GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

INFLUENCES

HISTORY
• 12th – 13th centuries: Holy Roman Empire was reduced to the area of
Germany
• Only 3 great kingdoms were left: France, England and Castile in Spain
• Prosperous years in terms of agriculture - warm weather and invention of the
windmill and water-mill increased the amount of food produced
• Most Europeans were Catholics
• Church under the Pope brought Christians together
• Entire Christianity was united against Muslims
• The rulers, the church and townspeople spent wealth on building more
castles, cathedrals and monasteries
• Towns competed with each other to produce the best architecture
• Mixture of lands ruled by nobles
• Feudal system - landlords ruled with tyranny
• Towns became crowded and dirty - disease was rife
• Black Death struck Europe from 1347 to 1351 and killed half the population -
spread by rats and fleas, could kill a person within 3 days

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER - DESCRIPTION

• "Gothic" is a term used in reproach to this style
• a departure from classic lines
• Can be identified by the general use of pointed arch
• Also called “Medieval Architecture”

The term "Gothic architecture" originated as a derogatory description.

Architect Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects 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 holds
responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome,
and erecting new ones in this style.

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.

Gothic (1050-1530)

▪ “Style Ogivale”
▪ Progressive lightening and heightening of structure
(made possible by the flying buttress)
▪ Use of the pointed arch and ribbed vault.
▪ Richly decorated fenestration.
Gothic architecture is the architecture of the late medieval period,
characterized by use of the pointed arch, rib vault, buttresses, including
flying buttresses; large windows which are often grouped, or have
tracery; rose windows, towers, spires and pinnacles; and ornate facades.

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.

Gothic Architecture had been developed and used by the architects of

Romanesque buildings. These include ribbed vaults, buttresses, clustered
columns, ambulatories, wheel windows, spires and richly carved door
tympanum.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.

ROMANESQUE VS. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

ROMANESQUE GOTHIC
Chapels and apse Separate compartments Unified, unbroken space
Vault Mostly barrel-vaults, Groin-vaulted cathedrals
some groin- vaults
Arch type Rounded arches Pointed arches
Main vault support Thick walls buttresses Exterior flying buttresses
Clerestory Small windows Large stained-glass
windows
Elevation Horizontal, modest Vertical, soaring
height
Exterior Plain, little decoration, Ornate, delicate, lots of
solid sculpture
Sculptural decoration Thin, elongated, More realistic
abstract figures. proportions and
individualized features
Mood Dark, gloomy Tall, light-filled
Example St, Sernin Toulouse, Chartres Cathedral,
France France
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

 LOFTY AND ASPIRING QUALITY

 STRUCTURAL HONESTY
 ECONOMY IN THE USE OF MATERIALS

Characteristics of Gothic cathedrals

A Gothic cathedral or abbey was, prior to the 20th century, generally the
landmark building in its town, rising high above all the domestic structures and
often surmounted by one or more towers and pinnacles and perhaps tall
spires.

These cathedrals were the skyscrapers of that day and would have been the
largest buildings by far that Europeans would ever have seen. It is in the
architecture of these Gothic churches that a unique combination of existing
technologies established the emergence of a new building style. Those
technologies were the pointed arch, the ribbed vault, and the buttress.

The Gothic style, when applied to a religious building, emphasizes verticality

and light. This appearance was achieved by the development of certain
architectural features, which together provided an engineering solution. The
structural parts of the building ceased to be its solid walls, and became a stone
skeleton comprising clustered columns, pointed ribbed vaults and flying
buttresses.

Height

A characteristic of Gothic church architecture is its height, both absolute and in

proportion to its width, the verticality suggesting an aspiration to Heaven. A
section of the main body of a Gothic church usually shows the nave as
considerably taller than it is wide. In England the proportion is sometimes
greater than 2:1, while the greatest proportional difference achieved is at
Cologne Cathedral with a ratio of 3.6:1.

Externally, towers and spires are characteristic of Gothic churches, the

number and positioning being one of the greatest variables in Gothic
architecture.

