Gothic

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Gothic designates an epoch of European architecture and art of the Middle Ages, which in its various national forms of early, high and late Gothic temporally differed approximately from the middle of the 12th century. It extends to around 1500. The previously predominant architectural and art style is known as Romanesque, the subsequent as Renaissance.

First spread by Giorgio Vasari as a pejorative description of architecture, the term established itself in the course of the 19th century. In the 20th century, it gradually became part of painting and sculpture. The Gothic architecture was created around 1140 in the (Paris and surrounding area) and lasted north of the Alps until the first half of the 16th century. century. The Gothic style can only be defined precisely in architecture, while this is not possible with equal clarity in the fields of sculpture and painting. Outstanding art creation is the Gothic cathedral, which combines architecture, plastic and (glass) painting of the Middle Ages as a total work of art. It is at the beginning of a new design of the church space, which emerges through the first unification of Burgundian (pointed arch) and Norman form elements (rib vault) and the further development of innovative building measures. In addition, profane architecture also experienced a first flourishing, especially in the urban environment: In addition to noble residences, town halls and the town halls, which are rarely preserved in their original condition, are important building tasks.

In architecture, one distinguishes the phases of early, high and late Gothic, which were adopted in the different European art landscapes at different times and then partially developed independently of each other. In England, we speak of the Early English Style, the Decorated Style and the Perpendicular Style. In France one distinguishes the early Gothic Gothique primitif (1130–1180), the mature Gothique classique (1180–1230), then the refined Gothique rayonnant, followed by the late Gothic style flamboyant. Not only in the north of Germany is the brick Gothic to be found.

In the post-Gothic period, the Gothic architectural style continued to live outside its epoch and can be traced as Baroque Gothic as a mixed form between Baroque and Gothic even in the Baroque period. In the 19th century, the architectural style of neo-Gothicism as a variant of historicism found new interest.

Development of the style name

The style and new construction technique developed in France were called the opus francigenum around 1280. Also in the 20th century, the term French style or French style can be found in specialist literature. Since the pointed arch is considered a central element of Gothic architecture, the style was originally called the pointed arch style. The current name Gothic (from Italian "strange, barbarian", originally a curse word, derived from the name of the Germanic tribe of the Goths) was