Gothic Architecture: a brief summary

Architecture never struck me as particularly interesting until I came to France.  All of the buildings are old and beautiful, even someone like me has to appreciate them.  The architecture that stuck me the most was the Gothic churches we looked at.  This was surprising because the images I’ve seen before coming were never able to hold my attention.  The have a totally different experience in person.  The scale and detail are impressive.  Both the interiors and exteriors were great to draw because there was interest from far away and in detail.

We looked at three different Gothic churches from three different time periods: Notre Dame, Church of Saint-Julien-Le Pauvre, and the Church of Saint-Séverin.  These had three very different scales and different places in the Gothic architecture timeline. Church of Saint-Julien-Le Pauvre was the smallest and the oldest.  It was a local, modest church. Notre Dame was the largest and took place in between Saint-Julien-Le Pauvre and Saint-Séverin.  It was massive, and beautiful.  People still attended mass there, but with all of the tourists that come in, it might be overwhelming.  The last, Saint-Séverin, was built post-Notre Dame and was moderate in size.  It wasn’t as intimate as Saint-Julien-Le Pauvre, but didn’t attract the tourism and craziness that Notre Dame did.

While I can’t choose a favorite building of the three, I can choose a favorite feature that they all shared: the stained glass windows.  Not only did they let in light from outside, so they were practical, but they were unique pieces of art.  They have unique history (some were replaced to look old, some were replaced to look modern) and really set the churches apart.