Gothic style in European art. Gothic in the architecture of medieval Europe What type of art was the main one in Gothic

The words "Gothic", "Gothic" came from the name of the warlike barbarian tribe of the Goths, who dealt a mortal blow to the great Roman Empire. For the first time in the Renaissance, medieval art began to be called Gothic because people then thought this art was rude, barbaric. But the Goths have nothing to do with him.

Each era gave birth to its own art corresponding to its conditions, close and understandable to the people of that time.

In the Middle Ages, the power of the church was so great that even kings were forced to obey it.

Religion required a person to renounce everything earthly, he had to think only about God. And people began to build temples of unprecedented architecture.

The high vaults of cathedrals, colored stained-glass windows through which rays of light poured, the solemn sounds of the organ - all this struck the imagination of people, inspired them with the idea of ​​the sanctity of divine power, and turned them to religion.

In the niches of the outer walls, at the entrance and inside the cathedrals, there were many statues, but they did not look like the statues of the ancient world.

The art of ancient masters, bright and joyful, glorified the physical beauty of man. Another thing is medieval art. The Christian religion taught that man himself and his body are sinful. To atone for this sin, a person must think about the salvation of his soul and mortify his flesh. Earthly life was given to him only in order to prepare for the afterlife.

This is where the desire of medieval masters arose to embody in the guise of a person, first of all, his experiences and feelings. They are often surprised - did none of the artists of the Middle Ages know how to correctly convey the proportions of the human figure? Of course they could, but only they didn’t need it at all. After all, their task was to convey the spiritual impulse of a person. That is why they enlarged the eyes, emphasized the mournful folds of the face, stretched out the figures. They managed to create immortal works in which they revealed the infinite richness of the human spiritual world.

ARCHITECTURE

All Gothic art originates from Gothic architecture. From the end of the 12th century, commercial premises, town halls, and cathedrals were built in cities that had freed themselves from the power of the lords. The main decoration of the city was the cathedral, which was built for decades, and sometimes even hundreds of years. Gothic cathedrals seem light and transparent from many huge windows. They seem to be woven from stone lace. Steep roof slopes, lancet arches, high towers crowned with thin spiers - everything creates the impression of a swift rush to the heights. The height of the towers of the largest Gothic cathedrals reaches 150 meters. Gothic cathedrals are not only high, but also very long: for example, Chartres is 130 meters long, and the transept is 64 meters long, and it takes at least half a kilometer to walk around it. And from every point the cathedral looks in a new way. Unlike the Romanesque church with its clear, easily visible forms, the Gothic cathedral is boundless, often asymmetrical and even heterogeneous in its parts: each of its facades with its own portal is individual.

He really absorbed the world of a medieval city. If even now, in modern Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral reigns over the city, and the architecture of baroque, empire, classicism fades before it, then you can imagine how even more impressive it looked then, in that Paris, among the crooked streets and small courtyards along the banks Seine.

Then the cathedral was something more than just a place of church service. Together with the town hall, it was the center of the entire social life of the city. If the town hall was the center of business activity, then in the cathedral, in addition to worship, theatrical performances took place, university lectures were read, parliament sometimes met, and even small trade agreements were concluded. Many city cathedrals were so large that the entire population of the city could not fill it.

Gothic art in different countries was not developed in the same way. Its greatest flowering was in France and Germany. But in Italy there are cathedrals that amaze with their splendor and perfection. When you walk along the ancient streets of Milan to the city center, endless openwork turrets and spiers of the Milan Cathedral rise before your eyes. Huge and at the same time slender, it is decorated like lace, carved marble. This is the only marble cathedral in Europe. It was built over six centuries. The term itself is huge, but not at all rare in the construction of Gothic cathedrals, they were often completed and rebuilt. The city grew, and with it the cathedral grew, in which everything that was created by medieval art was concentrated.

SCULPTURE, PAINTING AND APPLIED ARTS

Sculpture in the Middle Ages was inseparable from church building. Cathedrals were decorated with many statues of "saints", bishops, kings. In sculpture, facial features and hands are worked out very subtly.

