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Gothic architecture, evolved from Romanesque architecture, developed in Europe during the high and late medieval period. It originated in the 12th century in France, which boasted rich abundance of easily shaped and anti corrosion lime stones. The first Gothic structure is the choir in Saint Denis, France, whose style influenced churches in rest of the country and later the rest of Europe until the 16th century. As a result, Gothic architecture was known during the period as "the French style."
Gothic architecture is the aesthetic expression of that epoch of European history when paganism had been extinguished, the hordes of barbarian invaders beaten back, or Christianized and assimilated; and when the Catholic Church had established itself not only as the sole spiritual power, supreme and almost unquestioned in authority, but also as the arbiter of the destinies of sovereigns and of peoples. The clergymen, including archbishops, priests, clerics and pastors, were more interested in power and wealth. They figured prominently in the ruling of cities and countries, and even started conflicts with the aristocratic. Meanwhile, the society became more open and developed. The removal of the temporal authority to Constantinople had continued the traditions of civilization where Greek, Roman, and Asiatic elements were fused in a curious alembic. The hierarchy of the society, though still strict, loosened as bit as more people were engaged in trade or handicraft industry. In countries such as Britain and France, where the imperial power was restricted and the privileges of the aristocrats limited, business and cities were booming. The power of the church and the wealth of the society prompted the clergymen and the emerging capitalists to build grandiose churches, not only as praise for God, but also a showcase of their pride.The churches were thin and tall which reached higher into heaven and struck a sense of awe in the residents in and beyond the neighborhood. Many of these churches and cathedrals took over a century to build.
法国亚眠大教堂
哥特式建筑从罗马建筑发端而来，盛行于中世纪中后期，于12世纪在法国诞生。法国出产一种既耐腐蚀又易于加工的石灰岩，1140～1144年，法国人用这种石材重建了巴黎圣丹尼斯修道院的唱诗台，从此以后法国各城市的教堂都依照这个风格来建造，并扩展到欧洲各地，其影响一直持续到16世纪。因此，哥特式建筑也被称为“法国式建筑”。
中世纪的欧洲异教被消灭，外来入侵者或被击退或被基督教同化，天主教成为至高无上、独一无二的精神领袖，其不仅在宗教上具有绝对的、不容置喙的权威，甚至还能统治国家和人民。此时，神职人员不再只关心信徒们的灵魂，他们进而成为城市生活的重要角色，对权力、物质和财富表现出越来越大的野心，到后来甚至常与贵族发生冲突。同时，此时社会也更加开放，拜占庭帝国虽然没落了，但是希腊、罗马和亚洲元素却继续不断融合，你中有我，我中有你，哥特式建筑就是在这样一个刚摆脱封建制度的束缚、不断演进的社会中发展起来的。新崛起的社会阶层不再为贵族工作，而是自由经商或是从事手工业，在法国、英国这些国家，由于政局稳定，王权被限制住，贵族的特权减少，商业与城市自然蓬勃发展起来。在这种风气下，主教和资产阶级投资建造宏伟的教堂不仅是为了赞美上帝，同时也是为了展现他们心里无法掩饰的自豪。他们想建造高大耸立的教堂，既可以更加接近上帝，又可以俯视方圆百里成千上万的居民，让大家崇拜景仰。许多教堂都花费了大量的人力物力，历时一个世纪才完成。
Gothic architecture has distinct characteristics. The long, thin and spiky towers set it apart from Romanesque. Looking up beneath the church, the seemingly endless erecting towers stroke a sense of awe to the Almighty. Generally speaking, the Gothic style has the following features:
法国亚眠大教堂双层飞扶壁
First, tall minarets or pointed arches, reconstructed from cylindrical vault of Roman architecture. There are four stones at the end of the arch supporting the power from the top so that the height and the span of the arch are no longer restricted and the arch can be made as large and high as possible.
Second, ribbed vaulting, derived from the arch structure in ancient Roman and developed into more complicated forms, from four-part, sixpart to decorated ribs. The vault concentrates the structure in a determined point, which determines the disappearance of the massive walls of the Romanesque, where are replaced by ample large windows.
Flying buttress and beam-column, together creating a sense of flying. The weight and pressure are transferred by means of the flying buttresses to outer abutments, which end in pinnacles.
Large windows and stained glass painted with Bible stories, rendering startling sun-dappled interior effects.No other Ages produced windows of such rich color and beauty. By transferring the weight of the ceilings outward thrust to the flying buttresses, architects were now able to place huge stain glass windows in the walls.This allowed the once dim Romanesque Cathedral to be transformed into a very bright and warm feeling Gothic Cathedral. The windows transmit, rather than reflect light, filtering and transforming the natural light as it enters the building.
