What is the most famous example of Gothic architecture?
Architecture of Warsaw
Gothic architecture is represented in the majestic churches but also at the burgher houses and fortifications. The most significant buildings are St. John's Cathedral (14th century), the temple is a typical example of the so-called Masovian gothic style, St. Mary's Church (1411), a town house of Burbach family (14th century), Gunpowder Tower (after 1379) and the Royal Castle "Curia Maior" (1407–1410). The most notable examples of Renaissance architecture in the city are the house of Baryczko merchant family (1562), building called "The Negro" (early 17th century) and Salwator tenement (1632). The most interesting examples of mannerist architecture are the Royal Castle (1596–1619) and the Jesuit Church (1609–1626) at Old Town. Among the first structures of the early baroque the most important are St. Hyacinth's Church (1603–1639) and Zygmunt's Column (1644).
Gothic architecture
The pointed arch, one of the defining attributes of Gothic, was earlier incorporated into Islamic architecture following the Islamic conquests of Roman Syria and the Sassanid Empire in the 7th century. The pointed arch and its precursors had been employed in Late Roman and Sassanian architecture; within the Roman context, evidenced in early church building in Syria and occasional secular structures, like the Roman Karamagara Bridge; in Sassanid architecture, in the parabolic and pointed arches employed in palace and sacred construction. Use of the pointed arch seems to have taken off dramatically after its incorporation into Islamic architecture. It begins to appear throughout the Islamic world in close succession after its adoption in the late Umayyad or early Abbasid period. Some examples are the Al-Ukhaidir Palace (775 AD), the Abbasid reconstruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque in 780 AD, the Ramlah Cisterns (789 AD), the Great Mosque of Samarra (851 AD), and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun (879 AD) in Cairo. It also appears in one of the early reconstructions of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, and the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba in 987 AD. David Talbot Rice points out that, "The pointed arch had already been used in Syria, but in the mosque of Ibn Tulun we have one of the earliest examples of its use on an extensive scale, some centuries before it was exploited in the West by the Gothic architects."
Gothic architecture
The Gothic style appeared in palaces in France, including the Papal Palace in Avignon and the Palais de la Cité in Paris, close to Notre-Dame de Paris, begun in 1119, which was the principal residence of the French Kings until 1417. Most of the Palais de la Cité is gone, but two of the original towers along the Seine, of the towers, the vaulted ceilings of the Hall of the Men-at-Arms (1302), (now in the Conciergerie; and the original chapel, Sainte-Chapelle, can still be seen.
Gothic architecture
Though Russia had no tradition of Gothic architecture, The Empress Catherine the Great chose the style in Tsaritsyno Palace, a large palace complex she constructed south of Moscow from 1776 until her death in 1796. Later, Czar Nicholas I of Russia commissioned the German romantic writer and painter Karl Friedrich Schinkel to design a Gothic chapel for his park at Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg. It was completed in 1834.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
Among the most impressive feats of medieval engineering is bridge construction, "comparable with the great cathedrals of the period". Bridges from this period are characterised by typically Gothic ogival arches. It was not uncommon for such bridges to also provide room for shops, chapels and other structures. This can still be seen at the Ponte Vecchio, Florence (Italy). Other fine examples of still extant medieval bridges are the Pont Saint-Bénezet or Pont d'Avignon, Pont Valentré and Pont d'Orthez, all in France, as well as the famous Charles Bridge, Prague (Czech Republic).
List of Gothic brick buildings
By a lot of people, the term Brick Gothic is used for what more specifically is called Baltic Brick Gothic or North German Brick Gothic. That part of Gothic architecture, widespread in Northern Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Baltic states, is commonly identified with the sphere of influence of the Hanseatic League. But there is a continuous mega-region of Gothic brick architecture, or Brick Gothic in a sense based on the facts, from the Strait of Dover to Finland and Lake Peipus and to the Subcarpathian region of southeastern Poland and southwestern Ukraine.
List of Brick Romanesque buildings
St. John's Church ("Sankt-Johannis-Kirche") in Oldenburg (Holstein) is considered to be the oldest brick church in Northern Europe. The first monumental churches were Ratzeburg cathedral and Lübeck Cathedral, both begun shortly after 1160 under Henry the Lion. Lübeck Cathedral was later converted into a Gothic hall church (1266 to 1335). Jerichow Abbey with its convent church of which construction started in 1148 played an influential role for the brick architecture in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For Scandinavia, the stylistically independent Roskilde Cathedral, started in the 1170s and used as the burial church for Danish monarchs, is of special importance. A last flourish and the transition to the Gothic style is marked by the Cistercian Lehnin Abbey in the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
American Gothic House
The "American Gothic" House, also known as the Dibble House, is a house in Eldon, Iowa, designed in the Carpenter Gothic style with a distinctive upper window. It was the backdrop of the 1930 painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood, generally considered Wood's most famous work and among the most recognized paintings in twentieth century American art. Grant Wood, who observed the house only twice in his lifetime, made only an initial sketch of the house—he completed "American Gothic" at his studio in Cedar Rapids.
French Gothic architecture
In the 15th century, following the late Gothic or flamboyant period, some elements of Gothic decoration borrowed from cathedrals began to appear in civil architecture, particularly in the region of Flanders in northern France, and in Paris. The Hôtel de Ville of Compiègne has an imposing gothic bell tower, featuring a spire surrounded by smaller towers, and its windows are decorated with ornate "accolades" or ornamental arches. Similarly flamboyant town halls were found in Arras, Douai, and Saint-Quentin, Aisne, and across the border in Belgium in Brussels and Bruges. Unfortunately many of the finest buildings were destroyed during World War I, due to their proximity to the front lines. 
Gothic features also appeared in the elaborate residences built by the nobility and wealthy bourgeoisie in Paris and other large cities. examples include the Hôtel Cluny (now the Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge in Paris, and particularly the palatial house built by merchant Jacques Cœur in Bourges (1440–50). Another good example in Paris is the Tour Jean-sans-Peur, which features a Gothic watch tower and a flamboyant gothic ceiling.
Görlitz
The town has a rich architectural heritage (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau). One example of this rich architectural heritage is the Schönhof, which is one of the oldest civic Renaissance buildings in Germany. Another medieval heritage is a model of the Holy Sepulchre which was constructed in the late 15th century.
Bad Doberan
The classicist buildings characterizing the centres of Bad Doberan and Heiligendamm were all built between 1801 and 1836 by the architect, Carl Theodor Severin. However, the most famous building is the Doberan Minster ("Doberaner Münster", 1368), which was once the church of Doberan Abbey, and is one of the most impressive examples of Brick Gothic architecture in the Baltic Sea region. It is the most important religious sight at European Route of Brick Gothic. The monumental grave of King Albert of Sweden can be found there.
Medievalism
The Gothic Revival was an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms in contrast to the classical styles prevalent at the time. In England, the epicentre of this revival, it was intertwined with deeply philosophical movements associated with a re-awakening of "High Church" or Anglo-Catholic self-belief (and by the Catholic convert Augustus Welby Pugin) concerned by the growth of religious nonconformism. He went on to produce important Gothic buildings such as Cathedrals at Birmingham and Southwark and the British Houses of Parliament in the 1840s. Large numbers of existing English churches had features such as crosses, screens and stained glass (removed at the Reformation), restored or added, and most new Anglican and Catholic churches were built in the Gothic style. Viollet-le-Duc was a leading figure in the movement in France, restoring the entire walled city of Carcassonne as well as Notre-Dame and Sainte Chapelle in Paris. In America Ralph Adams Cram was a leading force in American Gothic, with his most ambitious project the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York (claimed to be the largest Cathedral in the world), as well as Collegiate Gothic buildings at Princeton Graduate College. On a wider level the wooden Carpenter Gothic churches and houses were built in large numbers across North America in this period.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Europe. It is also the architecture of many non-religious buildings, such as castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings.
Gothic House
Non-ecclesiastical Gothic-style buildings are rare in Brighton: the only other examples are Wykeham Terrace, the Percy and Wagner Almshouses on Lewes Road, and the former Brighton Forum (now "Citibase Brighton"; originally a teacher training college). (Wilds may have been commissioned to design Wykeham Terrace, but there is no definite proof of this). Wilds and Busby were accustomed to designing in various styles—their range in Brighton along encompasses Greek Revival, Classical, Regency, and Italianate, and Wilds tried a fusion of Oriental and Indo-Saracenic Revival styles for his own home at Western Pavilion, built in 1831. Gothic House is their only known commission in the Gothic style, though, and it is the only such design they actually executed. Although its date puts it at the beginning of the Gothic Revival period, "it is not early Gothic Revival but "Gothick" (i.e. Georgian Gothic)", a style also described as Regency Gothic. The only other Regency Gothic buildings in Brighton, the National Schools at Church Street in the North Laine, were demolished in 1971 for a road widening scheme which never happened. The design has been likened to the proto-Gothic of Strawberry Hill House (1749–1776) in London by local historian Antony Dale, who calls it "more realistic than [that] ... [but] the house could hardly lay claim to be called a serious Gothic construction". He instead describes it as an "experiment" by Wilds and Busby. The building has also been called "fanciful and irresponsibly Gothick".
