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121-544: The square features buildings belonging to various architectural styles, including the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Týn , which has been the main church of this part of the city since the 14th century. Its characteristic towers are 80 m high. The Baroque St. Nicholas Church is another church located in the square. Prague Orloj is a medieval astronomical clock mounted on the Old Town Hall . The clock

242-647: A pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style, and in the introduction to the Lives he attributes various architectural features to the Goths , whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome, and erecting new ones in this style. When Vasari wrote, Italy had experienced

363-401: A pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his 1550 Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style. In the introduction to the Lives he attributed various architectural features to the Goths whom he held responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered Rome , and erecting new ones in this style. In

484-422: A Gothic choir, and six-part rib vaults over the nave and collateral aisles, alternating pillars and doubled columns to support the vaults, and buttresses to offset the outward thrust from the vaults. One of the builders who is believed to have worked on Sens Cathedral, William of Sens , later travelled to England and became the architect who, between 1175 and 1180, reconstructed the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in

605-547: A century of building in the Vitruvian architectural vocabulary of classical orders revived in the Renaissance and seen as evidence of a new Golden Age of learning and refinement. Thus the Gothic style, being in opposition to classical architecture, from that point of view was associated with the destruction of advancement and sophistication. The assumption that classical architecture was better than Gothic architecture

726-510: A lantern tower, deeply moulded decoration, and high pointed arcades. Coutances Cathedral was remade into Gothic beginning about 1220. Its most distinctive feature is the octagonal lantern on the crossing of the transept, decorated with ornamental ribs, and surrounded by sixteen bays and sixteen lancet windows. Saint-Denis was the work of the Abbot Suger , a close adviser of Kings Louis VI and Louis VII . Suger reconstructed portions of

847-498: A new period of Gothic Revival . Gothic architecture survived the early modern period and flourished again in a revival from the late 18th century and throughout the 19th. Perpendicular was the first Gothic style revived in the 18th century. In England, partly in response to a philosophy propounded by the Oxford Movement and others associated with the emerging revival of 'high church' or Anglo-Catholic ideas during

968-449: A series of tracery patterns for windows – from the basic geometrical to the reticulated and the curvilinear – which had superseded the lancet window. Bar-tracery of the curvilinear, flowing , and reticulated types distinguish Second Pointed style. Decorated Gothic similarly sought to emphasize the windows, but excelled in the ornamentation of their tracery. Churches with features of this style include Westminster Abbey (1245–),

1089-659: A single central pillar. At Ely Cathedral (1322–1342), tiercerons decorate the (wooden) vault of the octagonal lantern over the crossing. Lierne vaults also feature prominently in the Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic architecture of England. Liernes are very short decorative ribs that connect one rib to another. Most lierne vaults incorporate both liernes and tiercerons, resulting in intricate designs resembling stars, webs, nets, or other patterns. The Perpendicular Gothic choir of Gloucester Cathedral features an extremely complex net-like vault covered completely in liernes, while

1210-462: A triforium, Early English churches usually retained a gallery. High Gothic ( c.  1194 –1250) was a brief but very productive period, which produced some of the great landmarks of Gothic art. The first building in the High Gothic (French: Classique ) was Chartres Cathedral , an important pilgrimage church south of Paris. The Romanesque cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1194, but

1331-482: A violent and bothersome mistake, as suggested by Vasari. Rather, he saw that the Gothic style had developed over time along the lines of a changing society, and that it was thus a legitimate architectural style of its own. It was no secret that Wren strongly disliked the building practices of the Gothic style. When he was appointed Surveyor of the Fabric at Westminster Abbey in the year 1698, he expressed his distaste for

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1452-587: Is 115 feet, or 35 meters high. The later Amiens Cathedral (built 1220–1266), with the new four-part rib vaults, has a nave that is 138.8 feet (42.3 meters) high. The tallest nave of all the Gothic Cathedrals is Beauvais Cathedral , though only a single bay was completed. It is 47.5 m (156 ft) in height, slightly taller than the nave of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Beginning in England with

1573-540: Is also the architecture of many castles , palaces , town halls , guildhalls , universities and, less prominently today, private dwellings. Many of the finest examples of medieval Gothic architecture are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites . With the development of Renaissance architecture in Italy during the mid-15th century, the Gothic style was supplanted by the new style, but in some regions, notably England and Belgium, Gothic continued to flourish and develop into

1694-520: Is at the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba in al-Andalus , which predates the earliest Romanesque examples by a century. An alternative to barrel vaults in the naves of churches , rib vaults in 12th century early Gothic architecture began to be used in vaults made with pointed arches , already known in the Romanesque style. In these vaults, as in groin vaults, the weight was directed it to

1815-480: Is found in the Great Mosque of Córdoba , which was begun in the 9th century and extended between 922 and 965 by Al-Hakam II . The Chapel of Villaviciosa, as this part of the mosque became known when it was converted to a Roman Catholic church in the 13th century, has a dome which rests upon ribs and pendentives . At each vertex of the square is the intersection with another arch, such that each intersection

1936-443: Is in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral. The King's College Chapel , Cambridge, has the world's largest fan-vaulted ceiling. The development of the rib vault was the result of the search for greater height and more light in the naves of cathedrals. In Romanesque cathedrals, the nave was typically covered by a series of groin vaults , which were formed by the intersection of two barrel vaults . The vaults pressed down directly onto

2057-421: Is in the vault of the oriel window of Crosby Hall, London . Ribs came more and more numerous and more and more decorative leading to the extraordinarily elaborate and decorative fan vault, first used in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral . The first step in the construction of a vault was a wooden scaffold up to the level of the top of the supporting columns. Next, a precise wooden frame was constructed on top of

