Gothic Architecture Church Plan, Structural Developments in France and England with Using Relevant Examples of Church Architecture in Europe

Home , Apse, Arcade (architecture), Chapter house, Flying buttress, High Gothic, Renaissance architecture

Development of Gothic architecture Church plan, structural developments in France and England with using relevant examples of church architecture in Europe – wooden roofed churches.

Early Medieval Europe(c. 500–1000)

High Medieval Europe(c. 1000–1300)- Romanesque period

Late Medieval Europe(c. 1300–1500) – Gothic period Gothic Architecture ENGLISH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE • Early English(C.1180−1275) - Westminster Abbey Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which • Decorated(C.1275−1380) - Exeter flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval • Perpendicular(C.1380−1520)- Kings college Chapel period. architecture. Gothic Architecture in France GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY •It was preceded by Romanesque architecture and • an initial development of the Cistercian was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. architecture •Originating in 12th century France and lasting into • an "early Gothic" phase (c. 1228-1290) the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known • the "mature Gothic" of 1290-1385 during the period as "the French Style" (Opus Francigenum. FRENCH GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE French Gothic architecture is divided into three phases: • EARLY GOTHIC - S. Denis • HIGH GOTHIC - Notre Dame, Bourges, Chartres • LATE GOTHIC - Tower of Chartres, Rose window -Amiens Planning: ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES •Latin cross plan, with a long nave a transverse arm called •Gothic architecture developed some distinct the transept and beyond it, an extension which may be characteristics of its own. called the choir, chancel or presbytery. –Vaulted Arches (Pointed) •The nave is generally flanked on either side by aisles, –Flying Buttresses usually singly, but sometimes double, having clerestorey –Thinner walls and stained glass windows windows which light the central space •The advancements allowed thinner walls and Ex: S.Amiens Cathedral larger windows, which allowed for these new churches to have much more natural light. •The Gothic style was much more serene and self-confident. POINTED ARCHES THE POINTED ARCH

The Pointed arch was the technological building unit of Gothic construction •The Gothic imposed an order and system in design of arches •The introduction of the pointed arch as a means of covering a rectangular space •Entire structures were conceived as frameworks of arches •Arches were organized into systems which reduced the structural functions of walls to a minimum. •Flexibility with relation to height and span led to other forms than semicircular arches •The pointed arch is one which has no fixed ratio between height and span •Used in every location where a vaulted shape is called for, both structural and decorative. Gothic openings such as doorways, windows, arcades and galleries have pointed arches VAULT: Rib-Vaulting: vaulting above spaces both large and small is usually supported by richly molded ribs. •Use of quadripartire and sexpartite vaulting •Suitable over a rectangular bay •Introduction of the boss in the intersection of the ribs •Use of pointed arches for the structural bay FLYING BUTTRESSES: •Galleries were dispensed with increase in size of cathedrals was possible due to imaginative use of these buttresses •These provided the same support as galleries but without walls and roofs •Organization of interior spaces was simplified •Possibility to enlarge clerestory windows eg. Chartres cathedral, Cologne, Amiens DECORATION: •Rows of arches upon delicate shafts form a typical wall decoration known as blind arcading. •Niches with pointed arches and containing statuary are a major external feature •The pointed arch leant itself to elaborate intersecting shapes which developed within window spaces into complex Gothic tracery forming the structural support of the large windows that are characteristic of the style. STAIN GLASS WINDOW – ROSEETTE WINDOW Clerestory: •The clerestory is the space, lit by colored glass, where elevation and vaulting meet. •The bundle of slender columns which flank each stained glass window supports the ribs of the vault. •These ribs, used in both transverse and diagonal arches, reinforce the stone canopy, in effect holding the entire structure together. FACADE FAÇADE: •The facade is divided into nine equal portions - vertically by the buttresses, which indicate the interior divisions of the nave, and horizontally by a row of statuary and a series of arcades. •The former marks the transition between the portals and the rose, the latter frames the rose and separates it from the towers. •This triple stratification also reflects the divisions of the elevation into grand arcade, triforium gallery, and clerestory

GARGOYLES A Gargoyle functioned as a grotesque. They were meant to scare away evil spirits, but often also acted as water spouts for the churches. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. architecture. Gothic Architecture in France •It was preceded by Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. •Originating in 12th century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as "the French Style" (Opus Francigenum.. • With the term Gothic first appearing during the latter part of the Renaissance as a stylistic insult. Its characteristic features include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. NOTRE DAME-PARIS ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 1. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France . the sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. 2. Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). 3. The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. 4. After the construction began and the thinner walls grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. 5. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern. 6. Construction on the cathedral began in 1163. The cathedral was completed by 1345.

