Gothic cathedrals and churches

Gothic cathedrals and churches are religious buildings created in Europe between the mid-12th century and the beginning of the 16th century. The cathedrals are notable particularly for their great height and their extensive use of stained glass to fill the interiors with light. They were the tallest and largest buildings of their time and the most prominent examples of Gothic architecture. The appearance of the Gothic cathedral was not only a revolution in architecture; it also introduced new forms in decoration, sculpture, and art.
Cathedrals were by definition churches where a bishop presided. Abbeys were the churches attached to monasteries. Many smaller parish churches were also built in the Gothic style. The appearance of the great cathedrals in the 12th century was a response to the dramatic increase of population and wealth in some parts of Europe and the need for larger and more imposing buildings. Technical advances, such as innovative uses of the pointed arch, rib vault and flying buttress, allowed the churches and cathedral to become much taller and stronger with larger windows and more light.
The Gothic style first appeared in France at the Abbey of Saint Denis, near Paris, with the rebuilding of the ambulatory and west façade of the abbey church by the Abbot Suger (1135–40). The first Gothic cathedral in France, Sens Cathedral, was begun between 1135 and 1140 and consecrated in 1164.
The style quickly appeared in England, where it was called simply "The French style". The Choir of Canterbury Cathedral was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt by a French master builder from Sens, William of Sens, between 1174 and 1184. Other elements of the style were imported from Caen in Normandy by French Norman architects, who also brought finely-cut stones from Normandy for their construction.
Notre Dame Cathedral was begun in 1163 and consecrated in 1177. The later part of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th century saw a more refined style, High Gothic, characterised by Chartres Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral. A third period, called Rayonnante in France, was more highly decorated, as characterised by Sainte Chapelle (1241–1248) and Amiens Cathedral in France. The fourth and final period, called Flamboyant, appeared in the second half of the 14th century, and took its name from the flamelike motifs of decoration. Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes (1370), with its walls of stained glass, is a good example.
Renaissance cathedrals and churches gradually replaced Gothic cathedrals, and the original cathedrals, such as Notre Dame, experienced many modifications or fell into ruin (in the Low Countries, however, the Brabantine Gothic remained until far in the 17th century). However, in the mid-19th century, in large part due to the novel Notre Dame de Paris, better known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, by Victor Hugo, there was a new wave of interest in the Gothic cathedral. Many Gothic cathedrals and churches were restored, with greater or lesser accuracy.
The term cathedral came from the Greek cathedra, or "seat", since it was the official seat of the Bishop, or Eveque, and the principal church of the diocese. His title came from the Greek term Episkopos, meaning "overseer." As the leader of the diocese, the Bishop was considered the direct descendant of the Apostles or disciples of Christ, and had three missions: to direct the affairs of the church within the diocese, to administer the sacraments, and teach the Gospel of Christ, as found in the Bible, and confessed by the Church. The Bishop of a cathedral was assisted by the Canons, or Chanoines in French, who formed a council called the Chapter.
The word church stems from the word chirche from Middle English. People are not sure of where this word came from but scholars think it is derived from the Greek word kuriakon. Kuriakon comes from another word kuriakos which means "of, or belonging to, a lord, master,"
At its time, Gothic architecture was called the opus Francigenum ('French work'). The term "Gothic" was a negative term invented in the late Renaissance by its critics, including the art historian and architect Giorgio Vasari. They considered the style barbaric, the opposite of the new Renaissance style, which they favored.
The Gothic style first appeared in France in the mid-12th century in an Abbey, St Denis Basilica, built by Abbot Suger (1081–1151). The old Basilica was the traditional burial place of Saint Denis, and of the Kings of France, and was also a very popular pilgrimage destination, so much so that pilgrims were sometimes crushed by the crowds. Suger became the abbot of Saint Denis in 1122. He became the friend and confidant of two French Kings Louis VI and Louis VII, and he served as regent for Louis VII during the absence of the King for the Second Crusade (1147–49).
