Gothic Architecture (Reblogged) - HSTARC2

  
When you say "Gothic", I can’t help but think of a lot of things. Say I think about people who are emo and goths. Bringing in the color of black in their style, theres a strong sense of negative emotions in them. Me, being a casual reader of comics, I can’t help but also think of Gotham City, a city of crimes.. and of course Batman. Haha!

Gothic Church, Barcelona

If we take a closer look at what the real meaning of “Gothic" is, it would say that it was a term used to people who are crude and barbaric. Ironically, Gothic Architecture later became the term for the style the churches used during those times. So did that mean that religion was crude and barbaric such as the ones they rebuke? Or maybe it’s just the name, or there’s something more to it.

          For a brief history, The Gothic Architecture style flourished during the medieval times on which religion and feudalism was on a high. And by that I mean that most of the structures were churches and keep or castles. And it is evident and we can say that Gothic was the upgraded style for Romanesque architecture.

 

Pointed Arches and Rib Vaulting

          Regarding the features it had, most of them were the upgraded parts of Romanesque. The addition of pointed arches was quite an iconic symbol for Gothic. We can see that from these pointed arches, we can easily identify Gothic from Romanesque and other styles. The pointedness of the arches complemented the idea that the structures they are making are going up/vertical.

          Another would be the ribbed vault which is much more complicated from the previous ones.

  

          Another thing that amazed me from this time is that even at that time, these architecture showed that they are thinking and they are applying physics to their structures. It can be seen in the flying buttresses made. Not only did it solve the problem for the thick walls and no windows problem for the old buttress but it also added much support to the structure itself.

Flying Buttresses and Pinnacle Emphasis

          The pinnacle is also an additional factor that I noticed. It was not only made for design, but also because of the pinnacle, it adds a vertical downward force or what you should call it to the weight going down the flying buttresses.

          And that is some amazing calculating and imagination feat displayed. The fact that religion had a somewhat own style or identity of architecture, showed how much power, popularity and respect it had.