Gothic Revival Section
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Gothic Architecture
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Most people separate the Romanesque period from the Gothic, some call it pre and early gothic. It came into it's own during the Norman era. It copied the rules and patterns of the buildings of the Roman Empire. You will find rounded arches, barrel vaults, thick piers and only a few windows. Buildings were generally very heavy looking, and generally the walls were decorated with elegant tapestries. The things you would find inside these buildings would often be very elaborate, crusted with gems or guilded in gold or inlaid with various rare or precious items. This style has been labelled "gothic" due to the air of gloom or the lack of cheer that some experience when they look at the buildings made in this style, but it is not "technically" gothic.
Buildings were created in this manner mainly due to gravity, the columns and vaults and arches were to support the height and weight of the building and even so it still could not tolerate large windows.
The Gothic Style.
The Gothic style started in 12th century France. The builders wanted to create the feeling of the heavenly, the ethereal and the awesome. There was a great emphasis on the vertical, calling attention to the greatness, the otherworldliness of God as opposed to the smallness of man. The higher the building, the more impressive and there had to be more light, thus the addition of more windows. The addition of colored glass also helped with the atmosphere that might make one think strongly about heaven. There was less reliance on the standard proportions which had been the rule since the Roman Empire and thus there was a great deal of experiementation during this time.
It was still, of course, ruled by gravity, but the new conventions let to new ways of controlling gravity's effect on the buildings. There were new ideas which came due to the crusades and the contact with the Arab world. You still had the influence of the romanesque of course, and thus the ambience is still very striking. However some conventions changed...the arches became pointed, the vaults gained ribs and buttresses were introduced. You might find small clusters of columns rather than one thick one and colored glass windows were introduced and it was often surrounded by very eleborate "tracery."
Gothic Revival:
Loosely, any style which recreates elements of the gothic style is called "gothic revival." However, the term usually refers to the period in the late 17th to mid 18th centuries, particularly in England. New materials like cast iron could be applied to the gothic style and it was done fairly regularly in France. There has also been a revival of gothic architecture since the beginning of the 20th century in both England and the US.
