Gothic Architectural Designs
Gothic architectural designs have withstood the test of time proving its uniqueness, quality, and symbolic representation of the religious culture. The historical background of the gothic architectural style dates back to the year 1440 AC in Saint-Denis near Paris in France. Several years later have seen a dynamic and diverse revolution of the gothic architectural designs all over Europe and around the world. The focus of this essay will be on the based on the visual details on two famous gothic architectural structures. The structures will display an array of communities and differences through analytical analysis of their architecture and style.
Trinity Church of New York
The construction of Trinity Church of New York expresses the gothic architecture in a characteristically revolutionized gothic architectural style and design. The Trinity Church was built using the 14th-century English perpendicular gothic style. The interior is adorned with magnificent medieval stained glass windows. The eccentric finishes of the trinity church’s interior masterpieces include the bronze ornate doors and the thoughtful brownstone. The floor plan is rectangular, unique, and strategically organized allowing a church graveyard on the left and right sides of the church. The front allows a large double door entry façade that leads to the grid sitting arrangement. The strategic sittings arrangements extend to a raised parallel placed altar that lies just before an expansive corridor that borders the back wall. Behind the back wall extends a horizontal garden that surpasses the left and right wall boundaries with an alternate door that allows entry and exit of the corridor. Comparatively the floor plan of the Amiens Cathedral contains a number of different designs. The most notable floor plan design is the bent cross. The exterior exhibits a superb display of artistry. The Amiens Cathedral boasts the largest and biggest floor plan with a medieval interior. The floor plan consists of around 126 pillars that support the curved roof structure similar to the one in Trinity Church. The interior of the Amiens Cathedral also boasts of considerable amounts of immense light from the race's ceiling and the transparent stained windows. The interior also has a notable display gallery of paintings and works of art. The high pulpit is adorned with gilded wood and marble with three female figures.
Pinnacle Tower of Trinity Church
The pinnacle tower of the Trinity church hoists a cross at its top with several mounted bells along its length. On the outside, a pattern of ribbed stone arrangement on the sloping edges of the pinnacle. The pinnacle contains strong pillars that support the visible height of the tower to the skyline. The sculptural ornaments are missing on the Trinity church gate with a plain façade and vertical supporting pillars on both ends. The vaulting patterns consist of stained glass and are made up of arched roofs and strong thick vertical walls that stretch over wide spans. The main reason for the arched roofs and thick walls is to avoid collapse. The masons were evidently highly talented and skilled craftsmen who perfected their art in offering a distinguished overall delivery of all architectural works of quality. In contrast, Amiens Cathedral in France displays an architectural gothic style is designed to maximize and utilize the internal space to allow lighter making it the tallest cathedral in France. The interior volume is also very large compared to the Trinity church in New York. The interior has lost most of its original stained glass decorations. Instead, the Amiens Cathedral in France boasts the best quality and largest quantity of early gothic sculptures in the main west façade and the southeast transparent portal. The colors at the Amiens Cathedral in France display an array of several colors being applied over time thus creating a polychromatic appearance.
Window Tracery and Sculptures
The window tracery of the Trinity Church consists of diamond-patterned stained glass; the stonework is mostly composed of an art-looking plant or tree. The biggest sculptural ornaments are located on the west side at the bottom west of the pinnacle. They consist of the statues of a man and a woman holding a bible. The windows of the Amiens Cathedral are in an open-spaced arcade that sequentially flanks two towers. The sculptures are more elaborate and more in number. The lower façade is chiseled with beautifully arched deep porches with a display of twenty-two sculptured life-sized kings stretching across the rose windows. However, the Amiens Cathedral had several notable defects like the high placement of the flying buttresses which the force of the ceiling arch resulted in the pushing outwards with lateral forces that applied a lot of pressure on the vertical columns and cracks.
Conclusion
It is evident that the gothic architectural style and design are unmatched in its artistic influence and uniqueness. The structures give an explicit comparison of the creativity input by craftsmen over a period of time to perfect such architectural masterpieces. Most of the characteristic features of gothic structures as observed included sculptures and statues of saints with arched facades and windows. The architectural structures offer a great experience of art as well as lessons in architecture.
