Principles of Gothic Architecture
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Gothic architecture represented a unique and innovative form of building. The cathedral is the most common form built during this period. The ancient Greek and Roman architecture answered all of the perfections needed to build a flawless and accomplished building. Gothic architecture destroyed these ideas and introduced a certain fantastical manner of building: congestions of heavy, dark, melancholy, monkish piles, without any just proportion, use or beauty. For the first time an attempt was made to destroy an almost universal form of art and substitute it with another built up by artificial rules and premeditated theories.
There were many technological advances in gothic architecture. The first is the pointed arch. This is the point at which the tops of the columns meet. Having them meet at an angle rather than a curve added strength because of the more efficient way the weight carried by the columns was distributed. Thus, fewer columns would be needed to support a building of the same size or larger...