Suger, with the full support of the King, decided to enlarge the church and reconstruct it on a new model. His first modification was a new west façade, inspired in part by new churches in Normandy, with two towers and three deep portals. Each of the portals had a tympanum of sculpture, telling a Biblical or inspiring story. The tympana installed by Sugar depicted the Last Judgement over the main door and the martyrdom of Saint Denis over the other door. The tympana over the east portals became a characteristic feature of later Gothic cathedrals. When the new façade was complete, Suger turned his attention to the choir and the ambulatory in the west of the church.
Suger was also a scholar of the philosophy of Plato, and he believed that light was a way through which the faithful could be elevated from the material to the immaterial and the divine. The ambulatory of the old church was very dark, since Romanesque architecture, with barrel vaults, required thick walls and supporting walls between the small chapels. Suger decided to use a new form of vault, the rib vault, with pointed arches, which was higher and stronger. This allowed him to remove the walls between the chapels, and opened the space for seventy stained glass windows in the choir, filling the church with light.
The new structure was finished and dedicated on 11 June 1144, in the presence of the King. The choir and west front of the Abbey of Saint-Denis both became the prototypes for other buildings in the royal domain of northern France and in the Duchy of Normandy. Through the rule of the Angevin dynasty, the new style was introduced to England and spread throughout France, the Low Countries, Germany, Spain, northern Italy and Sicily. The combination of innovations made Saint-Denis the first important example of Gothic architecture; The church was heavily modified over the following centuries, but the ambulatory and some other original elements remain.
The new features of Saint-Denis were quickly adapted in the construction of new cathedrals in the Ile-de-France. These included Noyon cathedral (begun 1150), Senlis Cathedral begun (1153); Sens Cathedral (begun 1160); and Laon Cathedral (begun 1160). Two were built by Suger's personal friends, the bishops of Noyon and Senlis. The spread of the style was not limited to cathedrals; it also soon appeared in Abbey churches, at St. Leu d'Esserent in Braine, and, in the province of Champagne, at St. Remy in Rheims and Notre-Dame in Chalons-sur-Marne. It also appeared in simple churches, such as the Gothic church of Saint Quiriace in Provins Though each church employed the new style, each had a distinctly different appearance and personality.
Gothic elements, often called "The French style". soon appeared in English cathedrals and abbeys. While English cathedrals tended to follow the French style, they had a few special characteristics of their own. Unlike French cathedrals, they tended toward great length rather than great height. They also made extensive use of Purbeck Marble for columns, floors and wall panels, which added colour and reflection to the interiors. The early English style lasted from the late 12th century to the mid-14th century.
The nave and much of the rest of the cathedral were rebuilt into the perpendicular style beginning in the late 14th century. The new transepts and aisles were given the more decorative Lierne vault, where ribs were connected to each other for decorative rather than structural effect. The crossing tower was begun in 1433, and is 237 ft (72 m) high. Alterations to the Cathedral continued until 1834.
The most famous feature of Salisbury Cathedral was added later, between 1300 and 1320, when it was given the tallest spire in England – 123 m (404 ft). The cathedral received another innovation in 1386: the first clock in England that struck the hours.
Many of the abbey churches of the Cistercian monastic order, particularly the later churches, had a unique austere form of Gothic. The order, founded in 1098 by an English monk, Saint Stephen Harding, at the monastery of Citeaux, was based humility and discipline. They were known as the "white monks" because of their white robes, while the Benedictines were the "black monks". They systematically forbade sculptural decoration, illuminated manuscripts, stone towers on churches, and stained glass. Abbeys were located in remote areas, far from the cities. It spread rapidly, founding seven hundred monasteries across Europe. The early church architecture was based on the Romanesque model, with a long, high nave and side aisles, and an apse to the east. Gradually the rounded arches were replaced with the pointed arch, and the flying buttress appeared on some of the churches.
