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Gothic Architecture

Gothic Architecture. Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp. Topics. Meaning of Gothic Gothic Characteristics Rib Vaults Flying Buttress Pointed Arch Gothic Architecture in France. Gothic Architecture. Meaning of Gothic “Dark Age”

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Gothic Architecture

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  1. Gothic Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

  2. Topics • Meaning of Gothic • Gothic Characteristics • Rib Vaults • Flying Buttress • Pointed Arch • Gothic Architecture in France

  3. Gothic Architecture • Meaning of Gothic • “Dark Age” • Invading barbarians from the north ruined ancient art and replaced it with their own culture • Goths took Rome in 410 • Wrought little damage but became known as the first tribe of barbarians and thus the name “Gothic”

  4. Gothic Architecture • Characteristics • Structural • Skeletal stone structure • Visual • Visual arts were important including the role of light in structures • Symbolic • Scholasticism • Translations of real events into stone and glass • Cathedrals served as an image of heaven

  5. Gothic Architecture: The Rib Vault • Rib Vaults • Organic metaphor alluding to the role of ribs in anatomy as the body’s skeletal structure supporting tissues • Arches, usually three pairs per rectangular bay, running diagonally • Cross ribs act together with outer frame to create a complete armature of arches along the edges and main folds of the vault

  6. Gothic Architecture: The Rib Vault Photo: Sullivan

  7. Gothic Architecture: The Flying Buttress • Flying Buttress • Effected by powerful external arches swung above the side aisles and the ambulatory • Arches rise from colossal freestanding piers • Absorb and channel disruptive forces, such as wind and weight, safely to the ground • Towering piers could be erected without much affecting the nave or choir interior

  8. Gothic Architecture: The Flying Buttress Photo: Sullivan

  9. Gothic Architecture: The Pointed Arch • Builders turned from the semicircular, unbroken arch to the pointed arch • Looked lighter and pointed upward • Exert less thrust than semicircular arch of the same span • Solves geometric difficulty inherent in ribbed vaults • 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

  10. Gothic Architecture: The Pointed Arch Photo: Sullivan

  11. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • First Early Gothic Style • Roots stem back to 11th century Normandy • Abbey Church of St. Etienne, Caen • Wall changed into mass-dissolving double shells and gathered into linear columnar elements

  12. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  13. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • First coherent example of Gothic architecture • Appear in Gothic 12th century Paris • Ile-de-France • Cut stone masonry employed into vaulting, rather than rubble masonry of the Normans • Arches and ribs designed with independent curvatures

  14. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • Abbey Church of St. Denis • Definitive turning point in early French Gothic • Space, light, line, and geometry create transcendent modernist architectural vision Photo: Sullivan

  15. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  16. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • Abbot Suger • One of Gothic architectures most significant architects • Elected the abbot of St. Denis in 1122 A. D. • In 1137, he began to enlarge St. Denis • Built a new west front and narthex • He was very conscious of colored light and introduced two large stained glass windows to the expansion

  17. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  18. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  19. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • Gothic came to be associated with urban settings and the extension of the French King’s political influence • Two important French gothic structures preceding Suger • Cathedral of Notre-Dame at Laon • Cathedral of Notre-Dame at Paris

  20. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • Cathedral of Notre-Dame at Laon • Begun about 1165 to replace an older structure • Completed about 1205 • In the 13th century restoration occurred • Flying buttresses were added to modernize the appearance • Retained several elements from Romanesque architecture • Long nave, lantern crossing towers, and a semicircular choir

  21. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  22. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  23. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • Cathedral of Notre-Dame at Paris • 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 • Not as well preserved as at Laon

  24. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  25. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  26. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  27. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  28. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France • Notre-Dame, Paris • West front has a solid quality • Triple portals • Gallery of Kings • Represents twenty-eight kings of the Old Testament Photo: Sullivan

  29. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France Photo: Sullivan

  30. References • Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ • http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html • Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity • Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture

  31. Gothic Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

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