According to the clergy, art was supposed to serve as a "bible for the illiterate". The walls of the temples were painted with paintings, from which the stern faces of the saints and God himself looked at the worshipers. Images of the terrible torments of sinners in hell should have led believers to tremble.

Statues and picturesque images of "saints" were excessively elongated or greatly shortened. At that time, the laws of perspective were not yet known to artists, and therefore the figures in their paintings seem flat. Medieval masters often gave the figures unnatural poses and gestures in order to more strongly convey such religious feelings as faith in God or remorse for sins. Indeed, many statues and picturesque images are striking in their expressiveness. Talented masters often managed to reflect in them what they observed in life.

Iconic paintings painted on wooden boards using the tempera technique have survived, they are distinguished by bright colors and an abundance of gold. Usually the main character of the picture was in the center, and was larger than the figures standing nearby.

In many cases, unique examples of Gothic Style Art were created by medieval masters whose names have not come down to us. The church-religious nature of the culture of medieval society was also reflected in the style and purpose of things. For example, coins help to recreate the politically variegated map of feudal Europe.

Gold and silver craftsmen made unique church utensils, decorated with filigree, semi-precious stones, champlevé enamels. Ivory carving was used. All these different techniques were used to make altar plates, book covers, hand-washing bowls, candlesticks, processional crosses, caskets, and so on.

Gothic armor had pointed contours, consisted of separate metal plates fastened together with belts. The armor contained up to 160 plates, the weight ranged from 16 to 20 kg.

GOTHIC CLOTHING

In the 12th century, primarily in France, the Romanesque dress, reminiscent of monastic vestments, is gradually replaced by clothes that are close to the figure and more graceful. Rough, uncut in parts clothing of the previous era is replaced by a beautifully tailored dress, made according to all the laws of tailoring, the general cut of which is adapted to the figure of the owner. We can observe Gothic fashion with its close-fitting dress, characteristic body position and way of wearing clothes, looking at the monumental figures of saints and kings on the facades and portals of cathedrals, as well as on the artistic miniatures of medieval artists. The changed cut of clothes was manifested, first of all, in the pattern of sleeves and their connections with the shoulder. Closely fitting the shoulder joint, the dress follows the lines of the body in such a way that, in fact, the body itself is visible.

Traditional clothing also included a cloak made of cloth and lined with fabric of a different color or fur.

Women covered their heads with veils made of fine fabrics. They had their symbolic meaning. So, for example, sadness was emphasized not only by dark clothes, but also by the position of the veil, which at that time was deeply pulled over the face.

Men wore short jackets in addition to tight trousers. Peeking out shirts, tight-fitting pants outlined the male figure in detail. Men also wore boots with pointed toes.

In late Gothic fashion, black was very popular, especially when the dress was made of velvet.

The underwear of women in late Gothic became even more intricately cut, and now even more close to the body. The female figure at this time is depicted with a highly raised and protruding chest, thanks to a highly raised belt, and a deep V-shaped neckline reduces the bodice of the dress.

Preachers denounced these clothes as sinful, vile and obscene. Luxury in clothing also gave rise to fear for the future of the economy of their people. They sharply opposed any excesses in costumes, and especially against the luxury of clothes in which believers went to church.

KNIGHTS LITERATURE

With the development of education, literature also developed. Poets-knights composed poems; processing folk songs, they created entire verse novels and poems about the military exploits of the feudal lords.

The most famous chivalric poem - "The Song of Roland" was composed in France in the 11th - 12th centuries. It tells about the heroic death of the detachment of Count Roland during the retreat of Charlemagne from Spain. The conquest in Spain is depicted in the poem as a war of Christians against Muslims. Roland is endowed with all the features of an impeccable knight. He performs fabulous feats and dies, never thinking for a minute about breaking the oath of allegiance to his lord.

The “Song of Roland” also reflected the feelings of the people: it speaks of ardent love for “dear France”, hatred of enemies. The poem condemns those feudal lords who betray France.

