GOTHIC

ARCHITECTURE
IN THE NETHERLANDS
ARCHITECTURAL
CHARACTER
1. Gothic architecture of the
Netherlands was based on
French Gothic, and from this
grew the Brabantine style. Some
features of Brabant-style
churches are the round pillars,
usually crowned with capitals
that are decorated with sculpted
cabbage leaves. There are
usually two buttresses on each
corner of the towers, one on each
side.
2. From another direction, through
Cologne, the Gothic of Reims
and Amiens was the inspiration
for the Cathedral of Utrecht,
while the older traditions of
Westphalia and the Rhineland
were continued in the eastern
and northern parts of Belgium
and Holland.
3. These old traditions include the use of
long, narrow and low-set sanctuary windows,
and later, the hall churches, in which the nave
and aisles were approximately of equal height.
4. In Flanders, a national variant adapted to
brick, developed and spread northward along
the coast of Zealand, Holland and Friesland,
and far beyond to Scandinavia and the Baltic.
This was known as Schelde Gothic. Later,
techniques that led to a more elaborate
structuring of the churches became prevalent:
recessed wall areas were often painted with
lime plaster, contrasting with the darker
brick-built areas. Special bricks were also
produced to facilitate the imitation of
architectural sculpture.
5. Adaption to brick entailed simplification of
detail and ornament, most evident in the
Dutch churches. Many of these lack vaults
or the vaults are of timber; though sometimes
the reason for this is instability of the
ground. Nonetheless, few Dutch or Flemish
churches are without an immense, high and
ornate tower, the product of civil rivalry in
wealth and splendor.
6. Not only did the rich towns build vast
churches and elaborate town halls, guildhalls
and trade halls, but also, merchants built
houses and warehouses with stepped gables
and many regular windows.
ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES:

ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE
ST. GUDULE, BRUSSELS
(1220-1475)
ST. GUDULE, BRUSSELS
(1220-1475)
In the thirteenth century, the cathedral was
renovated in the Gothic style. The choir
was constructed between 1226 and 1276.
The façade was completed in the mid-
fifteenth century.
St. Gudule, Brussels, has a choir which is the
earliest example of Gothic in the Netherlands.
Typical of the Netherlands is the plan which
lacks aisles to the transepts and a full chevet of
chapels, including wide chapels flanking the
choir.
ANTWERP CATHEDRAL
(1352-1411)
Antwerp Cathedral is built
in the mature Belgian
style, with further outside
influences. It is
remarkable for its great
width – a nave flanked by
triple aisles – yet the
transepts are aisleless, and
the spread of chapels each
side of the choir is typical
of the Netherlands.
Traceried wall panelling, many slender pier shafts which
are often without capitals, and huge clearstory windows
mark the period.
Traceried wall panelling, many slender pier shafts which
are often without capitals, and huge clearstory windows
mark the period.
It is 122 meters high and capped by a three-stage lantern
with pinnacle buttresses.
ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES:

SECULAR ARCHITECTURE
CASTLES
 CASTLE OF MUIDEN
13TH CENTURY
 Located in Holland near Amsterdam, this castle
relied largely on water for its defense.
 The Muiderslot is one of the best preserved
castles in the Netherlands. The original castle
was built around 1280 by Count Floris V of
Holland and Zeeland. It was strategically
important thanks to the castles location at the
mouth of the river Vecht, the most important
waterway to the diocese of Utrecht, and along
the eastern trade route of Amsterdam.
 The narrow spiral staircase against the west
tower was the medieval entrance to the castle.
The staircase reveals the castle's defence
purposes. They were deliberately built so that
the staircase turns clockwise and has uneven
steps, which made it difficult for right-handed
attackers when the castle was under siege.
TOWN HALLS