哥特式教堂大大的花窗玻璃
哥特式教堂的特征比较明显，外观就能一目了然——瘦瘦长长、尖塔刺入天空。站在这样的教堂下面仰望，对造物主的敬畏油然而生。总结起来，哥特式教堂有以下几个特点：
第一，尖塔。尖塔从罗马建筑的柱形拱顶演变而来，每个尖塔由四块大石板支持着顶部的重量，这样建筑的高度得到解放，不受限制。
第二，尖肋拱顶。这种拱顶从古罗马建筑的拱券结构演变而来，发展出更复杂的形式，有四分的、六分的和装饰性尖肋。尖肋将建筑结构往一个方向集中，从而使古罗马建筑中宽大的墙面不复存在，取而代之的是大型的窗户，以便采光。
第三，飞扶壁和束柱。这两个元素给人以飞翔的感觉，飞扶壁不仅美观，而且可以分散尖塔的重量，它将中心最主要的尖塔的重量分布到四周的墩座上。
第四，大型花窗玻璃，上面画着圣经故事。没有哪一个时代像中世纪那样将窗户的创意发挥到极致，因为屋顶的重量分散到飞扶壁上面去了，所以墙壁上可以腾出空间用来安装大型的窗户。这种特色一改原先古罗马教堂的晦暗之气，取而代之的是明亮温暖的哥特式教堂。这些五颜六色窗户并不把光线直接反射回去，而是让光透进来，营造出柔和而自然的氛围。
The grand scale of Gothic churches has made many of them the most important symbol of the city. The representative Gothic churches include Milan Cathedra, the Notre Dame in Paris, the Westminster Abbey in London, and the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.
哥特式教堂规模宏大，其中许多教堂已经成为一个城市最具标志性的建筑。著名的哥特式教堂有米兰大教堂、巴黎圣母院、伦敦威斯敏斯特教堂和德国的科隆大教堂。
The Milan Cathedral is the symbol of the city. It is renowned for its size (the third largest Catholic Church in the world after St Peter's in Rome and the Seville Cathedral) and for its many statues (more than 3400). Its construction probably started in 1386 and took almost 600 years to build.At the time it was built it could hold the entire population of Milan, 40,000 people.
One of the main characteristic of the cathedral is the presence of numerous spires. The cathedral has about 135 spires, each mounted with a statue depicting important people in Milan's history and different characters in the bible. The highest spire and the tallest part of the cathedral measures up to 357 foot tall and holds the most important symbol of Milan, the Madonina or Little Madonna. It's a golden statue which is so important that by law no any other building should pass the height of it.
米兰大教堂是世界上最大的哥特式建筑
Mark Twain, a great fan of the Duomo, can take over the description from here (from Innocents Abroad ):
What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems... a delusion105 of frostwork that might vanish with a breath...
The central one of its five great doors is bordered with a bas-relief106 of birds and fruits and beasts and insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures-- and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex, that one would not get tired of looking at them even for a whole week. …about the enormous building, from summit to base, there is a marble statue, and every statue is a study in itself...
…looking very tall close at hand, but diminishing in the distance...We could see, now, that the statue …(Up on) the roof... springing from its broad marble flagstones, were the long files of spires, on the top of each was the size of a large man, though they all looked like dolls from the street...
They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands.
米兰大教堂是米兰的象征。它以庞大的规模（位列罗马圣彼得大教堂和西班牙赛尔维大教堂之后的第三大教堂）、数不尽的雕塑（超过3400座）而驰名。从1386年开始，历时六百多年才建成，建成时可以容纳下当时米兰的人口，约四万人。
米兰大教堂最显著的特点是那数目众多的尖塔——共计135座，每座顶部都有一个米兰的历史名人或者圣经人物的塑像。最高的尖塔达108米，顶上安放着米兰最重要的标致：圣母像。这座塑像呈金色，按照当地法律规定，任何其他建筑都不得超过圣母像的高度。
美国作家马克·吐温在他的《傻子国外旅行记》中所描述的米兰大教堂，再形象不过了：
真是一个奇迹！它如此宏大、庄严、广阔，可是又如此细腻、轻盈、优雅。它沉重稳固，却又像雾霭一般轻轻一碰就会消失……
米兰大教堂顶端的金色圣母像
五扇大门正中间的那个门镶嵌着花鸟鱼虫的浮雕，其做工精美，栩栩如生，形状万千，设计繁复，哪怕是盯着它看上一个星期，也不觉得厌烦……从顶峰到地下，只要是有笼龛和台子的地方，都可以看到大理石雕塑，件件都是值得研究的艺术品……
高耸的屋顶上，尖塔从巨大的大理石基石上升出，直冲云霄，似乎近在咫尺，又似乎消失在远方。现在我方才发现，原来每个尖塔顶部都装有巨大的人物塑像，而从大街上看，它们就跟玩具娃娃一般大。
人们说米兰大教堂仅次于罗马圣彼得大教堂，我实在想不通，它怎么可能次于任何一个出自人类之手的东西。
巴黎圣母院（1163～1345年）
About 1130, Louis VI moved his official residence to Paris, spurring much commercial activity and a great building boom. Paris soon became the leading city of France, indeed of all northern Europe, making a new cathedral a necessity. Notre-Dame of Paris was thus created at a picturesque site on an island in the Seine River called the Ile -de-la-Cite.