Sacred architecture
Gothic architecture was particularly associated with cathedrals and other churches, which flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. Beginning in 12th century France, it was known as "the French Style" during the period. The style originated at the abbey church of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Other notable gothic religious structures include Notre Dame de Paris, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens, and the Chartres Cathedral.
Silesian architecture
The heralds of Gothic architecture were connected with the building activities of the Cistercians and the patronage of Henry I the Bearded. Two monasteries, in Trzebnica (Trebnitz) and in Henryków (Heinrichau), as well as two residences, in Wrocław and Legnica (Liegnitz), were early examples and referred to architectonic standards in Southern Germany and along the Rhine. They probably indicate to the dynastic connection between Henry I and the House of Andechs. Characteristic attributes of all these buildings were the combination of brick constructions and details made of stone, which were most likely brought in via Altzella in Saxony.
The Tatar invasions of 1241 led to the decentralization of Silesia. Baronial patronage decreased whereas episcopal and later municipal patronage increased. The most important construction project of that time was the cathedral of Wrocław, which became the first pure Gothic building in Silesia. The chapel St. Hedwig in Trzebnica was another important structure of that era. Both building cited early French traditions, imported via Saxony, Bohemia and Austria. Most mendicant orders built their monasteries in the second half of the 13th century, most notably in Wrocław, Głogów, Brzeg and Strzelin. At the same time the first hall churches appeared. The most original were in Ziębice and Złotoryja (Goldberg).
Silesia's towns needed approximately 50 years after foundation to get their independence. In the 14th century, many of these towns began to build their own big parish churches, and with the assistance of the new Bohemian sovereign a dynamic sacral development program began. Dominant were now Bohemian, Moravian, Southern German and Lower Austrian architectural traditions, but mixed with local traditions which preferred more simple forms. The most characteristic creation of the entire 14th century remained the basilical municipal church with a long nave and no transept. This style was most probably derived from the Cistercian abbey in Zlatá Koruna (Goldenkron) in Bohemia. Although Silesia was now a part of Bohemia, a state of the Holy Roman Empire, the Parler Gothic had almost no influence. Architectural embellishments can only be found in three churches, probably all built by master builder Claus Brynner.
León, Spain
León's historical and architectural heritage, as well as the numerous festivals hosted throughout the year (particularly noteworthy are the Easter processions) and its location on the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, which is ranked as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, make it a destination of both domestic and international tourism. Some of the city's most prominent historical buildings are the Cathedral, the finest example of French-style classic Gothic architecture in Spain, the Basilica of San Isidoro, one of the most important Romanesque churches in Spain and resting place of León's medieval monarchs, the Monastery of San Marcos, a prime example of plateresque and Renaissance Spanish architecture, and the Casa Botines, a Modernist creation of the architect Antoni Gaudí. A noteworthy example of modern architecture is the city's Museum of Contemporary Art or MUSAC.
England
Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched. In addition to this, around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.
English folklore developed over many centuries. Some of the characters and stories are present across England, but most belong to specific regions. Common folkloric beings include pixies, giants, elves, bogeymen, trolls, goblins and dwarves. While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, for instance the tales featuring Offa of Angel and Wayland the Smith, others date from after the Norman invasion; Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood and their battles with the Sheriff of Nottingham being, perhaps, the best known.
Thomas Harrison (architect)
Some of Harrison's designs, including his buildings at Lancaster Castle, were Gothic in style, but most were Neoclassical, particularly those at Chester Castle. He was regarded at the time, and since, as a major influence in the emergence of the Greek Revival in British architecture. A bridge he designed at the start of his career, and another towards the end of his career, incorporated innovative features; Skerton Bridge was the first substantial bridge in England to have a flat roadway, and the Grosvenor Bridge was the longest single-arched masonry bridge in the world at the time of its construction. Many of Harrison's structures have survived, most of them now designated by English Heritage as listed buildings. Despite his work being nationally admired he spent his entire career in northwest England, visiting London only occasionally; most of his buildings were in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the nearby counties.
List of Gothic brick buildings
The dates given here refer to the present extant Gothic structures. Predecessors or post-Gothic alterations are not normally mentioned, but can be assessed by following up the literature. The most influential structures are indicated by bold print. Romanesque and Renaissance structures are not listed. Gothic Brick structures from outside the Baltic or North German regions, e.g. the Danubian ones, are also included, while Neogothic edifices are not listed.
Gothic Revival architecture
In the United States, the first "Gothic stile" church (as opposed to churches with Gothic elements) was Trinity Church on the Green, New Haven, Connecticut. It was designed by the prominent American Architect Ithiel Town between 1812 and 1814, even while he was building his Federalist-style Center Church, New Haven right next to this radical new "Gothic-style" church. Its cornerstone was laid in 1814, and it was consecrated in 1816. It thus predates St Luke's Church, Chelsea, often said to be the first Gothic-revival church in London, by a decade. Though built of trap rock stone with arched windows and doors, parts of its Gothic tower and its battlements were wood. Gothic buildings were subsequently erected by Episcopal congregations in Connecticut at St. John's in Salisbury (1823), St. John's in Kent (1823–26), St. Andrew's in Marble Dale (1821–23). These were followed by Town's design for Christ Church Cathedral (Hartford, Connecticut) (1827), which incorporated Gothic elements such as buttresses into fabric of the church. St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Troy, New York, was constructed in 1827–1828 as an exact copy of the Town's design for Trinity Church, New Haven, but using local stone; due to changes in the original, St. Paul's is closer to Town's original design than Trinity itself. In the 1830s, architects began to copy specific English Gothic and Gothic Revival Churches, and these "mature Gothic Revival" buildings "made the domestic Gothic style architecture which preceded it seem primitive and old-fashioned". Since then, Gothic Revival architecture has spread to and across America.
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture also inspired a popular style of residential architecture in the United States in the mid-19th century. It was known as Carpenter Gothic, and featured pointed lancet windows, a steep gable roof, and other simple Gothic elements, embellished with wooden ornament cut with a jigsaw or a scroll saw in Gothic designs. Sometimes the wooden trim was attached to a brick house. It became a popular style for wooden churches in rural communities. An example of Carpenter Gothic house, the American Gothic House, in Eldon, Iowa appears in the background of the celebrated painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood, and gave the painting its name.
Gasson Hall
Gasson Hall is a seminal example of Collegiate Gothic architecture in North America. Publication of its design in 1909—and praise from influential American Gothicist Ralph Adams Cram—helped establish Collegiate Gothic as the prevailing architectural style on American university campuses for much of the 20th century. Gasson Hall is credited for the typology of dominant Gothic towers in subsequent campus designs, including those at Princeton (Cleveland Tower, 1913–1917), Yale (Harkness Tower, 1917–1921), and Duke (Chapel Tower, 1930–1935).
Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Detroit)
St. Paul's Cathedral is a fine example of the Late Gothic Revival, an architectural style popular in the early years of the 20th century. American architects of the mid-19th century imported and re-interpreted the English Gothic Revival style, based on the visually lush details of Medieval cathedrals. This was the period of the Oxford Movement in England, which also influenced Episcopal clergy and congregations in the United States to commission revivals of Medieval styles. American architects copied the "Gothic" elements and combined them with simple building plans to create an American architectural style known as "Victorian Gothic." The Fort Street Presbyterian Church, built in 1876 in Detroit, is a premier example of early Victorian Gothic architecture.
Architecture of London
Hallmarks of Gothic architecture are tracery, a form of delicate, web-like ornamentation for windows, parapets, and all external ornamentation. Symmetry of lines, pointed arches, spires, and steep roofs are other characteristics. Cast-iron, and from the mid 19th-century mild steel were used in Gothic revival iron structures like Blackfriars Bridge (1869) and St. Pancras railway station (1868). Other significant buildings built in Gothic Revival are the Royal Courts of Justice (1882), the Midland Grand Hotel (1876) adjoining St. Pancras Station, Liverpool Street station (1875) All Saints church in Fitzrovia, and the Albert Memorial (1872) in Kensington Gardens. Even the suburbs were built in derivative Gothic Revival styles, called "Wimbledon Gothic".
Venetian Gothic architecture
The most iconic Venetian Gothic structure, the Doge's Palace, is a luxuriously decorated building that includes traits of Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance architectural styles. In the 14th Century, following two fires that destroyed the previous structure, the palace was rebuilt in its present, recognizably Gothic form.
Architecture of the United Kingdom
Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during the prehistoric period, amongst the best known are Stonehenge, Devil's Arrows, Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg. With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, baths, amphitheatres, triumphal arches, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades and aqueducts. It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England. Another well-preserved example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset. Early Medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno–Saxon monasticism, to Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various Castles in England were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle amongst others.
