GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE
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ORIGIN OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE
Europe
France
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ORIGIN
Flourished during the high
and late medieval period.
Evolved from Romanesque
architecture, succeeded by
Renaissance architecture.
Originated in 12th-century
France and lasting into the
16th century.
Westminster Abbey side entrance Riems Cathedral
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DIFFERENCE FROM THE ROMANESQUE STYLE
Trani Cathedral Notre dame Cathedral
Romanesque architecture combined the influences Gothic architecture was born with the intention of
of Roman and Byzantine styles. making churches look like heaven: soaring, colorful, and
bright.
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ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC
1. Arch Type
Romanesque: Gothic:
Round arch Pointed Arch 5
ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC
2. Vaults
Romanesque: Gothic:
Mostly Barrel Vaults Groin Vaults 6
ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC
3. Clerestory
Romanesque: Gothic:
Small windows Large Stained glass windows 7
ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC
• 4. Vault support
Romanesque: Gothic:
Thick walls and buttresses Flying Buttresses
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ROMANESQUE VS GOTHIC
5. Exterior
Durham Cathedral Milan Cathedral
Romanesque: Gothic:
Plain and little decoration Ornate, delicate and lots of sculptures 9
Characteristics of Gothic cathedrals
• The pointed arch, the
ribbed vault, and the
flying buttress.
• Emphasized verticality and
light.
Flying Buttress Ribbed vaults Pointed arch 10
Height
• A characteristic of Gothic church
architecture is its height,
suggesting an aspiration to
Heaven.
• A section of the main body of a
Gothic church usually shows the
nave as considerably taller than it
is wide.
Milan Cathedral
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Height
• On the interior,
attached shafts often
go unbroken from floor
to ceiling and meet the
ribs of the vault, like a
tall tree spreading into
branches.
Interior view
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Light
• Expansive interior light.
• Big clerestory windows with stained
glass.
Saint Chappelle Notre Dame Cathedral 13
• The internal columns
of the arcade with
their attached
shafts, the ribs of the
vault and the flying
buttresses, created
a stone skeleton.
• Between these parts,
the walls and the
infill of the vaults
could be of lighter
construction.
Between the narrow
buttresses, the walls
could be opened up
into large windows.
3d section of a Gothic Cathedral
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ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
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nted Arch
• The Gothic style brought
innovative new
construction techniques
that allowed churches and
other buildings to reach
great heights.
• One important innovation
was the use of pointed
arches.
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• Builders discovered that
pointed arches would give
structures amazing strength
and stability.
• They turned from the
semicircular, unbroken arch
to the pointed arch
– Looked lighter and
pointed upwards
– Exert less thrust than
semicircular arch of the
same span
– Solves geometric
difficulty inherent in ribbed
vaults
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• It was impossible to
arrange all arches and
ribs to a common
level using exclusively
semicircular ribs.
• With a pointed arch,
ribs could easily be
made level
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Ribbed Vaults
Ribbed vault ceiling
Vaulting developed with the need to transfer roof-loads
better, while freeing up inner walls for tracery and glass.
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• More ribs were added to the
basic Romanesque barrel vault to
increase the transfer of loads to
the ground.
• The development of ribbed
vaulting reduced the need for
inner load-bearing walls, there by
opening up the inner space and
providing visual and aesthetic
unity.
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Fan Vaults
• The ribs of the fan vault
are curved equally and
equidistantly spaced,
giving it the appearance
of an open fan.
• Fan vaulting was used
profusely in buildings and
chantry chapels.
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Stained Glass Windows
• Since the walls
themselves were no
longer the primary
supports, Gothic
buildings could include
large areas of glass.
• Huge stained glass
windows and a
profusion of smaller
windows created the
effect of lightness and
space.
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The Oculus
• The circular oculus held
stained-glass.
• It is present on the
triforium wall of churches
forming a rose window.
• Divided by stone
mullions and bars, it held
radiating stone spokes
like a wheel and was
placed below a pointed
arch.
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Flying Buttress
• In order to prevent the
outward collapse of the
arches, Gothic architects
began using a
revolutionary "flying
buttress" system.
• Freestanding brick or
stone supports were
attached to the exterior
walls by an arch or a half-
arch.
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Gargoyles
• A large number of
gargoyles provided a way
to spew out thin streams of
water away from the
cathedral.
• They divide the torrent of
water pouring from the
roof after rain, and project
it outwards as far as
possible from the buttresses
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• A trough is cut in the
back of the gargoyle
and rainwater typically
exits through the open
mouth.
• Length of the gargoyle
determines how far
water is directed from
the wall.
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EXAMPLES OF GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE
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ELY CATHEDRAL
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• Ely Cathedral is an Anglican
Cathedral in the city
of Ely, Cambridge Shire, England.
