Gothic Architecture - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

Foreword

monuments religious, profane, and dwellings of the higher classes were built according to this architecture. However, in fact the Cathédrale S today incarnate it most obviously.

The Gothic Architecture takes/draws its source in Île-de-France during second half of the 12th century; it is diffused quickly in the north of the the Loire and is essential in Europe until the middle of the 16th century, when the classical architecture develops, under the influence of the Italian Renaissance. They are the Italians of the Rebirth who called " gothique" a style named " up to that point; the art of France" , since indeed born in the middle of the kingdom, between Chartres and Soissons.

The “Gothic” word was used to name this architecture a posteriori, in a pejorative meaning. The Gothic art was the art of the Goths, in other words “Barbare S” which would have forgotten the Roman techniques and guns . A certain number of historians of the Art refute this judgment today and show that the Gothic architecture is not in rupture with the Romanesque architecture.

Its very strong identity is philosophical than architectural as much. It probably represents these two points of view, one of greatest artistic completions of the Moyen-âge.

History

Before the Gothic

Since the end of the 10th century, the churches are built in the Romance style common to most of Western Europe: the naves are covered with a Barrel vault; the walls thick and are supported by Contrefort S solid masses located outside. The number and the width of the windows are limited and the interior of the buildings is decorated by Fresque S with the bright colors. Although the technical elements which characterize the Gothic art exist since many years (warhead, Voûte, stained glasses), it is generally the construction of the basilica of Saint Denis under Louis VI the large one, who is regarded as his birth certificate.

Context

the first Gothic buildings appeared about the years 1130 - 1150 in Île-de-France. This is why this style is called by its Latin contemporaries opus francigenum or “art of French origin”, “French art”. It is in the royal Domaine kings Capétiens that the style finds its expression most frequent and most traditional. At that time, the population growth orders an increase in the size of the religious buildings. The religion, the worship of the Relique S are an essential component of the life of the faithful ones. The diffusion of the technical innovations makes work more productive. Lastly, the cities and the trade develop, which involves the emergence of a rich person Bourgeoisie.

The first Gothic building

The church Abbatiale of Morienval presents already some features of the Gothic. It is former to abbey of Saint-Denis, but the latter is the first construction to dissociate Romance style frankly.

The Abbaye bénédictine of Saint-Denis is a prestigious and rich establishment, thanks to the action of Suger, abbot of 1122 to 1151. This last wishes to renovate the old Carolingian church in order to emphasize the relics of holy Denis in a new chorus: for that, it wishes an important rise and bays which let penetrate the light.

Suger decides to complete the construction of the principal church of sound évêché while taking as a starting point the new style entraperçu in the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Sens. In 1140, it makes build a new Western solid mass, while taking as a starting point the Norman models of the Romance age like the abbey Saint-Etienne of Caen. In 1144, the dedication of the chorus of the basilica marks the advent of a new architecture. Taking again the principle of the Déambulatoire to radiating chapel by doubling it, it innovates by taking the party to juxtapose the vaults formerly isolated by separating them by a simple buttress. Each vault comprises vast twin bays provided with stained glasses filtering the light. Voûtement the technique of the Intersecting ribs adopts which makes it possible to better distribute the forces towards the Pilier S.

Gothic emulation

The diffusion of the Gothic style was made possible by competition between the évêché S of the north of France: each bishop wanted a cathedral more beautiful and larger than that of the neighbor. This emulation supported the race with the height of the naves. The new ideas are quickly exploited with Noyon, with Laon, Senlis, then Paris. It is spread then gradually in Western Europe, with specific local alternatives to each region (England, Spain, Italy, Germanic countries, Scandinavia,…) and evolves/moves in time, of the Gothic known as “primitive” (12th century) to the “blazing” Gothic (15th century/16th century). But at the end of the Rebirth, this nomination changed.