2178-581: Is known in Britain as High Victorian Gothic . The Palace of Westminster in London by Sir Charles Barry with interiors by a major exponent of the early Gothic Revival, Augustus Welby Pugin , is an example of the Gothic revival style from its earlier period in the second quarter of the 19th century. Examples from the High Victorian Gothic period include George Gilbert Scott 's design for

2299-602: Is one of the reasons why Wren's theory is rejected by many. The earliest examples of the pointed arch in Europe date from before the Holy War in the year 1095; this is widely regarded as proof that the Gothic style could not have possibly been derived from Saracen architecture. Several authors have taken a stance against this allegation, claiming that the Gothic style had most likely filtered into Europe in other ways, for example through Spain or Sicily. The Spanish architecture from

2420-460: Is the junction of three arches. At each corner is a further miniature cross-vault dome. In the other domes of the 10th century reconstruction of the Great Mosque, the ribs intersect one another off-centre, forming an eight-pointed star in the centre which is topped by a pendentive dome. The crossed-arch vaults of the mosque-cathedral of Córdoba served as models for later mosque buildings in

2541-519: Is why he constantly praised the classic architecture of 'the Ancients' in his writings. Even though he openly expressed his distaste for the Gothic style, Wren did not blame the Saracens for the apparent lack of ingenuity. Quite the opposite: he praised the Saracens for their 'superior' vaulting techniques and their widespread use of the pointed arch. Wren claimed the inventors of the Gothic had seen

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2662-489: The Albert Memorial in London, and William Butterfield 's chapel at Keble College, Oxford . From the second half of the 19th century onwards, it became more common in Britain for neo-Gothic to be used in the design of non-ecclesiastical and non-governmental buildings types. Gothic details even began to appear in working-class housing schemes subsidised by philanthropy, though given the expense, less frequently than in

2783-530: The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio , Milan, at the end of the 11th century, and in Southwest France at Moissac Abbey (11th-12th century). These were usually groin vaults, composed by joining two barrel vaults at right angles. Other types of vaults were decorative, such as the star vaults used to decorate the lantern tower on the roof of Caen Cathedral and Laon Cathedral , or the ribs on the interior of

2904-595: The Battle of White Mountain . Twenty-seven crosses mark the pavement in their honour. The crosses were installed during the repairs of the Old Town Hall after the Second World War , while a nearby plaque which lists the names of all 27 victims dates from 1911. Orthodox Czechs do not trample these crosses out of respect. On 3 November 1918, a Marian Column that had been erected in the square shortly after

3025-651: The Byzantine , of course belong more to the Gothic period than the light and elegant structures of the pointed order which succeeded them. The Gothic style of architecture was strongly influenced by the Romanesque architecture which preceded it; by the growing population and wealth of European cities, and by the desire to express local grandeur. It was influenced by theological doctrines which called for more light and by technical improvements in vaults and buttresses that allowed much greater height and larger windows. It

3146-592: The Chateau of Gaillon near Rouen (1502–1510) with the assistance of Italian craftsmen. The Château de Blois (1515–1524) introduced the Renaissance loggia and open stairway. King Francois I installed Leonardo da Vinci at his Chateau of Chambord in 1516, and introduced a Renaissance long gallery at the Palace of Fontainebleau in 1528–1540. In 1546 Francois I began building the first example of French classicism,

3267-770: The Decorated Gothic style of the late 13th century, a variety of complex vaults emerged which incorporated purely decorative ribs in addition to structural ones. Vaults would continue to increase in complexity in the Perpendicular period, and similarly extravagant rib vaulting would appear in other late Gothic styles such as the Flamboyant in France and Sondergotik in Central Europe. Tierceron vaults make use of tertiary ribs (tiercerons) in addition to

3388-783: The Frankokratia after the Fourth Crusade . Varieties of early rib vaults were known in Lombard , Armenian , Persian , and Islamic architecture . The first known example of ladder ribs used on cross vaults is the one documented in the Villa of the Sette Bassi in Rome, dating from the mid-second century AD. In the Moorish architecture of Spain, Islamic architects used these ribbed vaults more visibly. One notable example

3509-522: The Pantheon, Rome , was one of the first Renaissance landmarks, but it also employed Gothic technology; the outer skin of the dome was supported by a framework of twenty-four ribs. In the 16th century, as Renaissance architecture from Italy began to appear in France and other countries in Europe. The Gothic style began to be described as outdated, ugly and even barbaric. The term "Gothic" was first used as

3630-684: The Thirty Years' War was demolished in celebration of independence from the Habsburg empire . The column was re-erected in 2020. At Christmas and Easter , markets are held on the square; they resemble medieval markets. A tall decorated tree and a musical stage are set up. The Christmas Markets in Old Town Square are the largest Christmas markets in the Czech Republic and are visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors from

3751-638: The rib vault , had appeared in England, Sicily and Normandy in the 11th century. Rib-vaults were employed in some parts of the cathedral at Durham (1093–) and in Lessay Abbey in Normandy (1098). However, the first buildings to be considered fully Gothic are the royal funerary abbey of the French kings, the Abbey of Saint-Denis (1135–1144), and the archiepiscopal cathedral at Sens (1135–1164). They were

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3872-404: The 11th century, as builders sought a way to construct larger and larger stone vaults to replace the wooden roofs of Romanesque churches, which were frequently destroyed by fire. Romanesque cathedrals and churches usually used the barrel vault , with rounded arches, and the groin vault , used when two vaults met at a right angle to cover the nave. The weight of the vaults pressed down directly onto