Throughout the Plantagenet era an English Gothic architecture flourished—the medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and York Minster are prime examples. Expanding on the Norman base there was also castles, palaces, great houses, universities and parish churches. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th century Tudor style; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the Renaissance, the English Baroque style appeared, which architect Christopher Wren particularly championed. English Baroque is a casual term, sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Queen Anne Style architecture flourished in England from about 1660 to about 1720, even though the Queen's reign covered only the period 1702–1714. Buildings in the Queen Anne style are strongly influenced by Dutch domestic architecture: typically, they are simple rectilinear designs in red brick, with an undemonstrative charm. Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched—in addition to this around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.
Architecture of Wales
Another example of the simple Gothic revival style was Gnoll near Neath. This was a remodelling, starting in 1776, of an existing house for Sir Herbert Mackworth, owner of a local copper works. It had a crenulated parapet and round towers at the two corners of the frontage. The architect was John Johnson an Essex architect who had been associated with Mackworth's banking interests in London.
Following this, examples of Strawberry Hill Gothic start appearing in Wales, the most significant of which was Hafod. The first stage of Hafod was started 1786 by Thomas Baldwin of Bath for Thomas Johnes, in a Gothic revival style with gothic window, battlements and pinnacles and then in 1793-4 John Nash added a top-lit galleried library and a 300 ft long conservatory.
Another early pioneer of the Gothic style was James Wyatt who was employed by the Earl of Uxbridge to build Beaudesert in Staffordshire in the Gothic style in 1771-2. The Earl was to employ him again at Plas Newydd on Anglesey to rebuild the West front and the interior in a Gothic style from 1793–9 Wyatt worked with the Lichfield architect James Potter and the style of plasterwork lacks the lightness of Strawberry Hill gothic. 
Plas Newydd was followed by the more remarkable Gothic mansion at Garth at Guilsfield in Montgomeryshire, built for Devereux Mytton, probably in the late 1790s. 
Another house with Strawberry Hill Gothic features was Bodelwyddan Castle which had a Gothic wing and gothic interior added between 1802 and 1808 by an unknown architect. During this period a number of other houses in Wales were given Gothic facades with arched pointed windows, such as Llewenni in Denbighshire. At Hawarden Castle the Palladian house, on a different site to the medieval castle, was transformed by Thomas Cundy in 1809–10 for Sir Stephen Richard Glynne. It was refronted and machicolations, towers and turrets were added. A west wing was added with gothic windows. At Rhiwlas, near Bala the ancient house was re-cased as a Gothic castle in 1809 with three storeys and three polygonal towers, but the house was largely replaced by new house in 1954. The Gate arch by Thomas Rickman of 1813 still exists.
Gothic architecture in modern Poland
The best preserved Gothic castles are:
A town hall called Ratusz was a symbol of a city's power in the Middle Ages. Around the town hall were other buildings associated with the function of the urban organism: hall, municipal building, weight, merchant stalls and pillory. Examples of unconverted later Gothic town halls include the Wrocław Town Hall, the Old Town Hall in Toruń and town halls in Chojna, Gdańsk and Szczecin. Only the Gothic tower of the Ratusz town hall in Kraków has survived. The gothic town hall on the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw was demolished in 1820.
Existing settlements received in the 13th and 14th centuries tracking new laws (usually based on Magdeburg Law). Urban area is usually divided grid of streets perpendicular to the plot by creating a chessboard layout. Residential buildings, in the upper reaches is still built of wood or timber-framed art. In order to prevent the transmission of fire during the fire, often the wall was increased at the border of two adjacent parcels and tracts of gable roof receives addressed to the agent. Facades of houses stepped or triangular peaks. Houses of rich burghers sometimes received in the form of a richer decor. More often it was a topic mimicking polychrome wall, and wimpergi tracery. An example of building in the Gothic style is the house of Copernicus in Torun, in Sandomierz Długosz House, oldest building of Jagiellonian University – Collegium Maius, building on ul. Łazienna 22 in Toruń.
The city walls surrounded, sometimes in place of the earlier shafts and such investment is carried out for many years, making frequent upgrades. Older consolidation often was increased. The sequence is often interrupted by walls tower. Cities sometimes receive a new, second belt walls (e.g., Wrocław, Toruń). Leading to the ornate gates of cities often preceded the late Gothic period barbakanami connected with them neck. First this form of defense on Polish soil was established in Toruń – Barbican Starotoruński of 1426, the best preserved in Poland barbican Barbican in Kraków. To this day preserved fragments of walls, of which most survived the gate, for example, in Szydłów, Sandomierz, Kraków St. Florian's Gate and the Kraków barbican. Significant parts of the walls have been preserved in Stargard, Pyrzyce, Byczyna, Toruń. In Chełmno and Paczków city walls are preserved almost in its entirety.
Gothic Revival architecture in Canada
The Gothic Revival style started to wane in popularity in the late 19th century. New technologies such as steel building frames, elevators, and electric lighting were having a considerable impact on how buildings could be used and constructed. Newer styles such as the Beaux-Arts and Art Deco came to prominence. However, this was much less true in Canada. Gothic Revival architecture continued to be one of the most important building styles well into the 1940s, though often in highly modified and original forms. Just before the First World War Toronto saw work begin on three of its best known neo-Gothic structures, Casa Loma, the CHUM-City Building, and Hart House. While the three buildings were erected for completely different purposes, and a very distinct in style, they are all clearly Gothic in inspiration.
Gothic Revival architecture
Carpenter Gothic houses and small churches became common in North America and other places in the late 19th century. These structures adapted Gothic elements such as pointed arches, steep gables, and towers to traditional American light-frame construction. The invention of the scroll saw and mass-produced wood moldings allowed a few of these structures to mimic the florid fenestration of the High Gothic. But, in most cases, Carpenter Gothic buildings were relatively unadorned, retaining only the basic elements of pointed-arch windows and steep gables. Probably the best-known example of Carpenter Gothic is a house in Eldon, Iowa, that Grant Wood used for the background of his famous painting American Gothic.
Architecture of Birmingham
Birmingham lay at the heart of the mid-19th century Gothic Revival, being closely associated with its two most influential early pioneers: Thomas Rickman and A. W. N. Pugin. Gothic architecture had been used for picturesque decoration in England throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, a practice that continued into the early 19th century, with notable examples in Birmingham including Metchley Abbey in Harborne of ca. 1800; and Francis Goodwin's Holy Trinity, Bordesley – a commissioners' church of 1822, "far from correct and far from dull". The mid 19th century however saw a conscious and far-reaching revival in the use of Gothic as a complete and rigorous system of construction, encompassing both structure and decoration and involving a renewed emphasis on historical authenticity.
The first notable figure of this architectural revolution was Thomas Rickman, who was based in Birmingham for 21 of the 23 years he practiced as an architect. Although he worked in a wide variety of architectural styles Rickman's understanding of Gothic was far more thorough and learned than that of most other architects of his time, and his Quaker background gave him a systematic and objective view of Gothic styles free from the complications of the Church of England's search for liturgical meaning. His earliest Birmingham church St George-in-the-Fields of 1819 (demolished) was a remarkably correct Gothic structure for its date, and moved away from the economical but historically inauthentic use of cast iron detailing of his earlier churches in Liverpool. It was followed by a series of other notable works in the Birmingham area, including St Barnabas' Church, Erdington of 1824; the Watt Memorial Chapel of 1826 at St Mary's Church, Handsworth; All Saints Church, Ladywood of 1834 (demolished); and the Bishop Ryder Church of 1836 (demolished). Rickman's longest-lasting influence on the course of the Gothic revival however was his book "An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture, from the Conquest to the Reformation"; the first study of Gothic architecture designed to guide architects towards historically authentic styles and the first to establish a convincing classification and chronology of English Gothic architecture, defining the four principal periods – Norman, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular – that still frame the understanding of Gothic styles today.
Brick Gothic
In Bavaria, there is a significant number of Gothic brick buildings, some in places without quarrys, like Munich, and some in places, where natural stone was available as well, such as Donauwörth. Several of these buildings have both decorations of shaped bricks and of ashlar, often tuff. Also the walls of some buildings are all brick, but in some buildings the base of the wall is of stone. Most of the churches share a common distinctive Bavarian Brick Gothic style. The Frauenkirche of Munich is the largest (gothic and totally) brick church north of the Alps. Examples include St. Martin's and two other churches at Landshut and the Herzogsburg (Duke's Castle) in Dingolfing.
Gothic architecture
The Flamboyant Gothic style appeared in the second half of the 14th century. Its characteristic features were more exuberant decoration, as the nobles and wealthy citizens of mostly northern French cities competed to build more and more elaborate churches and cathedrals. It took its name from the sinuous, flame-like designs which ornamented windows. Other new features included the "arc en accolade", a window decorated with an arch, stone pinnacles and floral sculpture. It also featured an increase in the number of "nervures", or ribs, that supported and decorated each vault of the ceiling, both for greater support and decorative effect. Notable examples of Flamboyant Gothic include the western facade of Rouen Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes in Paris, both built in the 1370s; and the Choir of Mont Saint Michel Abbey (1448 c.). Subsequently, the style spread to Northern Europe. Notable example of Flamboyant Gothic in the Baltic region includes the Brick Gothic Church of St. Anne in Vilnius (1490s).
Boston College
Designed by Charles Donagh Maginnis and his firm Maginnis & Walsh in 1908, the Boston College campus is a seminal example of Collegiate Gothic architecture. Combining Gothic Revival architecture with principles of Beaux-Arts planning, Maginnis proposed a vast complex of academic buildings set in a cruciform plan. Maginnis's design broke from the traditional Oxbridge models that had inspired it—and that had until then characterized Gothic architecture on American campuses. In its unprecedented scale, Gasson Tower was conceived not as the belfry of a singular building, but as the crowning campanile of Maginnis' new "city upon a hill". Although Maginnis' ambitious Gothic project never saw full completion, its central portion was built according to plan and forms the core of what is now BC's iconic middle campus. Among these, the Bapst Library has been called the "finest example of Collegiate Gothic architecture in America" and Devlin Hall won the Harleston Parker Medal for "most beautiful building in Boston". The 1895 Louis K. Liggett Estate was acquired in 1941 and developed into a Tudor-style upper campus, while an architecturally eclectic lower campus took shape on land acquired by filling in part of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. Modernism had an enormous impact on development after the 1940s, though some of the modernist buildings at BC maintained non-modern rough stone facades in keeping with Maginnis's original designs.
Architecture of the United Kingdom
Prehistoric architecture is found throughout Scotland. Skara Brae is a large stone-built neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney. Nicknamed the "British Pompeii", Skara Brae is Europe's most complete neolithic village and the level of preservation is such that it has gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1999. Celtic tribes during the Bronze Age left few physical remnants of their dwellings, but stone Christian monuments and Celtic crosses have endured erosion. Protohistorical Scotland during the Roman Empire was, unlike the rest of Great Britain, broadly untouched by the Romans, but there are the remains of Roman forts at "Trimontium" and "Inchtuthil".
Scotland is known for its "dramatically placed castles, fused onto defensive ridges and rocky islands". Many of these date from Scotland in the Middle Ages. In contrast to England, which embarked on Elizabethan houses, Scotland saw the building of castles and fortified houses continue well into the 17th century, and many were constructed in a building-boom following the Scottish Reformation. The most distinctive Scottish fortification at this time was the tower house. The grandest medieval Scottish castles are composed of a series of courtyards, with a keep at their centre, but the lone keep-towers were more common, particularly amongst Scottish feudal barons. Some of Scotland's most famous medieval fortifications include Castle Stalker and Stirling Castle. More recent, Jacobean era castles include Edinburgh Castle and Craigievar Castle. The arrival of the cannon made high-walled castles defensively impractical and obsolete, but the fortification genre evolved into a style in its own right; Scots Baronial Style architecture has an emphasis on turrets and strong vertical lines drawn from tower houses, and constitutes one of Scotland's "most distinctive contributions to British architecture".
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.
English Gothic architecture
Early English architecture is typical of many Cistercian abbeys (both in Britain and France), such as Whitby Abbey and Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire. Salisbury Cathedral is a superb example of the style; because it was built over a relatively short period (the main body between 1220 and 1258), it is relatively unmixed with other styles (except for its façade and famous tower and spire, which date from the 14th century). Other good examples are the Galilee porch at Ely Cathedral; the nave and transept of Wells Cathedral (1225–40); the west front of Peterborough Cathedral; and Beverley Minster and the south transept at York. The style has also been used in academic buildings, such as the old library of Merton College, Oxford, which constitutes a portion of the so-called "Mob Quad."
Ystad
One of Sweden's most well-preserved medieval monasteries, the Greyfriars Abbey, lies in Ystad. The town also has an additional large medieval church, the Church of the Virgin Mary ("Mariakyrkan"). Both are highly influenced by Gothic Hansa architecture (which can also be seen in churches around the Baltic Sea, for instance in Helsingborg, Malmö, and Rostock) and are among the best examples in Sweden of Brick Gothic. In addition, there are areas of surviving medieval town architecture, like the Latin school (built c. 1500) and several town houses. The city is also included in the European Route of Brick Gothic. From the steeple of the Church of the Virgin Mary the Tower Watchman (tornväktaren or lurblåsaren) sounds his horn every 15 minutes from 21:15 to 01:00 to let the people of Ystad know that the town is safe from fire and enemies. The Tower Watchman also says a special line when sounding his horn: "The clock strikes ... (for example twelve). All is quiet! From fire and thieves may God preserve the town!" The tradition has existed since the eighteenth century.
Church architecture in Scotland
A more elaborate style known as decorated Gothic, applying ornamentation to vaults and pillars, particularly using curved motifs, began to be adopted in the thirteenth century and was characteristic of Scottish church building in the fourteenth century. It was used at Dunblane Cathedral, built in the thirteenth century, particularly to decorate the nave and East end. At Fortrose in the Highlands the elaborate decoration of this style is still visible in the south aisle. One of the finest examples is Sweetheart Abbey near Dumfries, a Cistercian monastery, named after the burial of John de Balliol's heart alongside the body of his wife. The period of the Wars of Independence (1296–1357) saw a large number of ecclesiastical buildings ruined, including Melrose and Jedburgh Abbeys. Church building was largely confined to the parish churches in the relatively secure areas like Fife, as at St. Monans, originally a church of the Dominican friars.
In the fifteenth century continental builders are known to have been working in Scotland. French master-mason John Morrow was employed at the building of Glasgow Cathedral and the rebuilding of Melrose Abbey, both considered fine examples of Gothic architecture. Compared with after the Reformation, the interiors of churches were often elaborate, with highly decorated sacrament houses, like the ones surviving at Deskford and Kinkell. The carvings at Rosslyn Chapel, depicting the progression of the seven deadly sins, were created in the mid-fifteenth century. They are considered some of the finest in the Gothic style. Late Medieval Scottish churches also often contained elaborate burial monuments, like the Douglas tombs in the town of Douglas.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
A number of medieval shipyards, notably the "Drassanes" in Barcelona, Spain and the Venetian Arsenal in Venice, Italy survive to this day. Of these two, the "Drassanes" is the most purely Gothic building complex, while the Venetian arsenal was arguably the most important — indeed, it was the largest industrial complex in Europe prior to the Industrial Revolution.
Paisley, Renfrewshire
Most noticeable among the buildings of Paisley is its medieval Abbey in the centre of the town dating from the 12th century. The earliest surviving architecture is the south-east doorway in the nave from the cloister, which has a round arched doorway typical of Romanesque or Norman architecture which was the prevalent architectural style before the adoption of Gothic. The choir (east end) and tower date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are examples of Gothic Revival architecture. They were reconstructed in three main phases of restorations with the tower and choir conforming to the designs of Dr Peter MacGregor Chalmers. The roof in the nave is the most recent of restorations with the plaster ceiling by Rev Dr Boog which was added in the 1790s being replaced by a timber roof in 1981.
Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church, named for the industrialist Thomas Coats (1809–1883), is an example of Gothic Revival architecture. It dominates the town's skyline with its crown spire more than high. Opened in 1894 and designed by Hippolyte Jean Blanc it is the largest Baptist church in Europe. The exterior is made of old red sandstone. Inside, the church is decorated with wood carvings, mosaic floors and marble fonts. The church also contains a 3040 pipe Hill Organ.
Gothic architecture
Notable Gothic civil architecture in Spain includes the Silk Exchange in Valencia, Spain (1482–1548), a major marketplace, which features a main hall with twisting columns beneath its vaulted ceiling. Another Spanish Gothic landmark is the Palace of the Kings of Navarre in Olite (1269–1512), which combining the features of a palace and a fortress.
English Gothic architecture
Notable later examples include Bath Abbey (, although heavily restored in the 1860s), Henry VII's Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–1519), and the towers at St Giles' Church, Wrexham, and St Mary Magdalene, Taunton (1503–1508).
History of Medieval Arabic and Western European domes
The use of domes declined in Western Europe with the rise of Gothic architecture. Gothic domes are uncommon due to the use of rib vaults over naves, and with church crossings usually focused instead by a tall steeple, but there are examples of small octagonal crossing domes in cathedrals as the style developed from the Romanesque. Spaces of circular or octagonal plan were sometimes covered with vaults of a "double chevet" style, similar to the chevet apse vaulting in Gothic cathedrals. The crossing of is an example. The domed "Decagon" nave of St. Gereon's Basilica in Cologne, Germany, a ten-sided space in an oval shape, was built between 1219 and 1227 upon the remaining low walls of a 4th-century Roman mausoleum. The ribbed domical vault rises four stories and 34 meters above the floor, covering an oval area 23.5 meters long and 18.7 meters wide. It is unique among the twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne, and in European architecture in general, and may have been the largest dome built in this period in Western Europe until the completion of the dome of Florence Cathedral.
Gothicmed
The Castel Maniace castle-residence in Sicily, the Bellver on Majorca, and the Castel Nuovo in Naples; in the cathedrals in Nicosia, Palma de Majorca, Girona or Albi; in the churches in Slovenia, Évora or Palermo; in the fourteenth-century palaces in Rhodes, Dubrovnik, Malta or Valencia, certain common stylistic features emerge that link them to this period in the history of architecture that we have come to call the Gothic. In reality, parallel to the re-emergence of classical forms, a coherent Gothic period emerged in the Mediterranean from the early 13th century until well into the 16th century.