In Italy, the tower, if present, is almost always detached from the building, as at
Florence Cathedral, and is often from an earlier structure. In France and Spain,
two towers on the front is the norm. In England, Germany and Scandinavia this
is often the arrangement.
Verticality

The pointed arch lends itself to a suggestion of height. This appearance is

characteristically further enhanced by both the architectural features and the
decoration of the building.

On the exterior, the verticality is emphasised in a major way by the towers

and spires and in a lesser way by strongly projecting vertical buttresses, by
narrow half- columns called attached shafts which often pass through several
storeys of the building, by long narrow windows, vertical mouldings around
doors and figurative sculpture which emphasises the vertical and is often
attenuated. The roof line, gable ends, buttresses and other parts of the
building are often terminated by small pinnacles.

On the interior of the building attached shafts often sweep unbroken from floor
to ceiling and meet the ribs of the vault, like a tall tree spreading into branches.
In many Gothic churches, the treatment of vertical elements in gallery and
window tracery creates a strongly unifying feature that counteracts the
horizontal divisions of the interior structure.

Light

Expansive interior light has been a feature of Gothic cathedrals. The

metaphysics of light in the Middle Ages led to clerical belief in its divinity and
the importance of its display in holy settings. The Celestial Hierarchy, was
popular among monks in France. Pseudo- Dionysius held that all light,
even light reflected from metals or streamed through windows, was
divine.

Gothic architecture has featured expansive windows. The increase in

size between windows of the Romanesque and Gothic periods is related
to the use of the ribbed vault, and in particular, the pointed ribbed vault
which channeled the weight to a supporting shaft with less outward
thrust than a semi-circular vault. Walls did not need to be so weighty.

A further development was the flying buttress which arched externally from the
springing of the vault across the roof of the aisle to a large buttress pier
projecting well beyond the line of the external wall.

The internal columns of the arcade with their attached shafts, the ribs of the
vault and the flying buttresses, with their associated vertical buttresses jutting
at right- angles to the building, created a stone skeleton. Between these
parts, the walls and the infill of the vaults could be of lighter construction.
Between the narrow buttresses, the walls could be opened up into large
windows.

Through the Gothic period, thanks to the versatility of the pointed arch, the
structure of Gothic windows developed from simple openings to immensely
rich and decorative sculptural designs.
Majesty

The facade of a large church or cathedral, often referred to as the West Front,
is generally designed to create a powerful impression on the approaching
worshipper, demonstrating both the might of God and the might of the
institution that it represents.

Central to the facade is the main portal, often flanked by additional doors.
There may be much other carving, often of figures in niches set into the
moulding around the portals, or in sculptural screens extending across the
facade.

In France there is generally a rose window like that at Reims Cathedral. Rose
windows are also often found in the facades of churches of Spain and Italy, but
are rarer elsewhere and are not found on the facades of any English
Cathedrals. The gable is usually richly decorated with arcading or sculpture
or,in the case of Italy, may be decorated with the rest of the facade, with
polychrome marble and mosaic, as at Orvieto Cathedral. The West Front of a
French cathedral and many English, Spanish and German cathedrals
generally have two towers, which, particularly in France, express an enormous
diversity of form and decoration.

ELEMENTS OF THE GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

 Pointed Pinnacles
 Gargoyles
 Stained Glass Windows and Tracery
 Gothic Arch
 Gothic Vault
 Flying Buttresses

Pointed Pinnacles

- Add strength and stability to the structure

- Enables buildings to reach new heights
- To make it look light
Gargoyles

- The origins of the word 'gargoyle' are derived

from the old French word 'gargouille' meaning
throat.
- Gargoyles came into gothic architecture in the
early 13th century and are defined as "a
waterspout, projecting from an upper part of a
building to throw water clear of walls or
foundations."
- Gargoyles are frightening and intimidating
sculptures - perfect for the likes of great Lords
and Kings who built elaborate fortresses and
castles in order to crush and intimidate the
indigenous population.

GARGOYLE - a grotesquly carved figure of a human or animal, with an open

mouth that serves as a spout and projects from a gutter to throw rainwater
clear of a building.

Stained Glass Windows and Traceries

- Stained glass windows could now take up much of the wall

space, letting in light and color for a beautiful and moving
effect.

Tracery - Ornamental work of branchlike lines, esp, the lacy openwork in the
upper part of a Gothic window.

