Gothic architecture: Difference between revisions

|country=[[Catholic Church|Catholic]] Europe and West Asia|caption='''Top:''' West front of [[Wells Cathedral]] in England (1225-1240); '''middle:''' [[Sainte-Chapelle]] in [[Paris]] (1238–1248); '''bottom:''' tympanum of [[Rouen Cathedral]] (15th century)|influences=[[Romanesque architecture]], [[Byzantine architecture]], [[Islamic architecture]], and possibly [[Armenian architecture]]|influenced=[[Post-Gothic]], [[Gothic Revival architecture]], [[Czech Baroque architecture#Baroque Gothic|Baroque Gothic]]}}

The Gothic style of architecture was strongly influenced by the [[Romanesque architecture]] which preceded it; by the growing population and wealth of European cities, and by the desire to express local grandeur.{{sfn|Watkin|1986|p=126}} It was influenced by theological doctrines which called for more light{{sfn|Watkin|1986|pp=127-128}} and by technical improvements in vaults and buttresses that allowed much greater height and larger windows. It was also influenced by the necessity of many churches, such as [[Chartres Cathedral]] and [[Canterbury Cathedral]], to accommodate growing numbers of pilgrims.{{sfn|Watkin|1986|p=131}} It adapted features from earlier styles. According to Charles Texier (French historian, architect, and archaeologist) and Josef Strzygowski (Polish-Austrian art historian), after lengthy research and study of cathedrals in the medieval city of [[Ani]], the capital of the medieval kingdom of Armenia concluded to have discovered the oldest Gothic arch. According to these historians, the architecture of the Saint Hripsime Church near the Armenian religious seat Etchmiadzin was built in the fourth century A.D. and was repaired in 618. The cathedral of Ani was built in 980–1012 A.D. However many of the elements of Islamic and Armenian architecture that have been cited as influences on Gothic architecture also appeared in Late Roman and Byzantine architecture, the most noticeable example being the pointed arch and flying buttress.<ref>“Flying Buttress and Pointed Arch in Byzantine Cyprus” – Charles Anthony Stewart</ref> The most notable example is the capitals, which are forerunners of the Gothic style and deviated from the Classical standards of ancient Greece and Rome with serpentine lines and naturalistic forms.

{{See also|Early Gothic architecture}}Norman architecture on either side of the [[English Channel]] developed in parallel towards ''Early Gothic''.<ref name=":1" /> Gothic features, such as the [[rib vault]], had appeared in England, Sicily and Normandy in the 11th century.<ref name=":1" /> Rib-vaults were employed in some parts of the cathedral at [[Durham, England|Durham]] (1093–)<ref name=":1" /> and in [[Lessay Abbey]] in Normandy (1098).<ref name="Gothique">{{Cite book|url=https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/gothique/55987|title=Gothique|website=Encyclopédie Larousse|edition=online|language=fr|access-date=2020-05-15|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507153053/https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/gothique/55987|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the first buildings to be considered fully Gothic are the royal funerary abbey of the French kings, the [[Abbey of Saint Denis|Abbey of Saint-Denis]] (1135–1144), and the archiepiscopal cathedral at [[Sens]] (1135–1164). They were the first buildings to systematically combine rib vaulting, buttresses, and pointed arches.<ref name=":1" /> Most of the characteristics of later ''Early English'' were already present in the lower ''[[chevet]]'' of Saint-Denis.<ref name=":04"/>

[[Sens Cathedral]] was influential in its strongly vertical appearance and in its three-part elevation, typical of subsequent Gothic buildings, with a clerestory at the top supported by a [[triforium]], all carried on high arcades of pointed arches.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=Schurr|first=Marc Carel|title=art and architecture: Gothic|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-0540|work=The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages|year=2010|editor-last=Bjork|editor-first=Robert E.|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-866262-4|access-date=2020-04-09|archive-date=10 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200410194851/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-0540|url-status=live}}</ref> In the following decades flying buttresses began to be used, allowing the construction of lighter, higher walls.<ref name=":1" /> [[French Gothic architecture|French Gothic]] churches were heavily influenced both by the ambulatory and side-chapels around the choir at Saint-Denis, and by the paired towers and triple doors on the western façade.<ref name=":1" />

