Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I. Gothic Architecture
II. Architectural Character
A. Church Plan
B. Materials
C. Pointed Arch
D. Ribbed Vaults
E. Flying Buttress
F. Windows
G. Ornamentation
III. Different Gothic Architecture
A. Gothic Architecture in France
B. Gothic Architecture in the British Isles
C. Gothic Architecture in Germany and Central Europe
D. Gothic Architecture in Low Countries
E. Gothic Architecture in Spain and Catalan Countries
F. Gothic Architecture in Italy
IV. Gothic Revival
V. Bibliography
I. Gothic Architecture
building with brick which led to the term "Backsteingotik" in Germany and
Scandinavia and the term can be rendered as "Brick Gothic".
C. Pointed Arch
A Gothic arch is a sharp-pointed arch,
formed of two arc segments. The lower part of the
arch is parallel sided, up to the level of
the springing points.
The Gothic arch was a major feature of the
architecture of the Middle Ages. The Gothic arch
evolved from the round-topped Roman arch. The
Gothic architects and builders discovered the
amazing strength and stability of using pointed
arches. The walls of Gothic buildings could be
thinner because the weight of the roof was
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supported by the arches rather than the walls.
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The use of the Gothic arch gave the builders tremendous
pointed arches
arch could not only support greater weights but could also span greater
distances, allowing vaults to be taller and wider.
D. Ribbed Vaults
By the 12th century, architects realized the superiority of the
groined vault compared to the barrel vault and started to add ribs, which
were used to support the weight of the vault. Cross-ribbed vaulting
functions as plain groined vaulting, except that it is reinforced with ribs,
and can be made much thinner. The vault uses a
diagonally reinforced arch resting on thin pillars,
permitting the walls to be hollowed out , and also
allowing the vaults to extend higher.
At Amiens, for example, the introduction of an
extra transverse rib between the diagonal ribs of the
vault allowed for a lighter and more elevated interior.
Such light, skeletal construction employing cross
ribbed-vaults and other thin carrying structures,
replaced the massiveness of Romanesque vaults. This
had the revolutionary effect of opening up the interior
space of a large building such as a church. As the
Gothic era progressed, vaulting became increasing
(c) Magnus
Manske
complex and saw the development of more varied
Ribbed vault at the
forms such as the quatri-partite vault and the
Neims Cathedral in
France
sexpartite vault. Slender columns and stained glass
windows also gave the church a more spacious and heightened effect.
E. Flying Buttress
Saint-Denis Cathedral
easy
natural
resource
for
builders.
influence in the 12th century when late Romanesque alternated with few
expressions of pure Gothic architecture. The High Gothic arrives with all its
strength through the pilgrimage route, the Way of Saint James, in the 13th
century. Some of the most pure Gothic cathedrals in Spain, with German
and French influence, were built at this time.
The most important postthirteenth-century Gothic styles in Spain
are the Levantino & Isabelline Gothic. Levantino is characterized by its
structural achievements and the unification of space. An example of the
Levantino style is the Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma or commonly
known as La Seu. Isabelline Gothic is made under the Catholic
Monarchs,that supposed a transition to Renaissance. An example of
Isabelline Gothic is the Royal Chapel of
Grenada which is a mausoleum that houses
the remains of the Catholic Monarchs.
V. Bibliography
Internet Sites:
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Art/DF_art3.shtml
http://www.castles.me.uk/gothic-architecture.htm
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/depts/forlang/new_llc/faculty_websites/courses/rus_c
ult/gothic_art.pdf
http://www.gothic-architecture.com/node/12
http://www.aquinas-multimedia.com/stjoseph/architecture.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture#19th_and_20th_century_Gothic_
Revival
http://www.buffaloah.com/a/archsty/gothic/index.html
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0001560.html
http://www.codesmiths.com/shed/workshop/techniques/arches.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture
Books: