Baptistery at Florence

Gothic architecture was born out of the experiences gained during the final phases of Romanesque architecture. The new architects took over many features of Late Romanesque architecture, subjecting them, however, to a new ideal of structural lightness, less massive, and demanding more sophisticated forms. Gothic architecture endeavoured to organise the space of the basilica into a unity, in which the significance of the walls was minimised, and the building was raised to soaring heights, stressing the vertical principle throughout in the compositional rhythm of all parts of the structure. The final and predominant aim was the attainment of imaginary space, elevating man’s mind into the supernatural space.

The 12^th century marked the beginning of a great movement in religious construction in the form of cathedrals, which proved the greatest design achievement of the age. These ornate structures, with their great emphasis on vertical movement, paid visual homage to the Christian God through forms vastly different from those previously raised to honour pagan gods of Greece and Rome. Gothic designers created a unique means of enclosing huge areas of overhead space and attained great heights through the development of pointed arches and buttresses. Both pinnacled and solid buttresses, as well as flying buttresses which acted as half arches, were incorporated into Gothic construction.

The Rheims Cathedral, erected between 1211 and 1430, illustrates one of the man’s most noble ventures and serves as an excellent example of the structures medieval man raised lo praise his God.

Europe inherited a great number of cathedrals built in Gothic style: Chartes Cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens Cathedral (France), Milan Cathedral (Italy), and Westminster Abbey (England).