The Rebirth mistakes the Gothic forms

The “Gothic” word was used in first by the Italians to indicate the art of the end of Rebirth which imitated the French art of the Moyen-âge. It is Giorgio Vasari which, in 1550, is the first to be used this name. This term had a pejorative connotation , because the Humanistes of the Rebirth wished a return to the Classicisme, i.e. with the stripped and pure forms of the Antiquité. They thus expressed their contempt for these constructions which did not respect the gun S of the period of Antiquity, period which, for them, was a model of perfection. The artists of the Rebirth thus chose the Gothic word to mean that this art was worthy of the “barbarians”. However the Goths were an old Germanic tribe of North, barbarians, whose armies in particular had invaded Italy and had plundered Rome in 410.

Scorn for this art was such as it was projected to destroy the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris to replace it by a news. This project could not be however concretized when the Révolution burst. The sale or the abandonment of the goods of the Church, that this one involved, however caused the disappearance of many masterpieces of the Gothic architecture.

Recent historiography tends to decrease the rupture between the styles novel and Gothic. Moreover, the specialists tend to show that the ancient heritage was not completely forgotten Gothic style. The sculptors and the architects are often inspired by the Roman methods.

The romanticism rehabilitates the Gothic

When at the 19th century romantic movement , the interest for the whole of the Moyen-âge was born the , including the Gothic architecture developed, and this word lost this negative connotation. The novel of Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) revival interest for the cathedrals of Ile-de-France.

At the end of the 19th century, taking as a starting point the research tasks by Purple the duke, of many buildings, in particular religious, imitate the medieval style: in Paris a famous example is the church Holy-Clotilde. The technical innovations making it possible constructions to free itself from certain constraints which dictated their form, a new architecture reinterprets its historical heritage, and after the neo-classic, the Néogothique makes its appearance, particularly in England followed by the the United States in the years 1840. This style is a great success in the universities (Harvard), the museums (Smithsonian Institution) and of course the churches. With New York, it is with James Renwick Jr that one owes the cathedral Saint-Patrick (1858-1888), elegant synthesis of the cathedrals of Rheims and Cologne. The use of materials lighter than the stone makes it possible to do without Arc-boutant S and Contrefort S outsides. The success of neogothic was prolonged until the beginning of the 20th century in many Gratte-ciel, in particular with Chicago and New York. In Europe, the most famous monument taking as a starting point the Gothic heritage all while being dissociated very clearly is probably the Sagrada Família with Barcelona (Spain).

Characteristic of the Gothic architecture

The warhead, a solution with the problems of forces

the Romanesque architecture (which precedes the Gothic) is characterized by arcs “in semicircular arch” (a half-circle), and, especially, by vaults. These Romance vaults are massive and very doors; they require thick bearing walls, generally reinforced by buttresses coupled of place in place.

The Gothic art brings a solution to the problems of forces which the Romanesque art knows. And by this change, one will be able to then build parts much higher. Indeed, the gothic arch and especially the intersecting ribs allow, contrary to the Roman arch with the Romanesque art, to direct the weight of the building towards the ground. Thus, the thick walls that one finds under the Romanesque architecture quickly will be replaced by enormous pillars. One names that then a Architecture of structure. The magic of the Gothic is thus found in this not-visible management of the forces where the elements, appear too light to support the pushes. This balance is not possible that if the design of the elements higher precedes the construction by the elements low. The Gothic cathedral is thus a monument eminently structured and planned in the absence of being calculated. It is interesting to note that the physical concepts on which the Gothic architecture rests will be theorized only as from the 16th century.

> Source or one also explains that: With Arquitectura Gótica EM Portugal, Mario Tavares Chicó, Edition Livros Horizontes, pgs 135-177 in particular.

