St.-Martin-des-Champs, Paris, 1130s

Clues in smaller churches in the Ile-de-France

Wall buttresses that anticipate flying Gothic buttress:

narrow but deep

high placing in relation to vault springings

Choir of St.-Denis – first flying buttresses?

reconstruction of the 1140-44 upper stories

Clues in smaller churches in the Ile-de-France

St.-Martin-des-Champs, 1130s Choir of St.-Denis – ring of light

Wilson: Basic principle of Gothic aesthetics derive from the pointed arch – unity through increasing the number and reducing the autonomy of the elements of design

Île de la Cité in Paris – home to cathedral and royal palace

Nôtre-Dame, Parisb. 1150-55, nave 1170-80, extensive rebuilding in 1220s, transept 1240s-50s

façade 1200-45

Political map of France, 1154 Île-de-France region (the royal domain)

Laon Cathedral, France, late 1150s to 1205, choir 1215, façade 1190-5Laon Cathedral, France, late 1150s to 1205, choir 1215, façade 1190-5

façade 1190-95

Original plans of Nôtre-Dame

and Laon Cathedral

Nôtre-Dame Laon Cathedral

Nôtre-DameAvg. Gothic cathedral

Laon Nôtre-Dame – 5 aisle basilica

Nôtre-Dame – original 4-level nave elevation

Nôtre-Dame – illumination

original planaddition of chapels

1225-30

Nôtre-Dame

columnar piers + sexpartite vaulting

Nôtre-Dame, Paris

Nave

Nôtre-Dame, Paris

Choir Detail of nave elevation at the gallery level

Nôtre-Dame, Paris

Detail of choir with old nave elevation (rebuilt in the 19th century) and 1220s nave elevation

Nôtre-Dame, Paris

as considerably rebuilt with 3-part nave elevation and larger clerestory

original nave (1155) and buttressing (1180) including flyers

windows and new flying buttresses in the 1220s

Cathedral of Laon, 1155-1205commissioned by duke and bishop Gautier de Mortagne (bishop 1155-74)

Laon Cathedral, France, late 1150s to 1205, choir 1215, façade 1190-5Laon Cathedral, France, late 1150s to 1205, choir 1215, façade 1190-5

façade 1190-95

Laon Cathedral

as planned as built

as planned in 1155

Laon CathedralTournai Cathedral, Belgium

Romanesque nave and transept early-mid 12th centuryGothic choir, 1243-45

Laon Cathedral

Laon Cathedral – crossing and transept

Laon Cathedral – transept chapels with polygonal apse

main apse originally semi-circular

north transept chapel (Lady Chapel)

Laon Cathedral – chapels with polygonal apse

semi-circular apse north transept chapel (Lady Chapel)

Abbey church of St.-RemiReims, France, 1170-80s

The polygonal plan manifests a desire for simultaneous multiple images.

Laon Cathedral –four-part nave elevationTournai Cathedral, Belgium

Romanesque nave early-mid 12th century

String courses + vault responds make a tiered grid

Shafts correspond better to the different ribs of the sexpartite vaults

Alternating piers (1170s) failed to relate. First inkling of the coming pilier cantonné in High Gothic.

Responds are free cylinders, edge-bedded joined with stone rings (“structural honesty”)

Laon Cathedral –four-part nave elevation

thick rubble walls allow free lathe-turned cylinders to be attached by stone rings to the walls

Laon Cathedral – nave elevation

thick rubble walls allow free lathe-turned cylinders to be attached by stone rings to the walls

Laon Cathedral – nave elevationNôtre-Dame – nave elevation

early flying buttresses at Laon too

Laon Cathedral – nave elevation

solid quadrant arch under roof of gallery buttress rises too

high not to have supported flyers originally

Romanesque façade of St.-Denis Paris, 1137-40

Early Gothic façade of Laon Cathedral1190-95

Early Gothic façade of Laon Cathedral1190-95

Oldest full-width rose window (1175)on Laon’s north transept

plate tracery

Early Gothic towers of Laon Cathedral facade

Villard de Honnecourt’s drawing of Laon Cathedral façade towers, 1220-40s

Nôtre-Dame Laon Cathedral

High Gothic Cathedrals in France

Richard I of England died unexpectedly in 1199French king Phillip II conquered Normandy and Anjou starting in 1204

Prestige of the French crown grows as of 1200

11541200

Chartres Cathedral, b. 1194

Bourges Cathedralb. 1195

Gothic nave elevations 12th-13th century

Chartres Cathedral (Nôtre-Dame), Chartres, France, 1194-1221

Bourges Cathedral (St.-Étienne), Bourges, France, 1195-1255

Chartres Cathedral Bourges Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral

I. A. What three architectural qualities did the new urban patrons in France want to see combined in their novel sacred spaces of Gothic cathedrals?

fuller spatial unity + greater illumination + increased height