3993-424: The 1250s, Louis IX commissioned the rebuilt transepts and enormous rose windows of Notre-Dame de Paris (1250s for the north transept, 1258 for the beginning of south transept). This first 'international style' was also used in the clerestory of Metz Cathedral ( c . 1245–), then in the choir of Cologne 's cathedral ( c . 1250–), and again in the nave of the cathedral at Strasbourg ( c . 1250–). Masons elaborated

4114-539: The 13th century; by 1300, a first "international style" of Gothic had developed, with common design features and formal language. A second "international style" emerged by 1400, alongside innovations in England and central Europe that produced both the perpendicular and flamboyant varieties. Typically, these typologies are identified as: Norman architecture on either side of the English Channel developed in parallel towards Early Gothic . Gothic features, such as

4235-462: The 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages , surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture . It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France . The style at the time was sometimes known as opus Francigenum ( lit.   ' French work ' ); the term Gothic

4356-557: The 16th century. A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th century England , spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for churches and university buildings, into the 20th century. Medieval contemporaries described the style as Latin : opus Francigenum , lit.   'French work' or ' Frankish work', as opus modernum , 'modern work', novum opus , 'new work', or as Italian : maniera tedesca , lit.   'German style'. The term "Gothic architecture" originated as

4477-480: The 17th and 18th centuries, especially in provincial and ecclesiastical contexts, notably at Oxford . Beginning in the mid-15th century, the Gothic style gradually lost its dominance in Europe. It had never been popular in Italy, and in the mid-15th century the Italians, drawing upon ancient Roman ruins, returned to classical models. The dome of Florence Cathedral (1420–1436) by Filippo Brunelleschi , inspired by

4598-509: The 17th and 18th century several important Gothic buildings were constructed at Oxford University and Cambridge University , including Tom Tower (1681–82) at Christ Church, Oxford , by Christopher Wren . It also appeared, in a whimsical fashion, in Horace Walpole 's Twickenham villa , Strawberry Hill (1749–1776). The two western towers of Westminster Abbey were constructed between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor , opening

4719-431: The 17th century, Molière also mocked the Gothic style in the 1669 poem La Gloire : "...the insipid taste of Gothic ornamentation, these odious monstrosities of an ignorant age, produced by the torrents of barbarism..." The dominant styles in Europe became in turn Italian Renaissance architecture , Baroque architecture , and the grand classicism of the style Louis XIV . The Kings of France had first-hand knowledge of

4840-537: The Abbaye-aux-Hommes (begun 1066) and Abbaye-aux-Dames at Caen . It then appeared in Noyon Cathedral (begun 1131); the square Gothic porch of the Romanesque church of Vézelay Abbey in France (1132); Sens Cathedral (begun 1135); the choir of the Abbey of Saint-Denis (begun 1140); Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1163); Bourges Cathedral ; and Laon Cathedral . Ribbed vaults were built by William

4961-640: The Air and Weather; the Coping, which cannot defend them, first failing, and if they give Way, the Vault must spread. Pinnacles are no Use, and as little Ornament. The chaos of the Gothic left much to be desired in Wren's eyes. His aversion of the style was so strong that he refused to put a Gothic roof on the new St. Paul's, despite being pressured to do so. Wren much preferred symmetry and straight lines in architecture, which

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5082-518: The Conqueror constructed the domes of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen with a kind of crossed rib vault, a star vault, in its central lantern. The Abbaye-aux-Dames also in Caen, was roofed with two large bays of stone groin vaults in the 1080s, one of the earliest uses in Europe of a groin vault to cover such a wide span. Construction of the new church at Durham Cathedral began in 1093 under

5203-412: The Czech Republic and abroad, primarily Germans, Russians, Italians and Britons. In 2016, CNN ranked Prague's Christmas Markets among the 10 best ones worldwide. 50°05′15″N 14°25′17″E  /  50.0875°N 14.4214°E  / 50.0875; 14.4214 Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to

5324-730: The Englishman at Canterbury Cathedral and in St Faith's Chapel in Westminster Abbey (1180). A new variation of rib vault appeared during the High Gothic period; the four-part rib vault, which was used in Chartres Cathedral , Amiens Cathedral and Reims Cathedral . The ribs of this vault distributed the weight more equally to the four supporting piers below, and established a closer connection between

5445-644: The Gothic style in a letter to the bishop of Rochester: Nothing was thought magnificent that was not high beyond Measure, with the Flutter of Arch-buttresses, so we call the sloping Arches that poise the higher Vaultings of the Nave. The Romans always concealed their Butments, whereas the Normans thought them ornamental. These I have observed are the first Things that occasion the Ruin of Cathedrals, being so much exposed to

5566-642: The Greeks. Wren was the first to popularize the belief that it was not the Europeans, but the Saracens that had created the Gothic style. The term 'Saracen' was still in use in the 18th century and it typically referred to all Muslims, including the Arabs and Berbers. Wren mentions Europe's architectural debt to the Saracens no fewer than twelve times in his writings. He also decidedly broke with tradition in his assumption that Gothic architecture did not merely represent

5687-701: The Islamic West, including al-Andalus and the Maghreb . At around 1000 AD, the Mezquita de Bab al Mardum ( Mosque of Cristo de la Luz ) in Toledo was constructed with a similar, eight-ribbed vault. The dome is supported both by the ribs and by pendentives that transmit its weight to the walls below. Similar vaults are also seen in the mosque building of the Aljafería of Zaragoza . The architectural form of