Other examples of Cistercian Gothic can be found across Europe, and several are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These include Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal, Poblet Abbey in Spain, and Maulbronn Abbey in Germany. Maulbronn, begun in Romanesque style, had portions rebuilt into Gothic style in the late 13th century, including the "Paradise", or narthex, the southern part of the cloisters, and the refectory, or monks' dining room.
The early Gothic style was also used in the reconstruction of several English Benedictine abbeys, notably Whitby Abbey. All of England's monasteries, including Westminster Abbey, were closed by Henry VIII in 1538, as part of his dissolution of monasteries. Westminster Abbey was turned a Collegiate church by Queen Elizabeth I in 1560, but most, like Whitby Abbey, are now picturesque ruins, or were destroyed.
In France, the last part of the long reign of King Philippe Auguste (1179–1223) marked the classic period of the Gothic Cathedral. He transformed the country from a small feudal state to the most prosperous and powerful nation in Europe. He was also a great builder, constructing the Louvre Palace and the first wall around Paris, and founding the University of Paris (1215). The new structures were larger and taller, and their forms were simplified and more balanced. He was succeeded by Louis IX of France, whose reign saw the construction of several great cathedrals, and his own remarkable chapel, Sainte-Chapelle.
The early thirteenth-century cathedral style in France is often called High Gothic. The objective of the architects was larger windows and more lavish decoration rather than simply greater size. The mid-level triforium gradually disappeared, and stained glass windows seemed to cover entire walls. The great monuments of the style included Amiens Cathedral, the modified Notre Dame de Paris, and especially the royal chapel of Louis IX of France, Sainte-Chapelle (consecrated 1248).
At the beginning of the 13th century, Normandy was nominally under English rule, independent of France, and the Romanesque Norman architecture was distinct from the French style. In 1204, King Philip II of France claimed Normandy for France. and in 1259, King Henry III was forced to recognise French sovereignty, though in the following centuries it was often disputed. The early Gothic in Normandy had several distinctive features. One of these was the Norman chevet, a small apse or chapel attached to the choir at the east end of the church, which typically had a half-dome. The lantern tower was another popular feature in Norman Gothic.
In England, the second period of Gothic cathedrals is often called Decorated Gothic, as the decoration inside and outside became more elaborate, blurred the lines and overshadowed the architecture. It lasted from about the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fourteenth century. The simple and functional quadrapartite rib vault was replaced by more elaborate lierne vault and fan fault, whose ribs were largely decorative.
Henry III of England (1207–72) was an important patron of this new style, both with additions to Westminster Abbey (after 1245) and in the east end of Saint Paul's Cathedral (1258). Some of his projects appear to have been be inspired by Sainte-Chapelle in France, built by Henry's brother-in-law, Louis IX of France. The second part of this period in England is often called Perpendicular, because of its strong emphasis on the appearance of height.
Italy resisted the Gothic style, using the Romanesque style longer than in Northern Europe, and unlike Northern Europe, it only rarely imitated the French style. Also, building available building materials were different; Italian cathedrals were usually built of brick, not stone, and marble was abundant. Italian architects did adapt some aspects of the northern style, including the rib vault and columns attached to the walls. Early examples were the Pisa Baptistry (1259–60) and the façade of Siena Cathedral (1265–68). Some builders modified some aspects of northern Gothic; Florence Cathedral (1294) used very large arcades to create greater interior space. Notable examples of Italian Rayoannant include the façade of Orvieto Cathedral , the façade of Siena Cathedral and the bell tower of Florence Cathedral . begun by Giotto in 1334. Milan Cathedral was the Italian cathedral most influenced by Northern Europe. However, its distinctive flamboyant exterior, begun in 1386, was not completed until 1805 for the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as King of Italy.
The last phase of Gothic was called Flamboyant, named for its characteristic flame-like motifs. It appeared particularly in the 15th and early 16th century in France and Spain.
