Gothic Cathedral Architecture

Timeline

1. 1200–1300Notre-Dame de Paris and Chartres · ParisIn the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, High Gothic reached exemplary structural height and spatial luminosity in France, England, and elsewhere; ribbed vaults and flying buttresses greatly increased window area in walls, and stained-glass narratives became a visual medium of theological education.
2. 1461–1470Cologne and Strasbourg · CologneIn the 1460s, late Gothic cathedral projects in Germany continued apace; the construction of Cologne Cathedral's nave and towers and the spire of Strasbourg Cathedral embodied Flamboyant decoration and vertical ascending aesthetics, with urban guild patronage and stonemasonry reaching a late-medieval peak.
3. c. 1500–1550Italy and Central Europe · EuropeAfter the rise of classical Renaissance vocabulary in the sixteenth century, newly built churches mostly adopted classical orders and domes, but the continuation of Gothic cathedral construction in Germany and elsewhere persisted for several generations, forming a transitional landscape in which the Gothic tradition coexisted with emerging humanist architecture.