5808-502: The Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral has a vault of liernes concentrated mainly around the centreline of the ceiling. The Perpendicular Gothic fan vault is a unique type of rib vault particular to England. The ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. Thus, unlike gothic vaults derived from pointed arches, the fan vault is composed of semicircular conoids. The earliest example of fan vaulting

5929-548: The Moors could have favoured the emergence of the Gothic style long before the Crusades took place. This could have happened gradually through merchants, travelers and pilgrims. According to a 19th-century correspondent in the London journal Notes and Queries , Gothic was a derisive misnomer; the pointed arcs and architecture of the later Middle Ages was quite different from the rounded arches prevalent in late antiquity and

6050-831: The Saracen architecture during the Crusades , also called the Religious war or Holy War, organised by the Kingdom of France in the year 1095: The Holy War gave the Christians, who had been there, an Idea of the Saracen Works, which were afterwards by them imitated in the West; and they refined upon it every day, as they proceeded in building Churches. There are several chronological issues that arise with this statement, which

6171-450: The ambulatory and side-chapels around the choir at Saint-Denis, and by the paired towers and triple doors on the western façade. Sens was quickly followed by Senlis Cathedral (begun 1160), and Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1160). Their builders abandoned the traditional plans and introduced the new Gothic elements from Saint-Denis. The builders of Notre-Dame went further by introducing the flying buttress, heavy columns of support outside

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6292-494: The architects dealt with the problem by raising the upper part of their arches was raised. This was tried in some of the earliest Gothic churches, notably the Abbaye-aux-Hommes and the Abbey of Lessay in Normandy. The problem was ultimately solved by the introduction of the pointed arch for the transverse and dividing ribs of the vault. The pointed arch had long been known and employed, on account of its much greater strength and of

6413-476: The area to be covered. The severies can be filled with small pieces of masonry, eliminating much of the massive weight of barrel vaults. These rib vaults could also more efficiently cover large rectangular areas. Thanks to the pointed arch employed in Gothic architecture, builders could raise or lower the arches so they would have the same height for a short span or a long span, something not possible with round arches. Pointed arches also made two intersecting vaults of

6534-437: The bays of the vault's underside are separated from one another by ribs which conceal the groins , or the intersections of the panels. Rib vaults are, like groin vaults, formed from two or three intersecting barrel vaults ; the ribs conceal the junction of the vaults. The first rib vaults were built by the ancient Romans in the 2nd century AD. . In the medieval period the earliest surviving example in Islamic architecture

6655-523: The brothers William and Robert Vertue 's Henry VII Chapel ( c.  1503 –1512) at Westminster Abbey . Perpendicular is sometimes called Third Pointed and was employed over three centuries; the fan-vaulted staircase at Christ Church, Oxford built around 1640. Lacey patterns of tracery continued to characterize continental Gothic building, with very elaborate and articulated vaulting, as at Saint Barbara's, Kutná Hora (1512). In certain areas, Gothic architecture continued to be employed until

6776-511: The capital of the medieval kingdom of Armenia concluded to have discovered the oldest Gothic arch. According to these historians, the architecture of the Saint Hripsime Church near the Armenian religious seat Etchmiadzin was built in the fourth century A.D. and was repaired in 618. The cathedral of Ani was built in 980–1012 A.D. However many of the elements of Islamic and Armenian architecture that have been cited as influences on Gothic architecture also appeared in Late Roman and Byzantine architecture,

6897-428: The cathedral at Metz ( c .1235–). In High Gothic, the whole surface of the clerestory was given over to windows. At Chartres Cathedral, plate tracery was used for the rose window, but at Reims the bar-tracery was free-standing. Lancet windows were supplanted by multiple lights separated by geometrical bar-tracery. Tracery of this kind distinguishes Middle Pointed style from the simpler First Pointed . Inside,

7018-507: The cathedrals at Lichfield (after 1257–) and Exeter (1275–), Bath Abbey (1298–), and the retro choir at Wells Cathedral ( c .1320–). The Rayonnant developed its second 'international style' with increasingly autonomous and sharp-edged tracery mouldings apparent in the cathedral at Clermont-Ferrand (1248–), the papal collegiate church at Troyes , Saint-Urbain (1262–), and the west façade of Strasbourg Cathedral (1276–1439)). By 1300, there were examples influenced by Strasbourg in

7139-458: The cathedrals of Limoges (1273–), Regensburg ( c . 1275–), and in the cathedral nave at York (1292–). Central Europe began to lead the emergence of a new, international flamboyant style with the construction of a new cathedral at Prague (1344–) under the direction of Peter Parler . This model of rich and variegated tracery and intricate reticulated rib-vaulting was definitive in the Late Gothic of continental Europe, emulated not only by

7260-408: The choir by 1107. The nave vaults, with pointed arches, were begun in about 1130. Thanks to the pointed arches, the upper level of the clerestory seemed to merge into the roof in a unified whole. The Durham experiment, however, quickly ran into problems. The vault panels in the chancel were made of plastered rubble, and were heavier than expected, and began to crack, and had to be replaced in 1235. In

7381-452: The choir was reconstructed between 1140 and 1144, drawing together for the first time the developing Gothic architectural features. In doing so, a new architectural style emerged that emphasized verticality and the effect created by the transmission of light through stained glass windows. Common examples are found in Christian ecclesiastical architecture , and Gothic cathedrals and churches , as well as abbeys , and parish churches . It