! End of Work (carcass work heavy castings) ! Date from the dedication |----- | Direction | Saint-Etienne | 1135 | Between 1490 and 1517 |- | Boundary-line | Notre-Dame de Noyon | 1145 | 1235 |----- | Senlis | Notre-Dame de Senlis | 1153 | unknown factor | on June 16th, 1191 |- | Laon | Notre-Dame de Laon | 1155 | 1235 |----- | Soissons | Saint-Gervais-and-Saint-Protais | 1176 | 1212 for the main thing of work |----- |}

Traditional Gothic

The Traditional Gothic corresponds to the phase of maturation and balance of the forms (fine 12th-1230 approximately). All the largest cathedrals are then built: Rheims, Bourges, Amiens, etc the rate/rhythm and decoration are simplified. Actually, one privileges the colossal one with the detriment of refinement; the vertical dash is increasingly marked. Architecture is standardized: one gives up the idea of principle of alternating piles very marked with Sens. For this period, one starts to know the name of the Architecte S, in particular thanks to the labyrinths (Rheims). Work is rationalized. The stone is standardized. The prototype monument is Chartres, ambitious project with a rise on three levels which could be possible thanks to the improvement in contrebutement. The development of the propping up makes it possible to remove the platforms which hitherto played this part. The other countries of Europe start to be interested in this new architectural form (Canterbury, Salisbury, etc). The cathedral of Laon which was probably used as model with others will have three levels of platforms.

Table of the principal buildings of the traditional Gothic in France

Radiant Gothic

Once again, this style was born in Saint-Denis with the repair from the chorus from abbey in 1231. The radiant one will develop little by little until in 1350 approximately. The churches become increasingly high, sometimes exceeding the limits as with Beauvais, construction too ambitious: in 1272 part of the vaults of the chorus of the cathedral crumbled; the vaults were too high and the too spaced pillars. The main features of this architecture are the virtuosity of the Remplages, verticality increasingly more important, of the pillars booklets, and glazed surfaces which become increasingly large (Cathédrale Saint-Etienne of Metz with 6496 m ²); the churches become true stone skeletons, the remainder being of glass, letting penetrate an abundant light. The radiant Gothic really is essential as from the years 1240. The buildings then in building site immediately take into account this news " mode" and change their plan partially. It is at that time that the pink becomes really an element impossible to circumvent of the decoration, even if it already were very much used before (Notre-Dame de Paris, Transept). The multiplication of the side Chapelle S also makes it possible to increase the space of the cathedral. Abbey Saint-Ouen of Rouen is an excellent example of radiant building.

Blazing Gothic

Called also Gothic late, it is born in the years 1350 and develops until the end of the 15th century, and sometimes even in certain areas, the such Lorraine, during the first part of the 16th century the such Basilique of Saint-Nicolas-of-Port. During this period, the innovations are rare. The structure of the buildings remains the same one, but their decoration evolves to an exuberant ornament, “blazing”, which forms kinds of flames that one can notice in the rubble fillings of bays or on the gâbles for example. Rise is simplified somewhat with often a rise on two levels (Saint-Germain the Resident of Auxerre), or with a rise on three levels but with a blind triforium. The ribbed vault is done more complex, becoming in certain buildings, decorative; it is the case with the Saint-Guy cathedral of Prague. The hanging key or pendant, true technical prowess, is done more frequent (Saint-Ouen of Rouen, gate of Marmousets). Examples of blazing buildings: the Saint-Maclou church and the Parliament of Rouen, the basilica Saint-Urbain de Troyes, the church of Louviers, the church of Husks, close to Borough-in-Bresse, in the Ain, the frontage of the Abbey of the Trinity with Vendôme, the cathedral of Auch (except the frontage).

Various local forms

In France

The Gothic angevin

It is characterized by frontages different from those from Ile-de-France, which comprise three gates. The bedside does not comprise either systematically propping up (like the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre of Poitiers, whose bedside is a simple vertical wall). But in fact especially the vaults characterize the Gothic angevin: the vault angevine presents a profile very curvature, whereas the vault francilienne is more punt. Why? In the Gothic style of Ile-de-France, the keystone is with the same height as the keys of its arcs of construction (formeret arcs beams and arcs); the Gothic style angevin presents a difference in height very marked between the keystone and the keys of the formeret arcs and beams, which causes its digging. Among more the good examples of vaults angevines: Saint-Maurice Cathedral of Angers, and old Hospital Midsummer's Day of Angers (current Museum Jean-Lurçat).

