The Gothic style has appeared in the second half of XII – XV century. This is the style of a complex psychological condition, which became an embodiment of people’s realization of the Middle Ages.
Gothic is generally the architectural style. However, it has own incomparable “face” that differs from other styles in the interior design. Overlaps in the form of vaults or, in other cases, massive wooden oak-beamed ceilings with the girders and secondary beams play a significant role in the Gothic interior.
Windows became larger in the public and residential Gothic buildings; they acquired a stained glass character as in churches. Windows frames and colored glazing gave a very special character for the inner rooms. Besides, the sizes of the glass have also increased. In addition to the connection by lead strips, they were linked directly to the stone window frames. Thus, the colored transparent mosaic was clearly supplanted by glass paintings.
Stone tiled floors were often laid in the form of the chessboard, but sometimes it had other difficult-woven patterns.
It goes without saying that the fireplace is an important element of the interior decoration in the public and residential buildings. It usually had the pyramidal top which sometimes reached the overlap. Its aperture was framed with profiled rods. The shelves for kitchen utensils and other items could be arranged at the top of the fireplace, on its sides and in the corners.
The number of the furniture variety was increasing during the Gothic period. However, the main role had still belonged to the chests-top boxes placed along the walls. They were used like benches-sofas because of their straight wooden backs. Besides the chairs, big and tough armchairs with straight high backs were also popular and looked more like bishop thrones than usual seats. A wide bed was standing in the prominent place in the bedroom of wealthy people’s homes. It was situated on the platform and had four profiled columns on each side that supported a flat canopy, fringed fabric with scalloped or frill. Sometimes the canopy had more complex shape of the conical type of a tent contour.
There were big and heavy wardrobes, cupboards for the dishes, store shelves and screens, especially in the bedrooms.
The variety of subtle wood carving was typical for the Gothic furniture. The carving was mostly relief and sometimes slotted with the typical motifs of the architecture of that time. It was lancet arches which formed arcades or overlapped with each other. The carving of the complicated design has transformed into a kind of texture which has covered the entire surface of the cabinet, chest, or chair back.
The fabric has become very valuable in the interior decoration. According to the iconographic materials some of the interiors were based not only on the draperies but on the furniture. In some cases the dwelling walls were entirely upholstered with such colored material as cloth, dark green or crimson velvet. The fabric carpets in the form of wallpapers with thematic compositions and ornamental motifs appeared in the middle of the XIV century.
Such cookware as pots, trays, dishes, mugs, etc. played a significant role in the Gothic interior. Thus, they were arranged on tables and shelves.