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7502-495: The classical columns he had seen in Rome. In addition, he installed a circular rose window over the portal on the façade. These also became a common feature of Gothic cathedrals. Some elements of Gothic style appeared very early in England. Durham Cathedral was the first cathedral to employ a rib vault, built between 1093 and 1104. The first cathedral built entirely in the new style was Sens Cathedral , begun between 1135 and 1140 and consecrated in 1160. Sens Cathedral features

7623-552: The cloisters and chapter-house ( c.  1332 ) of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London by William de Ramsey . The chancel of Gloucester Cathedral ( c.  1337 –1357) and its latter 14th century cloisters are early examples. Four-centred arches were often used, and lierne vaults seen in early buildings were developed into fan vaults, first at the latter 14th century chapter-house of Hereford Cathedral (demolished 1769) and cloisters at Gloucester, and then at Reginald Ely 's King's College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1461) and

7744-439: The collegiate churches and cathedrals, but by urban parish churches which rivalled them in size and magnificence. The minster at Ulm and other parish churches like the Heilig-Kreuz-Münster at Schwäbisch Gmünd ( c .1320–), St Barbara's Church at Kutná Hora (1389–), and the Heilig-Geist-Kirche (1407–) and St Martin's Church ( c .1385–) in Landshut are typical. Use of ogees was especially common. The flamboyant style

7865-660: The competition. Work began that same year, but in 1178 William was badly injured by falling from the scaffolding, and returned to France, where he died. His work was continued by William the Englishman who replaced his French namesake in 1178. The resulting structure of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral is considered the first work of Early English Gothic . The cathedral churches of Worcester (1175–), Wells ( c .1180–), Lincoln (1192–), and Salisbury (1220–) are all, with Canterbury, major examples. Tiercerons – decorative vaulting ribs – seem first to have been used in vaulting at Lincoln Cathedral, installed c .1200. Instead of

7986-406: The corners, where piers , columns , or walls could support it. Walls in Gothic buildings were often abutted by flying buttresses . These elements made it possible to construct buildings with much higher and thinner walls than before, with immense bays, and larger stained glass windows filling the structure with light. Cross vaults are constructed of narrow, arched ribs that diagonally cross

8107-476: The coverage of stained glass windows such that the walls are effectively entirely glazed; examples are the nave of Saint-Denis (1231–) and the royal chapel of Louis IX of France on the Île de la Cité in the Seine – the Sainte-Chapelle ( c .1241–1248). The high and thin walls of French Rayonnant Gothic allowed by the flying buttresses enabled increasingly ambitious expanses of glass and decorated tracery, reinforced with ironwork. Shortly after Saint-Denis, in

8228-426: The design of upper and middle-class housing. Rib vault A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a church nave , composed of a framework of crossed or diagonal arched ribs. Variations were used in Roman architecture , Byzantine architecture , Islamic architecture , Romanesque architecture , and especially Gothic architecture . Thin stone panels fill

8349-399: The direction of its Norman bishop, William de St-Calais . It was originally intended to build the cathedral entirely with rounded-arch groin vaults, but as work continued on the nave the Norman builders experimented with pointed arches, which directed the weight outward and downwards. The space between the ribs was filled with severies made of small pieces of stone. At its corners the weight

8470-474: The dome of the Round Church in Cambridge (1130). In sexpartite vaulting, each bay was divided by thin stone ribs into six compartments. The intermediate ribs diagonally crossing the vault formed a pointed arch, and there was an additional intermediate pointed arch, which crossed from side to side. Since the ribs carried the weight, the panels of the vaults were made of small pieces of stone, and were much lighter than traditional barrel vaults. The ribs transmitted

8591-500: The dome, though the dome rests upon pendentives , and the ribs were largely decorative. The Romanesque Cefalù Cathedral in the Norman Kingdom of Sicily , begun in 1131, has a Gothic rib vault. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic can also be seen in the nave of Fontenay Abbey church (1147), where the round arches of the barrel vaults have been replaced by vaults with slightly pointed arches. Other variations of rib vaults, usually with rounded arches, appeared in Lombardy in

8712-399: The earliest examples of the introduction of the intermediate ridge rib is found in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral ; This element, called a ridge rib, was not connected to the walls. Architects in England began adding new ribs, largely for decoration. In the nave of Exeter Cathedral three intermediate ribs were provided between the wall rib and the diagonal rib. In order to mask the junction of

8833-490: The east end of the church, which typically had a half-dome. The lantern tower was another common feature in Norman Gothic. One example of early Norman Gothic is Bayeux Cathedral (1060–1070) where the Romanesque cathedral nave and choir were rebuilt into the Gothic style. Lisieux Cathedral was begun in 1170. Rouen Cathedral (begun 1185) was rebuilt from Romanesque to Gothic with distinct Norman features, including

8954-534: The façades of Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (1370s) and choir Mont-Saint-Michel 's abbey church (1448). In England, ornamental rib-vaulting and tracery of Decorated Gothic co-existed with, and then gave way to, the perpendicular style from the 1320s, with straightened, orthogonal tracery topped with fan-vaulting . Perpendicular Gothic was unknown in continental Europe and unlike earlier styles had no equivalent in Scotland or Ireland. It first appeared in

9075-526: The first buildings to systematically combine rib vaulting, buttresses, and pointed arches. Most of the characteristics of later Early English were already present in the lower chevet of Saint-Denis. The Duchy of Normandy , part of the Angevin Empire until the 13th century, developed its own version of Gothic. One of these was the Norman chevet , a small apse or chapel attached to the choir at