The key direction of the art of the Middle Ages was Gothic.

It covered the culture that developed in most regions of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.

Gothic arose in the northern region of France in the 12th century, and in the next century it appeared in England and Germany, and then in Austria, the Czech Republic and Spain. Later, the Gothic style reached Italy. After an intensive transformation, "Italian Gothic" was formed, and at the end of the 14th century - international. Eastern European artists became acquainted with the Gothic direction later, in their homeland it lasted a little longer - almost until the 16th century.

During the Renaissance, this definition pejoratively denoted all the art of the Middle Ages, recognized "barbarian". But at the beginning of the 19th century for craftsmanship 10-12 centuries. used the concept of the Romanesque style and, accordingly, limited the chronological framework of the Gothic style. Phases were distinguished in it: early period, mature and late.

In European countries, the Catholic Church ruled, so the Gothic ideology retained feudal-church foundations. By purpose, Gothic was mainly cult and thematically religious. She was compared with eternity and "higher" powers.

It was characterized by a symbolic-allegorical way of thinking and a conventional pictorial language.

This style replaced the Romanesque, and later completely replaced it. The concept of this direction is usually applied to architectural objects. It also embraced painting, ornamentation, book miniatures, sculpture, and so on.

It is worth noting that its origin in architecture, especially in famous cathedrals, coincided with the triumphant era of Romanesque painting, namely fresco.

Over time, other types of decorative art took on a key role in the decoration of temples, as a result of which painting was pushed to another level. The replacement of solid walls in Gothic cathedrals with large windows caused the complete disappearance of the genre of monumental painting, which occupied a special place in the Romanesque style. The fresco was replaced by stained glass, a unique type of painting in which paintings are made up of pieces of painted glass, fastened with thin lead strips and framed with iron fittings.

Gothic art artists

Gothic features in art appeared several decades later than those in architecture. Note that in France and England there was a transition from the Romanesque direction to the Gothic in the 1200s, in Germany - in the 1220s, and in Italy - approximately in the 1300s.

A feature of Gothic art are elongated figures.

Painting was subject to strict canons. Masters of the brush in their paintings depicted the three-dimensionality of space quite rarely. Such a prospect was accidental and highly doubtful.

At the end of the 14th century, there was a desire for elegant and sophisticated writing in art, as well as an interest in real life subjects. The smallest details of flora and fauna have become constant elements in painting.

International Gothic appeared - this is the direction of the late period of the Middle Ages, which united the painting of many countries.

Art flourished in France in the 13th and 14th centuries book miniature. It showed a secular beginning. So, for example, secular literature expanded the range of illustrated manuscripts. They began to create richly painted psalters and books of hours for home use.

The manuscript from Gothic times changed the appearance of the pages. Thus, the illustration was filled with sonorous purity colors, included realistic elements, combined floral ornamentation, biblical and everyday scenes. A characteristic feature of the manuscripts of the 13th century was the border framing the margin of the page.

The artists placed on the pages swirls of ornament adorning the fields, lines framing small figures, and comic or genre scenes. The content of the manuscripts did not always have a connection with them. These were the fantasies of the miniaturists. They were called "droleri" - that is, fun. In the late Gothic miniatures, the tendencies of realism were expressed with special immediacy, the first successes were made in the transfer of everyday paintings and landscapes. Soon, artists rushed to a reliable and detailed depiction of nature.

The most famous representatives of the book miniature of the Gothic era were the Limburg brothers.

Christ in Glory, Limburg Brothers Miniature of the Earl of Westmorland with His Twelve Children, Limburg Brothers The Madonna and the Child, The Limburg Brothers

Until the 12th century, a more mature art form came - Gothic. The name of the style, which has Italian origin, was translated as "something barbaric, unusual."