Curvilinear tracery - Gothic tracery characterized by a pattern of irregular,

boldly curved forms. Also called flowing tracery.

Mouchette - A dagger-like motif found esp, in Gothic tracery, formed by

elliptical and ogee curves.

Geometric tracery - Gothic tracery characterized by a pattern of geometric

shapes, such as circles and foils.

Plate tracery - Early Gothic tracery formed of pierced slabs of stone set on
edge, the design being in the shape and disposition of the openings. Also
called perforated tracery.
Bar tracery - Gothic tracery that succeeded plate tracery, consisting of molded
stone mullions that divide into various branching elements that fill the window
head.

Angel light - A triangular light in a Gothic window, formed by the arch of a

lower tier of tracery, and a mullion of an upper tier of tracery.

Perpendicular tracery - Predominantly vertical Gothic tracery having mullions

rising to the curve of the arch, crossed at intervals by horizontal transoms. Also
called rectilinear tracery.

Foil - Any of several arcs or rounded divided by cusps and tangent to the
interior of a larger arc, as of an arch or circle.

Foliation - Ornamentation of an archway, window, or other opening with foils

or representations of foliage.

Cusp - A pointed projection formed by two intersecting arcs, used esp, to vary
the outlines of intradoses or to form foils.

Cuspidation - Decoration with cusps

Trefoil - An arrangement of three foils divided by cusps and radiating from a

common center.

Quatrefoil - An ornament composed of four foils, divided by cusps and

radiating from a common center.

Cinquefoil - A design composed of five foils, cusps and radiating from a

common center.

Multifoil - Having more than five foils.

The greatest number of surviving Gothic buildings are churches. The Gothic
style is most particularly associated with the great cathedrals of Northern
France, England and Germany, with other fine examples occurring across
Europe
 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.

Equilateral arch
Many Gothic openings are based upon the equilateral form. In other words,
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. This makes the arch higher in relation to its width than a semi-circular
arch which is exactly half as high as it is wide.

The Equilateral Arch gives a wide opening of satisfying proportion useful for
doorways, decorative arcades and large windows.

The structural beauty of the Gothic arch means, however, that no set
proportion had to be rigidly maintained. The Equilateral Arch was employed as
a useful tool, not as a Principle of Design.

Flamboyant arch
The Flamboyant Arch is one that
is drafted from four points, the
upper part of each main arc
turning upwards into a
smaller arc and meeting at a
sharp, flame-like point. These
arches create a rich and lively
effect when used for window
tracery and surface decoration.
The form is structurally weak and
has very rarely been used for
large openings except when contained within a larger and more stable arch. It
is not employed at all for vaulting.
Doorways surmounted by Flamboyant mouldings are very common in both
ecclesiastical and domestic architecture in France. They are much rarer in
England. A notable example is the doorway to the Chapter Room at Rochester
Cathedral.

The style was much used in England for wall arcading and niches. In German
and Spanish Gothic architecture it often appears as openwork screens on the
exterior of buildings.

Depressed arch
The Depressed or four-centred arch is much wider than its height and gives
the visual effect of having been flattened under pressure. Its structure is
achieved by drafting two arcs which rise steeply from each springing point on a
small radius and then turn into two arches with a wide radius and much lower
springing point.

This type of arch, when employed as a window opening, lends itself to very
wide spaces, provided it is adequately supported by many narrow vertical
shafts. These are often further braced by horizontal transoms. The overall
effect produces a grid-like appearance of regular, delicate, rectangular forms
with an emphasis on the perpendicular. It is also employed as a wall
decoration in which arcade and window openings form part of the whole
decorative surface.

The style, known as Perpendicular, that evolved from this treatment is specific
to England.
GOTHIC VAULT

 The reasons that the cathedrals had so many of these vaulted roofs is
because the medieval builders thought that they helped reduce the risk of
fire.
 That was really good because fires often spread and there were no fire
fighters to help extinguish the fire.
 Also, it made the inside of the cathedral have a finished look.

Gothic Structure:
 Rib vault/ groin vault take point load stresses - vs. Continuous load of
barrel vault
 Pointed arch - reduces abgle of thrust
 Sexpartite vault: (early gothic) - ribbed, pointed arch system to cover
double bay - almost semi-circular diagonal ribs

Rib or Ribbed vault

A vault constructed of structural arched stone members or ribs with an infill of
masonry.

Parts of a Rib Vault

▪ Diagonal Rib - A rib crossing a compartment of a rib vault on a diagonal.

▪ Ridge Rib - A horizontal rib marking the crown of a vaulting compartment.
▪ Boss - An ornamental, knob-like projection at the intersection of ogives.
▪ Lierne - A tertiary rib in a vault often for decorative rather than structural
purposes.
▪ Tierceron - A subsidiary rib which connects a point on the ridge rib or central
boss with one of the main springers or supports.
Web - a surface framed by the ribs of a ribbed vault
Rib Vault - A vault supported by a decorated with arched diagonal ribs. Also,
ribbed vault.
Quadripartite Vault - A rib vault divided into four parts by intersecting
diagonal ribs.
Sexpartite Vault - A rib vault divided into six compartments by two diagonal
ribs and three transverse ribs.
Rib - Any of several archlike member supporting a vault at the groins, defining
its distinct surfaces or dividing these surfaces into panels.
Arc doubleau - A rib spamming the longitudinal axis of a rib vault and dividing
it into bays or compartments. Also called transverse rib.
Tierceron - A rib springing from a point of support on either side of the ogives,
or transverse ribs of a rib vault, Also called intermediate rib.
Formeret - A rib against a wall, parallel to the longitudinal axis of a rib vault,
Also called arc formeret, wall rib.
Boss - An ornamental, knoblike projection, such as a carved keystone at the
intersection of ogives.
Pendant - A sculptured ornament suspended from a roof truss, vault, or ceiling,
also called drop.
Fan Vault - A vault composed of a number of concaves conoidal sections,
usually four, springing from the corners of the vaulting compartment, often
decorated with ribs that radiate from the springing like the framework of a fan.
Key - The keystone at the crown of an arch or at the intersection of two or
more vaulting ribs.
Ridge rib - A horizontal rib marking the crown of a vaulting compartment.
Ogive - A rib crossing a compartment of a rib vault on a diagonal. Also called
diagonal rib, groin rib.
Lierne - An ornamental vaulting rib other than one springing from a pier or a
ridge rib.
Star vault - A vault having ribs, lierned, or tiercerons arranged in a
star-shaped pattern. Also called stellar vault.
FLYING BUTRESSES
- It serves to transmit the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards (which may
arise from stone vaulted ceilings of from wind-loading on roofs) across an
intervening space and ultimately down to the ground.
- Another application of the flying buttress is to prop up a wall which may be
learning with a dange of collapse.
Flying buttress - An inclined bar of masonry carried on a segmental arch and
transmitting an outward and downward thrust from a roof or vault to a solid
buttress that through its mass transforms the thrust into a vertical one. Also
called arc-boutant.

Pinnacle - A subordinate vertical structure terminating in a pyramid or spire,

used esp, in Gothic architecture to add weight to a buttress pier.

Buttress pier - The part of a pier that rises to take the thrust of a flying
buttress.

Amortizement - A sloping top on a buttress or a projecting pier to shed

rainwater.

Shaft - A distinct, slender, vertical masonry feature engaged in a wall or pier

and supporting or feigning to support an arch or a ribbed vault.

Nosing - A projecting edge of a buttress

Vaulting shaft - A shaft that leads to the springer of a rib or group of ribs, either
rising from the ground or from a corbel at a greater height in the face of the
masonry.

Cathedral
A large and principal church of a diocese, the seat of a bishop.
\
Fan Vault
A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of
the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. The
earliest example, dating from about the year 1351, may be seen in the cloisters
of Gloucester Cathedral. The largest fan vault in the world can be found in the
chapel of King's College, Cambridge. The fan vault is peculiar to England.