9196-503: The front and back side of the façade. The new High Gothic churches competed to be the tallest, with increasingly ambitious structures lifting the vault yet higher. Chartres Cathedral's height of 38 m (125 ft) was exceeded by Beauvais Cathedral's 48 m (157 ft), but on account of the latter's collapse in 1248, no further attempt was made to build higher. Attention turned from achieving greater height to creating more awe-inspiring decoration. Rayonnant Gothic maximized

9317-535: The ground floor. Outside, the walls were given greater strength by the addition of heavy stone buttresses. The strength of rib vaults made it possible to have thinner walls, which in turn made it possible to have larger windows on the upper levels, filling the nave with light. They eventually made possible the enormous rose windows of Gothic cathedrals. This six-part vault was successfully introduced in Noyon Cathedral , Laon Cathedral , and Notre-Dame de Paris. A single six-part vault could cover two traverse sections of

9438-401: The lessened thrust it exerted on the walls. When employed for the ribs of a vault, however narrow or wide the span might be, by adopting a pointed arch, its summit could be made to match the height of the diagonal ribs. The ribs carried the weight of the vault outwards and downwards. The ribs were bundled into columns, each combining four ribs, which descended the walls to the arcades on piers on

9559-476: The main structural ribs of the regular quadripartite vault. This can be seen in the Decorated Gothic nave of Exeter Cathedral , begun in 1310; the massive vault has a profusion of tierceron ribs like palm leaves, with as many as eleven tiercerons curving upward from a single springer . An octagonal tierceron vault completed in 1306 roofs the chapter house of Wells Cathedral , where 32 ribs spring from

9680-660: The meanwhile, experimentation in pointed rib vaults moved to France, where thinner and lighter panels were made of small cut pieces of stone, rather than rubble. The Romanesque Lessay Abbey in Normandy added early Gothic rib vaults in the choir in about 1098. which covered portions of the choir and nave. It was destroyed in World War II but rebuilt. The dome of the Romanesque Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge in England, begun in 1130, has ribs in

9801-544: The most noticeable example being the pointed arch and flying buttress. The most notable example is the capitals, which are forerunners of the Gothic style and deviated from the Classical standards of ancient Greece and Rome with serpentine lines and naturalistic forms. Architecture "became a leading form of artistic expression during the late Middle Ages". Gothic architecture began in the earlier 12th century in northwest France and England and spread throughout Latin Europe in

9922-440: The nave and the lower portions of the church walls, and between the arcades below and the windows above. This allowed for greater height and thinner walls, and contributed to the strong impression of verticality given by the newer Cathedrals. The 11th century Durham Cathedral (1093–1135), with the earlier six-part rib vaults, is 73 feet (22 meters) high. The 12th-century nave of Notre-Dame de Paris , also with six-part rib vaults,

10043-460: The nave of Notre-Dame. However, the six-rib vault had its problems. The weight was not distributed evenly to the columns on the ground floor. When a vault covered two traverses, more massive piers were needed to bear the weight from the doubleaux , the diagonal ribs, than for the intermediate ribs. This problem was solved by simplifying the vault and eliminating the intermediate rib, making a four-part or quadripartite rib vault. Under this system, which

10164-447: The nave was divided into by regular bays, each covered by a quadripartite rib vaults. Other characteristics of the High Gothic were the development of rose windows of greater size, using bar-tracery, higher and longer flying buttresses, which could reach up to the highest windows, and walls of sculpture illustrating biblical stories filling the façade and the fronts of the transept. Reims Cathedral had two thousand three hundred statues on

10285-586: The nave. The groin vaults were built in 1060, and but had to be reinforced in 1090–1103 with a traverse arch between each arch. The Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy became centres of architectural innovation in the late 11th century. Even before the Norman Conquest in 1066, King Edward the Confessor of England had introduced Romanesque features to Westminster Abbey (1055–65). William

10406-442: The new Gothic style. Sens Cathedral was influential in its strongly vertical appearance and in its three-part elevation, typical of subsequent Gothic buildings, with a clerestory at the top supported by a triforium , all carried on high arcades of pointed arches. In the following decades flying buttresses began to be used, allowing the construction of lighter, higher walls. French Gothic churches were heavily influenced both by

10527-412: The new Italian style, because of the military campaign of Charles VIII to Naples and Milan (1494), and especially the campaigns of Louis XII and Francis I (1500–1505) to restore French control over Milan and Genoa. They brought back Italian paintings, sculpture and building plans, and, more importantly, Italian craftsmen and artists. The Cardinal Georges d'Amboise , chief minister of Louis XII, built

10648-588: The new palace begun by Emperor Charles V in Granada, within the Alhambra (1485–1550), inspired by Bramante and Raphael, but it was never completed. The first major Renaissance work in Spain was El Escorial , the monastery-palace built by Philip II of Spain . Under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I , England was largely isolated from architectural developments on the continent. The first classical building in England

10769-490: The new style were Burghley House (1550s–1580s) and Longleat , built by associates of Somerset. With those buildings, a new age of architecture began in England. Gothic architecture, usually churches or university buildings, continued to be built. Ireland was an island of Gothic architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the construction of Derry Cathedral (completed 1633), Sligo Cathedral ( c.  1730 ), and Down Cathedral (1790–1818) are other examples. In

10890-425: The old Romanesque church with the rib vault in order to remove walls and to make more space for windows. He described the new ambulatory as "a circular ring of chapels, by virtue of which the whole church would shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of most luminous windows, pervading the interior beauty." To support the vaults he also introduced columns with capitals of carved vegetal designs, modelled upon