STADHUIS
TOWN HALL, BRUGES
TOWN HALL, LOUVAIN
The Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium, was built in
a Brabantine Late Gothic style between 1448 and
1469, it is famous for its ornate architecture,
crafted in lace-like detail.
The Town Hall has three main stories, lined with
pointed Gothic windows on the three sides.
Above is a gallery parapet, behind which rises a
steep roof studded with four tiers of dormers. At
the angles of the roof are octagonal turrets
pierced with slits allowing for the passage of
light.
Statues in canopied niches are distributed all
over the building. The corbels supporting the
statues are carved with Biblical scenes in high
relief.
TOWN HALL, BRUSSELS
The oldest part of the present Town Hall is its
east wing. A second, shorter wing was
completed within five years of Charles the Bold
laying its first stone in 1444.
The 96 meter (310 ft) high tower was designed in
Brabantine Gothic style. Above the roof of the
Town Hall, the square tower body narrows to a
lavishly pinnacled octagonal openwork. Atop
the spire stands a 5-meter-high gilt metal statue
of the archangel Michael, patron saint of
Brussels, slaying a dragon or devil. The tower, its
TOWN HALL, BRUSSELS
The oldest part of the present Town Hall is its
east wing. A second, shorter wing was
completed within five years of laying its first
stone in 1444.
The 96 meter (310 ft) high tower was designed in
Brabantine Gothic style. Above the roof of the
Town Hall, the square tower body narrows to a
lavishly pinnacled octagonal openwork. Atop
the spire stands a 5-meter-high gilt metal statue
of the archangel Michael, patron saint of
Brussels, slaying a dragon or devil.
The tower, its front
archway and the main
building facade are
conspicuously off-center
relative to one another.

The facade is decorated

with numerous statues
representing nobles,
saints, and allegorical
figures.
AUDENARDE
The Town Hall (Dutch: Stadhuis (help·info)) of
Oudenaarde, Belgium was built by architect
Hendrik van Pede in 1526-1537 to replace the
medieval Schepenhuis (Aldermen's House) that
occupied the same site. Another older structure,
the 14th-century Cloth Hall, was retained and
now forms a sort of extension at the back of the
Town Hall proper.
[edit] Exterior
The Oudenaarde Town Hall was a late flowering
 CLOTH HALL AND BELFRY,
BRUGES
 Has a tower 80 meters high and is typical of Flemish brick and stone civic
architecture.
 he belfry of Bruges, or Belfort, is a medieval bell tower in the historical center of Bruges,
Belgium. One of the city's most prominent symbols,[1] the belfry formerly housed a
treasury and the municipal archives, and served as an observation post for spotting fires
and other danger. A narrow, steep staircase of 366 steps, accessible by the public for an
entry fee, leads to the top of the 83-meter-high building, which leans about a meter to the
east.
 To the sides and back of the tower stands the former market hall, a rectangular building
only 44 m broad but 84 m deep, with an inner courtyard. The belfry, accordingly, is also
known as the Halletoren (tower of the halls).
 The octagonal upper stage of the belfry was added between 1483 to 1487, and capped
with a wooden spire bearing an image of Saint Michael, banner in hand and dragon
underfoot. The spire did not last long: a lightning strike in 1493 reduced it to ashes, and
destroyed the bells as well. A wooden spire crowned the summit again for some two-and-
a-half centuries, before it, too, fell victim to flames in 1741. The spire was never replaced
again, thus making the current height of the building somewhat lower than in the past;
but an openwork stone parapet in Gothic style was added to the rooftop in 1822
GUILD HOUSE
SKIPPER’S HOUSE, GHENT
ARCHITECTURAL TERMS
BRABANTINE STYLE-
Gothic style in the
Netherlands which
originated from the duchy
of Brabant.

CLOTH HALL - a building

containing trading stalls,
particularly for the selling of
cloth, sometimes located in the
centre of the marketplaces of
European towns.
CORBIE STEP – a stepped
gable

GUILD HOUSE - the hall built

or used by a guild or
corporation for its assemblies
HALL CHURCH - church in
which the nave and aisles are of
equal height and thus there is no
triforium or clearstory

PINNACLE - a small turret or

spire on a roof or buttress.