Gothic architecture
Prague, in the region Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire, was another flourishing center for Gothic architecture. Charles IV of Bohemia was both King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Empire, and he had monumental tastes. He began construction of Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral in the Gothic style in 1344, as well as a Gothic palace, Karlstein Castle in Central Bohemia, and Gothic buildings for the new University of Prague. The nave of Prague Cathedral featured the filet vault, a decorative type of vault in which the ribs criss-crossed in a mesh pattern, similar to the vaults of Bristol Cathedral and other English churches. His other Gothic projects included the lavishly decorated Chapel of the Holy Cross inside Karlstein Castle (1357–1367), and the choir of Aachen Cathedral begun in 1355, which was built on the model of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Gothic architecture in Germany and the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire generally followed the French formula, but the towers were much taller and, if completed, were often surmounted by enormous openwork spires. The distinctive character of the interior of German Gothic cathedrals is their breadth and openness. German and Czech cathedrals, like the French, tend not to have strongly projecting transepts. There are also many hall churches ("Hallenkirchen") without clerestory windows. Cologne Cathedral is after Milan Cathedral the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Construction began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete – a period of over 600 years. It is 144.5 metres long, 86.5 m wide and its two towers are 157 m tall.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
Lübeck, founded in 1143, quickly established itself as the centre of the Hanseatic League, and the source of inspiration for cities established and expanded in the Baltic Sea region as trade routes in the area grew in importance. The example of Lübeck influenced and promoted similar architectural development in many of the cities in the area, albeit of course with local variations. Notable examples of such Hanseatic towns with rich medieval heritage include Visby, Tallinn, Toruń, Stralsund and Wismar to name a few. Characteristic for many of these towns is the extensive use of brick, in the so-called Brick Gothic style.
French Gothic architecture
The south of France had its own distinct variation of the Gothic style : the Southern French Gothic. A prominent example is Albi Cathedral in the Tarn Department, built between 1282 and 1480. It was originally constructed as a fortress, then transformed into a church. Due to a lack of suitable stone, it was constructed almost entirely of brick, and is one of the largest brick buildings in the world.
Architecture of Germany
Gothic architecture flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture. The first Gothic buildings in Germany were built from about 1230, for example the "Liebfrauenkirche" (German for "Church of Our dear Lady") ca. 1233-1283 in Trier, which is one of the most important early Gothic cathedrals in Germany and falls into the architectural tradition of the .
French Gothic architecture
The Flamboyant Gothic style appeared in the second half of the 14th century. Its characteristic features were more exuberant decoration, as the nobles and wealthy citizens of mostly northern French cities competed to build more and more elaborate churches and cathedrals. It took its name from the sinuous, flame-like designs which ornamented windows. Other new features included the "arc en accolade", a window decorated with an arch, stone pinnacles and floral sculpture. It also featured an increase in the number of "nervures", or ribs, that supported and decorated each vault of the ceiling, both for greater support and decorative effect. Notable examples of Flamboyant Gothic include the western facade of Rouen Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes in Paris, both built in the 1370s; and the Choir of Mont Saint Michel Abbey (about 1448).
French architecture
Aside from these Gothic styles, there is another style called "Gothique Méridional" (or Southern Gothic, opposed to Gothique Septentrional or Northern Gothic). This style is characterised by a large nave and has no transept. Examples of this Gothic architecture would be Notre-Dame-de-Lamouguier in Narbonne and Sainte-Marie in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.
Gothic Revival architecture
In 19th-century northwestern Bulgaria, the informal Slavine Architectural School introduced Gothic Revival elements into its vernacular ecclesiastical and residential Bulgarian National Revival architecture. These included geometric decorations based on the triangle on apses, domes and external narthexes, as well as sharp-pointed window and door arches. The largest project of the Slavine School is the Lopushna Monastery cathedral (1850–1853), though later churches like those in Zhivovtsi (1858), Mitrovtsi (1871), Targovishte (1870–1872), Gavril Genovo (1873), Gorna Kovachitsa (1885) and Bistrilitsa (1887–1890) display more prominent vernacular Gothic Revival features.
History of architecture
The various elements of Gothic architecture emerged in a number of 11th- and 12th-century building projects, particularly in the Île de France area, but were first combined to form what we would now recognise as a distinctively Gothic style at the 12th-century abbey church of Saint-Denis in Saint-Denis, near Paris. Verticality is emphasized in Gothic architecture, which features almost skeletal stone structures with great expanses of glass, pared-down wall surfaces supported by external flying buttresses, pointed arches using the ogive shape, ribbed stone vaults, clustered columns, pinnacles and sharply pointed spires. Windows contain beautiful stained glass, showing stories from the Bible and from lives of saints. Such advances in design allowed cathedrals to rise taller than ever, and it became something of an inter-regional contest to build a church as high as possible.
English Gothic architecture
Examples of the Decorated style can be found in many British churches and cathedrals. Principal examples are those of the east ends of Lincoln Cathedral and of Carlisle Cathedral and the west fronts of York Minster and Lichfield Cathedral. Much of Exeter Cathedral is built in this style, as is the crossing of Ely Cathedral, (including the famous octagonal lantern, built between 1322 and 1328 to replace the fallen central tower), three west bays of the choir and the Lady Chapel. In Scotland, Melrose Abbey was a noteworthy example, though much of it is now in ruins.
Budapest
The next determinative style is the Gothic architecture in Budapest. The few remaining ones can be found in the Castle District. Buildings to look for are no. 18, 20 and 22 on Országház Street, which date back to the 14th century and No. 31 Úri Street, which has a Gothic façade that dates back to the 15th century. Another building with Gothic remains is the Inner City Parish Church (Budapest), built in the 12th century. The most characteristic Gothic-style buildings are actually Neo-Gothic, like the most well-known Budapest landmarks, the Hungarian Parliament Building. and the Matthias Church, where much of the original material was used (originally built in Romanesque style in 1015).
Collegiate Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture was used for American college buildings as early as 1829, when "Old Kenyon" was completed on the campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Alexander Jackson Davis's University Hall (1833–37, demolished 1890), on New York University's Washington Square campus, was another early example. Richard Bond's church-like library for Harvard College, Gore Hall (1837–41, demolished 1913), became the model for other library buildings. James Renwick, Jr.'s Free Academy Building (1847–49, demolished 1928), for what is today City College of New York, continued in the style. Inspired by London's Hampton Court Palace, Swedish-born Charles Ulricson designed Old Main (1856–57) at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
Hexafoil
A key component to Gothic architecture is a strong design principal involving geometry and harmony. The hexafoil design is implemented in various Gothic buildings constructed in the 12th through 16th century. The traditional design is used in cloisters, triforiums and stained glass windows of famous buildings such as Notre-Dame, Salisbury Cathedral, and Regensburg Cathedral. Stone cut-out hexafoils are displayed in a plate tracery style in the Salisbury Cathedral, creating a pattern along the triforium.
French Gothic architecture
French Gothic architecture also experienced a modest revival, largely confined to new churches. Neo-Gothic churches built in Paris included Sainte-Clothilde by Theodore Ballu (1841–57); and Saint-Laurent, Paris by Simon-Claude-Constant Dufeux (1862–65). Jean=Baptiste Lassus became the most prolific neo-Gothic architect in France, constructing Saint-Nicolas de Nantes (1840), Sacré-Coeur de Moulins (1849), Saint-Pierre de Dijon (1850), Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville (1853) and the Église de Cusset (1855). The Saint-Eugene-Sainte-Cécile in Paris by Louis-Auguste Boileau and Adrien-Louis Lasson (1854–55) was the most innovative example of neo-Gothic; it combined a traditional Gothic design with a modern iron framework. Jules Verne was married in the church in 1857.
Architecture of England
The earliest known examples of architecture in England are the megalithic tombs of the Neolithic, such as those at Wayland's Smithy and the West Kennet Long Barrow. These "cromlechi" are common over much of Atlantic Europe: present day Spain; Brittany; Great Britain; and Ireland. Radiocarbon dating has shown them to be, as historian John Davies says, "the first substantial, permanent constructions of man and that the earliest of them are nearly 1,500 years older than the first of the pyramids of Egypt." The Neolithic henges of Avebury and Stonehenge are two of the largest and most famous megalithic monuments in the world. The structure is an annual calendar, but the reason for the massive size is unknown with any certainty, suggestions include agriculture, ceremonial use and interpreting the cosmos. With other nearby sites, including Silbury Hill, Beckhampton Avenue, and West Kennet Avenue, they form a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites.
Czech Gothic architecture
The oldest Gothic building in Prague is the Convent of St. Agnes founded in 1231 by the Bohemian Princess Agnes of Bohemia (later canonized). It was the first convent of the Poor Clares outside Italy. The first church of this convent (St. Francis Church) was completed in 1234 and it is said to be the oldest vaulted mendicant order church north of the Alps. The Church of Christ the Saviour built in 1261–1265 as the royal mausoleum of Přemyslid dynasty by King Ottokar II of Bohemia was directly influenced by the French Gothic architecture.
