The style soon spread to England and through France, the Low Countries, Germany, Spain and northern of Italy and Sicily.
Note:- The architectural vocabulary words are written in bold type and are explained and/or shown on the plan and cross-section.
"Romanesque" was the style of architecture in Europe before the "Gothic" style. Gothic architecture grew out of Romanesque architecture. There was not a clean break between the two styles. Many of the features of Gothic architecture did not begin in the Gothic period. They were already there in Romanesque architecture, and slowly changed to become Gothic. The main changes were the pointed arch and the flying buttress. These two developments allowed many other changes to happen.
Romanesque buildings had thick walls, small windows, round arches and flat buttresses. Gothic buildings had thinner walls, larger windows, pointed arches and large buttresses.
All the types of buildings, and the general shape of the buildings were already there in the Romanesque period. The types of buildings were:- the cathedral church, the parish church, the monastery, the castle, the palace, the great hall and the gatehouse.
Before the 20th century, the landmark building in almost every town was a church, cathedral, abbey, or town hall with its tall tower or spire rising high above all the houses. Many of these buildings were from the Middle Ages and were Romanesque or Gothic in style.
The groundplan of most Gothic churches is shaped like a cross. The long nave makes the body of the church and, crossing it, the arms are called the transept. On the other side of the "transept" is the chancel which is often called the choir because that is where the priest and the choir sing the services.
The "nave" usually has a passageway or aisle on either side. Sometimes there are two "aisles" on each side. The "nave" is usually a lot taller than the "aisles", and has high windows which light up the central space. The upper part of the building, where these windows are, is called the clerestory (or clear storey). (It is pronounced "clair-rest-tree")
Some Gothic churches in Germany and Austria and also Milan Cathedral (which was built in the German style) often have "nave" and "aisles" of almost the same height and are called "hallenkirke" (hall church). The Cathedral of St. Stephen of Vienna is an example.
In some churches with double aisles, like Notre Dame, Paris, the transept does not stick out beyond the aisles. In English cathedrals the "transepts" always stick out a long way and sometimes there are two transepts as at Salisbury Cathedral.
It is at the eastern end that Gothic churches are the most different from each other.
In England the eastern end it is usually long and often has two parts. It is usually square or has a "Lady Chapel", a place to pray to the Virgin Mary.
In France the eastern end is often polygonal and has by a passage for walking called an ambulatory. Often French churches have a ring of chapels called a chevette. German churches are often like those of France at the eastern end.
In Italy, there is no long "chancel" jutting out beyond the transept. There is usually just a semicircular chapel as at Florence Cathedral.
The "facade" or West Front of a large church or cathedral is designed to make a big impression on the worshippers. One of the best known is Notre Dame de Paris.
In the centre of the facade is the main door or portal, often with two side doors as well. In the arch of the middle door is often an important piece of sculpture, usually "Christ in Majesty". Sometimes there is a stone post in the middle of the doorway where there is a statue of the "Madonna and Child". There are many other carved figures in niches set all around the portals. Sometimes there are hundreds of stone figures carved all across the front of the building.
Above the middle door there is a large window, which is usually a rose window like that at Reims Cathedral, but not in England, Scotland, Belgium or Scandinavia where there will nearly always be a very large pointed window to let in lots of light.
In Italy, the facade is often decorated with coloured marble and mosaic made of little coloured tiles, and not so many statues, as at Orvieto Cathedral
The "facade" of a French cathedral and many English, Spanish and German cathedrals usually has two towers.
Large Gothic churches and cathedrals are often very tall. On the inside, the "nave" is usually at least twice as high as it is wide, which gives the church a very tall narrow look. Some of the churches in France and Germany have naves that are three times as high as they are wide. Cologne Cathedral is an example. The tallest nave is at Beauvais Cathedral which is 157.5 feet high. Westminster Abbey is 102 feet high.
On the outside most Gothic churches, both big and small, have at least one tower. In Italy there are domes on the churches, and the tower stands to one side. But in most other countries, cathedrals generally have two towers and quite often have three. Some have even more. Laon Cathedral was planned to have seven, but they were not all built.
Sometimes there is just one tower with a huge spire as at Salisbury. Lincoln Cathedral had the tallest spire of the Middle Ages at 527 feet (160 metres).
Because a pointed arch points upwards, it makes people look upwards. In Gothic architecture, the whole building is designed to make people look up. There are long narrow columns, long narrow windows and high pointed roofs. On the inside the arches of the roof rise up like branches. On the outside, there are often lots of fancy bits along the edge of the roof and on the tops of buttresses and above the windows. These are called " pinnacles". Milan Cathedral has hundreds of them.
Gothic architecture usually has a lot of windows. Sainte Chapelle is a famous example. At Gloucester Cathedral in England, the East window is as big as a tennis court. Milan Cathedral also has windows of about the same size.
The flying buttresses which arch across the roof of the aisle were used to support the roof above the windows, so the walls did not have to be so thick.
The columns of the inside, the ribs of the vault (or roof) and the flying buttresses, made a strong stone skeleton. in between these parts, the walls and the filling of the vaults could be of lighter thinner material. Between the narrow buttresses, the walls could be opened up into large windows.
Through the Gothic period, because of the pointed arch, Gothic windows were able to change from simple openings to very rich designs. The windows were very often filled with stained glass which made coloured light in the building, and was used for story-telling pictures.
Pointed arches were used in Persian architecture, and from 641 AD onwards, they were a feature of Islamic architecture. Knowledge of the pointed arch spread into Europe through the Crusaders who travelled to the Middle East from 1096 onwards. Also, Islamic forces had taken over parts of Spain, where they built cities and Mosques with pointed arches.
Architectural historians think that the pointed arch was also used by some European architects because it was a very strong way of making an arch.
In Gothic Architecture, the pointed arch is used in every place where an arch is needed, both for strength and for decoration. Gothic openings such as doorways, windows, arcades and galleries have pointed arches. A row of arches is called an arcade. A row of arches that is up high on a building is a gallery.
Rows of pointed arches were used to decorate walls. This is known as blind arcading. Often walls were made with tall narrow arched openings in them that could be used to stand statues in. An opening like this is called a niche which is pronounced "neesh".