In their heyday the church walls were hung with tapestries or painted richly. Chalices and reliquaries were encrusted with gems. The Gothic Style . Beginning in 12th century France a new style of architecture and decoration emerged. This was a reference to the imagined lack of culture of the barbarian tribes, including the Goths, which had ransacked Rome in the twilight of the Roman Empire.
Gothic architecture is light, spacious, and graceful.
Advances in architectural technique learned from contacts with the Arab world during the Crusades led to innovations such as the pointed arch, ribbed vault, and the buttress. Heavy Romanesque piers were replaced by slender clusters of columns. Window sizes grew enormously, as did the height of vaults and spires. A late Gothic chantry chapel at Winchester Cathedral Sculpture became free standing rather than being incorporated in columns. The new expanse of window space was filled with gloriously rich coloured glass.