Moors
Moorish architecture is the articulated Islamic architecture of northern Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal, where the Moors were dominant between 711 and 1492. The best surviving examples of this architectural tradition are the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba and the Alhambra in Granada (mainly 1338–1390), as well as the Giralda in Seville (1184). Other notable examples include the ruined palace city of Medina Azahara (936–1010) and the Mosque of Cristo de la Luz, now a church, in Toledo, the Aljafería in Zaragoza and baths at for example Ronda and Alhama de Granada.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
It was not only new, founded cities that had extensive building regulations. London, Florence, Paris, Venice and numerous smaller cities in Spain and Italy had rules concerning not only the height and shape of buildings, but also for example regulating the width of streets, the projection of roofs and rules concerning waste management, drainage and fire regulations. The Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy is one of the earliest examples of "coherent town planning along aesthetic lines, perhaps for the first time since antiquity." Official regulations governing the size of the palaces facing the square date from 1298. The famous square is dominated by the Palazzo Pubblico, the town hall. With growing prosperity and an emerging sense of civic pride, town halls such as Palazzo Pubblico often became a show-piece of the cities' growing confidence. In the cities of northern Italy, this development started early and many Gothic town halls and other civic monuments have to a large extent survived to this day.
Gothic architecture
Italian Gothic architecture went its own particular way, departing from the French model. It was influenced by other styles, notably the Byzantine style introduced in Ravenna. Major examples include Milan Cathedral, the Orvieto Cathedral, and particularly Florence Cathedral, before the addition of the Duomo in the Renaissance.
Architecture of Limerick
Much of Limerick's architectural heritage has been compromised. The main streets in the city centre were originally fronted by mostly uniform Georgian townhouses. Nowadays significant gaps and oddities may be found, in addition to the dilapidated state of some buildings. The most recent example of a controversial demolition was the Cruises Hotel. This was the oldest hotel in Limerick; Daniel O'Connell himself stayed in it. It was demolished in or around 1990 to allow Cruises Street pedestrian area. Sadly, the site of what was this illustrious building is now home to a McDonald's and Costa Coffee shop on either corner of the street entrance. Other examples of lost architecture include the impressive facade of the old Cannock's Department Store (now Penney's) and its landmark clock tower which was demolished in the 1960s and replaced with a more modern styled building and the facade of Todd's Department Store (now Brown Thomas) which was destroyed by a fire in the late 1950s has also been replaced with a more modern design. Other areas of the city have similar tragic tales.
Gothic architecture
Another landmark of the Rayonnant Gothic are the two rose windows on the north and south of the transept of Notre Dame Cathedral. Whereas earlier rose windows, like those of Amiens Cathedral, were framed by stone and occupied only a portion of the wall, these two windows, with a delicate lace-like framework, occupied the entire space between the pillars.
Church architecture
The Gothic era began in 12th-century France. It was first coined by historiographer Giorgio Vasari. The era began in north-eastern France and slowly spread throughout the rest of Europe. Multiple styles of Gothic architecture occurred, notably Rayonnant in the 13th century. A style known for its exaggerated geometrical features, making everything as astounding and eye-catching as possible. Shortly after an emerging style was born known as decorated gothic where these geometrical features were being applied to already complex structural forms. Nearing the end of the Gothic period the art style had transcended to being just churches attempting to align themselves with god. Residences, guilds, government buildings all adopted this new architectural style.[[Image: Bete Giyorgis Lalibela Ethiopia.jpg|thumb|[[Bete Giyorgis]] from above, one of the rock-hewn churches of [[Lalibela]]]]
Cuenca Cathedral
Cuenca Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in the city of Cuenca, located in the Province of Cuenca in the Castile-La Mancha region of south-eastern central Spain. The building is one of the earliest Spanish examples of Gothic architecture, built at a time when the Romanesque style predominated in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the cathedral is characteristic of the Norman and Anglo-Norman architecture of the 12th century, of which Soissons Cathedral, Laon Cathedral and Notre-Dame de Paris are representative examples.
Gothic architecture
Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Gothic cathedrals were constructed in most of the major cities of northern Europe. For the most part, they followed the French model, but with variations depending upon local traditions and the materials available. The first Gothic churches in Germany were built from about 1230. They included "Liebfrauenkirche" ( ca. 1233–1283) in Trier, claimed to be the oldest Gothic church in Germany, and Freiburg Cathedral, which was built in three stages, the first beginning in 1120, though only the foundations of the original cathedral still exist. It is noted for its 116-metre tower, the only Gothic church tower in Germany that was completed in the Middle Ages (1330).
Gothic architecture
The next period was termed "Rayonnant" ("Radiant"), describing the tendency toward the use of more and more stained glass and less masonry in the design of the structure, until the walls seemed entirely made of glass. The most celebrated example was the chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, the chapel attached to the royal residence on the Palais de la Cité. An elaborate system of exterior columns and arches reduced the walls of the upper chapel to a thin framework for the enormous windows. The weight of each of the masonry gables above the archivolt of the windows also helped the walls to resist the thrust and to distribute the weight.
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
There are many smaller architectural works within cathedrals which have the curvilinear tracery. These include the arcading in the Lady Chapel at Ely, which also has the widest vault in England, the pulpitum screen at Lincoln and richly decorated doorways at Ely and Rochester. Characteristic of this period of Gothic is elaborate lierne vaulting in which the main ribs are connected by intermediate ribs which do not spring from the wall and so are not major structural members. The vaults of Bristol are the most famous examples of this style, which can also be seen at York.
In the 1330s, when the architects of Europe were embracing the Flamboyant style, English architecture moved away from the Flowing Decorated in an entirely different and much more sober direction with the reconstruction, in highly modular form, of the choir of the Norman abbey, now cathedral, at Gloucester. The Perpendicular style, which relies on a network of intersecting mullions and transoms rather than on a diversity of richly carved forms for effect, gives an overall impression of great unity, in which the structure of the vast windows of both clerestory and east end are integrated with the arcades below and the vault above. The style proved very adaptable and continued with variations in the naves of Canterbury and Winchester, and in the choir of York.
Beauty
In the Gothic Architecture of the High and Late Middle Ages, light was considered the most beautiful revelation of God, which was heralded in design. Examples are the stained glass of Gothic Cathedrals including Notre-Dame de Paris and Chartes Cathedral.
Gothic architecture
A small but notable example of Gothic revival in Italy is the Pedrocchi Café in Padua, Italy (1837), by Giuseppe Jappelli. It borrowed the Venetian Gothic style plus the pinnacles of Milan Cathedral. It became famous as the meeting place of Italian patriots rebelling against Austrian rule in 1848.
Picardy
Picardy is the birthplace of Gothic architecture, housing six of the world's greatest examples of Gothic cathedrals, which span the history of Gothic architecture in its entirety. Amiens Cathedral, standing as the largest cathedral in Europe, which according to John Ruskin is the "Pantheon of Gothic architecture", could house the Notre-Dame de Paris twice over. It was built in as little as 50 years. Picardy also holds the tallest transept in the history of the Gothic period; this transept is located on Saint-Pierre cathedral in Beauvais, Oise.
Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset
Most of Bath's Grade I listed buildings are made from the local golden-coloured Bath Stone, and date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Their dominant architectural style is Georgian, which evolved from the Palladian revival style that became popular during the early 18th century. This led to the entire city's designation as a World Heritage Site. Much of the development, and many of the buildings, were the vision of John Wood, the Elder. The Circus is seen as the pinnacle of Wood's work: it consists of three long, curved terraces that form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration for which was the Colosseum in Rome. The best known of Bath's terraces is the Royal Crescent, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by Wood's son, John Wood, the Younger. Around 1770 the neoclassical architect Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge, a three-arched bridge spanning the Avon. He used as his prototype an original, but unused, design by Palladio for the Rialto Bridge in Venice. The heart of the Georgian city was the Pump Room, which together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms was designed by Thomas Baldwin, a local builder responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in Argyle Street. Great Pulteney Street, where Baldwin eventually lived, is another of his works: this wide boulevard, constructed and over long and wide, is lined on both sides by Georgian terraces.
Gothic architecture
The earliest example of Gothic architecture in Germany is Maulbronn Monastery, a Romanesque Cistercian abbey in southwest Germany whose narthex was built in the early 12th century by an anonymous architect.
Architecture of Paris
The Gothic Style went through another phase between 1400 and about 1550; the Flamboyant Gothic, which combined extremely refined forms and rich decoration. The style was used not only in churches, but also in some noble residences. Notable existing examples are the Church of Saint-Séverin (1489–95) with its famous twisting pillar; the elegant choir of the church of St-Gervais-et-St-Protais,; the Tour Saint-Jacques, the flamboyant Gothic vestige of an abbey church destroyed during the Revolution; and the chapel of the residence of the Abbots of Cluny, now the Museum of the Middle Ages. and the ceiling of the Tour Saint-Jean-Sans-Peur, a vestige of the former residence of the Dukes of Burgundy, in the 2nd arrondissement.
