Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. [1] It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture.
Although secular and civic architecture in general was subordinate in importance to ecclesiastical architecture, civic architecture grew in importance as the Middle Ages progressed. David Watkin , for example writes about secular Gothic architecture in present-day Belgium : "However, it is the secular architecture, the guild-halls and town ...
Medieval architecture was the art and science of designing and constructing buildings in the Middle Ages. The major styles of the period included pre-Romanesque , Romanesque , and Gothic . In the fifteenth century, architects began to favour classical forms again, in the Renaissance style , marking the end of the medieval period.
The crown jewel of French Gothic architecture, Chartres Cathedral was built in just 26 years after a devastating fire in 1194. Its revolutionary west façade, anchored by the iconic Royal Portal ...
The construction of Gothic cathedrals was an ambitious, expensive, and technically demanding aspect of life in the Late Middle Ages. From the late 11th century until the Renaissance, largely in Western Europe, Gothic cathedral construction required substantial funding, highly skilled workers, and engineering solutions for complex technical ...
The Gothic style first appeared in France in the mid-12th century in an Abbey, St Denis Basilica, built by Abbot Suger (1081–1151). The old Basilica was the traditional burial place of Saint Denis, and of the Kings of France, and was also a very popular pilgrimage destination, so much so that pilgrims were sometimes crushed by the crowds.
The vertical plan of early Gothic cathedrals had three levels, each of about equal height; the clerestory, with arched windows which admitted light on top, under the roof vaults; the triforium a wider covered arcade, in the middle; and, on the ground floor, on either side of the nave, wide arcades of columns and pillars, which supported the weight of the ceiling vaults through the ribs
The Gothic style of architecture was strongly influenced by the Romanesque architecture which preceded it. Why the Gothic style emerged from Romanesque, and what the key influences on its development were, is a difficult problem for which there is a lack of concrete evidence because medieval Gothic architecture was not accompanied by contemporary written theory, in contrast to the 'Renaissance ...