Gothic Architecture - Other Gothic Buildings

Other Gothic Buildings

See also Castle

Synagogues, commonly built in the prevailing architectural style of the period and country where they are constructed, were built in the Gothic style in Europe during the Medieval period. A surviving example is the Old New Synagogue in Prague, built in the 13th century. Many examples of secular, non-military structures in Gothic style survive in fairly original condition. The Palais des Papes in Avignon is the best complete large royal palace, with partial survivals in the great hall at the Palace of Westminster, London, an 11th-century hall renovated in the late 14th century with gothic windows and a wooden hammerbeam roof, and the famous Conciergerie, former palace of the kings of France, in Paris. In addition to monumental secular architecture, examples of the Gothic style can be seen in surviving medieval portions of cities across Europe, above all the distinctive Venetian Gothic such as the Ca' d'Oro. The house of the wealthy early 15th century merchant Jacques Coeur in Bourges, is the classic Gothic bourgeois mansion, full of the asymmetry and complicated detail beloved of the Gothic Revival.

Other cities with a concentration of secular Gothic include Bruges and Siena. Most surviving small secular buildings are relatively plain and straightforward; most windows are flat-topped with mullions, with pointed arches and vaulted ceilings often only found at a few focal points. The country-houses of the nobility were slow to abandon the appearance of being a castle, even in parts of Europe, like England, where defence had ceased to be a real concern. The living and working parts of many monastic buildings survive, for example at Mont Saint-Michel.

There are many excellent examples of secular Brick Gothic structures scattered throughout Poland and the Baltic States, most notably Malbork Castle, the Gdańsk and Wroclaw Town Hall, and Collegium Maius in Krakow.

Exceptional works of Gothic architecture can also found in Cyprus, especially in the walled cities of Nicosia and Famagusta. Also, the roof of the Znojmo Town Hall Tower in the Czech Republic is an excellent example of late Gothic craftsmanship.