1. WESTMINISTER ABBEY,ENGLAND

The architecture was greatly influenced by the new cathedrals at Reims, Amiens and Chartres,

borrowing the ideas of an apse with radiating chapels and using the characteristic Gothic features of pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, rose windows and

flying buttresses. The design is based on

the continental system of geometrical proportion, single aisle and a long nave with wide projecting transepts. elaborate mouldings of the main arches the lavish use of polished Purbeck marble for the columns and the overall sculptural

decoration.

The Abbey has the highest Gothic vault in England (nearly 102 feet) and it was made to seem higher by making the aisles narrow.

A spacious area between the high altar and the beginning of the quire was necessary to provide a ‘theatre’ where coronations could take place.

The stonework, the sculptured roof bosses and the other carvings would have been brightly coloured and the wall arcades may have been decorated in vermilion and gold.

The walls were adorned with fine paintings, and two, depicting St Thomas and St Christopher, were rediscovered in the 1930s.

Brilliant ruby and sapphire glass, with heraldic shields set in a grisaille (or grey monochrome) pattern, filled the windows.

The chapel screens and tombs added to the display of colour. By 1269 the apse, radiating chapels, transepts and choir were complete.

Great addition to the Abbey was: the construction of a magnificent new Lady Chapel by Henry VII between 1503 and 1519 to replace the 13th century chapel. The Perpendicular architecture here is in total contrast to the rest of the Abbey. It has been called "one of the most perfect buildings ever erected in England" and "the wonder of the world".The glory of the chapel is its delicately carved fan vaulted roof, with hanging pendants. These are constructed on half-concealed transverse arches. All around the chapel are Tudor emblems such as the rose and portcullis, and nearly one hundred statues of saints still remain in niches around the walls. The original jewel-like stained glass by Bernard Flower has, however, disappeared.

The last phase of building was the completion in 1745 of the West Towers in Portland stone.

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2. SALISBURY CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND

Salisbury Cathedral is an example of this great development of Gothic architecture . France is the cradle of this style is from here and across Europe.

Cathedral of imposing its isolated location of buildings, located in vast green spaces, on the outskirts of the city.

Concept:

The great power and domination of the church that existed at the time, is reflected :

in the floor of the cathedral with notable additions and modifications;

emerging special chapels for worship

a shrine for the further expansion increase of the clergy,

deambulatorios for processions,

funeral chapels and cloisters.

Gothic buildings with their skeletal system forms a joint constructive solid wall

surrounding the building and supports a continuous canopy.

Spaces:

The plant is in the form of patriarchal cross with two well-marked cruisers.

The main hall has a length of 142 m - and the transept more measured 61.5 m. The

same length as the nave of the body West.

The body is divided into three Western ships: one is the largest central 12m wide

and 6m two sides of each.

The most important part is the head flat, very typical of British buildings. After the

head is the presbytery, is located between the two transepts a small choir. All the

cathedral is built with quadripartite ribbed vaults.

It is dominated by a central building polygonal plant built in 1263 call chapter

house, which rests on a single umbrella central pillar.

Structure:

Ogival structure is divided into parts (which are the nerves, pillars and buttresses

buttresses) and passive parts (formed by closing the walls, large windows and elements).

The structure is a skeleton made up of pillars, buttresses, ribbed vaults and arches. The

thrust of the vault is due to their oblique arched shape, which is transmitted to the robust

buttresses by transporting buttresses outside. 

Materials:

The inner wall of the nave is divided into three levels: the first part called "Arcade", where the pillars separating the ships and walls bear arms.

Above is the "triforium" formed by a gallery with no windows surrounding the church through the pillars and in the space corresponding to the lower deck of the ship.

Finally, in the upper part is located the "Clerestorio" where there is a composite archery with high windows that illuminate the ship and the system of ribbed vaults can be raised to the height of the espinagada.

The capitals are simple moldings and a very marked color contrast in the interior,

through use of black marble in certain areas.

The facade of the building is made with sillarejo or small blocks due to the ease of

transportation.

In this cathedral windows were expanded to encompass the entire space between

the buttresses, covering windows with color biblical episodes.

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3. MILAN CATHEDRAL, ITALY

The Duomo di Milano, Milan's magnificent Gothic cathedral, is one of the world's largest churches. Its dazzling white front facade, arguably the world's most beautiful, dominates the cathedral square.

The Duomo is literally at the center of Milan. Streets radiate from the cathedral or circle it. The cathedral occupies a site that has been the most central location in the city since its founding.

The plan consists of a nave with four side-aisles, crossed by a transept and then followed by choir and apse.

The height of the nave is about 45 meters, the highest Gothic vaults of a complete church (less than the 48 meters of Beauvais Cathedral, which was never completed).

The roof is open to tourists (for a fee), which allows many a close-up view of some spectacular sculpture that would otherwise be unappreciated.

The roof of the cathedral is renowned for the forest of openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon delicateflying buttresses.

The cathedral's five broad naves, divided by 40 pillars, are reflected in the hierarchic openings of the façade.