The Perpendicular Gothic in England, in the late 13th–16th centuries, roughly coincided with the Flamboyant style in France. It aimed for rich visual effects through decoration, and gave predominance to vertical lines, especially in the window tracery. Windows occupied the major part of the wall space. The architects also experimented with various kinds of decorative vaults, such as the fan vault, where most of the thin ribs, springing upward from slender columns, were purely decorative. Major examples of the style include Gloucester Cathedral, King's College Chapel at Cambridge University, and the chapel of Henry IV in Westminster Abbey.
In the 16th century, a transition began in Europe from Gothic toward the classicism of the Renaissance. It began in Italy, particularly in Florence, and was based on admiration for ancient Roman models. It led to copying Greek and Roman sculpture, and then classical architectural models, such as the column, round arch and the dome.
In France, the transition was most evident at the church of Saint-Eustache, Paris in Paris, located next to the city market of Les Halles, begun in 1532 by the Italian architect Domenico da Cortona, the favourite of King Francis I of France, who also designed many of the Renaissance elements of the Palace of Fontainebleau. Because of technical and financial difficulties and the intervening Wars of Religion, it was not finished until 1640. It was largely Gothic on the exterior, but the interior was a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance classicism, such as hanging pendants from keystones of the vaults, and orders of classical columns. It received a new classical west front by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1754. During the French Revolution it was pillaged and turned into the Temple of Agriculture, and suffered a fire in 1844, but was restored.
The first Renaissance church in Germany, St. Anne's Church in Augsburg, also known as the Fugger Chapel (1509–1581), announced the transition with its classical decoration. Martin Luther visited the church, and it became a Lutheran church in 1545. In England, the transition took much longer, because of the break between Henry VIII and Rome. English cathedrals and churches remained Gothic throughout most of the 16th century. The English Renaissance emerged from a mixture of Tudor Gothic with Renaissance decoration, such as the realistic sculpture of Henry VII made for his tomb at Westminster Abbey by the Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiani (1509).
The particular attractions of Gothic cathedrals and churches began to be rediscovered in the early 19th century. One major reason was the enormous success of the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo. The French writer Prosper Mérimée was designed by King Louis Philippe I to classify and, where possible, restore Gothic cathedrals and churches. He commissioned Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, and began with the restoration of Vézelay Abbey. Even larger projects launched for the restoration of Sainte-Chapelle, the Basilica of Saint-Denis and Notre-Dame de Paris. Some of the restoration was made more on the basis of imagination than historical accuracy; so many cumulative modifications had been made over the centuries, that it was impossible to recreate any church exactly as it was at any one particular time, as Viollet-le-Duc acknowledged. He was criticized in particular for designing a taller and more ornate spire to the Notre Dame Cathedral to replace the original 13th-century spire, which had been removed in 1786. He was also criticized for replacing the sculpture of gargoyles, chimeras and other mythical creatures, which had been removed in the 18th century, with new versions.
In the mid-19th century, several notable Gothic cathedrals and churches were constructed in Europe and beyond. These included the Basilica of St. Clotilde (1846–57) in Paris, by the architect Leon Vautrin. This church served as a model for the façade of another new church, Sacred Heart Cathedral, built in Guangzhou, China between 1863 and 1868, financed in part by contributions from French Emperor Napoleon III.
In the 20th century, Neo-Gothic cathedrals were constructed, particularly by the Episcopal Church in the United States, taking advantage of the new technologies of iron and steel construction and reinforced concrete. combined with traditional forms. Examples include the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. (begun 1907) and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco (1928–1964). Construction of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. in 1907, but was still underway at the beginning of the 21st century. The rose window (1977) was dedicated by President Jimmy Carter and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
A Gothic cathedral or church was a house of worship and also a theater for ceremony, with a fixed ritual every day. The most numerous participants in these ceremonies were the canons, or members of the Cathedral chapter. The number of canons in a chapter varied from twelve in a small cathedral to fifty at Notre Dame de Paris and more than eighty at Laon Cathedral. In addition to celebrating Mass, every day, they were expected to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours four times a day, with four additional offices on Sundays. To this very regular schedule were attached numerous additional duties and ceremonies.