11011-501: The old mediaeval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with every thing that was barbarous and rude, it may be sufficient to refer to the celebrated Treatise of Sir Henry Wotton , entitled The Elements of Architecture , ... printed in London so early as 1624. ... But it was a strange misapplication of the term to use it for the pointed style, in contradistinction to the circular, formerly called Saxon, now Norman, Romanesque, &c. These latter styles, like Lombardic , Italian, and

11132-597: The others, continued to use six-part rib vaults); and Beauvais Cathedral (1225–). In central Europe, the High Gothic style appeared in the Holy Roman Empire , first at Toul (1220–), whose Romanesque cathedral was rebuilt in the style of Reims Cathedral; then Trier 's Liebfrauenkirche parish church (1228–), and then throughout the Reich , beginning with the Elisabethkirche at Marburg (1235–) and

11253-634: The period of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy: There can be no doubt that the term 'Gothic' as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture was used at first contemptuously, and in derision, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the Grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. But, without citing many authorities, such as Christopher Wren , and others, who lent their aid in depreciating

11374-642: The ribbed vault was further developed in the Maghreb: the central dome of the Great Mosque of Tlemcen , a work of the Almoravids built in 1082, has twelve slender ribs, the shell between the ribs is filled with filigree stucco work. The Almohads also expanded its use to military structures, as exemplified in the Atalaya Castle in Villena . The rib vault was developed further in northern Europe in

11495-399: The ribs with small fitted pieces of brick or stone. The framework was removed. The masonry of the compartments was about 15 cm thick. Once the compartments were finished, their interior surface was plastered and then painted. The construction of a medieval rib vault was a complex operation involving a team of specialized workers. The masons included hewers (French: taileurs ), who cut

11616-463: The same height but different widths easier to construct. The Romans used an early version of the rib vault to strengthen groin vaults . In these Roman vaults, the brick ribs were embedded into the concrete of the vault. This was different from the later Gothic vaults, where the ribs were separate from the infilling of the panels, which gave the Gothic vaults flexibility and thus greater strength. The Romans also used these embedded ribs concealed within

11737-422: The scaffold in the exact shape of the ribs (French: nervures ). The stone segments of the ribs were then carefully laid into the frame and joined with mortar. When the ribs were all in place, the keystone was placed at the apex where they converged. Once the keystone was in place, the ribs could stand alone, supported by their weight pressing downwards and outwards. Workers then filled in the compartments between

11858-437: The second quarter of the 19th century, neo-Gothic began to become promoted by influential establishment figures as the preferred style for ecclesiastical, civic and institutional architecture. The appeal of this Gothic revival (which after 1837, in Britain, is sometimes termed Victorian Gothic ), gradually widened to encompass "low church" as well as "high church" clients. This period of more universal appeal, spanning 1855–1885,

11979-401: The space between the ribs. This greatly reduced the weight and thus the outward thrust of the vault. The ribs transmit the load downward and outward to specific points, usually rows of columns or piers. This feature allowed architects of Gothic cathedrals to make higher and thinner walls and much larger windows. It is a type of arcuated , or arched, vault in which the severies, or panels in

12100-763: The square courtyard of the Louvre Palace designed by Pierre Lescot . Nonetheless, new Gothic buildings, particularly churches, continued to be built. New Gothic churches built in Paris in this period included Saint-Merri (1520–1552) and Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois . The first signs of classicism in Paris churches did not appear until 1540, at Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais . The largest new church, Saint-Eustache (1532–1560), rivalled Notre-Dame in size, 105 m (344 ft) long, 44 m (144 ft) wide, and 35 m (115 ft) high. As construction of this church continued, elements of Renaissance decoration, including

12221-644: The stake in Konstanz for his beliefs. This led to the Hussite Wars . The statue known as the Jan Hus Memorial was erected on 6 July 1915 to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. In front of the Old Town Hall , there is also a memorial to the "martyrs" (including Jan Jesenius and Maxmilián Hošťálek ) beheaded on that spot during the Old Town Square execution by Habsburgs , after

12342-477: The story of the Virgin Mary but also, in a small corner of each window, illustrating the crafts of the guilds who donated those windows. The model of Chartres was followed by a series of new cathedrals of unprecedented height and size. These were Reims Cathedral (begun 1211), where coronations of the kings of France took place; Amiens Cathedral (1220–1226); Bourges Cathedral (1195–1230) (which, unlike

12463-708: The structure to strengthen the concrete surface of domes, such as the Pantheon . Rib vaults were not common in masonry buildings in Byzantine architecture , but four ribbed vaults were built by the Hosios Loukas monastery in Byzantine Greece after 1000 AD, and at the now ruined town Çanlı Kilise in Byzantine Cappadocia several groin vaults in medieval churches are equipped with ribs. A number of other rib vaults were built in Greece under

12584-682: The system of classical orders of columns, were added to the design, making it a Gothic-Renaissance hybrid. In Germany, some Italian elements were introduced at the Fugger Chapel of St. Anne's Church, Augsburg , (1510–1512) combined with Gothic vaults; and others appeared in the Church of St. Michael in Munich, but in Germany Renaissance elements were used primarily for decoration. Some Renaissance elements also appeared in Spain, in

12705-469: The various ribs, their intersections were ornamented with richly carved bosses, and this practice increased with the introduction of another short rib, known as lierne vaulting. The lierne, a term in France given to the ridge rib, in English refers to short ribs that cross between the main ones; these were employed chiefly as decorative features, for example in stellar vaults, one of the best examples of which