Brief description in architecture

Gothic architecture has its own specific characteristics, which can be expressed in three words: city, carnival, chivalry. Narrow streets ended in towering cathedrals, blue glass and drapery appeared in wide windows. The main colors of this style are blue, yellow and red. Gothic is characterized by lancet lines, vaults formed from two intersecting arcs and ribbed repeating lines. All buildings are rectangular in plan. They were decorated with lancet arches turning into pillars. Stone structures became frame, openwork, as if they specifically emphasized the skeleton of the structure. The windows stretched upwards were decorated with multi-colored stained-glass windows, and the top of the building was often decorated with small decorative round windows. Lancet openings had a ribbed structure, and the doors themselves were made of oak. Gothic in architecture was read even in interior elements: high halls were built long and narrow. If they were wide, then a row of columns would certainly line up in the center, made with a coffered ceiling or fan vaults with supports. It's all gothic.

Gothic cathedrals in Europe

The Gothic architecture of the Middle Ages is, first of all, cathedrals and monasteries, for the Gothic art itself was very religious in theme and turned to eternity and higher divine powers. In order to feel the grandeur of these buildings, consider some of the brightest representatives of Gothic art, the most famous European cathedrals.

Heart of Vienna. Austria. Cathedral of Saint Stephen

Built on the ruins of two churches, it survived many wars and today is a symbol of freedom for all citizens.

Burgos. Spain

The medieval cathedral, built in honor of the Virgin Mary, is famous for its truly gigantic size and unique architecture.

France. Reims. reims cathedral

It was here that all the French monarchs were officially crowned.

Italy. Milan. Milan Cathedral

This is an unrealistically large and extremely complex Gothic cathedral. It is located on the main square of Milan and is one of the most famous architectural creations in Europe. Gothic in the architecture of the Milan Cathedral strikes the imagination of even the most severe skeptic with its unrealistic beauty and splendor.

Spain. Seville. Seville Cathedral

At the time of construction it was the largest in the world. Built on the site of the majestic Almohada Mosque, it retained the columns and some of its elements, and the famous Giralda tower, once a minaret, decorated with ornaments and rich patterns, was transformed into a bell tower.

England. York. york cathedral

The construction of the building was started in 1230 and completed in 1472, so the Gothic style in the architecture of this cathedral includes all stages of its development. York Minster is considered one of the two largest and most majestic Gothic cathedrals along with Cologne Cathedral (Germany) in Europe. It is famous for its beautiful stained-glass windows.

France. Paris. Cathedral of Notre Dame

Notre Dame de Paris is perhaps the most famous French Gothic cathedral with its characteristic architecture, sculptures and stained glass windows. On December 2, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte himself was crowned on the imperial throne within its walls. The French Gothic architecture in the architecture of this cathedral has been preserved almost perfectly, most of its original stained-glass windows have remained practically untouched since the beginning of the 13th century.

Gothic art represents the next stage in the development of medieval art after the Romanesque. The name is conditional. It was synonymous with barbarism in the view of Renaissance historians, who first used this term, characterizing the art of the Middle Ages as a whole, not seeing its valuable aspects in it.

Gothic is a more mature art style of the Middle Ages than Romanesque. It strikes with the unity and integrity of artistic manifestations in all types of art. Religious in form, Gothic art is more sensitive than Romanesque to life, nature and man. It included in its circle the entire sum of medieval knowledge, complex and contradictory ideas and experiences. In the dreaminess and excitement of the images of Gothic, in the pathetic rise of spiritual impulses, in the tireless quest of its masters, new trends are felt - the awakening of the mind and feelings, passionate aspirations for beauty.

The increased spirituality of Gothic art, the growing interest in human feelings, in the highly individual, in the beauty of the real world, prepared the flowering of Renaissance art.

Gothic art is the art of flourishing trade and craft cities-communes, which achieved a certain independence within the feudal world at the cost of a tense struggle. It was caused by the new conditions of the social life of Europe - a high rise in the productive forces, the growing flames of grandiose peasant wars and the victory by the beginning of the 13th century. communal revolutions. In some countries, royal power, based on an alliance with the cities, rose above the forces of feudal fragmentation.