7. The Cathedral consists of a choir and apse, a short transept, and a nave flanked by double aisles and square chapels. Its central spire was added during restoration in the 19th century

• The interior of the cathedral is 427 by 157 feet (130 by 48 metres) • The clerestory space lit by colored glass windows. in plan, and the roof is 115 feet (35 metres) high. Bundle of slender columns on both sides of the • Two massive early Gothic towers (1210–50) crown the western glass window supports the ribs of the vault. facade, which is divided into three stories and has its doors • These ribs, used in both transverse and diagonal adorned with fine early Gothic carvings and surmounted by a row arches creates sexpertatite vaulting system of figures of kings. reinforce the entire structure together. • The two towers are 223 feet (68 metres) high; the spires with • The stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame are which they were to be crowned were never added. At the very beautiful and a good part of them date from cathedral’s east end, the apse has large clerestory windows (added the 13th century when the cathedral was 1235–70) and is supported by single-arch flying buttresses constructed. • Double span flying buttresses support the nave. These flying • The South Tower houses the cathedral's famous buttresses appeared in the 13th century with the addition of bell, "Emmanuel." The bell weighs 13 metric tons chapels located between the buttresses of the nave. its clapper alone weighs 500 kilograms. • They permit greater natural light in the chapels by transferring • Sculpted between 1200 and 1240, they depict structural support to the outside walls, thus leaving more interior scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, the Last space and allowing larger windows. Judgment, and scenes from the life of St. Anne • Interior originally consisted of 3 levels. An arcade of columnar (the Virgin Mary's mother). piers, a Triforium gallery and large clerestory windows. WEST MINSTER ABBEY 1. West minster abbey is an architectural masterpiece of the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and over three thousand people are either buried or memorialised in Westminster Abbey from Medieval Kings and their Queens. 2. The design is based on the geometrical proportion, but its English features include single rather than double aisles and a long nave with wide projecting transepts. 3. The Abbey has the highest Gothic vault in England (nearly 102 feet) and it was made to seem higher by making the aisles narrow without needing massively thick walls.. 4. Supervised by Henry of Reyns, John of Gloucester and Robert of Beverley borrowing the ideas of an apse with radiating chapels, pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, rose windows and flying buttresses from French gothic style 5. The great addition to the Abbey was the construction of a magnificent new Lady Chapel by Henry VII between 1503 and 1519 to replace the 13th century chapel. 6. The length is 161.5 metres and nave width is 22m.the transept measures 62m.the western tower rises to the height of 68m 7. The octagonal chapter house was annexed to the south transept and was approached through cloister on eastern side which is of exceptional architectural purity. 8. The chapter house has eight shafts carries with vaulted ceiling and the sides were covered with blind arcading. 8. The Chapter house was originally used in the 13th century by Benedictine monks for daily meetings. It later became a meeting place of the King's Great Council and the Commons, predecessors of Parliament. 9. The exterior includes flying buttresses added in the 14th century and a leaded covered -lantern roof on an iron frame designed by Scott. The outer walls and circular piers are of 11th-century date, several of the capitals were enriched in the 12th century and the stone altar added in the 13th century. 10. The Abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. 11. Purbeck marble was used for the walls and the floors of Westminster Abbey, even though the various tombstones are made of different types of marble 12. The great pavement in front of the High Altar of Westminster Abbey is a unique and remarkable object. The complexity of the design and workmanship can be seen nowhere else on this scale. It was laid down in 1268 by order of Henry III. 13.The most important wall paintings in the Abbey are from the late 13th century i.e. the figure of St Faith in her chapel and the figures of Christ with St Thomas and St Christopher in the south transept.