I assembled this presentation for a high school history class. Gothic Cathedrals are the things of history, architectural marvels, the things of dreams, and symbols of devotion.

1. Gothic
Cathedrals
By: Quinton Jefferson

2. HISTORY
 The new Gothic architecture in France had its
roots in older Romanesque forms of England,
Italy, and Normandy.
 The pointed arch has its origin in the Islamic
architecture of the near East of the 8th.
 At the end of the 12th century and beginning of
the 13th Gothic cathedrals were built across
Northern France (Architectural movement
began with Abbot Suger [soo-zay].) and most of
Europe.

3. HISTORY
 Gothic was known as “opus modernum (modern
work) or opus francigenum (French work) at this
time.
 Gothic was originally a derogatory term used in the
16th century Italy to describe the art of northern
Europe.
 It was believed that Germanic invaders or the
Goths destroyed classical traditions.

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. Chartres Cathedral:
1190s

7. 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

8. Romanesque = Barrel Vaults
very sturdy, but heavy
Gothic = Ribbed Vaults from
Pointed Arches
Disperses weight leading to
higher, thinner walls
VS.

9. GOTHIC ARCH
 Pointed instead of rounded
arch
 This arch is made by bending
two 'pillars’ inwards until they
meet and lock

10. 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

11. RIB VAULTING
 Rib vaults can reach a greater height than a rounded arch
 Structural moldings called ribs force the vault outward and
downward
 Ribs are constructed first and support the scaffolding then
masonry webbing on top
 Allowed for massive stonework to be placed inside and out of
the cathedral

13. FLYING BUTTRESSES
 Stone structures, powerful external arches, that
extend from a wall and employ an arch to focus the
strength of the buttress’s support at the top of the
wall
 This carries the weight of the roof and the forces of
wind away from the building and down a column to
the ground
 Arches rise from colossal freestanding piers
 Flying buttresses allow increased window space
and give the illusion that the pillars are defying
gravity

14. FLYING BUTTRESSES
Cathedral of Notre-Dame
(1170)
Takes weight off of the outer walls and
support it from outside of the church

16. Cathedrals become the center of town & trade

17. Church design intended to give pilgrims a place to visit
without disturbing services
Cruciform Shape

18. Not only was the cathedral meant to focus on the central act of
worship, the mass, but also to house relics of the saints. These relics
attracted pilgrims from all over Christendom who traveled to the
great cathedrals to view them. The cathedral provided housing for
the pilgrims.
In addition to its various religious functions, the gothic cathedral was
also used for non-religious purposes –an ideal location for the
celebration of feast days as well as for hosting markets and fairs.
And it was not unusual to find legal proceedings conducted there as
well. The sacred and the secular were combined in a way.

20. GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN
FRANCE
 Abbot Suger (Shoo – zay)
 One of Gothic architectures most significant architects
 Elected the abbot of St. Denis in A.D.1122
 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
 “The higher world casts its light on the lower world, and, in sensible
things, is like a trace of purely spiritual things” ~ St. Denys the
Areopagite

21. First Gothic Cathedral: 1140s
St. Denis (Paris)

22. FLAMBOYANT
 In France the Rayonnant style evolved about
1280 into an even more decorative phase
called the Flamboyant style. The most
conspicuous feature of the Flamboyant Gothic
style is the dominance in stone window tracery
of a flamelike S-shaped curve.
 In the Flamboyant style wall space was
reduced to the minimum of supporting vertical
shafts to allow an almost continuous expanse
of glass and tracery. Structural logic was
obscured by the virtual covering of the
exteriors of buildings with tracery.

23. FlamelikeS-curve
St.Maclou(Rouen)
15-16thCenturies

24. STAINED GLASS
 During the period of the Rayonnant style a significant
change took place in Gothic architecture. After 1250,
Gothic architects became more concerned with the
creation of rich visual effects through decoration. This
decoration took such forms as pinnacles (upright
members, often spired, that capped piers, buttresses, or
other exterior elements), moldings, and, especially,
window tracery.

25. STAINED GLASS
 Different colored glass rolled out and cut into small
pieces and then assembled by strips of lead
 Strengthened with iron bands in shape of a grid and
also in the outlines of the design
 Used to tell biblical stories to a largely illiterate
Christian audience
 Allowed them to “read” the scriptural stories
for themselves

28. EXTERIOR DECORATIONS
 During the 13th century architects began to add to the
exteriors of cathedrals (The ancient Egyptians, Greeks,
Etruscans and Romans all used animal-shaped
waterspouts.)
 Crockets – leaf like forms that curves outward with
edges curling up often added to pinnacles, spires and
gables
 Finials - knoblike forms that topped crockets
 Pinnacles - ornament forming the cap or crown of a
buttress. Look like spires and were made with lead to
enable the flying buttresses to contain the stress of the
vaults and roof

29.  Gargoyles - (from the old French gargouille
meaning “throat”) grotesque creatures like mutant
humans and hybrid beasts found in the upper
corners. Also function as water spouts
 Gargoyles were guardians of churches that
represented and scared off evil spirits. (Images were
powerful during this time.)
 Chimeras – grotesque monsters
 They protected churchgoers and reminded them that the
end of days was near.
 Let the churchgoers know that evil is kept outside of the
church and inside their church there was sanctity and
safety.

37. M
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38. Photo: Sullivan

39. St.-Sernin

40. Photo: Sullivan

41. Photo: Sullivan

42. Notre Dame (Paris): 1160s

43. Dijon Cathedral: 1180s

44. St. Matthias Cathedral (Budapest): 1290s

45. MODERN CATHEDRALS
 http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-
eng/docs_instit/vvirtualAbsis.php?lang=0
 http://ctlcathedral.org/visit/cathedral-history-and-art-
1/a-theology-of-the-
cathedral/slideshow/2.html/1.html