• Built in a
monumental Romanesque style, the
Galilee porch, lady chapel and choir
were rebuilt in an exuberant
Decorated Gothic.
• Its most notable feature is the
central octagonal tower, with
lantern above, which provides a
unique internal space and, along
with the West Tower, dominates the
surrounding landscape.
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The Galilee Porch
• Principal entrance into the
Cathedral for visitors.
• Situated on the west, used
as a chapel for penitents.
• It also has a structural role
in buttressing the west
tower.
• The walls stretch over two
storeys, but the upper
storey now has no roof.
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The West Tower
• Made to create an exuberant west
front, richly decorated with intersecting
arches and complex moldings.
• The new architectural details were
used systematically to the higher
storeys of the tower and transepts.
• Rows of trefoil heads and use of
pointed instead of semicircular arches,
results in a west front with a high level
of orderly uniformity.
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GALILEE PORCH AND WEST
TOWER FRONT
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Nave
FRONT ELEVATION SIDE ELEVATION
Nave, central and principal part of a Christian church, extending from the entrance to the
transepts or, in the absence of transepts, to the chancel (area around the altar).
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Presbytery and East End
•Built over 17 years, in a
richly ornamented style
•Extensive use of Purbeck
marble pillars and foliage
carvings
•The black marble stone in the
foreground marks the original
position of the shrine of St
Etheldreda
•Surviving fragments of the
shrine pedestal suggest its
decoration was similar to the
interior walls of the Galilee
porch
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Inscribed paving stone marking the original tomb of Saint
Etheldreda, Ely Cathedral
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Lady Chapel
• Devoted to the Virgin Mary.
•The north and south wall each have
five bays, comprising large traceried
windows separated by pillars each of
which has eight substantial niches and
canopies which once held statues.
• Below the window line, and running
round three sides of the Chapel is an
arcade of richly decorated with
Purbeck marble pillars, creating
scooped out seating booths.
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Interior Vaulting 38
Headless statue One of the 147 statues
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Some Features
Decorative façade with blind Octagon and lantern
arcades and rounded arches,
south west transept
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Lantern with central roof boss Surviving fragments of stained
that incorporates a sculpture of glass
the Risen Christ
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AMIENS CATHEDRAL
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•Amiens Cathedral, is a Roman
Catholic church.
•Medieval cathedral builders were
maximized the internal dimensions
in order to reach for the heavens
and bring in more light.
•It is renowned for the quality and
quantity Gothic sculpture in the
main west façade and the
south transept portal, and a large
quantity of polychrome sculpture
from later periods inside the
building
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GROUND FLOOR PLAN
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•West front of
Amiens Cathedral
consists of three portals
protected under deep
porches, two galleries,
a large rose window
(16th century), and
twin towers connected
by a third gallery.
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Transept and north stained Gargoyle and sculptural
glass details
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Tympanum of central west Local saints including the
portal: Christ in Majesty presiding decapitated martyrs, Victorious
over the Day of Judgment while and Gentian, at the western
being supported by an array of entrance
saints
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A painting showing Jesus Christ
cleaning the church Wall paintings
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NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL
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•Location: Paris, Ile-de France, France
• Bishop of Paris began construction in 1163
• A very tall church, reaching some 108 feet
from the floor to the crown of the vaults.
• The clerestories were enlarged
around 1225 to bring in additional
light.
• Over the construction period,
numerous architects worked
on the site, as is evidenced by
the differing styles at different
heights of the west front and towers.
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Double Aisles
Section 53
Vaulting
Sexpartite vault is a rib vault divided into six bays by two
diagonal ribs and three transverse ribs.
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West Rose window
• The west rose window at Notre
Dame is 10 meters in diameter and
exceptionally beautiful.
• The main theme of the west rose is
human life, featuring symbolic
scenes such as the Zodiacs and
Labors of the Months.
• On the exterior, it is fronted by a
statue of the Virgin and Child
accompanied by angles.
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EXTERIOR INTERIOR
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Statue of the Virgin and Child accompanied
by angels.
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Flying Buttresses
Flying buttresses are a common feature of Gothic architecture
and are used by Notre Dame for both the nave and choir.
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Gargoyles
• As rain water runs down the roofs
of Notre-Dame de Paris, it needs to
drain off without dripping down the
walls and potentially damaging
them.
• By evacuating rain water,
the gargoyles protect the cathedral
and protect the stone from damage
caused by excessive runoff.
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Towers and Spires
•The two towers are sixty-nine
meters high and were the tallest
structures in Paris until the
completion of the Eiffel tower.
• The towers were the last major
element of the cathedral to be
constructed.
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THANK YOU
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