12826-489: The walls below, requiring thicker walls and smaller windows. Saint-Philibert de Tournus has exceptional Romanesque vaults, built between 1008 and 1050. The nave and chapel have parallel traverse tunnel vaults, while the aisles of both interiors are groin-vaulted. Speyer Cathedral in Germany is the largest of all existing Romanesque churches in Europe, and has good examples of Romanesque barrel vaults and groin vaults in

12947-441: The walls connected by arches to the upper walls. The buttresses counterbalanced the outward thrust from the rib vaults. This allowed the builders to construct higher, thinner walls and larger windows. Following the destruction by fire of the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, a group of master builders was invited to propose plans for the reconstruction. The master-builder William of Sens , who had worked on Sens Cathedral, won

13068-403: The walls. The groin vaults were bombée , or roughly dome-shaped. To support the weight of the vaults, the walls had to be particularly thick, and windows were absent or very small. This problem was resolved in the early 11th century by the introduction of the Gothic rib vault. Rib vaults are reinforced by a network of thin stone ribs (French: ogives ). In the first six-part vaults, the vault

13189-598: The weight outwards and downwards through slender columns to the piers on the lower level. The weight was not distributed equally; the additional weight of the diagonal traverse arches was supported by massive piers, while the intermediate crossing arch was supported by simple columns. Since the weight of the vaults was carried by the columns and piers, not the walls, the walls could be thinner and higher, and they could be filled with larger stained glass windows. The sexpartite vault appeared almost simultaneously in England and France. The first cathedral to use sexpartite vaults

13310-419: Was Durham Cathedral , begun in 1093. Durham was originally intended to be built with more traditional groin vaults. The vaults over the aisles were completed in 1096, those over the choir in 1107, these over the north transept and 1110. The traverse vaults of the nave, however, the arches over the south transept and nave, begun 1130, were given pointed arches. Early examples of sexpartite rib vaults are found at

13431-407: Was also influenced by the necessity of many churches, such as Chartres Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral , to accommodate growing numbers of pilgrims. It adapted features from earlier styles. According to Charles Texier (French historian, architect, and archaeologist) and Josef Strzygowski (Polish-Austrian art historian), after lengthy research and study of cathedrals in the medieval city of Ani ,

13552-448: Was characterised by the multiplication of the ribs of the vaults, with new purely decorative ribs, called tiercons and liernes, and additional diagonal ribs. One common ornament of flamboyant in France is the arc-en-accolade , an arch over a window topped by a pinnacle, which was itself topped with fleuron , and flanked by other pinnacles. Examples of French flamboyant building include the west façade of Rouen Cathedral , and especially

13673-432: Was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance , by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity . The defining design element of Gothic architecture is the pointed arch . The use of the pointed arch in turn led to the development of the pointed rib vault and flying buttresses , combined with elaborate tracery and stained glass windows. At the Abbey of Saint-Denis , near Paris,

13794-595: Was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still in operation. The tower of the Old Town Hall is open to the public and offers panoramic views of the Old Town. An art museum of the Czech National Gallery is located in the Kinský Palace . The square's centre is home to a statue of religious reformer Jan Hus , who was burned at

13915-667: Was not owed to the Goths but to the Islamic Golden Age . He wrote: This we now call the Gothic manner of architecture (so the Italians called what was not after the Roman style) though the Goths were rather destroyers than builders; I think it should with more reason be called the Saracen style, for these people wanted neither arts nor learning: and after we in the west lost both, we borrowed again from them, out of their Arabic books, what they with great diligence had translated from

14036-409: Was promptly used at Amiens Cathedral, Reims Cathedral and many others, each traverse section had just one four-part vault. This innovation, along with the use of the flying buttress , saw Gothic cathedral walls go higher and higher, with larger and larger windows. The simplification of the rib vault was soon followed, particularly in England, by another tendency – to make them more complicated. One of

14157-407: Was supported by colonettes which transferred it downwards to alternating columns and piers below rather than to the walls. Since the panels are relatively thin, these rib vaults are lighter than the earlier barrel and groin vaults so the walls could be higher and could have larger windows. The work began at the east end of Durham Cathedral; the vaults over the aisles were complete in 1096, and over

14278-413: Was supported by two diagonal crossing ribs, plus an intermediate rib, which together divided the vault into six sections. The diagonal ribs were in the form of semicircular arches, which raised the centre of the vault above the level of the transverse arches and wall ribs, and gave it the appearance of a small dome. (This kind of vault can be seen in the nave of Sant' Ambrogio, Milan). In some new churches,

14399-456: Was swiftly rebuilt in the new style, with contributions from King Philip II of France , Pope Celestine III , local gentry, merchants, craftsmen, and Richard the Lionheart , king of England. The builders simplified the elevation used at Notre Dame, eliminated the tribune galleries, and used flying buttresses to support the upper walls. The walls were filled with stained glass, mainly depicting

14520-523: Was the Old Somerset House in London (1547–1552) (since demolished), built by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , who was regent as Lord Protector for Edward VI until the young king came of age in 1547. Somerset's successor, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland , sent the architectural scholar John Shute to Italy to study the style. Shute published the first book in English on classical architecture in 1570. The first English houses in

14641-412: Was widespread and proved difficult to defeat. Vasari was echoed in the 16th century by François Rabelais , who referred to Goths and Ostrogoths ( Gotz and Ostrogotz ). The polymath architect Christopher Wren disapproved of the name Gothic for pointed architecture. He compared it to Islamic architecture , which he called the ' Saracen style', pointing out that the pointed arch's sophistication

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