Talk:Gothic architecture

Removed the stuff about Gothic architecture being dark -- One of Suger's goals was that it NOT be dark -- hence the windows. The gothic church was supposed to transport people to a more holy realm. One of the points of flying butresses was to allow the churches to be lighter, with more open space, and more windows in the walls -- not to be dark and heavy. And I don't EVEn know what to say about the gargoyles. JHK

Can we please put a timeframe here? I'm arguing with my wife over whether Gothic came before or after Romanesque Architecture

They were in part simultaneous, but Romanesque predates Gothic. JHK

I'll put back that part about Gothic revival, which waas good, but that stuff I just cut was plain silly. Or at least very badly written. JHK

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After I removed the statement that the cathedral in Zagreb was the most eastern Gothic cathedral, Wetman posted this on my talk page:

Hi! Give us some clues about Gothic east of Zagreb: monuments and dates would be a start. Not any easy subject I know. jump in at the deep end! Welcome!

So made a quick search and found a few Gothic cathedrals east of Zagreb. Not too many for sure (and I'll try to find more later) but certainly enough to prove that the Zagreb cathedral is not the easternmost.

City		Longitude	Gothic cathedral		Built
Zagreb		15.6 E

Vienna		16.2 E		St. Stephen's Cathedral		1359-1433
Bratislava	17.1 E		St. Martin's Concathedral	13th C-1452
Gdańsk		18.6 E		St. Mary's Concathedral		1379-1496
Kraków		19.6 E		Wawel Cathedral			began 1320

Note that these are only the biggest cites with most impressive cathedrals but one could list many more. Anyway, thanks to Wetman for encouragement! Kpalion

Be bold! Take your list now-- you did the homework-- and add them to the entry. Imitate whatever format you find (a good idea til you start recasting clumsy formats yourself) Put Gothic architecture on your "My watchlist page" so you can check in and see what's happening. I don't want to steal your stuff and do this myself. Wetman 01:59, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

OK, so here's what I did:

• added some East European structures to the list
• changed some names to make the list a bit more consistent (like Notre Dame --> Our Lady's, it'a an English Wikipedia after all)
• sorted them alphabetically, usually by city names
• separated Gothic from Neo-Gothic and added Westminster Palace to the latter; I hope some day there will be a separate article about Neo-Gothic architecture, but for the time being the Neo-Gothic list may stay here

It would be good to add not only churches to the list - so far there are only sacral structures on the Gothic list. We will need to add some civilian and military structures (city walls, castles, etc) as well. Kpalion 02:37, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I wonder if Rabelais used "bigots" for goths ? This word has another senses in modern French And especially in a religious context.

Ericd 20:21, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)

It has been argued (most recently by architectural historian Dan Cruickshank in "Britains Best Buildings") that Durham Cathedral, as well as being a superb example of Romanesque architecture, also contains the first evidence of Gothic design.

The nave contains pointed traverses and pointed arches while flying buttresses are concealed over the aisles - the main elements of Gothic, 20 years before this style was seen elsewhere in Europe.

A recent addition

An anonymous user made this recent addition to the opening paragraph:

Interestingly enough, the Gothic style of archetecture was more flattering than Romanesque. Cathedrals made in this style were very popular through out Europe as they had more windows and color to boast. This is fairly recent style of building that was later copied and developed in the centuries to come.

I was hoping someone could integrate this into the main body of the article, in some way. I don't really understand what's being said here, but it should not be in the opening paragraph (a summary) unless it is expanded in the main body. Stbalbach 20:36, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)