Religion remained as before the main form of worldview, and the church continued to exert its influence on art. However, the needs of the life of trade and craft cities gave rise to the desire for knowledge and incessant quest. With the formation of urban and church schools, the influence of the monasteries on the masses began to weaken. In Bologna, Oxford, Paris, centers of science - universities - arose. They became the arena of religious disputes, centers of free-thinking. Within the framework of scholastic philosophy, which tried to reconcile faith with reason, heretical teachings arose, caused by the growth of critical thinking, serious philosophical problems were posed, much attention was paid to general issues related to the life of human society and the knowledge of man himself. The philosopher Pierre Abelard considered it necessary to prove religious dogmas with the help of reason, for him the main thing was "resistance to the authority of the church." Interest in experimental knowledge penetrated into scholasticism, which was clearly manifested in the work of Roger Bacon. At the end of the 12th and 13th centuries. the teachings of the Arab philosophers Averroes and Avicenna, close to materialism, spread. Attempts were made to reconcile Christian dogmas and observations of reality. The real world was no longer completely denied, it was considered as the perfect creation of a deity. The tragic hopelessness that the church inspired in people was replaced by a brighter and more joyful perception of the beauty of the world. Severe morals softened. Instead, the self-consciousness of the people grew. In the course of the struggle, in the midst of the jacquerie, in the heated atmosphere of the cities that fought for communal liberties, preached the reform of the church, a consciousness of brotherhood and equality was born, succinctly expressed in the saying: “When Adam plowed and Eve spun, who was then a nobleman?”

In the court knightly environment of the 12th-14th centuries. a secular, deeply personal attitude to the world arose. Along with the epic and the chivalric romance, the love lyrics of the troubadours flourished - Provencal poetry, a sign of the new time. Individual feelings penetrated into poetry. Urban literature developed, prone to vivid pictures of everyday life. In music, unison (monophony) was replaced by polyphony. In powerful choral hymns, the urban community directly expressed their feelings, in the mysteries, the villagers and guild artisans played scenes from the Holy Scriptures. Comic theatrical genres arose: farces ridiculing the clergy were performed in the squares, “impious masses” and buffoon processions were held in churches.

In medieval cities of the second half of the 12th-13th centuries. new forms of architecture and fine arts were born, more complex and ambiguous, they combined mysticism and rationalism, calm concentration and passionate impulses, sincere living feeling and dogmatism, a riot of fantasy and a craving for uniformity, orderliness, striving for a dream world and sharp observation, festive -beautiful and ordinary, ugly. The desire to express the spiritual powers and abilities of a person was born in art.

It is difficult to draw a clear chronological boundary between the Romanesque and Gothic styles. 12th century - the heyday of the Romanesque style; However, since 1130. new forms appear that marked the beginning of Gothic (early Gothic). The Gothic style in Western Europe reached its peak (high gothic) in the 13th century. The extinction of the style falls on the 14th and 15th centuries. (flaming gothic).

In different countries, the Gothic style has peculiar features. However, this does not negate its generality and internal unity. In France, the birthplace of Gothic, works of this style are characterized by clarity of proportions, a sense of proportion, clarity, and elegance of form. In England, they are distinguished by heaviness, congestion of compositional lines, complexity and richness of architectural decoration. In Germany, Gothic received a more abstract, mystical, but passionate in expression character. In Spain, Gothic forms were enriched with elements of Muslim art introduced by the Arabs. To Italy, where the flourishing of cities by the end of the 13th century. created fertile ground for the emergence of the culture of the Proto-Renaissance, only separate, mainly decorative elements of the Gothic style penetrated, which did not contradict the principles of Romanesque architecture. But in the 14th century Gothic spread throughout Italy. Flaming Gothic reached its highest completion in the Milan Cathedral (late 14th-15th centuries, completed in the early 19th century).

