"Gothic" is a derogation. It comes from the author of the book "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects", Giorgio Vasari, who attributed characteristics of Gothic architecture to the Goths, who replaced ancient buildings in Rome with newer ones in this style after their invasion.
In his book, Vasari refers to the "barbarous German style" as the source of architectural decline. Of course, he was writing these in a period when classical architecture - in the form of Renaissance - was in full bloom and Gothic architecture was almost abandoned.
However, history tends to repeat itself, and so does the interest in various architectural styles. As a result, with Gothic Revival catching up after the second half of 18th century, the style came back into prominence once again, and the admiration for buildings in the original Gothic style was no longer a shameful act. In fact, Gothic Revival was widely used around the world, with significant works - including no less than the Palace of Westminster itself - produced and commissioned.
Still, none of the later works in the Gothic Revival style evoked the dominating, encompassing effect that earlier Gothic buildings did, simply because Gothic buildings - churches to be precise - were by far the tallest and most dominant buildings of their times. Even today, Gothic cathedrals in some European cities are the most prominent buildings of their vicinity: StephansKirche in Vienna or Cologne Cathedral are prime examples. And we all owe this to one man, Abbot Suger, and his original work, the Saint-Denis basilica, completed in 1144.
The Basilique Saint-Denis is a church in Saint-Denis, which is now a part of suburban Paris. Both the church and the town owe their names to one Saint Denis, one of France's patron saints, whose body was moved to the site of the church as ordered by Dagobert I - last Merovingian and first Frankish king to have lived. This also set a precedent for future kings and queens of France, as most were buried in the crypt under the church.
When Abbot Suger came up with the idea of replacing portions of the original church with a more airy, light and imposing structure in 1135, he set out first by replacing the westwork (as the rather monumental west-facing entrance to a Romanesque church was called). After this first phase was completed in 1140, he continued by rebuilding the choir - the eastern end of the building. The entire building was dedicated in June 1144, the king himself presiding over. The world was witnessing the birth of a new architectural style.
Even though Suger had replaced both the east and west ends of the building, the nave - the middle section of the church - was still Carolingian until, in 1231, Abbot Odo Clement began to replace it with a Gothic nave. Remnants of 16 French kings and queens were moved to the crypts at the completion of the nave in 1264. The church remained a royal burial site, and today even hosts the alleged remains of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette.
One of the two towers of the church was dismantled in 1840, after a storm ruined the already severely damaged structure (a lightning strike in 1837 had caused the earlier damage). Plans for replacing the tower are under way, with a scheduled start date of 2015.
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