Most of these ceremonies took place in the choir (sometimes spelled 'quire') of the cathedral, toward the eastern end, between the nave to the west and the sanctuary to the east. The choir was like a church within the church; it was divided from the rest of the cathedral by an ornamental screen composed of bas-reliefs illustrating stories from the life of Christ. It also featured a richly decorated tribune, used for reading the appropriate texts from the bible. The main altar was also found within the choir, turned toward the east. The canons were seated in two rows of carved wooden seats, facing each other, at right angles to the seats in the nave. There is just one remaining original medieval rood screen in a Gothic cathedral, at Albi Cathedral in the south of France.
Stained glass windows were a prominent feature of the Gothic church and cathedral from the beginning. Abbot Suger, who considered that light was a manifestation of the divine, installed colorful windows in the ambulatory of Basilica of Saint Denis, and they were featured in all the major cathedrals in France, England and the rest of Europe. In the 13th and 14th century they became larger and larger, until they filled entirely walls. However, they lost some of the original simplicity and richness of color, as the artists competed with painters and fresco artists in making huge windows crowded with naturalistic figures.
In the Middle Ages, glass makers and stained glass artists were separate professions. Glass makers worked near forests, where there was abundant firewood for melting and forming glass, while the artists worked closer to the building sites. In the earlier cathedrals and churches, the range of colors was limited, and the color was added when the glass was manufactured. with the use of metallic oxides; cobalt for blue, copper for a ruby red, manganese for purple, and antimony for yellow. The glass was melted with the colors, blown, shaped into cylinders, rolled flat, and then cut into sheets of about 10–12 inches (25–30 centimetres). The pieces of glass of early windows varied considerably in thickness, which gave more richness and variation than in later windows.
The colored glass was delivered to the workshop of the artist, where the window was made. A large whitewashed table was painted with the full-size drawing of the window, with colors indicated. the artisans used a hot iron to crack off pieces of colored glass to fit the pattern, "grazed" or smoothed the edges, then fit them into long strips of lead. The strips of lead with glass were then assembled and soldered together. Details such as faces, ornament and inscriptions were painted on the glass in vitreous enamel, then heated to fuse the enamel with the glass. The window was then waterproofed with putty along the lead strips, and then, since the lead was flexible, cited into a larger iron frame.
As windows continued to grow in size, they needed further support against the wind, This was provided by tracery and mullions, thin stone ribs into which the sections of the windows were fit. As the windows grew larger, the tracery became more and more intricate, taking on Rayonnant and flamboyant designs. In this way the architecture and windows gradually became blended together and inseparable.
Circular windows, called oculi, had existed in Roman times, and simple version had been used in Romanesque churches. One early example is Pomposa Abbey in Pomposa, Italy, from the 10th century. Gothic windows had a more important position, over the portal on the west end, and surpassed the earlier windows in size and complexity. The Abbey of Saint Denis had a small rose window on the west façade, above the three deep bays of the portals, an arrangement followed by subsequent cathedrals in France. In the 12th century, large rose windows were also added to the north and south transepts. The transept roses at Notre Dame date to 1250 (north) and 1260 (south). Besides Notre Dame, other notable Rayonnant windows were constructed at Reims Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral. These featured additional subdividing bars, arches and circles. From France, the rose window spread to Spain (Burgos Cathedral), England (Lincoln Cathedral) and Italy (Carrara Cathedral). The later Flamboyant rose windows became much more free in their designs, with sinuous, double-curved bars. Examples are found at Beauvais Cathedral (early 16th century).
