Gothic Influence on Christian Cathedral Architecture

Imagine a Christian cathedral. The image conjured up by the phrase “cathedral” is probably a massive stone building with soaring towers and spires, intricate ornamentations covering the building, and beautiful stained glass windows. If one imagined such a building in response to being asked to imagine a cathedral, one would be accurate. Why exactly are these attributes associated with cathedrals? Well, many cathedrals such as these were built during the Gothic period in medieval Europe. The Gothic style of architecture is an easily recognizable one with its unprecedentedly tall towers and wide windows. Before the Gothic style was the Romanesque style, which is represented in the traditional castle in Europe: wide, short, with thick walls and

The principle behind the Gothic style was to reach greater interior heights. However, “medieval churches had solid stone vaults (the structure that supports the ceiling or roof). These were extremely heavy structures and tended to push the walls outward, which could lead to the collapse of the building. In turn, walls had to be heavy and thick enough to bear the weight of the stone vaults,” (“Gothic Art and Architecture”). Thus, the taller buildings such a churches would be more expensive to build and look bulky and ungainly, which doesn’t quite fit the style the clergy were aiming for. In response to this problem, master masons of the medieval period developed the iconic ribbed vault. This newly developed ribbed vault had several interesting characteristics. A ribbed vault was the conjunction of two or more barrel vaults. The vault itself was a collection of stone ribs traversing the vaulted ceiling and transporting the weight onto the ribs themselves. Also, instead of the traditional round arches, pointed arches were used. This gave the ceiling of Gothic buildings a light and more versatile look (Martindale). Not only did these ribbed vaults bring a (somewhat) unique look to cathedrals, they also served an incredibly vital part in the architectural design of Gothic structures. The Gothic structures’ “new arrangement significantly reduced the weight (and thus the outward thrust) of the ceiling vault,” which reduced the constant danger of collapse and cracking for the thick Romanesque walls when they tried to reach taller heights (“Gothic Architecture”). The ribs also “transmitted [weight] along a distinct stone rib, rather than along a continuous wall edge, and could be channeled from the rib to other supports, such as vertical piers or flying buttresses, which eliminated the need for solid, thick walls,” (“Gothic