The Notre Dame, which means "Our Madame" in French, was constructed throughout nearly a century from 1163 to 1250, and underwent major overhaul in the 14th and 17th century. The project involved all the Parisians and people across the country. It was said that the large amount of gold and silver in the 13ton bell on the south tower came from the generosity of Paris women who donated their jewelry. The Ile-de-la-Cite where the cathedral is located, was the center of Gaul in ancient Rome and the starting point of the distance of Paris to the rest of the country.
To hold the much thinner-and taller-walls of Notre-Dame in place, the unknown architect introduced flying buttresses, exterior arches that counter the outward thrust of the nave vaults. Flying buttresses seem to have been employed as early as 1150 in a few smaller churches, but at NotreDame in Paris they circle a great urban cathedral. The precisely positioned flying buttresses and rib vaults with pointed arches was the ideal solution to the problem of constructing towering naves with huge windows filled with stained glass. The flying buttresses, like slender extended fingers holding up the walls, are also important elements contributing to the distinctive look of Gothic cathedrals.
The Notre Dame also owes its lasting fame to Victor Hugo's novel named after the cathedral, Notre Dame . The novel was written in during the French revolution of July 1830 when aristocrats tried to restore feudalism.Hugo admired Gothic architecture in his youth and spent countless hours in the Notre Dame reading literature. His novel created famous characters including Esmeralda, a beautiful and naturally compassionate young gypsy, the hideous but good-natured bell-ringer Quasimodo, and Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame who held a decent job on the outside but jealousy and hatred on the inside. Their fates are the reflection of the conflicts between religious authority and human rights, knowledge and ignorance, rigorous social hierarchy and individual freedom. Due to the righteous theme of the novel, the Notre Dame has transcended its status as a building or a church, but a symbol of the battle between innovation and reservation, progress and retrogression, justice and evil, and beauty and vice.
巴黎圣母院内部
1130年，法国国王路易六世将他的常居地搬至巴黎，从而引发了一场建筑热潮。巴黎很快成为法国的第一大城市，也是欧洲北部重要城市之一，于是修建一个与巴黎地位相称的教堂被提上日程。巴黎圣母院由此诞生，它建在塞纳河上风景优美的西岱岛上。
巴黎圣母院原意是“我们的女士”，它不仅建筑时间早，而且建筑时间长，从1163年动工，到1250年完成，并在14世纪和17世纪分别进行过两次重大修复。这座建筑，几乎牵动了全巴黎、全法国人的心，据说南塔楼上那座13吨重的巨钟，在铸料中所加入的大量金、银成分，就是用当时巴黎的妇女们慷慨而虔诚地捐献出来的金银首饰熔成的。另外，巴黎圣母院所在的位置为巴黎的核心，巴黎的先民高卢人最早就是在这里建立了巴黎的城市雏形，所以至今计算巴黎到法国全国各地的里程都是以巴黎圣母院为起点的。
巴黎圣母院的飞扶壁，像手指一样支撑着向上生长的建筑
为了支撑细长的建筑结构，建筑师运用了大量的飞扶壁来分散建筑的重量。飞扶壁早在1150年就在教堂建筑中使用，但是规模都比较小。在巴黎圣母院修建过程中，飞扶壁第一次大量地出现在如此大规模的城市教堂中。飞扶壁建造的位置经过准确测量，解决了如何支撑细长的尖塔和镶嵌着巨大花窗的墙壁的问题，同时，飞扶壁的造型修长，像手指一样稳稳地扶着尖塔，形成了哥特式教堂的一个特有景观。
巴黎圣母院的辉煌，还要感谢维克多·雨果的长篇小说《巴黎圣母院》。这部小说是他在1830年法国 “七月革命”爆发，封建复辟王朝被推翻的影响下创作的。雨果与巴黎圣母院渊源极深，少年时代的他就对哥特建筑艺术有着浓厚的兴趣，到青年时期他更是屡次进入圣母院广泛阅读有关资料。作品以反封建的现实主题，创造出许多经久不衰的人物形象：美丽而富有同情心的吉普赛姑娘爱斯梅拉达，外表丑陋却心地善良的钟楼怪人卡西莫多，还有道貌岸然、被嫉妒和仇恨吞没的主教克洛德。他们内心的分裂和冲突，反映的是他们那个时代神权与人权、愚昧与求知之间庞大沉重的黑暗制度与挣扎着的脆弱个人之间的分裂与冲突。由于这部长篇小说所富含的深刻社会内容和对理想与正义的不懈追求，使巴黎圣母院远远超越了它作为“建筑”和“教堂”的意义，而被赋予了全新的社会价值和思想内涵，它成为人们心目中革新与保守、斗争与妥协、正义与邪恶、美善与丑陋进行抗争的一种象征。