Romanticism in Scotland
The Gothic revival in architecture has been seen as an expression of Romanticism, and according to Alvin Jackson, the Scots baronial style was "a Caledonian reading of the gothic". Some of the earliest evidence of a revival in Gothic architecture are from Scotland. Inveraray Castle, constructed from 1746 with design input from William Adam, incorporates turrets into a conventional Palladian-style house. His son Robert Adam's houses in this style include Mellerstain and Wedderburn in Berwickshire and Seton House in East Lothian. The trend is most clearly seen at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, remodelled by Robert from 1777.
Important for the re-adoption of the Scots Baronial in the early nineteenth century was Abbotsford House, the residence of Scott. Re-built for him from 1816, it became a model for the revival of the style. Common features borrowed from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses included battlemented gateways, crow-stepped gables, pointed turrets and machicolations. The style was popular across Scotland and was applied to many relatively modest dwellings by architects such as William Burn (1789–1870), David Bryce (1803–1876), Edward Blore (1787–1879), Edward Calvert (c. 1847–1914) and Robert Stodart Lorimer (1864–1929). Examples in urban contexts include the building of Cockburn Street in Edinburgh (from the 1850s) as well as the National Wallace Monument at Stirling (1859–69). The rebuilding of Balmoral Castle as a baronial palace, and its adoption as a royal retreat by Queen Victoria from 1855–58, confirmed the popularity of the style.
Middle Ages
From the early 12th century, French builders developed the Gothic style, marked by the use of rib vaults, pointed arches, flying buttresses, and large stained glass windows. It was used mainly in churches and cathedrals and continued in use until the 16th century in much of Europe. Classic examples of Gothic architecture include Chartres Cathedral and Reims Cathedral in France as well as Salisbury Cathedral in England. Stained glass became a crucial element in the design of churches, which continued to use extensive wall-paintings, now almost all lost.
Venetian Gothic architecture
Venetian Gothic is an architectural style combining use of the Gothic lancet arch with Byzantine and Moorish influences. The style originated in 14th century Venice with the confluence of Byzantine styles from Constantinople, Moorish influences from Al-Andalus, and early Gothic forms from mainland Italy. Chief examples of the style are the Doge's Palace and the Ca' d'Oro in Venice.
French architecture
The Saint-Étienne located in Caen presents one of the best known Romanesque facades of Northern France, with three portals leading into the nave and aisles, and a simple arrangement of identical windows between the buttresses of the tall towers. Begun in the 1060s, it was a prototype for Gothic facades. The spires and the pinnacles, which appear to rise inevitably from the towers, are of the early 13th century. The Trinité Church of Caen has a greater emphasis on the central portal and the arrangement of the windows above it. The decoration of the towers begins at a lower level to that at Saint-Étienne, giving them weight and distinction. The upper balustrades are additions in the Classical style. The facade of Le Puy-en-Velay in Haute-Loire has a complex arrangement of openings and blind arcades that was to become a feature of French Gothic facades. It is made even richer by the polychrome brick used in diverse patterns, including checkerboard, also a feature of ceramic decoration of Spanish churches of this period. The profile of the aisles is screened by open arches, perhaps for bells. Angoulême Cathedral is another richly decorated facade, but here it is of dressed stone with sculpture as the main ornament. The manner of arrangement of the various arches is not unlike that at Le Puy-en-Velay, but forming five strong vertical divisions which suggests that the nave is framed by two aisles on each side. In fact, the church has no aisles and is roofed by domes. The figurative sculpture, in common with much Romanesque sculpture, is not closely integrated to the arched spaces into which it has been set.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
Few countries in Europe can rival Spain when it comes to the number of well-preserved Gothic castles, primarily dating from the 15th century. Typical examples of these often severe-looking, strictly military structures are Torrelobatón, El Barco de Ávila and Montealegre castles. An atypical but inventive piece of Gothic architecture is the completely round Bellver Castle on Mallorca island, built in 1300-14 for James II of Majorca by architect Pere Salvà.
Scotland Neck Historic District
Scotland Neck Historic District is a national historic district located at Scotland Neck, Halifax County, North Carolina. It encompasses 249 contributing buildings and 1 contributing object in the central business district and surrounding residential sections of the town of Scotland Neck. The district includes notable examples of Greek Revival and Gothic Revival style architecture. Located in the district is the separately listed Hoffman-Bowers-Josey-Riddick House. Other notable buildings include the Fenner-Shields-Lamb House (1827); D. Edmondson Building (c. 1882), E. T. Whitehead drug store (c. 1901); Scotland Neck Bank (1914); Baptist Church (1917); Trinity Episcopal Church (1924); and town hall and fire station (1939), brick gymnasium and vocational building (1940), and one-story, elongated brick multiple housing unit (1943) built by the Works Progress Administration. The latter building was utilized as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.
French Gothic architecture
French Gothic architecture is a style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre Dame Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, and Amiens Cathedral. Its main characteristics were the search for verticality, or height, and the innovative use of flying buttresses and other architectural innovations to distribute the weight of the stone structures to supports on the outside, allowing unprecedented height and volume, The new techniques also permitted the addition of larger windows, including enormous stained glass windows, which filled the cathedrals with light. The French style was widely copied in other parts of northern Europe, particularly Germany and England. It was gradually supplanted as the dominant French style in the mid-16th century by French Renaissance architecture.
Gothic Revival architecture
Some of the earliest evidence of a revival in Gothic architecture is from Scotland. Inveraray Castle, constructed from 1746, with design input from William Adam, displays the incorporation of turrets. These were largely conventional Palladian style houses that incorporated some external features of the Scots baronial style. Robert Adam's houses in this style include Mellerstain and Wedderburn in Berwickshire and Seton House in East Lothian, but it is most clearly seen at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, remodelled by Adam from 1777. The eccentric landscape designer Batty Langley even attempted to "improve" Gothic forms by giving them classical proportions.
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic houses and small churches became common in North America in the late nineteenth century. These structures adapted Gothic elements such as pointed arches, steep gables, and towers to traditional American light-frame construction. The invention of the scroll saw and mass-produced wood moldings allowed a few of these structures to mimic the florid fenestration of the High Gothic. But in most cases, Carpenter Gothic buildings were relatively unadorned, retaining only the basic elements of pointed-arch windows and steep gables. Probably the best known example of Carpenter Gothic is the house in Eldon, Iowa, that Grant Wood used for the background of his famous painting "American Gothic".
Basilica of Saint-Denis
The Basilica of St Denis ranks as an architectural landmark—as the first major structure of which a substantial part was designed and built in the Gothic style. Both stylistically and structurally, it heralded the change from Romanesque architecture to Gothic architecture. Before the term "Gothic" came into common use, it was known as the "French Style" ("Opus Francigenum").
Architecture of India
Mumbai, (then known as Bombay) has some of the most prominent examples of British colonial architecture. This included the gothic revival (Victoria terminus, Univeristy of Mumbai, Rajabai Clock Tower, High Court, BMC Building), Indo-Saracenic (Prince of Wales Museum, Gateway of India, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel) and art deco (Eros Cinema, New India Assurance Building).
Gothic architecture
A distinctive characteristic of Italian Gothic is the use of polychrome decoration, both externally as marble veneer on the brick façade and internally where the arches are often made of alternating black and white segments. The columns were sometimes painted red, and the walls were decorated with frescoes and the apse with mosaic. Italian cathedral façades are often polychrome and may include mosaics in the lunettes over the doors. The façades have projecting open porches and ocular or wheel windows rather than roses, and do not usually have a tower. The crossing is usually surmounted by a dome. There is often a free-standing tower and baptistery. The eastern end usually has an apse of comparatively low projection. The windows are not as large as in northern Europe and, although stained glass windows are often found, the favourite narrative medium for the interior is the fresco. The facade of Orvieto Cathedral, begun in 1310, is a striking example of mosaic decoration. Another innovation of Italian Gothic is the bronze doorway covered with sculpture; the most famous examples are the doors of the Baptistry of Florence, by Andrea Pisano (1330–1336).
Antoni Gaudí
During this period Gaudí was inspired above all by mediaeval Gothic art, but wanted to improve on its structural solutions. Neo-gothic was one of the most successful historicist styles at that time, above all as a result of the theoretical studies of Viollet-le-Duc. Gaudí studied examples in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Roussillon in depth, as well as Leonese and Castillian buildings during his stays in León and Burgos, and became convinced that it was an imperfect style, leaving major structural issues only partly resolved. In his works he eliminated the need of buttresses through the use of ruled surfaces, and abolished crenellations and excessive openwork.
