The period of development of Gothic architecture fell on the era of the mature and late Middle Ages. The Romanesque style was replaced by geometrically verified proportions, colored stained-glass windows, mighty vaults and stone-paved floors. The most famous Gothic cathedrals in Europe were built for decades and have remained unsurpassed examples of architectural skill for centuries.
Gothic fashion
The very first Gothic temples were built in France, which is considered to be the birthplace of the medieval architectural style. The first cathedrals appeared in the middle of the XII century, and by the XIII century every self-respecting French city acquired a magnificent structure:
- The main monastery of medieval France is the Benedictine abbey at Saint-Denis in the northern suburbs of the capital. Its construction began in 1140 and during its entire existence the temple became the last refuge for more than a hundred crowned heads.
- The first stone in the construction of Notre Dame Cathedral was laid in 1163 and today it is the most famous Gothic cathedral not only in France, but throughout Europe. The organ of the temple still contains in its construction a dozen pipes from the original first instrument of 1402.
- It took the architects only two decades to build a cathedral in Chartres. It is located 90 km south-west of Paris and its sculptural and stained glass decoration has been preserved almost perfectly since the beginning of the 13th century.
- In Reims Cathedral, French monarchs ascended the throne and this mature Gothic monument is considered the most architecturally harmonious in France.
But the most voluminous among all was the Amiens Cathedral, the internal volume of which is 200 thousand square meters.
Duomo as a phenomenon
The cathedral in any Italian city is called the duomo and the most famous representatives of this category of Gothic temples are in Milan, Orvieto and Siena. The Italian Gothic is characterized by a certain splendor of the outer decoration, in contrast to the laconicism and even severity of the French ones.
The most famous Gothic cathedral in Italy is the Duomo of Milan, built in the city center of white marble in a fiery Gothic style. It began to be erected in 1386 and construction continued until the middle of the 19th century, and some facades were made out at all in the middle of the 20th century.
The temple ranks fifth in the world ranking among the largest cathedrals, and among the Italian it is second only to the Vatican.
