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Gothic Architecture in Europe Essay

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The research paper, shall be concerned with discussion Gothic architecture in Europe-namely England, France, Germany, and Italy starting from 12th to the 16th Centuries. Architecture was the most original and lasting form of art during the Gothic Period, which lasted for four centuries starting from the mid 12th century. The impetus for this architecture was the Roman Catholic Church, which sought to portray their houses of worship as something which transcended the realm of mankind. It is interesting to note that many of the Northern European areas were predominately pagan, and only recently brought into the Church. The imagery provided by Gothic structural design was something these peoples could more readily understand, as they …show more content…

This is important to note, as science as we know it had not begun to emerge yet, at least not in this culture, and many of their beliefs about the world around them was predicated on religion and superstition. In this respect, the Persians were vastly superior in scientific knowledge when compared to the Western European civilizations. The crusades were beneficial since it was one way of importing knowledge from Persia notably, Mathematics. Mathematics would play a very critical role in architecture in the centuries to come. Algebra and Geometry are two vital methods that prove to be precious to architecture and indeed made gothic design possible. The Catholic Church began using these new mathematical principles to build their cathedrals. The cathedrals were a challenge to the capabilities of the civilization at that time and inspired competition between the Dioceses to see who could build the most outstanding cathedral. This inspired an explosion in art and technology, and was responsible for creating art in the form of structure. The Cathedrals were also status symbols. Towns and cities would build them to show how successful they were. The more elaborate the Cathedral, the more successful the town or city. This gave rise to the Gothic architectural style, which developed simultaneously across England, France, Germany, and Italy. The countries developed their own distinctive technique of Gothic design, which I shall compare and contrast

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