FRENCH GOTHIC

Three Phases of French Gothic

▪ Primarie: a lancettes, pointed arches and geometric

traceried windows.
▪ Secondaire: rayonnant, circular windows, wheel
tracery.
▪ Tertiaire: flamboyant, flowing and flamelike tracery.
ENGLISH GOTHIC

NORMAN (1066 to 1154 AD)

• Includes the raising of most of major Romanesque churches and castles

TRANSITIONAL (1154 to 1189 AD)

• Pointed arches in Romanesque structures

EARLY ENGLISH (1189 to 1307 AD)

• Equivalent to High Gothic in France
• Also called "Lancet" or "First Pointed" style, from long narrow pointed
windows

DECORATED (1307 to 1377 AD)

• Window tracery is "Geometrical" in form, and later, flowing tracery patterns
and curvilinear surface pattern
• Also called "Second Pointed", equivalent to French "Flamboyant" style

PERPENDICULAR (1377 to 1485 AD)

• Also called "Rectilinear“ or "Third Pointed" TUDOR (1495 to 1558 AD)
• Increasing application of Renaissance detail

ELIZABETHAN (1558 to 1603 AD)

• Renaissance ideas take strong hold
CATHEDRALS
• May have been attached to monasteries or to collegiate institutions
• Found in precincts with dormitories, infirmary, guest houses, cloisters,
refectory, other buildings.

Westminster Abbey
• Complex of church, royal palace and burial grounds
• Most important medieval building in Britain
• widest (32 m) and highest vault in England (102 ft)

Other examples:
Wells Cathedral
York Cathedral - largest medieval cathedral in England and in Northern
Europe
Winchester Cathedral - longest medieval cathedral in England

Decorated Style

▪ Also Geometrical and Curvilinear, Middle Pointed, Edwardian, or Later

Plantagenet.
▪ Rich tracery, elaborate ornamental vaulting, and refined stone-cutting
techniques.

Perpendicular

▪ Also Rectilinear, Late Pointed, or Lancastrian.

▪ Perpendicular tracery (use of a lacework of vertical glazing bars), fine
intricate stonework, and elaborate fan vaults.
GERMANY

SPAIN

• Strong Moorish influences: the use of horseshoe arches and rich surface
decoration of intricate geometrical and flowing patterns
• Churches had flat exterior appearance, due to chapels inserted between
buttresses
• Excessive ornament, without regard to constructive character

Burgos Cathedral (1221 - 1457 AD)

• Irregular in plan
• Most beautiful and poetic of all Spanish cathedrals

Seville Cathedral (1402 to 1520 AD)

• Largest Medieval church in Europe
• Second largest church in the world, next to St. Peter's, Rome
ITALY

• Led the way in Europe, in terms of art, learning and commerce

• Cultural revival was taking place in Italy in advance of northern Europe
• Roman tradition remained strong
• This arrested the development of Gothic architecture in Italy
• Verticality of Gothic is generally neutralized by horizontal cornices and string
courses
• Absence of pinnacles and flying buttresses
• Small windows without tracery
• Projecting entrance porches with columns on lion-like beasts

Florence Cathedral or S. Maria del Fiore

• Designed by Arnolfo di Cambio
• Essentially Italian in character, without the vertical features of Gothic
• Peculiar latin cross plan with campanile and baptistery

Siena Cathedral
• One of most stupendous undertakings since the building of the Pisa cathedral
• Outcome of civic pride - all artists in Siena contributed their works to its
building and adornment
• Cruciform plan
• Zebra marble striping on wall and pier

Other cathedrals:
Milan Cathedral
• Largest Medieval cathedral in Italy
• 3rd largest cathedral in Europe
MANOR HOUSES
• Erected by new and wealthy trading families

Parts:
• great hall, room with solar room, chapel, latrine chamber, service rooms,
kitchens, central hearth

Later, in Tudor Manor Houses

• increased rooms, quadrangular court, battlement parapets, and gateways,
chimneys, buttery (butler’s pantry), oven, pantry, serving area and storage,
larder (food storage), wardrobe, oratory-study, private chapel with altar and
crucifix, scullery, brew house

HALL CHURCHES
• Had a different look:
• Nave and aisle of same height
• One or two immense and ornate western towers or apse, in place of
sculptured doorway
• Brick-work and simplified ornamentation

Manorial System

• An economic system in the Middle Ages that was built around large estates
called manors
• Included a village and the land surrounding it
• Manors were self sufficient
– Most things needed for daily life were produced on the manor