By long Christian tradition, the altar of cathedrals was at the east end, facing the sunrise, while the main entrance was on the west. Following the Romanesque tradition, the west façade of the Basilica of Saint Denis, built 1137–40, set the style for French Gothic cathedrals; three bays and three doors, each with. carved stone tympanum of sculpture within the arch over the lintel above the door. The voussoirs, the wedge-shaped alongside the arches, were also filled with figures. Unfortunately, one original doorway was destroyed, and the sculptures on the remaining two are mostly 19th-century re-creations.
The three portals of Notre Dame de Paris, altogether forty meters wide, are among the finest examples of High Gothic The sculptural decoration of the central door is devoted to the Last Judgement, on the left to Virgin Mary, for whom the cathedral is named, and on the right to Saint Anne. The Voussures are crowded with small sculptures of angels and saints. In addition, there are ranks of sculpture representing the occupations of the months, and the virtues and the vices, and above the portals are additional galleries representing the Kings of France and scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary.
In the 13th century, the façade sculpture became more natural and expressive, as in the famous smiling angel on the north portal of the west façade of Reims Cathedral. The drapery of the figures and the sculpted plants and flowers were carved with realism and attention to detail.
In England, the sculpture was not confined to the portals, but was placed all across the façade, as on the gable of Wells Cathedral. Realistic sculpture also appeared in the 13th century on the west front of Strasbourg, begun in 1272, and in the German states, such as at Naumburg Cathedral (now a Protestant church) (1250). These were in a delicate style called Muldenstil.
In Italy, the finest period for Cathedral sculpture was between 1250 and 1350, in the work of Nicola Pisano at the Pisa Baptistry (1259–60), and Siena Cathedral (1265–68), and in the work of his son, Giovanni Pisano, on the façade of Siena Cathedral. Andrea Pisano (not related to Nicola and Giovanni) was celebrated for his bronze doors of the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral. The work of the Pisanos carried Italian sculpture from the Gothic age to the Roman models of the Renaissance.
During the Middle Ages, many of the Gothic cathedrals and churches were brightly painted, both inside and out. Traces of the paint have been found on the walls and sculpture. A few cathedrals, like Albi Cathedral in the south of France, still have some of their original color, and others, notably Chartres Cathedral and the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, have been restoring or recreating the earlier designs, or, in the case of Chartres, cleaning the walls and painting them white. This practice has been criticized by some, who prefer the walls covered with centuries of soot.
Church bells were introduced into Christian religious ceremonies by Paulinus of Nola in 400 AD, and were formally approved by Pope Sabinian in 604 AD. In Romanesque cathedrals and churches, the bells were often placed in a campanile, a tower separate from the cathedral itself, as in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Pisa Tower was begun in 1173, but, because of its problems with sinking and tilting, was not finished until 1372, with the belfry in Gothic style. It had seven bells, one for each note on the scale.
Notre Dame de Paris was particularly known for its bells. They were rung to call members of the parish to church services, to mark the hours and the Angelus ceremony, and for special occasions, such as important funerals and weddings, or to celebrate special events, such as the military victories or the end of wars, or whenever the royal family attended mass at the cathedral. Notre Dame has ten bells, eight in the south tower and two, the largest, in the north tower. The principal bell, or bourdon, called Emmanuel, was installed in the north tower in the 15th century and is still in place. It rings the note F-sharp. It originally required the strength of eleven men, pulling on ropes from a chamber below, to ring that single bell. The clapper of the bell alone weighs one hundred ten kilos. The four other early bells were melted down during the French Revolution. The bells could be swung to make them rhyme, called tolling, or struck, called chiming. The ringing was so loud that the bell-ringers were deafened for several hours afterwards. The manual bell-pullers were replaced by foot pedals in the 19th century, and by an electric system in the 20th century that strikes the bells without swinging them.
Winchester Cathedral in England has had its bells since the Saxon era. King Cnut is known to have donated two bells to the Old Minster church there in 1035. In 1632 there were seven bells in place. Today there are sixteen, the oldest dating to 1621. Besides the daily services, funerals and other and special events, they traditionally were rung to announce the executions, a practice which continued until the death penalty was abolished in England 1965.