French Gothic architecture
The most famous examples of Gothic architecture are found in the Île-de-France and Champagne, but other French regions created their own original versions of the style. The Angevin Gothic style in the province of Anjou features a vaults with elegant decorative ribs, as well as very ornate columns. The style is found in the interior of Angers Cathedral (1032–1523), though many of the Gothic elements of the facade were replaced with Renaissance elements and towers. A very fine example of Angevin Gothic is found in the medieval Saint Jean Hospital in Angers, which now contains the Musée Jean-Lurçat, a museum of contemporary tapestries.
French Gothic architecture
The new style quickly became known to the builders of new cathedrals, notably Sens Cathedral, the first Gothic Cathedral (begun 1135); Senlis Cathedral (1160), and the most prominent of all, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (begun 1160). Their builders abandoned the traditional plans and introduced the new Gothic elements. The builders of Notre Dame went further by introducing the flying buttress, heavy columns of support outside the walls connected by arches to the walls, which received and counterbalanced the thrust from the rib vaults of the roof. This allowed the builders to construct higher walls and larger windows.