The first example was the Teresian College ("Col·legi de les Teresianes") (1888–1889), in Barcelona's Carrer Ganduxer, commissioned by San Enrique de Ossó. Gaudí fulfilled the wish of the order that the building should be austere, in keeping with their vows of poverty. He designed a simple building, using bricks for the exterior and some brick elements for the interior. Wrought ironwork, one of Gaudí's favourite materials, appeared on the facades. The building is crowned by a row of merlons which suggest a castle, a possible reference to Saint Teresa's "Interior Castle". The corners have brick pinnacles topped by helicoidal columns and culminate in a four-armed cross, typical of Gaudí's works, and with ceramic shields bearing various symbols of the order. The interior includes a corridor which is famous for the series of catenary arches that it contains. These elegant arches are decorative and support the ceiling and the floor above. For Gaudí, the catenary arch was an ideal constructional element, capable of supporting great loads with slender masonry.
History of college campuses and architecture in the United States
The interest in Classical architecture was met with equal interest, beginning in the 1830s, in Gothic architecture, leading to the Gothic Revival. The interest in Gothic design stemmed from the mistaken view that the style had originated in England, and the shift was predominantly led by Anglican colleges and their administrations, including that of Columbia University. Among the major uses of the Gothic in the United States, the two campuses designed by Philander Chase (that of Kenyon College and that of the now defunct Jubilee College) were some of the most notable, although Jubilee College's construction was never finished. Kenyon College's central building, Old Kenyon, was the first collegiate building in the United States to be designed in the Gothic style. The Gothic was not a monolithic style; the Ruskinian Gothic, for example, differed in coloration and overall aesthetic, enough that some consider it to be wholly distinct from other Gothic forms.
Churches in Norway
Gothic style was probably introduced by Håkon Håkonssen around 1240 and the style became dominant during the 13th century until church building came to a standstill after 1300 - lesser work on the Nidaros Cathedral however continued throughout the Middle Ages. Nidaros Cathedral is the only Norwegian church building where the full array of Gothic elements, including flying buttresses, is used. Other buildings with notable Gothic elements or additions include Utstein Abbey and Stavanger Cathedral. The typical rib vault was rarely used in Norwegian medieval Gothic, church builders instead relied on various types of timber roof trusses. On exception is the octagonal apse with rib vaults in Alstadhaug Church, probably inspired by the Nidaros octagon. Voss Church at Vossevangen is a 13th-century stone church in Gothic style, but with a wooden roof construction. The monumental Trondenes Church is a late medieval Gothic building with some Romanesque elements. The great St Magnus Cathedral on Orkney was built during the Norse period when Orkney was under the Archbishop of Nidaros. The soapstone portal in Dale Church (Luster) in English Gothic style is the most "magnificent" in any rural church according to Østby. The modest western entrance of Bergen Cathedral is an example of austere Gothic architecture.
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
In England, a symmetrical plan was conceived but never completely carried out for New Winchelsea, one of the so-called Cinque Ports, wine trading posts in Kent and Sussex. England is also the site of what is claimed to be the oldest purely residential street with its original buildings all surviving intact in Europe, Vicar's Close in Wells, Somerset, a planned street dating from the 1360s. In Wales, Edward I commissioned a series of castles and adjacent new towns as part of a settlement policy with the intent to pacify the recently conquered principality of Wales. Caernarfon and Conwy are two such planned towns of regular layout.
Cistercian architecture
In the purity of architectural style, the beauty of materials and the care with which the Alcobaça Monastery was built, Portugal possesses one of the most outstanding and best preserved examples of Early Gothic. Poblet Monastery, one of the largest in Spain, is considered similarly impressive for its austerity, majesty, and the fortified royal residence within.
Croatian Littoral
The earliest architectural heritage of the region includes ruins of Roman and Byzantine buildings throughout the area and early medieval Croatian burial grounds in the Vinodol area. There are preserved examples of the Romanesque architecture on the island of Krk, in Vinodol, and in the Kastav area—largely churches, monasteries, and fortifications such as Drivenik Castle. Several preserved examples of Gothic churches exist on the mainland, but during the Renaissance, construction largely consisted of fortifications because of the Ottoman conquest of the hinterland of the region. The most powerful noblemen in the region, the House of Zrinski and the House of Frankopan, built numerous castles in the area. They include the castles of Trsat, Grobnik, Bakar, Kraljevica, Ledenice, Bribir, Hreljin, Grižane, Novi Vinodolski, Krk, Drivenik and Gradec near Vrbnik. The most representative piece of Baroque architecture is the St. Vitus Cathedral in Rijeka.
Silesian architecture
Much more coherent was the development of secular buildings. The first homogeneous Renaissance building was the gate of Legnica Castle, built 1533 by Georg von Amberg. The highlight of Silesian architecture of that time however represented Brzeg Castle and his castle gate, which is deemed to be the symbol of Silesian Renaissance. It was built between 1544–70 by Franziskus Parr, the figurative architectural sculptures, the biggest ensemble in Silesia, were carried out by Saxon master Andreas Walther d.Ä.. It depicts George II of Brieg, his wife Barbara von Brandenburg and his line of ancestors. It was most probably modeled after Dresden's Georgenhof, which Parr visited in 1530, and Italian designs.
List of Dutch inventions and innovations
The Dutch gable was a notable feature of the Dutch-Flemish Renaissance architecture (or Northern Mannerist architecture) that spread to northern Europe from the Low Countries, arriving in Britain during the latter part of the 16th century. Notable castles/buildings including Frederiksborg Castle, Rosenborg Castle, Kronborg Castle, Børsen, Riga's House of the Blackheads and Gdańsk's Green Gate were built in Dutch-Flemish Renaissance style with sweeping gables, sandstone decorations and copper-covered roofs. Later Dutch gables with flowing curves became absorbed into Baroque architecture. Examples of Dutch-gabled buildings can be found in historic cities across Europe such as Potsdam (Dutch Quarter), Friedrichstadt, Gdańsk and Gothenburg. The style spread beyond Europe, for example Barbados is well known for Dutch gables on its historic buildings. Dutch settlers in South Africa brought with them building styles from the Netherlands: Dutch gables, then adjusted to the Western Cape region where the style became known as Cape Dutch architecture. In the Americas and Northern Europe, the West End Collegiate Church (New York City, 1892), the Chicago Varnish Company Building (Chicago, 1895), Pont Street Dutch-style buildings (London, 1800s), Helsingør Station (Helsingør, 1891), and Gdańsk University of Technology's Main Building (Gdańsk, 1904) are typical examples of the Dutch Renaissance Revival (Neo-Renaissance) architecture in the late 19th century.
Portuguese Romanesque architecture
Thus, in Portugal, the strong presence and popularity of Romanesque until later centuries meant that this decorative and architectural Cistercian model was the perfect basis for the slow change into Gothic style, without never completely cutting off with the previous Romanesque. Instead, these two styles merged in Portuguese architecture like nowhere else in Europe within a specific kind called Mendicant Gothic, typical of monastic buildings. Alcobaça, one of the biggest Cistercian abbeys in the world, is the first fully Gothic building in Portugal, but it still has a heavy and austere exterior appearance, only balanced by its tall and massive rib vaulted central nave and aisles. Churches like Santa Maria dos Olivais in Tomar, or São João de Alporão in Santarém are perfect examples of this Mendicant transitional period between the Romanesque and the definitive settle of Gothic style, which would only be a reality by the 14th and 15th centuries.
Collegiate Gothic
At the University of Pittsburgh, Charles Klauder was presented with a limited site and opted for verticality. The Cathedral of Learning (1926–37), a steel-frame, limestone-clad, 42-story skyscraper, is the world's second tallest university building and second tallest Gothic-styled building. It has been described as the literal culmination of late Gothic Revival architecture. The tower contain a half-acre Gothic hall whose mass is supported only by its 52-foot (16 m) tall arches. It is accompanied by the campus's other Gothic Revival structures by Klauder, including the Stephen Foster Memorial (1935–1937) and the French Gothic Heinz Memorial Chapel (1933–1938).
Gothic secular and domestic architecture
At the very end of the Gothic period, Benedikt Rejt in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic), drawing on a local tradition of elaborate tracery and inventiveness (so-called "Sondergotik") best represented by Peter Parler, created some of the most elaborate examples of complex vaulting in Gothic architecture at Prague Castle. The Vladislav Hall (built 1493-1502) by Rejt is the largest secular hall of the late Middle Ages. Here and in the so-called "Riders' Staircase" (also in Prague Castle), Rejt devised unique vaults: "[The Vladislav Hall's] amazing vault boasts intertwined double-curved or three-dimensional lierne ribs reaching almost to the floor. Similarly inventive is the vault over the Riders' Staircase with its twisting, asymmetrical, truncated ribs."
Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands
The city is known for its Danish colonial architecture, building structure and history, and a dozen streets and places throughout the city have Danish names. Charlotte Amalie has buildings of historical importance including St. Thomas Synagogue, the second-oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, and Frederick Lutheran Church. The town has a long history of pirates, especially stories of Bluebeard and Blackbeard (Edward Teach). In the 17th century, the Danes built both Blackbeard's Castle and Bluebeard's Castle attributed to the pirates. Blackbeard's Castle is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Another tourist attraction is Fort Christian, the oldest standing structure in the Virgin Islands Archipelago. A copy of the Liberty Bell is in Emancipation Park, which is a tourist attraction.