Gothic Architecture

12th Century – mid 16th Century

Examples of Popular Gothic Structures
St. Stephen’s
Cathedral in Vienna

- built with local

limestone and best
known for its blend of
late Romanesque in the
west front and Gothic
extensions
- most notable
attribute, is its colorful
roof. Covered with over
200,000 glazed tiles,
Church of St. Anne –
Vilnius Lithuania

Local brick was used which also

adds to the church’s distinct
charm and makes it a living
example of Brick Gothic.
St. Vitus Cathedral –
Prague, Czech Republic

- beautifully pronounced flying

buttresses
- net-vaults
Malbork Castle – Poland

The most complete and

elaborate example of a Gothic
brick-built castle complex in the
characteristic and unique style of
the Teutonic Order.
Prague Castle - Czech
Republic

The largest ancient castle in the

world. It is perhaps the most
important landmark in the
magnificent city of Prague and it
absolutely dominates the city’s
skyline.
Windsor Castle -
Berkshire, England
• Much more than a castle and a
palace, the complex includes
Saint George’s Chapel, the tombs
of eleven British monarchs, and a
magnificent library and art
collection.
• The largest inhabited castle in the
world and the official residence of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elements of Gothic Church
Parts of Gothic Cathedral
Characteristics

Pointed arches rather than rounded Taller ceilings with more slender
internal supports
arches
Characteristics

Overall increase in architectural sculpture

More sophisticated architectural
structures that featured intricate
ornamentation
Characteristics

Vast interiors and soaring roofs, with external flying buttresses

Characteristics

Tall towers

Pinnacles
Characteristics

Cavernous spaces with the expanse of walls

broken up by overlaid tracery Rose windows
Gothic Ornament
A finial
B crocket
C pinnacle
D Gothic ornate gable
E blind tracery, blank tracery
F geometric tracery
G trefoil
H quatrefoil
K cinquefoil
L angel light
Parts of Tracery
PARTS OF TRACERY
A Mullion
B Bransom
C Dagger
D Mouchette
E Hood-mould
F Round trifoliated arch
G Cinquefoil head
Types of Tracery
TRACERY
1 plate tracery
2 round window, roundel, oculus
3 quatrefoil
4 sexfoil, multifoil

BAR TRACERY
5 Y tracery
6 trifoliated arch
7 loop tracery
8 intersecting tracery, flowing tracery
9 geometric tracery, geometrical tracery
10 reticulated tracery
11 curvilinear tracery
12 flamboyant tracery
13 decorated tracery
14 panel tracery, panelled tracery
15 perpendicular tracery, rectilinear tracery
History
• Style originating in France
• Originated in the area around Paris called the Île-de-France called “Gothic” due to the mistaken and
prejudicial notion that it was introduced by the Germanic Visigoths, who were traditionally credited
with the fall of the Roman Empire and therefore derided in subsequent centuries.
• Grew out of the Romanesque style to include even more sophisticated architectural structures
• Towns became centers of trade – Paris, Milan, Florence, Venice, Naples
• More aristocratic and “modern” outgrowth of the older Romanesque.
• Transitional – features that lie somewhere between Romanesque and Gothic.
• Capomaestri - The stonemasons in charge of construction

Periods:
1. Primarie (12th Century AD) - also called "a lancettes“; distinguished by pointed arches and
geometric traceried windows
2. Secondaire (13th Century AD) - also called "Rayonnant“; characterized by circular windows with
wheel tracery
3. Tertiare (14th to 16th Century AD) - also called "Flamboyant“’; flame-like window tracery or free-
flowing tracery
 Gothic Architecture in France
Examples: Example:
Notre Dame, Paris
Cathedrals • one of oldest French
Features: cathedrals
• use of pointed arch • begun by Bishop Maurice
de Sully
• use of flying buttresses
weighted by pinnacles Plan:
• walls released from load- • wide nave and double
bearing function aisles
• Invention of colored, • transepts of small
stained glass windows to projections
adorn window-walls Façade:
• tracery windows provided a • successive tiers of niches
framework for Bible stories
to be told in pictures with statues: Christ and
• cathedrals as a library for French kings
illiterate townspeople - • central wheel window
Biblical stories were told • two western towers with
with stained-glass and
statuary high pointed louvred
openings
Fortification
Carcassone
• built in 13th Century
AD
• double wall, inner
one made in 600 AD
• 50 towers and moat
• two gateways
guarded by
machicolations,
drawbridge and
portcullis
Palais De Justice Castles
• great halls in which kings and nobles • built on mounds above rivers
dispensed justice to their vassals
• thick walls and small windows to resist
attack
• many were adapted to make convenient
residences in later periods
Country Homes
• with the development of gunpowder and
new social order, country houses took
the place of fortified castles
Town Houses
• planned around a court
• elaborate street facade
Gothic Architecture in England
Periods: Decorated (1307 to 1377 AD)
Norman (1066 to 1154 AD) • window tracery is "Geometrical" in form,
and later, flowing tracery patterns and
• includes the raising of most of major
curvilinear surface pattern
Romanesque churches and castles
Transitional (1154 to 1189 AD) • also called "Second Pointed", equivalent
to French "Flamboyant" style
• pointed arches in Romanesque structures
Perpendicular (1377 to 1485 AD)
Early English (1189 to 1307 AD)
• also called "Rectilinear“ or "Third Pointed“
• equivalent to High Gothic in France
Tudor (1495 to 1558 AD)
• also called "Lancet" or "First Pointed"
style, from long narrow pointed windows • increasing application of Renaissance
detail
Elizabethan (1558 to 1603 AD)
• Renaissance ideas take strong hold
Gothic Vaults in England

