Stave churches

Scandinavia remained outside the Christian sphere until about the middle of the 11th century, when Anglo-Saxon missionaries returned with Viking raiders from England and preached Christianity. The missionaries also brought knowledge of Christian church architecture with them, and soon began to put up small, simple churches based on a fusion of English Christian churches and native styles. These stave churches were usually wooden and windowless, the name deriving from the load-bearing posts in the timber framing, which were called stafr in Old Norse. Although they were once common across all of northern Europe, most surviving examples are in Norway, such as the church at Urnes, dating from c.1125 to 1140 (although it is possible that a previous Christian church was on the site). Bringing together elements of Celtic and Viking art and Romanesque architecture, the small, dark building (opposite) has cylindrical columns and semicircular arches with carvings and sculpture on many internal wooden panels, predominantly featuring interlaced Celtic-style patterns.

Gothic cathedrals

With their towers, flying buttresses and tracery (stone window framings), Gothic religious monuments were the supreme expression of Christianity in architecture. They represented a synthesis of God, humanity and nature, a blend of symbolism and efficient structures, and size became a dominant feature. From outside, the towers and pinnacles form intricate silhouettes against the sky as they soar towards Heaven; the vast, airy interiors, with hazy or coloured light pouring through the stained glass, seem similarly unearthly.

It was technical advances of the 12th century that elevated cathedrals from the heaviness of Romanesque to the lightness of the Gothic style. A major change was from thick to thin walls: the tonnage of roofs and towers was now transmitted to the ground not through stout walls but via a load-bearing ‘skeleton’ of pointed arches, ribbed vaults and multiple rib-like flying buttresses. Rain was shed from lead-covered roofs and spouted away from the walls through chutes or gargoyles.

Chartres Cathedral, 1194–1250

Saint-Denis and Chartres

The Gothic style in Europe originated in a new choir at the abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris, in 1140. Built under the direction of Abbot Suger (1081–1151), it revolutionized architecture. The unknown architect remodelled the church (opposite) with pointed arches, huge stained-glass windows, high stone vaults and flying buttresses. Previously, such lavishness was considered too garish and showy for a Christian building, but in his interpretation of the Bible, Suger saw his church as an image of God’s kingdom. He ordered it to be flooded with coloured light, achieving an unprecedented brightness. Arches also pointed up to Heaven and allowed new types of vaulting.

This blend of spiritual vision and engineering skill spread to other churches. The first Gothic cathedral, Chartres (1194–1220), was built of limestone with a green copper roof. Dominated by flying buttresses and two contrasting spires, the cruciform plan features a spacious nave and façades bearing hundreds of sculpted figures depicting biblical themes.

Early Gothic

While the innovations at the choir of Saint-Denis spread quickly in Europe, some countries embraced them more readily than others. Germany was initially cautious. France was ambitious and enthusiastic, applying Gothic mainly to religious buildings. One of the first ribbed vaults after Saint-Denis was the nave of Saint-Étienne at Caen in the 1120s (although it was preceded by Durham Cathedral in England, opposite, in c.1090).

With the rediscovery of Euclidian geometry in the early 12th century, early Gothic cathedrals achieved a spatial unity and harmony, the style developing partly through a revival of mathematics and science and partly on time-honoured intuition. What constituted drawings and plans at that time became more accurate – as, consequently, did construction. Flying buttresses countered the outward thrust from the high ceiling and walls, and rounded arches gave way to lancet (pointed) arches, which held greater loads and also laid emphasis on a religious sense of Heaven-directed yearning.

French Gothic

Medieval communities took great pride in their churches and cathedrals, especially in northern France, source of the Gothic style. They poured huge funds into them, while professional masons travelled from city to city to build them. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1248, opposite) was designed to be more awe-inspiring than any other church in Europe. The resting place of holy relics, including a supposed piece of Christ’s Crown of Thorns, it is an example of the Rayonnant style. A mid-Gothic phase inspired by French court style, Rayonnant – ‘radiating’ – is characterised by rose windows featuring decorative tracery. The walls of Sainte-Chapelle feature vast, brilliantly coloured stained-glass windows, separated only by vividly painted columns.

Close by, Notre Dame de Paris was begun in 1163; its flying buttresses were an afterthought, added to support the high, thin outside walls and roof. Over many years, numerous architects worked on Notre Dame; those of the mid-13th century oversaw the construction of the fine rose windows.

English Gothic

Gothic in Britain absorbed influences from other parts of Europe – as can be seen in its pointed arches, vaulted roofs, buttresses, large windows, tracery and spires – and yet its relative insularity resulted in a uniquely British synthesis. As they had done with the preceding Norman (Romanesque) style, masons and craftsmen introduced ideas from France to England, where Gothic was retrospectively divided into three periods: Early English (1200–75), Decorated (1275–1375) and Perpendicular (1375–1520).

