The Gothic style formed a natural development of the
Romanesque style. The architects of a Gothic church wished to retain the
vaulted ceiling but at the same time to do away with thick, solid walls, which
had so little window space as to leave the interior of the building dark
gloomy. They solved this problem, in the first place, by using a great number
of stone ribs, which gathered up the weight of the ceiling and rested on
pillars. Ribbed vaulting made possible higher ceilings, spanning wider areas,
than in Romanesque churches. [13] In the second place, the pillars supporting
the ribs were themselves connected by means of flying buttresses with stout
piers of masonry outside the walls of the church. [14] These walls, relieved
from the pressure of the ceiling, now became a mere screen to keep out the
weather. They could be built of light materials and opened up with high, wide
windows.
[13] The interior of King's College Chapel, Cambridge,
shows the ribs and the beautiful tracery of the ceiling of a Gothic building.
[14] The flying buttress is well shown in the view of
Canterbury Cathedral.
THE POINTED ARCH
Ribbed vaulting and the flying buttress are the
distinctive features of Gothic architecture. A third feature, noteworthy but
not so important, is the use of the pointed arch. It was not Christian in
origin, for it had long been known to the Arabs in the East and the Moslem
conquerors of Sicily. The semicircular or round arch can be only half as
high as it is wide, but the pointed arch may vary greatly in its proportions.
The use of this device enabled the Gothic builder to bridge over different
widths at any required height. It is also lighter and more graceful than the
round arch.