Architecture
The architectural appearance of Western European free cities was determined for a long time by Gothic structures - cathedrals, town halls, stock exchanges, covered markets, hospitals, residential buildings, concentrated around the square, to which cramped crooked streets ran down tanners, dyers, carpenters, weavers, etc. Construction was now carried out not only by the church, monasteries and private individuals, but also by the community (professional artisans and architects organized into workshops). Between the construction artels, wandering from city to city, there were connections, exchange of experience and knowledge. The most significant buildings, and above all cathedrals, were built at the expense of the townspeople. Often many generations worked on the creation of one monument. The grandiose Gothic cathedrals differed sharply from the monastic churches of the Romanesque style. They were roomy, tall, elegant, spectacularly decorated. Their forms were striking in their dynamism, lightness and picturesqueness. The slender silhouette of the cathedral with sharp spiers and towers determined the character of the urban landscape. Following the cathedral, residential buildings rushed up, the number of floors increased in them, gable gable (pointed) roofs stretched upwards. Closed by a ring of fortress walls, the city developed upwards. Designed for a large crowd of laity, the cathedral was the main public center of the city. In addition to divine services, city meetings were held here, disputes were held, university lectures were given, and spiritual dramas - mysteries - were played out.

In the design of the image of the cathedral, not only new ideas of the Catholic religion were manifested, but also new ideas about the world, the increased self-awareness of the townspeople. The dynamic aspiration upward of all forms of the temple was generated by the idealistic "striving of the soul to heaven", the awakened longing for the universe and at the same time rational considerations caused by the cramped urban development. The towers of the cathedral served as a watch and fire tower. Sometimes they were crowned with the figure of a rooster - a symbol of vigilance. To organize spacious interiors with space developing up and down in the cathedral, a new constructive vault system was used, complex and logical, testifying to a huge progress in thought and technology.

The Gothic cathedral, in comparison with the Romanesque, is a new stage in the development of the basilica type of building, in which all elements began to obey a uniform system. The main difference of the Gothic cathedral is a stable frame system, in which the cross-rib arched vaults, cut through by a network of protruding ribs (made of stone), internal (columns, pillars) and external (buttresses) supports play a constructive role. The efforts of the architects were aimed at highlighting and strengthening the main, supporting skeleton of the building and lightening the vaulted ceilings to the limit. For this purpose, the distribution of gravity forces and the expansion of the vaults was changed. The main nave was now divided into a number of segments rectangular in plan. Each of them was covered with crossed lancet arches. The shape of the lancet arch reduced the expansion of the vault. A network of ribs contributed to lightening its weight, dividing the vault into small segments filled with thinner than before shells of the vault.

From below, the load of the rib vault was taken by powerful pillars. Each post had several ribs converging into a bundle; their weight was assumed by the service columns surrounding the pillar. Most of the lateral thrust and part of its vertical pressure were transferred to the outside buttresses - pillars-pylons with the help of flying buttresses (open supporting semi-arches). Flying buttresses were thrown over the roofs of the side aisles to the base of the vaults of the central aisle.

All this made it possible to cover wide spans and sections of space of various shapes, as well as to raise the vault to a dizzying height. The temple was filled with light. The wall, freed from supporting functions, was cut through by large lancet windows, niches, galleries, portals, which lightened its mass and connected the interior of the temple with the surrounding space.
A characteristic feature of Gothic architecture is the lancet arch, which largely determines the internal and external appearance of Gothic buildings. Repeating many times in the drawing of the vault, windows, portals, galleries, it enhances the lightness and energy of architectural forms with its dynamic outlines.

The Gothic cathedral inside makes a strong impression. Its interior - spacious, bright, designed for a crowded crowd - immediately opens up before the viewer and captures the rapid movement to the east, since the main entrance is now on the western short side. The boundaries between the transept and the longitudinal space of the naves are almost erased. The chapels merge, forming a continuous wreath; they are separated from the temple by a colonnade in which the walls seem to dissolve. The vast space of the temple becomes merged and easily visible, dynamic, giving rise to an endless change of visual impressions. The space of the immensely extended naves is rapidly developing in depth - towards the altar, the choir, illuminated by light that makes the whole atmosphere tremble; with a rhythm accelerating upwards, it rises under the shadow of light vaults. The movement of all lines of pillars, ribs, columns, lancet arches leads the eye there, as if striving to infinity. Flowing from above, from windows with colored glass, streams of multi-colored light mix in space, play on beams of columns. On holidays, the cathedral presented a particularly solemn spectacle: the voices of singing children and the sounds of the organ filled the space and created a mystical mood. They seemed to carry away into some unknown, attracting, spiritualized world located outside the earth and at the same time raised a person above the ordinary to the sublime, perfect.

