 |
The Gothic architecture originated in XII century in France.
During this period people are moving to secure castles and monasteries away from the big cities. The church has become extremely orthodox. It completely rejects the human beginning. Strong influence of the church is also reflected in the style of clothes: people wear long baggy costumes as showing any part of the body is strictly prohibited by the church. In architecture it evolves into creating a new type of a spacious cathedral with high ceiling where an ordinary person would feel really small and insignificant.
In their aspiration for showing a spacious interior Gothic architects have created a system of inclined arches and frames. The rooms were divided by walls covered with stone lace or colored stained-glass windows. The given construction system allowed building incredibly high vaults and due to the big windows getting an excellent light exposure. The columns supporting vaults became very thin and collected in beams. The classical example of the main facade of that epoch is that of the Cathedral in Amiens. It was framed with 2 non-symmetric towers on each side. Above the entrance one could see a huge mosaic window. The Doges Palace in Venice was decorated with three Gothic list windows and small windows with roses. On the other hand, it’s easy to notice classical proportions of the typical Roman structure with strong horizontal partitions and smooth facing of wall arches. The most reasonable explanation of this phenomenon is that Gothic influence appeared in Italian buildings only for decorative purposes. In the XIII Century in Italy begins the so-called epoch of Revival.
|