{{Mainmain|Pointed arch (architecture)}}

The defining characteristic of the Gothic style is the [[Pointed arch (architecture)|pointed arch]], which was widely used in both structure and decoration. The pointed arch did not originate in Gothic architecture; they had been employed for centuries in the [[Near East]] in pre-Islamic as well as [[Islamic architecture]] for arches, arcades, and ribbed vaults.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Warren|first=John|year=1991|title=Creswell's Use of the Theory of Dating by the Acuteness of the Pointed Arches in Early Muslim Architecture|publisher=BRILL|volume=8|pages=59–65|doi=10.2307/1523154|jstor=1523154|periodical=Muqarnas}}</ref> In Gothic architecture, particularly in the later Gothic styles, they became the most visible and characteristic element, giving a sensation of verticality and pointing upward, like the spires. Gothic [[rib vault]]s covered the nave, and pointed arches were commonly used for the arcades, windows, doorways, in the [[tracery]], and especially in the later Gothic styles decorating the façades.<ref>Encylopédie Larousse, ''L'Architecture Gothique'' (retrieved May 24, 2020)</ref> They were also sometimes used for more practical purposes, such as to bring transverse vaults to the same height as diagonal vaults, as in the nave and aisles of [[Durham Cathedral]], built in 1093.<ref>{{cite web|title=Architectural Importance|url=http://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/architectural-importance|publisher=Durham World Heritage Site|access-date=2013-03-26|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024061051/https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/architectural-importance|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the model of Romanesque architecture and the [[Basilica of Saint Denis]], cathedrals usualusually had two towers flanking the west façade. Towers over the crossing were common in England ([[Salisbury Cathedral]]), [[York Minister]]) but rarer in France.{{Sfn|Renault|Lazé|2006|p=31}}

Rose windows were a prominent feature of many Gothic churches and cathedrals. The rose was a symbol of the Virgin Mary, and they were particularly used in churches dedicated to her. The French Gothic cathedrals of Chartres,<ref includingname="Jantzen1984">{{cite Notrebook |last1=Jantzen |first1=Hans |title=High Gothic: The Classic Cathedrals of Chartres, Reims, Amiens |year=1984 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-Dame0-691-00372-6 de|page=64 Paris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d989DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64}}</ref> NearlyNotre allDame thede majorParis, GothicReims, cathedralsand hadLaon have them in the west façade, and many,in suchthe transepts as Notrewell.<ref Damename="Marten2022">{{cite debook Paris,|last1=Marten |first1=Bettina |editor1-last=Borngässer |editor1-first=Barbara |editor2-last=Klein |editor2-first=Bruno |title=Global Gothic: Gothic Church Buildings in the 20th and 21st Centuries |year=2022 |publisher=Leuven University Press |isbn=978-94-6270-304-9 |page=56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e35fEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |chapter=Tradition in the Age of Progress: Notions on Gothic Church Archicture in the United States}}</ref> Amiens, ChartresCathedral,<ref name="Lillich2011">{{cite book |last1=Lillich |first1=Meredith Parsons |title=The Gothic Stained Glass of Reims Cathedral |year=2011 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0-271-03777-6 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3id0xseq6EC&pg=PA107}}</ref> Strasbourg Cathedral<ref name="Stanford2016">{{cite book |last1=Stanford |first1=Charlotte A. |title=Commemorating the Dead in Late Medieval Strasbourg: The Cathedral's Book of Donors and Its Use (1320-1521) |year=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-16398-5 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFM3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT103}}</ref> and Westminster Abbey, hadalso have them in transepts as well.<ref name="Jenkins2011">{{Citationcite book needed|datelast1=AugustJenkyns 2020|first1=Richard |title=Westminster Abbey |year=2011 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-06197-2 |page=29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9ha1hrIUuMC&pg=PA29}}</ref> The designs of their tracery became increasingly complex, and gave their names to two periods; the [[Rayonnant]] and the [[Flamboyant]]. Two of the most famous Rayonnant rose windows were constructed in the transepts of Notre-Dame in the 13th century.

Other European examples include [[Collegio di Spagna]] in the [[University of Bologna]], built during the 14th and 15th centuries; the [[Karolinum|Collegium Carolinum]] of the [[Charles University in Prague]] in Bohemiathe Czech Republic ({{Circa|1400}}); the [[University of Salamanca|Escuelas mayores]] of the [[University of Salamanca]] in Spain; and the [[Collegium Maius]] of the [[Jagiellonian University]] in [[Kraków]], Poland.

