What is meant by Gothic architecture and what are its characteristics?

Gothic architecture is an architectural style that originated in France in the second half of the 11th century and became popular in Europe in the 13th to 15th centuries. It is mainly seen in Catholic churches, but also affects secular buildings. Gothic architecture with its superior technical and artistic achievements, in the history of architecture occupies an important position.

The structural system of Gothic churches consists of skeleton coupons of stone and flying buttresses. Its basic unit is in a square or rectangular plane at the corners of the columns to make a double center of the skeleton pointed coupons, one on each of the four sides and diagonal, roof slate frame on the coupons, forming a vault. With this method, you can make coupons with the same vector height on different spans, with light weight vaults and clear intersecting lines, which reduces the thrust of the coupon feet and simplifies the construction.

Flying handrail by the side of the hall outside the pillar pier coupon, balancing the foot of the hall arch side thrust. In order to increase stability, often in the pillar pier spire. As a result of the use of pointed coupons, pointed arches and flying buttresses, the Gothic church's interior space is high and open, simple, unified. Decorative details such as flaps, niches, etc. are also used for the theme of pointed coupons, architectural style and structural techniques to form an organic whole.

Classic Gothic architecture in European countries

In the second half of the 11th century, Gothic architecture first emerged in France. At that time, some churches in France already appeared in the form of ribbed vaults and flying buttresses. It is generally believed that the first true Gothic church was St. Denis Church in the suburbs of Paris. This church four pointed coupon cleverly solved the structural problems of the ribbed vaults between the arches, there are large stained glass windows, for many churches in the future to follow.

French Gothic church plan, although the Latin cross, but the horizontal wings protrude very little. The west side is the main entrance, the east end of the ring nave inside the ring corridor, many small chapel into a radial arrangement. The interior of the church, especially the nave is high, with a large stained glass zeus. Its appearance is characterized by a number of large and small steeples and spires, the west side of the tall bell tower on some of the spires. Plane cross at the roof of a very high steeple, handrail and wall stacks also have exquisite spires, windows fine high, the whole church upward momentum is very strong, extremely rich in carvings.

The west elevation is the focus of the building, the typical composition is: a pair of tall bell towers on both sides, below the horizontal connection by the horizontal coupon corridor, the three gates by the layers of receding pointed coupons composed of see-through door, coupon face full of statues. Above the main door there is a large round zoo, called the rose window, carved exquisite and gorgeous. The masterpiece of early French Gothic churches is Notre Dame de Paris.

Amiens Episcopal Church is a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture in its heyday, 137 meters long, 46 meters wide, the horizontal wings protruding little, the east end of the nave into a radiating arrangement of seven chapels. Hall 15 meters wide, vaulted ceiling up to 43 meters high, in the hall of the arch between the plane of the rectangle, each with a cross vault, and the side of the hall vault corresponds. The columns are no longer round and four thin columns are attached to a single column to form a bundle. The thin columns are connected to the upper ribs of the coupons in an imposing manner, enhancing the upward momentum. The interior of the church is covered with stained glass large Zeus, almost invisible walls. The exterior of the church is beautifully carved, magnificent. This church is a symbol of the maturity of Gothic architecture.

Famous churches in the heyday of France are also Reims Episcopal Church and Chartres Episcopal Church, which, together with Amiens Episcopal Church and Beauvais Episcopal Church, are known as the four major Gothic churches in France. The Bishop's Church of Strasbourg is also famous, with its 142-meter-high spire.

After the Hundred Years' War, few churches were built in France in the 14th century. By the time Gothic architecture was revived, it had already reached the period of the flambeaux, a style named after the latticework that resembles a flame. Architectural decoration tended to be "fluid" and complex. The columns were often without capitals, and many thin columns ran from the ground to the vaults, becoming ribbed frames. Decorative ribs appeared on the vaults, and the ribs became star-shaped or other complex forms. At that time, few large churches were built. This style is mostly found in additions or remodeled parts of cathedrals, as well as more minor new churches.

The French Gothic period was characterized by a large number of secular buildings, very different in structure and form from the Gothic churches. Because of the successive wars, the cities were highly fortified. Castles were mostly built on high ground, with thick stone walls, bunkers, and a formidable appearance. However, the walls limited the development of the city, which was noisy and crowded with poor living conditions. Multi-story residence of the citizens close to the narrow streets on both sides of the mountain wall facing the street. The second floor began to be raised to enlarge the space, and the first floor was usually a workshop or store. Most of the structures were wooden frames, which were often exposed to form beautiful patterns and were quite interesting. The rich man's residence, town halls, trade associations, etc. are mostly built of masonry, using many of the decorative techniques of the Gothic church.

British Gothic architecture appeared a little later than France, popular in the 12th to 16th century. Instead of standing in crowded urban centers and striving to be tall and control the city as French churches did, English churches tended to be located in open country settings as part of complex abbey complexes that were relatively low and stretched out with the abbey along the Water Thousand. They do not emphasize structural techniques as much as French churches, but are more freely and diversely decorated. English churches are generally long in duration, with constant alterations and additions in the meantime, and it is difficult to find an overall unity of style.

The British Salisbury Bishop's Church and the French Amiens Bishop's Church were built in close proximity to each other, the nave is shorter and deeper, with a side hall on each side, with more protruding transverse wings and a shorter rear transverse wing to accommodate more clergy, which is a common layout technique in England. The front of the church is also on the west side. The east end tends to end in a square nave and rarely uses a ring nave. Salisbury Church has a flying buttress, but it is not significant.