Early English Vault

Decorated Vault
(lierne ribs)
 Tudor Vault (four-centered arch)
Perpendicular Vault (fan, palm or
conoidal vault)
Timber Roofs in England

1. Trussed-Rafter Roof 2. Tie-beam Roof 3. Collar-Braced Roof

4. Hammer-Beam Roof 5. Aisle Roof

Gothic Architecture in England
Cathedrals • by William and Robert Vertue
• may be cathedrals attached to • master mason: Henry Yevele
monasteries or to collegiate institutions • master carpenter: Hugh Herland
• found in precincts with dormitories, • western towers by John James
infirmary, guest houses, cloisters,
refrectory, other buildings
Wells Cathedral
Examples:
Westminster Abbey York Cathedral
• complex of church, royal palace and burial • largest medieval cathedral in England
grounds and in Northern Europe
• most important medieval building in Britain
Winchester Cathedral
• largest in area and width (32 m)
• longest medieval cathedral in England
• highest vault in England (102 ft)
Gothic Architecture in England
Manor Houses • quadrangular court
erected by new and wealthy trading • battlement parapets and gateways
families • chimneys
Parts: • buttery - butters pantry
• oven
• great hall • pantry - serving area and storage
• room with solar room • larder - food storage
• chapel • wardrobe – storage of garment
• oratory-study - private chapel with altar and crucifix
• latrine chamber
• scullery - annex
• service rooms • brew house – preparation of food
• kitchens Some examples:
Little Wenham Hall, Suffolk
• central hearth
Charney Bassett House, Berkshire
Later, in Tudor Manor Houses Athelhampton Hall, Dorset
• increased rooms Hampton Court Palace
Penshurst Place, Kent
Gothic Architecture in Central Gothic Architecture in Central
Europe (Germany) Europe (Germany)
• based on French Gothic, developed Brabantine style
• chief influence came from France
• based on German influence, hall churches
• style came from France, not from
German Romanesque Cathedrals
• brick as building material • brick-work and simplified ornamentation
• absence of vaults, timber-vaults
Cathedrals • immense and ornate tower in place of sculptured
- called Hall Churches (Dreischiffige doorway
Kirchen) in the north and had
Examples:
different look:
- nave and aisle of same height • St. Gudule, Brussels
- one or two western tower or - earliest example of Gothic in Netherlands
western apse, in place of sculptured
doorway • Antwerp Cathedral
Examples: - mature Belgian style with outside influences
Ulm Cathedral - remarkable for great width, nave flanked by triple
St. Elizabeth, Marburg - 1257 to 1283 AD, aisles
typical hall church Secular Architecture
- Town Halls and Cloth Halls
Gothic Architecture in Spain
- strong Moorish influence
Cathedrals Seville Cathedral (1402 to 1520 AD)
• largest Medieval church in Europe
• horseshoe arch, pierced stone tracery • second largest church in the world, next
• rich surface decoration of intricate to St. Peter's, Rome
geometrical and flowing patterns
Gerona Cathedral
• churches had flat exterior appearance, due Granada Cathedral
to chapels inserted between buttresses Toledo Cathedral
• excessive ornament, without regard to Salamanca Cathedral
constructive character Avila Cathedral
Segovia Cathedral
Examples: Barcelona Cathedral
Burgos Cathedral (1221 - 1457 AD) College of Sto. Gregorio, Villadolid
• irregular in plan
• most beautiful of all Spanish cathedrals
Gothic Architecture in Italy
• led the way in Europe, in terms of art, • stripes of colored marbles instead of mouldings
learning and commerce • small windows without tracery
• cultural revival was taking place in Italy in • projecting entrance porches with columns on
advance of northern Europe lion-like beasts
• this arrested the development of Gothic Examples:
architecture in Italy
Florence Cathedral
Cathedrals
• also, S. Maria del Fiore
• Roman tradition remained strong
• designed by Arnolfo di Cambio
• verticality of Gothic is generally
neutralized by horizontal cornices and • essentially Italian in character, without the
string courses vertical features of Gothic
• combination of Greek inspiration, Roman • peculiar latin cross plan
construction and Byzantine decoration • with campanile and baptistery
• absence of pinnacles and flying • pointed dome added by Brunelleschi
buttresses
• lantern in 1462 by Giuliano Majano
Gothic Architecture in Italy
Siena Cathedral
• one of most stupendous undertakings Milan Cathedral
since the building of the Pisa cathedral
• largest Medieval cathedral in Italy
• outcome of civic pride • 3rd largest in Europe
• all artists in Siena contributed their Palermo Cathedral
works to its building and adornment
• basilican in plan
• cruciform plan
• zebra marble striping on wall and pier
• Other cathedrals: