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The basilica of St-Denis is the earliest building ever to feature all of the gothic elements, especially in its choir, completed in 1144.
The church was first built in the 8th century, but around 1135, Suger, the abbot of St-Denis, started to work on rebuilding the church. He directed the reconstruction but he was not the architect, who remains anonymous. Nevertheless, the Abbot Suger is clearly known as one of the earliest to popularize Gothic architecture.

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So as the Basilica of St-Denis, the Palace of Westminster was at first an old building of the Middle Ages. It burnt down in 1834 and the English Parliament did not have a place to stand anymore. Two main architects helped reconstructing the palace from 1840 to 1876: Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin. The former won the Royal Gold Medal in 1850, and contributed to Italian Renaissance architecture. The latter designed the interior of the palace and the famous Elizabeth Tower. Pugin was one of the greatest English architects to work on the Gothic revival style.

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Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham, London.

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Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham, London.

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Horace Walpole, the English writer, also dabbled in architecture. Strawberry Hill House is thus a rare example of gothic building which is not a church. Walpole prefigured the Gothic Revival movement we talked about before. As the previous major works, it was reconstructed by Walpole, part by part. He started in 1749 and added other modifications afterwards. His house inspired him to write The Castle of Otranto, in 1764. Strawberry Hill was restored and reopened to the public in 2010.

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Florence Cathedral, also called Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, is a 5th century church reconstructed. Many architects such as Arnoflo di Cambio or Giotto worked on the new cathedral because its construction lasted for centuries, and architects died before finishing their work. The most important symbol of this cathedral is the largest brick dome ever built, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, while the rest of the exterior is made of marble.

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The most important theme on gothic architecture is religion. First of all, most of the gothic building around the world are churches. It shows that both religion and gothic are strongly linked. Then, as we said before, gothic characteristics allowed churches to be higher and lighter, but light is a symbol of God, so every gothic building has a divine symbol. An essential feature in gothic architecture is stained glass windows. Indeed, they all show characters attached to episodes of the Bible.

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Poor Man’s Bible is the name attached to works that have had a teaching purpose in religion. In fact, in the Middle Ages, industry did not exist, and there were only farmers. People did not go to school and most of the population was illiterate. Therefore, stained glass windows and sculptures had at first a teaching duty. For instance, the Last Judgement was often represented of the tympanum of some churches to remind people from the entrance that they needed to be faithful in God to have a better life after. This is what we call Salvation.

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The Day of Judgement is depicted here: you can see a representation of Heaven and Hell and a scale that symbolizes the judgement of the soul.

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St-Denis Cathedral, France.

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Amiens Cathedral, France.

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Rayonnant Gothic (1250-1370): more stained glass, less masonry.

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Rayonnant Gothic (1250-1370): more stained glass, less masonry.

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Sainte Chapelle, Paris.

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Sainte Chapelle de Vincennes, France.

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As we said before, in comparison, gothic architecture is more beautiful than useful, in opposition to Romanesque architecture. We are going to scan the most important features in Gothic architecture, but there are way more! Typically, Gothic architecture brought grand and tall designs that gave height and grace to new buildings.

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One of the most iconic features of Gothic architecture is the flying buttress. As you can see of the photograph down below, it allowed buildings to rise into the air, and let provided windows with space to develop. As a result, buildings became higher and brighter than before.

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Flying buttresses (Amiens Cathedral, France)

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Flying buttresses (Amiens Cathedral, France)

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Alongside with flying buttresses, enormous spaces on walls were dedicated to large stained glass windows, or even what we call the Oculus on the facade or some churches. It brought a lot of light into buildings. Therefore, light and airy interiors appeared.

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In opposition to Romanesque arches, Gothic architecture features pointed arches and ribbed vaults (photograph). Some specific English buildings such as Peterborough Cathedral features fan vaults, another type of vaults. Generally, Gothic churches drastically changed the way buildings are made and decorated.

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While Romanesque buildings have flat and heavy walls, Gothic buildings feature gargoyles, pinnacles, spires and statues. Basically, there is way more ornaments to appreciate on Gothic architecture. We can notice some realistic statuary that was first created to make illiterate people of the Middle Ages aware of religious principles, especially on the tympanum.

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The Gothic movement appeared at the 12th century, around 1150. It then spread quickly in the entire Europe until the 16th century. For nearly 4 centuries, plenty of different gothic styles established.

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But as the Renaissance approached, the Gothic style became outdated, ugly or even barbaric! Thus, the word took a pejorative connotation.

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Indeed, churches and other buildings continued to be built during and after that. From the 17th century, new gothic buildings were constructed. The epitome of the gothic rediscovery was the 19th century: the movement spread from England to France, but also in the United States in the 20th century! That’s why gothic architecture is present in America while it was only discovered in 1492. We can mention St Patrick’s Cathedral or Woolworth Building in New York, for instance.

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Contrary to the Gothic style, the neo-Gothic style emerged at first in England. Thus, it is also called « Victorian Gothic » or even Gothic Revival. It is a more international movement, not just in England, but in Europe, America, Australia, ... It is linked to the Romanticism of the 18th and 19th century. One of the most known neo-gothic buildings in the world is the Tower Bridge, in London.

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Before the 1100’s and 1200’s, the building skills were extremely limited: buttresses were necessary to reinforce the structure. Buildings didn’t go far into the air, though. The buttresses also deprive Romanesque churches of windows and light. As a result, old churches were dark, cold, damp and extremely massive. Actually, back in the early Middle Ages, architecture was functional, useful only.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture#The_rib_vault

https://interestingengineering.com/the-39-greatest-constructions-of-gothic-architecture-in-the-world

https://www.exploring-castles.com/castle_designs/characteristics_gothic_architecture/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint-Denis

https://mymodernmet.com/gothic-architecture-characteristics/2/

https://historylists.org/architecture/10-defining-characteristics-of-gothic-architecture.html

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_06_-Romanesque_buttress.png

https://fr.vikidia.org/wiki/Architecture_romane

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_vault

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_Revival_architecture

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Man%27s_Bible

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint-Denis

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suger

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Hill_House

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Romanesque church in Vix (Côte-d’Or, France)

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Romanesque church in Vix (Côte-d’Or, France)

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Hugh Capet founded in 987 the Capetians, a new dynasty of French kings. As a symbol of power and since cities were flourishing, after reducing the power of feudal lords, they decided to build new churches or, even better, to renovate Romanesque ones. It is the beginning of the Gothic movement, therefore born in Île-de-France. That’s why gothic was firstly called “French Style”.

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Entrance of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (Photo: Richard Rosenshein)

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Entrance of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (Photo: Richard Rosenshein)

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Apart from this, other themes are related to gothic architecture thanks to novels and films. For instance, some gothic castles, and especially Bran Castle, are strongly linked to vampires and fantastic creatures because of Abraham Stoker and his 1897 novel: Dracula. This example shows how architecture is related to the novels and films whose scenes take place in this architecture’s buildings.