Norman Gothic

The Normandy was very early associated with the Gothic movement. One of specificities of the Norman Gothic is the presence, above the transept, of a “Turn-lantern” built in many large churches and almost all the cathedrals of the province (Cathédrale of Coutances, of Rouen, abbey of the Trinity with Fécamp), Collégiale Notre-Dame with Vernon; The cathedral of Sées does not comprise any but it was envisaged in the beginning. This architecture largely influenced the Gothic art in England.

In England

Contrary to the rest of Europe, the English Gothic developed in three phases. One distinguishes the Gothic primary education , the Gothic curvilinéaire and the Gothic perpendicular .

Primary Gothic

The primary Gothic (or Early English gothic ) develops of XIIe century until 1250.

The Gothic curvilinéaire

It begins towards 1250 and will last approximately one century. The Gothic curvilinéaire (or decorated style ) is characterized by very worked Gothic bays. They include/understand Meneau X which separate the various parts of the window. Inside the building, the columns are finer and more elegant than those of the primary Gothic.

Perpendicular Gothic

Typically British, the perpendicular Gothic sees the day towards 1340, at the time of the transformation of the chorus of the Cathédrale of Gloucester and the construction of its cloister.

This style is characterized by a redefinition of interior volumes and masses external. Large bays widely distribute the light in the rooms and the naves, following horizontal lines and verticals which are at the origin of the perpendicular term . Also the fan-vaulting ( fan vaultings ) appears which breaks the verticalism of the architectural lines, creating a dynamic effect and very decorative. These vaults are particularly remarkable in the vaults Henri VII of the Abbaye of Westminster, Saint-Georges of Windsor or of the King' S College of Cambridge. Outside, the propping up S are removed.

Given up towards 1520, the perpendicular Gothic will know a certain renewal in second half of the 18th century.

In the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic

The “ Sondergotik ”

Many German churches adopted the Gothic style and much of its achievements in the Germanic countries are exceptional works of art (Cathedral of Cologne, in the plan adapted of that of Amiens, Cathédrale of Ulm (higher Gothic stone arrow of the world), Freiburg in Brisgau, Ratisbon, Vienna (Austria), Prague etc in a style little differentiated from France. In the north of Germany and Poland, the stone makes place with brick, which strongly limits sculptural decoration (it is the “ Backsteingotik ” with Lübeck, Stralsund, Gdańsk, Malbork, Toruń…) ; in certain buildings the various naves can be of the same height, from where the name of church-market.

In Italy

Italian Gothic

Italy did not completely integrate the Gothic art come from north. The only really Gothic religious monument of this country is the cathedral of Milan whose construction lasted until the 20th century and who is the vaster second of Europe. As regards other buildings, the such cathedrals of His or Orvieto, only of the decorative elements, which are not the “substance” of the Gothic art, are taken again and largely adapted like also the basilica Basilique Saint-François to Assise which mixes the Romance elements and those of the French Gothic.

In Spain

With Seville, the monumental minaret of the mosque closed down since Reconquista was seen flanking of a late Gothic cathedral which will remain vastest of the world. Its impressive dimensions were authorized by a lightening due to the absence of frame permitted by a low rainfall. The cathedrals of the north of the peninsula (with Burgos, León) are transpositions of the French Gothic art. The cathedral of Palma de Majorque is characterized by an exceptional interior volume and vaults resting on excessively slim pillars.

In the Middle East

Born at the time of the Crusades, the Gothic art left some unexpected testimonys in the countries of Raising, as in Cyprus or the Latin cathedrals of Nicosie and Famagouste were then converted into mosques.

Civil Gothic architecture

Examples in France: the Palate of the Popes to Avignon, the Caretaker's lodge with Paris, the Parliament of Normandy to Rouen, the Palate of the dukes of Burgundy to Dijon;
In Belgium: the Town hall of Brussels;
In England: Westminster Hall;
In Italy: the Palazzo Pubblico with His;
In Spain: the Lonja of the seda to Valence, the Palacio del Infantado with Guadalajara; Palate of the General information and town hall of Barcelona;
In Germany: the town hall of Münster
In Poland: town hall of Wroclaw

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