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GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 13 Century – 15th Century

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE Those of the 13th
century are sometimes
13th Century – 15th Century of great richness.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
A. LOFTY & ASPIRING QUALITY (vertical)
B. STRUCTURAL HONESTY
C. ECONOMY IN THE USE OF MATERIALS

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES
 Pointed Arch
 Rib & Panel Vaulting
 Tracery Windows
 Flying Buttress
 Stained glass
 Spires & Pinnacles

EXAMPLES OF GOTHIC STRUCTURES (ecclesiastical)

A. CATHEDRAL IN ENGLAND
1. WESTMINSTER ABBEY
 one of the largest Benedictine monasteries. YORK – flying buttress
 Comprises an
 abbey church &
 square cloister court
 Built by several master masons & master carpenters:
 Master Henry Yevele
 Hugh Herland
 John James
 Geometric in style w/ pinnacles and tracery windows.

2. WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL
 Has greatest total length (560ft.) than any Medieval Cath’l

3. YORK CATHEDRAL
 Largest in area & width in any English Medieval Cathedral

4. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
 Boast off central tower with loftiest spire

5. CANTEBURY CATHEDRAL

6. LAON CATHEDRAL

7. THE TOWER OF LONDON

 BUILT BY:
 Bishop Gundulf for William 1,
 Concentric Castle

8. HAMPTON COURT PALACE

 One of the most REMARKABLE domestic building in England

9. GUILD HALL, LONDON

 Most important hall erected by the Guilds in the middle ages.

10. DURNHAM CATHEDRAL

 EARLIEST great catholic designed initially & entirely with a “rib-vaulting” system.

B. EXAMPLES OF CATHEDRAL BUILDINGS IN FRANCE

1. NOTRE DAME, PARIS

 One of the OLDEST French Gothic church.
 BEGUN BY:
 Bishop Maurice de Sully
2. CHARTRES CATHEDRAL
 Famous for its 160 stained glass windows.
3. RHEIMS CATHEDRAL
 Coronation church of France, the west Façade is famous for its 500 statues
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GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 13 Century – 15 Century
4. AMIENS CATHEDRAL MILAN CATHEDRAL
 Counterpart of SALISBURY of England, BY: Henrich Von Gmunden
 Famous for its carved woodwork in choir stalls.
 DESIGNED BY:
 Robert de Luzarches
5. BEAUVAIS CATHEDRAL
 Considered w/ the loftiest VAULT in Europe at 157’ 6”
6. GLOUCHESTER CATHEDRAL

FORTIFIED TOWNS:
1. CARACASSONE
a. Surrounded by moat water
2. AVIGNON
a. Has a palace which was the headquarters of the Popes.
CASTLES:
1. Chateau Gaillard, Les Andels
2. Chateau de Pierrefonds
3. Chateau de AMBROISE

HOTELS DE VILLE: - Town halls or Municipal halls

1. Arras
2. Bourges
3. Dreux

PALAIS DE JUSTICE – function same as the Roman Basilica

1. Palais De Justice, Roven

HOSPITAL – aka “MAISONS – DIEU”, usually to monasteries

1. Hotel Dieu, Beaune
HOUSES
1. First known as “castle”
2. Earlier called “chateux”
3. Later called “private house”
4. Townhouse
5. Now called “hotels”

C. EXAMPLES OF GERMAN CATHEDRAL

1. Cologne Cathedral
 Largest Gothic church of Northern Europe covering approx. an area of 91,000 sqm.
2. S. Elizabeth Marburge
 Characteristic example of a “Hall Church”
3. Limburg Cathedral

D. EXAMPLE OF ITALY CATHEDRAL

1. SS

E. EXAMPLE OF GOTHIC CATHEDRAL IN SPAIN

1. Seville Cathedral, Spain
 Largest medieval cathedral in Europe
 2nd LARGEST cathedral in the WORLD
2. Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Spain
 One of the most REMARKABLE medieval building in Spain, Great Pilgrimage center
3. Barcelona Cathedral
4. Ely Cathedral
5. St. Etienne, Bourges Cathedral
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GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 13 Century – 15 Century
F. EXAMPLE OF GOTHIC CATHEDRAL IN BELGIAN / NETHERLAND GOTHIC
1. Antwerp Cathedral

GOTHIC TERMINOLOGIES:

 CIMBORIO
o Spanish term for lantern admitting light over a crossing, central lantern.
 CROCKETS
o In Gothic Arch, an upward oriented ornament, often vegetal in form, regularly spaced along sloping
edges of spires, pinnacles & gables.
 DONJON / KEEP
o Stronghold of a massive castle;usually in the form of massive tower
 GARGOYLE
o Water spout projecting from the roof gutter of a building often carved grotesquely
 MACHICOLATION
o Overhanging defensive structure at the top of a medieval fortification, w/ floor openings thru boiling
oil, missile etc. which could be dropped on attackers.
 PORTCULLIS
o Gate of iron or iron enforced wooden bars made to slide up & down in vertical grooves in the jambs of
a doorway, use for defense in castle gateways.
 RETABLO / REREDOS
o Wall or screen usually behind an altar, an ornamental screen or wall at the back of the altar.
 TRACERY
o Ornamental intersecting work in the upper part of a window p, screen or panel, use decoratively in
blank arches and vaults.
 FINIAL
o Formal ornament at the top of a canopy, gable & pinnacle
 EMBRASSURES
o Crenels or intervals between merlons of a battlement
 MERLON
o In an embattled parapet, one of the solid alternates between the embrasures
 BARTIZAN
o A small turret projecting from the angle on top of a tower or parapet.
 BATTLEMENT
o A parapet which alternating indentations (embrasuresnd raised portions (merlons) also called
“crenel”
 BAILEY
o An open space or a court of a stone – built castle.
 MOTTE
o A steep mound
o Feature of 11th & 12th century castles
 NAILHEAD
o Early English Architectural enrichment consisting of small pyramids repeated as a band.
 ORIEL
o In medieval English Architecture, a bay window, corbelled out from the wall of an upper storey.
 BARTIZAN
o Outer defense work of a castle or town,
o Frequently a watch tower at the gate, an outwork defending the entrance to a castle
 BALUSTRARIA
o In medieval military Architecture, the crossed-shaped opening in the battlements & elsewhere for the
use of crossbow
 SPIRE
o Tapering termination of a tower
 STEEPLE
o Tower crowned by a spire
 EPI
o Spire shaped termination of a projecting point or angle of a roof.
 FLAMBOUYANT STYLE
o Last phase of French Gothic Arch, characterized by a flame like, free flowing tracery.
 PEEL
o In Northern England or Scotland in the middle ages, a small emergency defense structure, generally a
low fortified tower.
 CLOISTERS
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GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 13 Century – 15 Century
o Secluded place of covered passages around an open space, connecting the monastic church w/ the
domestic part of the minastery
 OGYVALE
o Termed used for French Gothic Architecture
 OFFSET
o The part of a wall exposed horizontally, often sloping.