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UNIT 6

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

I. Read the text and translate it in the written form.

It was not until the psychological studies of the present century that a
correct approach to the problem of the origin of Gothic architecture be-

came possible. During the last century an enormous wealth of detail was
collected, and now, after further research, we have a definite idea of the
order of succession of the individual buildings and can to some extent ex-

plain the origin of the Gothic style.
There are many churches of the transitional period with groined vault-
ing or pointed arches, which remain essentially Romanesque in concep-

tion; while on the other hand there are Gothic churches which incorporate
ancient forms. If we are to draw the dividing line between Romanesque
and Gothic, knowledge of the individual parts is less important than an un-

derstanding of the architectural conception as a whole.
The Church of Saint-Etienne in Caen, consecrated in 1077, shows, in
purely Romanesque terms, an intention that would in itself have been
enough to start a new style. The huge west front, built about 1080, rises

above an inconsiderable base, and the upward-pointing tendency is unmis-
takable; but only in places does the building break away from the cubic
mass and begin to move. More interesting than the cathedral of Angers and

the Cistercian church of Pontigny, which in Anjou and Burgundy embody
the early Gothic, is the cathedral of Laon, begun about 1165. Its facade
shows clearly that the transition to Gothic could be carried out quite inde-
pendently of the pointed arch. Here the architectural tendency of the 12th

century, the period of the French Early Gothic, is expressed with wonder-
ful completeness. No line, no surface, exists any longer for its own sake, as
in the Romanesque building. If one imagines the towers of Laon bearing

tall octagonal steeples, each storey loses its obvious delimitation, and
seems to grow on to the next. By means of connecting links a sense of
lively movement is instilled into the fabric, which thrusts itself vigorously

upwards, not in a single rush, but with repeated efforts, while the diagonal
corner-pieces give oblique views that catch the eye from every point of
view.

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