English churches tend to have high spires at the crossroads of the plan, which become the center of the composition, with the bell tower on the west side relegated to a secondary position. The central spire of Salisbury Church is about 123 meters high, the tallest of any English church. The exterior of this church has an English character, but the interior remains French with simple decoration. The interiors of later churches have a stronger English style. The west window of York Minster is intricately windowed, with the window panes consisting of many curves in a lively pattern. The vaults of this period are richly ribbed, and the ribs of Exeter church are very powerful like the spreading branches of a large tree, and also employ bunching columns made up of many columns.

The east end of Gloucester and the west of Canterbury churches have very large windows, divided by a number of straight lattices, and the tops of the windows are mostly flattened four-centered coupons. The slender ribs are extended and coiled, and are extremely ornate. The vaults of King's Chapel, Cambridge, resemble many open fans, and are called fan arches. The vault of Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey has a number of drooping funnel-shaped ornaments, which are extremely elaborate. By this time the ribs had lost their structural role, and became the object of great skill on the part of the English craftsmen. England a large number of small country churches, very simple and friendly, often a church and a tower, using a variety of exquisite wooden roof frame, very characteristic.

The secular architecture of the Gothic period in England was highly accomplished. In the early days of the popularity of Gothic architecture, the feudal lord's castle has a strong defense, the walls are very thick, there are many towers and towers, and high nuclear fortresses within the wall. 15 centuries later, the king's power is further consolidated, the castle's facade opened the windows, and more consideration of the comfort of living. British residents of half-timbered homes with wooden posts and wooden transom as a frame, plus a decorative pattern, dark wood sorghum columns and white walls, the appearance of lively.

One of the earliest Gothic churches in Germany, the Cologne Cathedral, built in 1248, was designed by the French who had built the Amiens Cathedral, and has the style of the Gothic churches of the height of the French period, with its altar and sanctuary similar to those of the Amiens Cathedral. Its nave interior is 46 meters high, second only to the main church of Beauvais in France. The twin towers on the west side are 152 meters high and extremely spectacular.

German church formed early in its own form and features, its narthex and side halls of the same height, neither high side windows, nor fly-rail wall, rely entirely on the side of the narthex facade skinny high windows for light. The vaulted ceiling is topped by an overall steeply pitched roof, and the interior is a multi-columned hall. St. Elizabeth's Church in Marburg, with its two tall towers on the west side and a more plain appearance, is representative of this type of church.

There is another type of Gothic church in Germany which has only a very high bell tower on the front of the church. A famous example is the main church of Ulm. Its bell tower is 161 meters high and controls the entire architectural composition, which can be called a spectacle in medieval church architecture. Brick churches were popular in northern Europe, and there are a number of brick Gothic churches in northern Germany.

After the 15th century, German stonework skills reached their peak. The stone window panes were carved with a pure knife skill and were exquisite and gorgeous. Sometimes two layers of different patterns of stone carving window overlap together, exquisite. Building interior decorative vignettes, there is no shortage of exquisite masterpieces.

German Gothic architecture period of secular buildings are mostly built with masonry. Double-slope roof is very steep, inside the attic, even multi-storey attic, the roof and the mountain wall with a layer of windows, the wall is often picked out light wooden windows, balconies or niches, the appearance is very rich in character.

Italy's Gothic architecture in the 12th century from abroad, mainly in the northern region. Italy did not really accept the structural system and modeling principles of Gothic architecture, but used it as a decorative style, so it is very difficult to find "pure" Gothic churches here.

Italian churches do not emphasize height and verticality, and there are no high bell towers on the front, but rather a screen-like composition of mountain walls. The roofs are more gentle, the windows are small, often pointed coupons and semi-circular coupons and use, flying buttresses are extremely rare, while the carvings and decorations have a clear Roman classical style.

Siena cathedral used ribbed coupons, but only in the vault is slightly pointed, the other is still semicircular. The Bishop's Church of Orviato, on the other hand, still has a wooden roof with a wooden roof frame. The fronts of these two churches are similar, and the general composition is a development of screened buttresses, high in the center and low on the sides, with three spire shapes. The exterior, although decorated with many small Gothic spires and wall duns, is still inherent in the Italian churches with its large round windows and continuous coupon galleries on the flat wall surfaces.

The most famous Gothic church in Italy is the Cathedral of Milan, one of the largest medieval churches in Europe, which was begun in the 1480s and not finalized until the early 19th century. The interior of the church is separated by four rows of giant columns and is 49 meters wide. The nave is about 45 meters high, and at the intersection of the cross-wing and the nave, it rises to more than 65 meters, above an octagonal light pavilion. The nave rises very little above the side halls, and the side-height windows are small. The interior is dark and the exterior of the building is made of brilliant white marble. The high windows, the upright buttresses and the 135 spires all show an upward movement, and the statues on the top of the towers look as if they are about to ascend. The west facade, with its Italian herringbone walls, is also decorated with many Gothic spires. But its windows and doors already bear the style of the late Renaissance.

Additionally in this period, the secular architecture of Italian cities is highly accomplished, especially in many rich cities **** and the country, built many famous municipal buildings and residences. City hall is generally located in the center of the city square, rough stone walls, serious and heavy; more with tall and thin bell tower, rich architectural composition, become the symbol of the square. The city is generally built with many high towers, the overall silhouette is very beautiful.

There are many masterpieces of secular architecture in Venice. The Doge's Palace in St. Mark's Square is recognized as one of the most beautiful works of medieval secular architecture. The fa?ade is made of continuous Gothic pointed coupons and flame patterned coupon corridors with chic composition and bright colors. Venice also has many mansions with Gothic colonnades, which stand elegantly by the water.