Gothic Architecture
Gothic Architecture
Gothic Architecture
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
A. LOFTY & ASPIRING QUALITY (vertical)
B. STRUCTURAL HONESTY
C. ECONOMY IN THE USE OF MATERIALS
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES
Pointed Arch
Rib & Panel Vaulting
Tracery Windows
Flying Buttress
Stained glass
Spires & Pinnacles
2. WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL
Has greatest total length (560ft.) than any Medieval Cath’l
3. YORK CATHEDRAL
Largest in area & width in any English Medieval Cathedral
4. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
Boast off central tower with loftiest spire
5. CANTEBURY CATHEDRAL
6. LAON CATHEDRAL
FORTIFIED TOWNS:
1. CARACASSONE
a. Surrounded by moat water
2. AVIGNON
a. Has a palace which was the headquarters of the Popes.
CASTLES:
1. Chateau Gaillard, Les Andels
2. Chateau de Pierrefonds
3. Chateau de AMBROISE
GOTHIC TERMINOLOGIES:
CIMBORIO
o Spanish term for lantern admitting light over a crossing, central lantern.
CROCKETS
o In Gothic Arch, an upward oriented ornament, often vegetal in form, regularly spaced along sloping
edges of spires, pinnacles & gables.
DONJON / KEEP
o Stronghold of a massive castle;usually in the form of massive tower
GARGOYLE
o Water spout projecting from the roof gutter of a building often carved grotesquely
MACHICOLATION
o Overhanging defensive structure at the top of a medieval fortification, w/ floor openings thru boiling
oil, missile etc. which could be dropped on attackers.
PORTCULLIS
o Gate of iron or iron enforced wooden bars made to slide up & down in vertical grooves in the jambs of
a doorway, use for defense in castle gateways.
RETABLO / REREDOS
o Wall or screen usually behind an altar, an ornamental screen or wall at the back of the altar.
TRACERY
o Ornamental intersecting work in the upper part of a window p, screen or panel, use decoratively in
blank arches and vaults.
FINIAL
o Formal ornament at the top of a canopy, gable & pinnacle
EMBRASSURES
o Crenels or intervals between merlons of a battlement
MERLON
o In an embattled parapet, one of the solid alternates between the embrasures
BARTIZAN
o A small turret projecting from the angle on top of a tower or parapet.
BATTLEMENT
o A parapet which alternating indentations (embrasuresnd raised portions (merlons) also called
“crenel”
BAILEY
o An open space or a court of a stone – built castle.
MOTTE
o A steep mound
o Feature of 11th & 12th century castles
NAILHEAD
o Early English Architectural enrichment consisting of small pyramids repeated as a band.
ORIEL
o In medieval English Architecture, a bay window, corbelled out from the wall of an upper storey.
BARTIZAN
o Outer defense work of a castle or town,
o Frequently a watch tower at the gate, an outwork defending the entrance to a castle
BALUSTRARIA
o In medieval military Architecture, the crossed-shaped opening in the battlements & elsewhere for the
use of crossbow
SPIRE
o Tapering termination of a tower
STEEPLE
o Tower crowned by a spire
EPI
o Spire shaped termination of a projecting point or angle of a roof.
FLAMBOUYANT STYLE
o Last phase of French Gothic Arch, characterized by a flame like, free flowing tracery.
PEEL
o In Northern England or Scotland in the middle ages, a small emergency defense structure, generally a
low fortified tower.
CLOISTERS
th th
GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE 13 Century – 15 Century
o Secluded place of covered passages around an open space, connecting the monastic church w/ the
domestic part of the minastery
OGYVALE
o Termed used for French Gothic Architecture
OFFSET
o The part of a wall exposed horizontally, often sloping.