Gothic versus Romanesque Architecture
Romanesque
Gothic
• The earliest churches were based on
Greek temples and Roman basilicas
(secular government buildings);
essentially there was a substitution of a
church plan for a temple plan:
colonnades were shifted from the
interior to the exterior; an arch was
placed directly on a pier instead of
placing a lintel directly on a pier
(column)
•The classic temple is a system of
sturdy walls and colonnades all helping
to sustain a solid roof. A Romanesque
church follows essentially the same
principles, except that an arch is placed
over the colonnades.
•All the parts of a Romanesque building
contribute their share to the stability of
the whole.
•The structure stands through virtue of
inertia.
• In a Gothic church the highly
organized framework of piers, arches,
and buttresses are organized so that
the spaces of the wall and roof
between them serve merely as an
enclosure.
• A Gothic church is a skillfully
balanced systems of thrusts and
counterthrusts that are concentrated
on special points of support.
• All the different levels of the church
interior are brought into homogenous
composition: great vaulting shafts that
articulate the massive piers rise from
the floor; at the clerestory level these
shafts become more decorative than
supportive and spring from corbels in
order to trace the vaulting that
articulates each bay.
•Flying buttresses allowed the walls to
be dissolved.
Roman barrel vault
The force lines converge at the
point where the barrel vault
springs from the wall.
In order to support a heavy
roof—one that is very wide--the
walls of the nave would have to
be very, very thick.
Flying Buttress
The lines of force created by the
weight of the roof and the arches is
redirected (or distributed) by the
flying buttresses past the walls of the
church to external piers (outside the
child walls).
As a result, windows can larger and
the nave can be taller.
Abbey Church of Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis, France 1140-44
floor plan
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
Abbey Church of Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis, France 1140-44
Standing in the choir, looking
northeast at about 1:30.
Abbey Church of Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis, France 1140-44
Looking into one of the radial
chapels.
floor plan
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
floor plan
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
transept looking into the crossing
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
standing on the steps of the choir
looking into the apse
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
looking down the nave toward the apse
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy
Conques, France 1125-1135
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens, France
1220-1288
Church of Saint-Etienne, Caen
Normandy, France
begun 1064—façade late 11th century
Chartres Cathedral
ca. 1194-1260
west façade
Reims Cathedral
west façade
c. 1211-1428