The Gothic Era took place at a time when poverty was high, not everyone was educated, and Christianity was very well spread. Gothic architecture and paintings in Europe became popular in the late twelfth to thirteenth centuries; its religious themes gave people a way to overcome hardships through religious comfort. The Gothic style was developed from the Romanesque and was originally known as the “French Style”. It was started in France and from there spread to England and Germany influencing much of Europe but Paris remained its cultural epicenter. Gothic era architecture and paintings was both heavy in religious themes and showed progress towards the Renaissance through its innovative Cathedrals and more realistic paintings. The architecture …show more content…
Each had their own distinguishing features that set them apart from the previous style. High Gothic was the basic use of pointed arches and vaults, ribs, and flying buttresses. Rayonnant Gothic made changes to the size of windows, its design and how they were made, it also added a glazed triforia. The Flamboyant Gothic style is characterized by curving stone tracery. Eventhough there were differnet styles, they were all similar in several ways. They all had a similar design, had a large amount of stained glass windows, the outside was covered with sculptures of saints and gargoyles. They also had two towers, and a rose …show more content…
These were elegant, enormous and well decorated on the outside as well as the inside. The outside of the cathedrals was dark and gloomy while the inside was magnificently lit, large and airy. The outside was covered in many statues of religious figures and gargoyles that were distorted and unrealistic; the inside was very spacious, bright and well decorated. It was done like this on purpose to lead you from a cruel and gruesome world into the great, safe, beautiful Glory of God. Building a cathedral was a giant feat with a great purpose so it had to be well decorated with many Christian themed decorative arts. This led to a great increase in the Gothic arts such as sculptures, many stained glass windows, frescos and paintings, especially illuminated