The appearance of the cathedral has also changed significantly, for the internal structure of the building is projected onto the external; internal divisions of the longitudinal part of the building are guessed in its facade. The inner space seems to flow into the outer. The image of the temple has lost its severe isolation, and the temple, as it were, faces the square. It increased the role of the main western facade with monumental, richly decorated portals, which were previously located on the side walls. Tall, light towers, numerous vertical rods and spiers, lancet shapes of windows and portals with wimpers (pointed ends above windows and portals) gave the impression of an irresistible upward movement and transformed the cathedral, according to Rodin, into "a symphony of light and shadow." A complex system of sculptural decoration turned the stone wall into a kind of light lace, the contours became airy, as if dissolving in the environment. Colored windows occupying the upper part of the wall, through galleries contribute to the fact that the building seems to lose its materiality, but this does not deprive it of the impression of monumentality - the details are subject to a clear logical and strict design.

There is no clear chronological boundary between Romanesque and Gothic. Gothic was the highest stage of medieval art and the first pan-European artistic style in history. The French called this style "French manner", "frozen in stone music"; "Gothic manner" - the Italians contemptuously dubbed it, alluding to the barbarian tribe of the Goths, in the III-V centuries. invading the boundaries of the Roman Empire, although by the time the Gothic style appeared, they were almost forgotten in Europe.

France is considered the birthplace of the Gothic style, and church architecture is its basis. In 1137, Suger, the abbot of the monastery of Saint-Denis, began the restructuring of the abbey church, which had served as the tomb of kings since the time of the Merovingians, due to the need to increase its internal space. To facilitate the vaults and reducing the load on the walls in the bypass and chapels, the builders erected frame arches - ribs (from fr. nerve- edge). This design consists of two protruding, diagonally intersecting arches and four side ones.

Instead of the previously dominant semicircular arch, they began to use a lancet arch, which made it possible to cover any span in terms of. The use of a rib vault made it possible to lighten the walls to the utmost and almost

Ribbed ceilings of the church of Saint-Denis. Paris

Gothic temple. Incision

displace them, replacing them with high windows, separated from one another only by narrow lintels of supports. According to Suger's plan, the bright light in the altar was supposed to symbolize the "sacred light of religion." The windows of the chapels were decorated with colored stained-glass windows, through which the sun's rays filled the choir with iridescent shimmer. “The whole sanctuary is flooded with a wondrous and unfading light penetrating through the sacred windows,” Suger said, describing the eastern part of the temple.

To remove the load from the wall, the lateral spacer of the vaults was “extinguished” due to the “blades” protruding from the walls or a ledged retaining column carried outside the walls - buttress. Since the basilica form of the building was preserved in Gothic religious architecture, where the middle nave towered above the side ones, a special connecting arch was used - flying butt, which was thrown from the heel of the arch of the main nave to the side buttress. Thus, the facade was divided vertically into three parts by means of buttresses or protruding "blades", which symbolically correlated with the idea of ​​the Trinity.

Such architectural techniques made it possible to increase the cathedral in height to 154 m, which was even higher than the Egyptian pyramids. The wall, no longer being a load-bearing structure, was replaced by windows with colored inserts - stained-glass windows.

If the choir of the abbey church of Saint-Denis marked the beginning of the spread of a new design of vaults, then its western facade became the prototype of the facades of Gothic cathedrals.

The western facade was also divided into three parts, but already horizontally. The lower part was made up of entrance doors - portals. They were designed either in the form of porches (Reims Cathedral), or as going inside pa-