Architecture can mean: A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures. The art and science of designing buildings and (some) nonbuilding structures. The style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. A unifying or coherent form or structure. Here are some points to consider regarding money, practicality, and job seeking: Money: While architects can earn a good salary, it often takes several years of experience to reach a high-paying position

1. GOTHIC
ARCHITECTURE
Lecture Session– 3
Dr. Binumol Tom
Professor,
Department of Architecture,
College of Engineering, Trivandrum

2. Gothic Architecture
(12 – 15th century)
Gothic architecture began mainly in France, where architects
were inspired by Romanesque architecture and the pointed arches of
Spanish Moorish architecture.
It's easy to recognise Gothic buildings because of their
arches, ribbed vaulting, flying buttresses, elaborate sculptures (like
gargoyles) and stained glass windows.
Gothic architecture was originally known as “French Style”.
During the period of Renaissance it fell out of fashion and it was not
respected by many artists. They marked it as “Gothic” to suggest it
was the crude work of German barbarians (Goths).
Examples of Gothic architecture: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and
St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

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
• 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. Structure of a typical Gothic Church

6. Characteristics of Gothic architecture
• airy and bright
• focus on verticality
• pointed arches
• rib vaults
• flying buttresses
• large stained glass
windows
• ornaments and
pinnacles

7. Pointed Arch
• Gothic architecture is not merely
about ornamentation.
• The Gothic style brought
innovative new construction
techniques that allowed
churches and other buildings to
reach great heights.
• One important innovation was
the use of pointed arches.
• Earlier Romanesque churches
had pointed arches, but builders
didn't capitalize on the shape.
• During the Gothic era, builders
discovered that pointed arches
would give structures amazing
strength and stability.

8. 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

9. Gothic Architecture: The Pointed Arch

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. Ribbed Vaulting
• Earlier Romanesque
churches relied on barrel
vaulting.
• Gothic builders introduced
the dramatic technique of
ribbed vaulting.
• While barrel vaulting
carried weight on
continuous solid
walls, ribbed vaulting used
columns to support the
weight.
• The ribs also delineated the
vaults and gave a sense of
unity to the structure.

12. Gothic Architecture: The Rib Vault

15. • In order to prevent
the outward
collapse of the
arches, Gothic
architects began
using a
revolutionary
"flying buttress"
system.
• Freestanding brick
or stone supports
were attached to
the exterior walls
by an arch or a
half-arch.
Gothic Architecture: The Flying Buttress

16. 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

17. Gothic Architecture: The Flying Buttress

18. Stained Glass Window
• Since the walls themselves
were no longer the primary
supports, Gothic buildings
could include large areas of
glass.
• Huge stained glass
windows and a profusion
of smaller windows created
the effect of lightness and
space.
The stained glass window shown here is from Notre
Dame Cathedral in Paris.

19. Gargoyles
• Cathedrals in the High Gothic style
became increasingly elaborate.
• Over several centuries, builders added
towers, pinnacles, and hundreds of
sculptures.
• In addition to religious figures, many
Gothic cathedrals are heavily
ornamented with strange, leering
creatures.
• These gargoyles are not merely
decorative.
• Originally, the sculptures were
waterspouts to protect the foundation
from rain.
• Since most people in Medieval days
could not read, the carvings took on
the important role of illustrating
lessons from the from the scriptures.

21. Gothic Floor Plans
Gothic buildings
were based on the
traditional plan
used by basilicas.
However, single
units were
integrated into a
unified spatial
scheme.

22. • Most Gothic churches, unless they
are entitled chapels, are of the Latin
cross (or "cruciform") plan, with a
long nave making the body of the
church, a transverse arm called the
transept and, beyond it, an extension
which may be called the
choir, chancel. There are several
regional variations on this plan.
• The nave is generally flanked on
either side by aisles, usually
singly, but sometimes double.
• The nave is generally considerably
taller than the aisles, having
clerestory windows which light the
central space.
Ameins cathedral
Wells cathedral

23. • In some churches with double
aisles, like Notre Dame, Paris, the
transept does not project beyond
the aisles.
• In English cathedrals transepts
tend to project boldly and there
may be two of them, as at
Salisbury Cathedral, though this is
not the case with lesser churches.
• In France the eastern end is often
polygonal and surrounded by a
walkway called an ambulatory
and sometimes a ring of chapels
called a "chevet".
• While German churches are often
similar to those of France, in
Italy, the eastern projection
beyond the transept is usually just
a shallow apsidal chapel
containing the sanctuary, as at
Florence Cathedral.

24. Gothic Engineering
• Medieval man considered
himself an imperfect reflection
of the divine light of God, and
Gothic architecture was the
ideal expression of this view.
• New techniques of
construction permitted
buildings to soar to amazing
new heights, dwarfing anyone
who stepped inside.
• Moreover, the concept of
divine light was suggested by
the airy quality of Gothic
buildings, which were much
lighter than churches in the
earlier Romanesque style.

26. Gothic
Architecture in
France

27. 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

28. 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

29. Gothic Architecture
in France

30. Gothic
Architecture:
Gothic
Architecture in
France

32. 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

33. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in
France

34. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in
France

35. 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

36. Notre Dame Cathedral
• Names: Notre Dame
Cathedral; Cathédrale
Notre-Dame de Paris
(Cathedral of Our Lady
of Paris)
• Location: Paris, Ile-de-
France, France
• Date: 1163-1345
• Features: Medieval
Stained Glass;
Romanesque Sculpture

37. History of the cathedral
• The Notre Dame de Paris stands
on the site of Paris' first Christian
church, Saint Etienne
basilica, which was itself built on
the site of a Roman temple to
Jupiter.
• Construction on the current
cathedral began in 1163
• Construction of the west
front, with its distinctive two
towers, began in around 1200
before the nave had been
completed.
• Over the construction
period, numerous architects
worked on the site, as is
evidenced by the differing styles
at different heights of the west
front and towers.
• Between 1210 and 1220, the
fourth architect oversaw the
construction of the level with the
rose window and the great halls

38. History of the Cathedral
• The towers were finished around
1245 and the cathedral was finally
completed around 1345.
• During the reigns of Louis XIV and
Louis XV at the end of the 17th
century the cathedral underwent
major alterations, during which
many tombs and stained glass
windows were destroyed.
• In 1793, the cathedral fell victim to
the French Revolution.
• Many sculptures and treasures
were destroyed or plundered
• The cathedral also came to be used
as a warehouse for the storage of
food.

39. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in
France

40. Double aisles – ambulatories on a bent axial line
Transepts not projected beyond the aisle wall
High vault – sexpartite vaulting covering double aisles (a ribbed vault whose lateral
triangles are bisected by an intermediate transverse rib, producing six triangles
within a bay)
Vault is 100ft (30m) high
Double span flying buttresses (earliest form)

41. • Interior elevation – 4
levels
arcade of columnar piers
Tribune (originally covered
by transverse barrel
vault, and lit by the round
windows)
Decorative oculi
Small clerestory

43. North ambulatory looking east

44. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France
The west front of the cathedral is one of its most
notable features, with its two 69-meter (228-feet) tall
towers.
The Galerie des Chimères or Grand Gallery connects
the two west towers, and is where the cathedral's
legendary gargoyles (chimères) can be found. The
gargoyles are full of Gothic character but are not
medieval - they were added during the 19th-century
restoration.
The King's Gallery is a line of statues of the 28 Kings
of Judah and Israel, which was redesigned by Viollet-
le-Duc to replace the statues destroyed during the
French Revolution. The revolutionaries mistakenly
believed the statues to be French kings instead of
biblical kings, so they decapitated them. Some of the
heads were found during a 1977 excavation nearby
and are now on display at the Museum of the Middle
Ages.

45. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in France
The beautiful West Rose Window dates
from about 1220.
The west rose window at Notre Dame is
10 meters in diameter and exceptionally
beautiful.
Dating from about 1220, it retains most of
its original glass and tracery.
The main theme of the west rose is human
life, featuring symbolic scenes such as the
Zodiacs and Labors of the Months.
On the exterior, it is fronted by a statue of
the Virgin and Child accompanied by
angels.
Unfortunately, the interior view of its
colorful medieval glass is now more than
half blocked by the great organ.

46. • The south rose
window installed
around 1260.
• its general themes are
the New
Testament, the
Triumph of Christ
• The south rose is 12.9
meters in diameter
and contains 84 panes
of glass.
• Radiating out from a
central medallion of
Christ, it consists of
four concentric circles
of 12 medallions, 24
medallions, quadrilob
es, and 24 trilobes.
SOUTH ROSE

47. 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

48. • The three west portals of Notre Dame Cathedral are magnificent
examples of early Gothic art.
• Sculpted between 1200 and 1240, they depict scenes from the life
of the Virgin Mary, the Last Judgment, and scenes from the life of
St. Anne (the Virgin Mary's mother).

49. Portal of St. Anne

50. Gothic Architecture: Gothic Architecture in
France

51. Interior of Notre Dame cathedral

55. St. Patrick's Cathedral
Notre Dame de Paris

56. Chartres is one
of the most
famous
cathedrals in
France, and is
widely praised
for its
sculpture, staine
d-glass
windows, and
high gothic
style.

57. Nave in four tiers, with
clerestories and triforium
under sexpartite vaulting

58. St. Chapelle

59. Flamboyant
In France the new style evolved
about 1280 which was a very
decorative phase called the
Flamboyant style. The most
conspicuous feature of the
Flamboyant Gothic style is the
dominance in stone window
tracery of a flame like 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,
St. Maclou (Rouen) 15-16th Centuries

60. St. Severin-St. Nicholas (Paris)
15th Century

61. British Gothic
Architecture

62. English Gothic architecture
Historians sometimes refer to the styles
as "periods"
•Early English (c. −
•Decorated (c. −
•Perpendicular (c. −
Early English Gothic
The entirety of Salisbury Cathedral
(excluding the tower and spire) is in the Early
English style.
Lancet windows are used throughout, and a
"pure" image is underlined by the relative
lack of embellishing as was found in
Romanesque buildings, and less detailed
tracery than would be used in later
buildings.
The Early English Period of English Gothic
lasted from the late th century until
midway through the th
British
Gothic

63. Characteristics of the style
• the pointed arch known as the lancet.
• Through the employment of the pointed arch, walls
could become less massive and window openings could
be larger and grouped more closely together, so
architects could achieve a more open, airy and graceful
building.
• The high walls and vaulted stone roofs were often
supported by flying buttresses: half arches which
transmit the outward thrust of the superstructure to
supports or buttresses, often visible on the exterior of
the building.
• The barrel vaults and groin vaults characteristic of
Romanesque building were replaced by rib
vaults, which made possible a wider range of
proportions between height, width and length.

64. • The arched windows are usually narrow by comparison
to their height and are without tracery.
• For this reason Early English Gothic is sometimes
known as the "Lancet" style.
• Although arches of equilateral proportion are most
often employed, lancet arches of very acute
proportions are frequently found and are a highly
characteristic of the style.
• A notable example of steeply pointed lancets being
used structurally is the apsidal arcade of Westminster
Abbey.
• The Lancet openings of windows and decorative
arcading are often grouped in twos or threes. This
characteristic is seen throughout Salisbury Cathedral
where there are groups of two lancet windows lining
the nave and groups of three lining the clerestory.

65. Characteristics of the style
• Instead of being massive, solid pillars, the columns were
often composed of clusters of slender, detached shafts
surrounding a central pillar, or pier, to which they are
attached by circular moulded shaft-rings.
• Characteristic of Early Gothic in England is the great depth
given to the hollows of the mouldings with alternating
fillets and rolls, by the decoration of the hollows with the
dog-tooth ornament and by the circular abaci of the
capitals.
• The arches of decorative wall arcades and galleries are
sometimes cusped.
• Circles with trefoils, quatrefoils, etc., are introduced into
the tracery of galleries and large rose windows in the
transept or nave
• At its purest the style was simple and austere, emphasising
the height of the building, as if aspiring heavenward.

66. Decorated style(c. −
• The west front of York Minster is a
fine example of Decorated
architecture, in particular the
elaborate tracery on the main
window.
• This period saw detailed carving
reach its peak, with elaborately
carved windows and
capitals, often with floral patterns.
• The Decorated Period in
architecture is also known as the
Decorated Gothic, or simply
"Decorated“
• Traditionally, this period is broken
into two periods: the "Geometric"
style (1250–90) and the
"Curvilinear" style (1290–1350).

67. Elements of the Decorated style
• Decorated architecture is characterized by its window
tracery.
• Elaborate windows are subdivided by closely spaced
parallel mullions (vertical bars of stone), usually up to the
level at which the arched top of the window begins.
• The mullions then branch out and cross, intersecting to fill
the top part of the window with a mesh of elaborate
patterns called tracery, typically including trefoils and
quatrefoils.
• The style was geometrical at first and flowing in the later
period, owing to the omission of the circles in the window
tracery.
• This flowing or flamboyant tracery was introduced in the
first quarter of the 14th century and lasted about fifty
years. This evolution of decorated tracery is often used to
subdivide the period into an earlier "Geometric" and later
"Curvilinear" period.

68. Elements of the Decorated style
• Interiors of this period often feature tall columns
of more slender and elegant form than in
previous periods.
• Vaulting became more elaborate, with the use of
increasing number of ribs, initially for structural
and then aesthetic reasons.
• Arches are generally equilateral, and the
mouldings bolder than in the Early English
Period, with less depth in the hollows and with
the fillet (a narrow flat band) largely used.
• The foliage in the capitals is less conventional
than in Early English and more flowing.

69. Perpendicular Gothic
• The interior of Gloucester
Cathedral conveys an impression
of a "cage" of stone and
glass, typical of Perpendicular
architecture.
• Elaborate Decorated style
tracery is no longer in
evidence, and the lines on both
walls and windows have become
sharper and less flamboyant.
• is so-called because it is
characterised by an emphasis on
vertical lines; it is also known as
International Gothic, the
Rectilinear style, or Late Gothic.

70. Features of the style
• This perpendicular linearity is particularly
obvious in the design of windows
• Windows became very large, sometimes of
immense size, with slimmer stone mullions than
in earlier periods, allowing greater scope for
stained glass craftsmen.
• The mullions of the windows are carried vertically
up into the arch moulding of the windows, and
the upper portion is subdivided by additional
mullions and transoms, forming rectangular
compartments, known as panel tracery.
• wall surfaces are likewise divided up into vertical
panels.

71. Features of the style
• Doorways are frequently enclosed within a
square head over the arch mouldings, the
spandrels being filled with quatrefoils or
tracery.
• Pointed arches were still used throughout the
period, but ogee and four-centred Tudor
arches were also introduced.
• Inside the church the triforium
disappears, or its place is filled with
panelling, and greater importance is given to
the clerestory windows, which are often the
finest features in the churches of this period.
• The mouldings are flatter than those of the
earlier periods
• Some of the finest features of this period are
the magnificent timber roofs

72. St. Maclou
Added beginning of 16th Century

73. Perpendicular:
Gloucester
(choir)
The Perpendicular style is a phase of late Gothic unique
to England. Its characteristic feature is the fanvault

74. Gloucester
The Choir The Tower

75. Gloucester
Vaulting in the nave Vaulting in the cloisters

76. British
Gothic
Westminster
Abbey in
London is one
of the world's
most famous
examples of
Medieval
Gothic
architecture.

77. Abbey
• An abbey (from Latin abbatia, abba, "father”) is a
Christian monastery or convent, under the
authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves
as the spiritual father or mother of the
community.
• The term can also refer to an establishment
which has long ceased to function as an
abbey, but continues to carry the name — in
some cases for centuries (for
example, Westminster Abbey).

82. North Entrance of
Westminster Abbey

84. Hampton Court palace, London
Hampton Court Palace, with marked reference points referred to on this page. A: West Front
& Main Entrance; B: Base Court; C: Clock Tower; D: Clock Court, E: Fountain Court; F: East
Front; G: South Front; H: Banqueting House; J: Great Hall; K: River Thames; M: East
Gardens; O: Cardinal Wolsey's Rooms; P: Chapel.

85. • Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London
Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, and
the historic county of Middlesex; it has not been inhabited
by the British Royal Family since the 18th century. The
palace is located 11.7 miles (18.8 kilometres) south west
of Charing Cross and upstream of central London on
the River Thames. It was originally built for
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry
VIII, circa 1514; in 1529, as Wolsey fell from favour, the
palace was passed to the King, who enlarged it.
• The following century, William III's massive rebuilding and
expansion project intended to rival Versailles was begun.
Work halted in 1694, leaving the palace in two distinct
contrasting architectural styles, domestic Tudor
and Baroque. While the palace's styles are an accident of
fate, a unity exists due to the use of pink bricks and a
symmetrical, albeit vague, balancing of successive low
wings.

86. Italian Gothic
Architecture
• Milan Cathedral (Italian:
Duomo di Milano) is
the cathedral church of
Milan in
Lombardy, northern
Italy.
• The Gothic cathedral
took five centuries to
complete.
• It is the largest Gothic
cathedral and the
second largest Catholic
cathedral in the world.

87. • Length 157 metres (515 ft)
• Width 92 metres (302 ft)
• Width (nave)
16.75 metres (55 ft)
• Height (max) 45 metres
(148 ft)
• Dome height (outer)
65.5 metres (215 ft)
• Spire height 106.5 metres
(349 ft)
• Materials Brick with
Candoglia marble

88. • The plan consists of a nave with four side-
aisles, crossed by a transept and then
followed by choir and apse.
• The cathedral's five broad naves, divided by
40 pillars, are reflected in the hierarchic
openings of the facade.
• Even the transepts have aisles.
• The nave columns are 24.5 metres (80 ft)
high, and the apsidal windows are 20.7 x
8.5 metres (68 x 28 feet).
• The huge building is of brick
construction, faced with marble
• The height of the nave is about 45
meters, the highest Gothic vaults of a
complete church.
• The roof carries spectacular sculpture that
can be enjoyed only from top. The roof of
the cathedral is renowned for the forest of
openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon
delicate flying buttresses.

89. The famous "Madonnina" atop the
main spire of the cathedral, a
baroque gilded bronze artwork.

90. Milan Cathedral (Duomo)
The biggest and greatest late gothic architecture in Italy.
1386-1577, west front 1616-1813

91. The cathedral as it appeared in 1745.
The Cathedral in 1856.

92. Milan
Cathedral
Flying
Buttress

94. The Cathedral of
Santa Eulalia (also
called La Seu) in
Barcelona is both
Gothic and
Victorian.

95. Regional variations - France
• The distinctive characteristic of French
cathedrals, and those in Germany and Belgium
that were strongly influenced by them, is their
height and their impression of verticality.
• They are compact, with slight or no projection of
the transepts and subsidiary chapels.
• The west fronts are highly consistent, having three
portals surmounted by a rose window, and two
large towers.
• Sometimes there are additional towers on the
transept ends.
• The east end is polygonal with ambulatory and
sometimes a chevette of radiating chapels.
• In the south of France, many of the major
churches are without transepts and some are
without aisles.

96. Regional differences - Building materials
• France - limestone. It was good for building because it was soft to
cut, but got much harder when the air and rain got on it. It was
usually a pale grey colour. France also had beautiful white
limestone from Caen which was perfect for making very fine
carvings.
• England had coarse limestone, red sandstone and dark green
Purbeck marble which was often used for architectural decorations
like thin columns.
• In Italy, limestone was used for city walls and castles, but brick was
used for other buildings. Because Italy had lots of beautiful marble
in many different colours, many buildings have fronts or "facades"
decorated in coloured marble. Some churches have very rough brick
facades because the marble was never put on. Florence
Cathedral, for example, did not get its marble facade until the
1800s.
• In some parts of Europe, there were many tall straight trees that
were good for making very large roofs. But in England, by the
1400s, the long straight trees were running out. Many of the trees
were used for building ships. The architects had to think of a new
way to make a wide roof from short pieces of timber. That is how
they invented the hammer-beam roofs which are one of the
beautiful features seen in many old English churches.

97. • Hammer-beam roof: consists of a series of
trusses, repeated at intervals,
• and its object is to transmit the weight and thrust of
the roof as low as possible in the supporting wall

99. • The thing that makes English cathedrals different from
the others is that they are long, and look horizontal
• English cathedrals nearly all took hundreds of years to
build, and every part is in a style that is quite different
to the next part. (Only Salisbury Cathedral was not built in lots of styles.)
• The West window is very large and is never a rose
window.
• The west front may have two towers like a French
Cathedral, or none.
• There is nearly always a tower at the middle of the
building, which may have a big spire.
• The distinctive English east end is square, but it may
take a completely different form. Both internally and
externally, the stonework is often richly decorated with
carvings, particularly the capitals.
Regional variations -British

100. • The plan is usually regular and symmetrical.
• With the exception of Milan Cathedral which is
Germanic in style, Italian cathedrals have few and
widely spaced columns.
• The proportions are generally mathematically
simple, based on the square, and except in Venice
where they loved flamboyant arches, the arches are
almost always equilateral.
• Colours and moldings define the architectural units
rather than blending them. Italian cathedral façades
are often polychrome and may include mosaics in the
lunettes over the doors.
Regional variations -Italy

101. Italy
• Italian Gothic cathedrals use lots of colour, both outside and
inside.
• On the outside, the facade is often decorated with marble.
• On the inside, the walls are often painted plaster.
• The columns and arches are often decorated with bright
coloured paint.
• There are also mosaics with gold backgrounds and beautifully
tiled floors is geometric patterns.
• The facades often have an open porch with a wheel windows
above it.
• There is often a dome at the centre of the building.
• The bell tower is hardly ever attached to the building, because
Italy has quite a few earthquakes.
• The windows are not as large as in northern Europe
and, although stained glass windows are often found, the
favorite way of decorating the churches is fresco (wall
painting).

102. • The façades have projecting open porches and occular or wheel
windows rather than roses, and do not usually have a tower.
• The crossing is usually surmounted by a dome. There is often a
free-standing tower and baptistry.
• The eastern end usually has an apse of comparatively low
projection. The windows are not as large as in northern Europe
and, although stained glass windows are often found, the
favourite narrative medium for the interior is the fresco.
• The distinctive characteristic of Italian Gothic is the use of
polychrome decoration, both externally as marble veneer on the
brick façade and also internally where the arches are often made
of alternating black and white segments, and where the columns
may be painted red, the walls decorated with frescoes and the
apse with mosaic.
Regional variations -Italy

103. Revision - Examples to study
• Notre Dame, Paris
• Westminster Abbey
• Hampton Court Palace, London
• Doges Palace, Venice
• Milan Cathedral.