File:Cefalu Cathedral interior BW 2012-10-11 12-07-53.jpg|[[CefaluCefalù Cathedral]] built in Norman [[Sicily]] (1131–1267)

[[Romanesque architecture]] and [[Norman architecture]] had a major influence upon Gothic architecture. The plan of the Gothic cathedral was based upon the plan of the ancient Roman [[basilica]], which was adopted by Romanesque architecture. The [[Latin cross]] form, with a [[nave]] and transept, choir, disambulatory, and radiating chapels, came from the Romanesque model. The grand arcades of columns separating the central vessel of the [[nave]] from the collateral aisles, the [[triforium]] over the grand arcades, and the windows high on the walls allowing light into the nave were all also adapted from the Romanesque model. The portal with a [[tympanum (architecture)|tympanum]] filled with sculpture was another characteristic Romanesque feature, as was the use of the buttress to support the walls from the outside. Gothic architects improved them by adding the [[flying buttress]] with high arches connecting the buttresses to the upper walls. In the interior, Romanesque architecture used the [[barrel vault]] with a round arch to cover the nave, and a [[groin vault]] when two barrel vaults met at right angles. These vaults were the immediate ancestors of the Gothic rib vault. TheOne of the first use of the Gothic rib vaults to cover a nave was in the Romanesque [[Durham Cathedral]], (1093–1104).<ref name="auto">Weber, Patrick, ''Histoire de l'Architecture'' (2018), pp. 35–37</ref>

[[Norman Architecture]], similar to the Romanesque style, also influenced the Gothic style. Early examples are found in [[Lessay Abbey]] in Normandy, which also featured early rib vaults in the nave similar to the Gothic vaults. [[Cefalu Cathedral]] (1131–1267) in Sicily, built when Sicily was under Norman rule, is another interesting example. It featured pointed arches and large RomanesqueGothic rib vaults combined with ornamental mosaic decoration.<ref name="auto" />

===Islamic and Armenian influence===

The pointed arch, one of the defining attributes of Gothic, was earlier featured in [[Islamic architecture]],<ref name="BF">Banister Fletcher, ''A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method''.{{page needed|date=April 2020}}</ref> Though it did not have the same functions. Precursor of pointed arch appeared in [[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] and [[Sasanian architecture|Sassanian]] architectures, This was evidenced in early church building in [[Syria]] and occasional secular structures, like the [[Karamagara Bridge]]; in Sassanian architecture, employed in palace and sacred construction. These pre-Islamic arches were decorative rather than structural in their function.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dcuPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56|title=Technology, Tradition and Survival: Aspects of Material Culture in the Middle East and Central Asia|lastlast1=Tapper|firstfirst1=Richard|last2=McLachlan|first2=Keith|date=2004-11-23|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135777029|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Warren1991">{{cite journal|last=Warren|first=John|year=1991|title=Creswell's Use of the Theory of Dating by the Acuteness of the Pointed Arches in Early Muslim Architecture|periodical=Muqarnas|volume=8|pages=59–65 (61–63)|doi=10.2307/1523154|jstor=1523154|publisher=BRILL}}</ref><ref>Petersen, Andrew (2002-03-11). Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, pp. 295-296. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-203-20387-3}}.</ref> The pointed arch as an architectonic principle was first clearly established in Islamic architecture; as an architectonic principle, the pointed arch was entirely alien to the pre-Islamic world.<ref name="Bloom">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgwkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP69|title=Early Islamic Art and Architecture|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|date=2017-05-15|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781351942584|ppage=69}}</ref> Use of the pointed arch seems to have taken off dramatically in Islamic architecture. It begins to appear throughout the Islamic world in close succession after its adoption in the late Umayyad or early Abbasid period. Some examples are the [[Al-Ukhaidir Fortress|Al-Ukhaidir Palace]] (775 AD), the Abbasid reconstruction of the [[Al-Aqsa Mosque|Al-Aqsa mosque]] in 780 AD, the [[White Mosque, Ramla|Ramlah Cisterns]] (789 AD), the [[Great Mosque of Samarra]] (851 AD), and the [[Mosque of Ibn Tulun]] (879 AD) in Cairo. It also appears in one of the early reconstructions of the [[Great Mosque of Kairouan]] in Tunisia, and the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba in 987 AD. The pointed arch had already been used in Syria, but in the mosque of Ibn Tulun we have one of the earliest examples of its use on an extensive scale, some centuries before it was exploited in the West by the Gothic architects.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Islamic Art|last=Rice|first=David T.|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=1979|isbn=9780500201503|pages=[https://archive.org/details/islamicartworldo00davi/page/45 45]|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicartworldo00davi/page/45}}</ref>

** [[:it:Gotico a Milanochiaramontano|LombardSicilian Gothic]]

*[[Basilica of the Holy Trinity, Kraków]]