining attributes of Gothic, was earlier incorporated into Islamic architecture following the Islamic conquests of Roman Syria and the Sassanid Empire in the 7th-Century. The Pointed Arch, and its precursors, had been employed in Late-Roman and Sassanian architecture; within the Roman context, evidenced in early Church building in Syria, and occasional secular structures, like the Roman Karamagara Bridge; in Sassanid architecture, in the parabolic and Pointed Arches employed in Palace and sacred construction.

Increasing military and cultural contacts with the Muslim world, including the Norman conquest of Islamic Sicily in 1090, the Crusades, beginning in 1096, and the Islamic presence in Spain, may have influenced Mediaeval Europe's adoption of the Pointed Arch, although this point remains controversial. Certainly, 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, as seen, for example, in Monreale and Cefalù Cathedrals, the Alcazar of Seville, and Teruel Cathedral.

Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily, Italy.

Exterior Arabesque ornaments on the Rear Apses.

Photo: August 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bernhard J. Scheuvens aka Bjs.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The outsides of the principal doorways of Monreale Cathedral, and their Pointed Arches, are magnificently enriched with carving and coloured inlay, a curious combination of three styles - Norman-French, Byzantine and Arab.

English: Unfinished Cologne Cathedral, 1856, with ancient crane on South Tower.

Deutsch: Vor dem unfertigen Dom: Zollverwaltung „Am Bollwerk“ mit achteckigem Zinnenturm.

Photo: 1856.

Source: Uta Grefe: Köln in frühen Photographien 1847-1914, 

Schirmer/Mosel Verlag, München, 1988, 

ISBN 3-88814-294-6. Scan by Raimond Spekking.

Author: Johann Franz Michiels (1823–1887).

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The Nave Vault, 

with Pointed Transverse Arches, 

Durham Cathedral, England.

Norsk: Durham katedralen, Interiør.

Photo: 18 November 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Foto: Nina Aldin Thune; 

this version adapted.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART THREE FOLLOWS.