An Early English example is the choir of Canterbury Cathedral (opposite), rebuilt in Gothic style after a fire in 1174. Salisbury Cathedral (1220–58) is also in the Early English style; the west front, although decorated, is flat and plain in comparison with its flamboyant French counterparts. Other Early English examples include Westminster Abbey, largely rebuilt in 1245 and 1269, and the late 12th-century Galilee chapel at Durham Cathedral, with slender columns supporting highly decorated arches.

Decorated and Perpendicular

Decorated architecture, also called Geometric, Middle Pointed or Curvilinear, has a lighter feel than Early English. It is characterized by ornately patterned windows divided by closely set mullions (vertical stone divisions), usually including trefoils and quatrefoils. The proliferation of flying buttresses saw interiors soar even higher, with slimmer columns, larger windows and greater decoration. Vaulting became lighter, with lierne (short-branch) or tierceron (full-length) ‘spare ribs’ making elaborate patterns, such as those at Lincoln, Exeter, Wells (opposite) and Bristol cathedrals; fan vaulting made its debut at Gloucester in the 1350s.

The chief characteristic of Perpendicular (or Rectilinear), England’s final phase of Gothic, was an emphasis on vertical lines, most obviously in ranks of particularly close-set window mullions. Fan vaulting reached its zenith, too, with particularly fine examples at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (1446–1515) and Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey (1503–19).

Late Gothic

During the course of the 13th century the Gothic style grew more daring and coherent. Refinements to arches, vaults and buttresses permitted complex floor plans and huge cathedrals, with large, sculptural windows bearing elaborate tracery and fine stained glass. In France, after the collapse of Beauvais cathedral in 1284, with its ambitiously high nave – a record-breaking 48 metres (157 ft) – architects focused less on size, more on refinements in decoration. From the 14th century, Rayonnant gave way to the Flamboyant style, named after its extravagant, flame-shaped tracery. Pinnacles, mouldings and windows became more intricate, and columns slimmer. The abbey church of Saint-Denis was largely rebuilt, and Chartres cathedral and Notre Dame were given elaborate new façades. Beyond France, the high choir of Cologne cathedral (1248–1322, opposite) is one of the best German examples of Rayonnant, while Antwerp cathedral (consecrated 1521) is a late Gothic building with huge stained-glass clerestory windows; its single soaring tower was intended to have a twin, which was never completed.

Bastides

By the 13th and 14th centuries, experience had proved that walls punctuated by cylindrical towers were efficient for the defence of towns, cities and castles. In southwest France, several new fortified towns – bastides – were built, not only to protect residents but also to promote trade. Roughly following Roman town plans, bastides were built to strict grid layouts usually around a central square, with equal space allocated to each house. Not all were constructed to the same plan, but many shared certain characteristics, including a right-angled road layout of intersecting streets, wide thoroughfares, a church adjacent to the main square, and a market hall and couverts (covered arcades) close to the perimeter. People were offered incentives to settle in them and work on the surrounding land. Almost 700 bastides were built between 1222 and 1372, and while their architecture is not extraordinary, the plans are harmonious and became copied elsewhere. Bastide halls and churches were often originally constructed in wood, but later rebuilt in stone.

Cordes-sur-Ciel, Tarn, southern France

Medieval secular architecture

Many new towns and cities were established in Europe during the high and late middle ages; from the 12th century on, the spread of urbanization saw the construction of town halls, guilds and other mercantile and civic buildings. In Britain, new towns sprang up around castles; Edward I created settlements to pacify the recently conquered principality of Wales, such as in Caernarfon and Conwy. Across Europe, the establishment of building regulations led to new rules on the heights and shapes of buildings, the widths of streets, projections of roofs, plus waste management, drainage and fire regulations. At Siena in Italy, for example, official regulations governing the dimensions of the palaces facing the Piazza del Campo date from 1298. Other extant cities that adhered to such structural rules were in Belgium, where some of the finest Gothic architecture appeared in town halls. Spain is home to some well-preserved Gothic castles; and in England, the university buildings of Oxford (opposite) and Cambridge are outstanding examples of Gothic civic architecture.

The Forbidden City

Commissioned by the Ming emperor Chang Zu (1360–1424), and built in 1406–20, the Forbidden City served as the Chinese Imperial Palace for nearly 500 years. The 980-building complex comprised audience halls, residences and courtyards on 7.2 hectares (18 acres) protected by a high wall and a moat, and entry was strictly by imperial permission. Not seeking to build lasting monuments, the Chinese constructed buildings reflecting the opposing forces of yin and yang, and they focused on the relationship of buildings to each other and to the landscape. Most buildings are made of wood, marble and specially baked bricks from Suzhou, with overhanging roofs supported on beams, posts and brackets. Laid out on a grid with a north–south axis, buildings were typically decorated with colourful glazed tiles and dragons, with yellow roofs symbolizing respect. Buildings include the halls of Supreme Harmony and Central Harmony, and palaces of Heavenly Purity and Earthly Tranquillity. Five marble bridges spanned the River of Golden Water that meanders through the city.