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A History of Gothic Architecture
The Explosion of the Gothic
An Introduction
1100-1600
Each
location has a “GE-marker” associated with it, which will
open with
the
Google-Earth Map.
For this to work you have to install free
Google-Earth
on
you hard disk.
This collection of over a hundred
churches is first a picture book illustrating the History of Gothic
Architecture with the best photos from the internet. It does not
pretend to be another, new essay on the subject of which there are
several listed under Further Reading. The selected places were
compiled from many sources; they reflect my personal interests.
In
this I considered Gothic architecture characterized by the use of
pointed arches. Other specific accoutrements, like rib vaults, flying
buttresses, stained-glass windows, elaborate tracery, towers, spires,
pinnacles, and ornate façades, appeared later.
Ordering the very large number of examples chronologically, as I have done for Romanesque Architecture, soon revealed that this method did not produce any meaningful insights. The fact that the Cathedral of Plzen, Bohemia (1295) was begun one year before the Duomo of Florence (1296) may surprise the reader, but does not say anything about their mutual architectural relationship – even if there were one. However, the chronological table does show, how in a mere 200 years the Gothic spread like wild fire to the farthest corners of Europe, an explosion sine qua non.
I then decided to arrange the
material by country, which immediately showed that this architectural
style was started by the Normans almost simultaneously in Apulia,
Sicily, England, and France after 1060.
Where did the pointed
arch come from? The Normans did not invent it, and neither did they
have the artistic imagination that surfaced in the next 50 years in
the cathedrals of England, France, and Germany. Unfortunately the
obvious answer to this conundrum, Islamic influences, gets one into a
heated argument with the art-historians, who deny any such
explanation.
Undeniably, however, the pointed arch appeared first
in Islamic architecture following the Islamic conquest of Roman Syria
and the Sassanid Empire in the 8th century.
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Pointed arches have practical, structural advantages. In high-aspect-ratio openings like those in Gothic architecture, they distribute the load more evenly on its supporting columns. That alone justifies their use. The characteristic that necessitates pointed arches are the Gothic's penchant for over-high windows and spaces, and these, for liturgical reasons, it does not share with Islam.
The further development of the Gothic style shows that this over-heightened sense of space, sens de l'espace, Raumgefühl is restricted to northwestern Europe, to England, France, and Germany. Italy and Spain do not – with exceptions – share it. The Normans transmitted the Islamic architectural methods – and provided in all probability Islamic (sufi) artisans – but they, as their Sicilian cathedrals show, were not inspired by the spiritual Gothic ecstasy that obsessed the Northern Europeans. For political reasons they were more interested in representational Byzantine splendor.
My material, divided into three sections, Western Europe, Germany and Eastern Europe, and Mediterranean Europe, demonstrates the regional differences in the development of Gothic architecture. To give the reader a chance to see by himself, I shall collect my remarks and observations here, independent of the pictorial presentation.
Western Europe: England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands
England is an example of the melding
of three cultures fertilizing each others creativity: English,
Anglo-Saxon, and Norman. The arrival of William the Conqueror in 1061
started a flourishing building boom. The Anglo-Saxon churches were
razed and replaced by “Norman” cathedrals headed by
William's nephews as bishops.
One of the first observations is
the size of these cathedrals, and in fact the Gothic building craze
is one huge competition to build the longest, highest nave or tower.
This resulted in building histories of many decades and occasionally
hundreds of years, and often enough the daring constructions
collapsed and had to be rebuilt – of course, in the newest
style. Due to these long construction times the churches are not of a
uniform style, begun with Norman Romanesque naves, they acquired high
Gothic choirs and west façades.
An architecturally unique
building is Wells Cathedral (1175-1230). Except in its outer
appearance the architect completely freed himself of Norman
influences and created an idiosyncratic nave, framed by two
flamboyant aisles.
France's Gothic cathedrals are well
enough known as to need a special introduction. Chartres, Reims, and
Amiens are the highest expression of the French Gothic's sens de
l'espace. But unfinished Beauvais (1225), which drives the French
style to its most daring limit, was not as familiar to me.
The
French Gothic is characterized by magnificent Rose Windows over the
main door of its West Façades, which are absent in England and
the Low Lands. I have tried to illustrate each cathedral with
additional photographs to emphasize their special character.
The French section is prefaced with the Gislebertus tympanon of Vezelay, which, although La Madeleine is a Late Romanesque church, heralds the spirit of the coming age of the Crusades and Gothic sensibilities.
The churches of the Low Lands, Belgium and Holland, because of their history, exhibit a separate, more conservative style. The land being flat, they have exaggerated high church towers.
Eastern Europe: Germany, Bohemia, Austria, and Poland
Cistercian monasteries occupy a special place in Gothic architecture. Founded at Citeaux, Burgundy in 1098 by Robert of Molesme the Cistercians devoted their lives to silence and manual labor. Representing the quiescent aspect of their times they built bare abbeys with austere, conservative churches all over Europe until the 16th-century Reformation. Dissolved during the 19th century they played an important role in the Christianization of Eastern Europe. Their cloisters always incorporate a fountain.
The German Gothic developed its own
forms. Except in Strasbourg their cathedrals have no Rose Windows,
naves are wider and less high than in France, their decor is less
flamboyant, their ambiance more inmate. A characteristic of the
German Gothic are the towers. Cologne, Ulm, Freiburg and Strasbourg
got the highest most elaborate Gothic church towers in Europe. Often
they were only completed during the 19th century Neo-Gothic
revival.
A special variant are the brick churches of the Hanseatic
cities along the Baltic Seaboard. Many of the Northern German
churches joined the Reformation. By contrast the churches in Bohemia,
Poland, and Austria remained Roman Catholic and show the elaborate
Baroque interiors of the Counter Reformation.
Mediterranean Europe: Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Cyprus
Italian mentality abhors spiritual ecstasy, their architectural style is the cool, rational Renaissance - and, of course, the Baroque of Rome. There are but a few true Gothic cathedrals in Italy: Pisa, Siena, Orvieto, two in Florence, one in Rome, and Milano – and the last two owe their appearance to the 19th-century Neo-Gothic. Exceptions are the churches of the Cistercensians and the Franciscans, which are austere, if they are not veritable museums of early Renaissance frescoes like Asissi.
Spain has three late Gothic cathedrals, the most remarkable in Toledo. All were built after the Christian Reconquista. Although Islamic contributions are clearly visible in all of them, Spain, even today, still lives in denial of its rich Islamic heritage. Special are the late Mudejar arabesques in Zaragoza.
Portugal entered European mainstream architecture even later with three exuberant monasteries in Manueline style.
Cyprus is an oddity. During the Catholic Kingdoms after the Fourth Crusade French crusaders built two large Gothic churches, which in the 16th century have been turned into mosques by the Turkish Ottomans.