Even the transepts have aisles. The nave columns are 24.5 metres (80 ft) high, and the apsidal windows are 20.7 x 8.5 metres (68

x 28 feet). The huge building is of brick construction, faced with marble from the quarries which Gian Galeazzo

Visconti donated in perpetuity to the cathedral chapter. Its maintenance and repairs are very complicated. Milan’s cathedral has recently developed a new lighting system, based on LED lights.

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4. DURHAMS CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND

The Plan

The building takes the form of a Latin cross, centered on the four great piers of the crossing.

The choir extended four bays to the east and originally terminated with a short bay which lead into a semicircular apse. The aisles also terminated in apses and these were encased with rectangular outer walls.

The transepts, which extend north and south for four bays, are furnished with an aisle on the eastern side.

Stair turrets project at the north-west and south-west angles.

The aisled nave is eight bays long, and terminates at the west in two towers. Throughout the building there is an alternating system of major and minor piers.

 The Interior Elevations of the Building

Durham is built with a three storey elevation, comprising an arcade, gallery and clerestory.

The main arches, which are supported alternately on cylindrical (minor) and compound (major) piers, have their soffits (under surfaces) decorated with roll mouldings.

The minor cylindrical piers are furnished with incised decoration—spiral patterns, zig-zags, losenges and flutes.

The gallery opens to the nave through a sub-divided arch. Single round headed windows provide illumination at clerestory level.

The original ribbed vaults survive in the aisles, and these are decorated with a torus or roll moulding on their soffits.

The high vaults are irregular in plan, the outer two bays of both transepts being covered by a single quadripartite vault. At the south-west and north-west corners the ribs spring awkwardly from the angle of the stair turret. On the west walls, the ribs are supported by sculptured corbels rather than engaged shafts. 

The aisle walls in the choir (i.e. the 'dado'), like those throughout the building, are decorated with intersecting arches, supported on pairs of engaged shafts. 

In the south transept the clerestory windows are flanked by tall, narrow arches, which have been blocked, evidently when the ribbed vault was constructed.

The nave is covered by quadripartite ribbed vaults, arranged in pairs over each of the double bays. The ribs themselves spring from corbels set in the wall, rather than from engaged shafts as was the case in the choir. Above the major (compound) piers are transverse arches, which accentuate the rhythm of the double bays. These transverse

arches are pointed in profile, a contrast to those in the transept which are stilted semi-circles.

Chevron ornament was employed extensively in the nave, decorating most of the arches as well as the ribs of the vault. 

Towers were constructed above the western bays of the aisles, each of which was widened to allow for the greater dimensions of the towers.

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5. ABBEY AUX HOMMES, CANE

Also known as "Sainte Etienne," the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, is a French Romanesque church located in the west side of Caen, a city in Normandy, located in northwestern France.

Constructed between 1068 and 1120

west facade - the entrance facade of the church. This facade is one of the earliest to absolutely define its interior layout by its external appearance. The height of the western towers, combined with other verticals on the building, began that reach towards the heavens that was to characterize later Gothic church development.

The octagonal spires at the very top of the twin towers were added in the 13th century. There are a total of nine spires on this church, all seemingly erected in the 13th century. It is strange to say, but though this façade set the design trend, almost as a prototype, it is one of very few churches to have come down through time with its towers almost identical. Very often local resources would be depleted prior tocompletion of these massive edifices, and if towers and spires were ever completed, they would be done in the style of the moment of the new construction, therefore losing the original mirror image concept. 

Flying buttresses are obvious on the exterior, helping to support the latest construction of the church,

that of the upper nave. That area was completed in the 12th century. Earlier wooden roof construction

over the nave was removed in 1115, the upper section of the nave walls raised to

accommodate sexpartite vaults, and at some point these flying buttresses were used to pinpoint strategic

support for that higherconstruction. As with so much of Romanesque development, these buttresses

would become a feature of structural and aesthetic design of Gothic church development.he western facade once again. The facade up to the spires is original to the 11 th century. The height necessitated buttressing, and the four massive buttresses applied to the front elevation divide the facade into the three parts

representative of the interior, the nave flanked by side aisles. The three sets of windows further indicate interior arrangement, the nave floor, the triforium gallery, and the clerestory. The south tower (on the right) is 262 feet (80m.) high, while the north tower (on the left) measures 269 feet (82m.) in height.

The plan shows the overhead structural members – vertical and diagonal lines. Note that immediately upon entering, the vaulting overhead at each of the three entrance doors, is in four parts. Proceeding down the nave, we see that there are six parts to each vault (the diagonal and vertical lines which delineate a bay in the construction. The crossing is divided into eight segments. The multi-angles of ribs in the apse over the choir are part of a Gothic addition in the 13th century.

Internally, just above the entrance, is the four-part vault, showing traces of colorful decoration.

To refresh a bit, the four-part groin vault, by the way, is known as a "quadripartite" vault, and seemingly resulted during Roman construction from the intersection of two barrel vaults.

The apse, towering above the altar, dating from the 13th century, when it replaced and expanded upon the original choir area, is pure Gothic. The stone skeleton is the structure, pure and simple. Materials have been minimalized, with just enough stone to support itself. While the columns begin as round shafts, they do articulate above their capitals, and can be traced up to a convergence, from which some do come down on the opposite side. While it remains for some later designs to become even thinner and taller, allowing more light to enter, this never-the-less is a magnificent accomplishment on the road through the Gothic.