SEVILLE. The largest single edifice in Spain, and the largest church built during the Middle Ages in Europe, is the Cathedral of Seville, begun in 1401 on the site of a Moorish mosque. It covers 124,000 square feet, measuring 415 × 298 feet, and is a simple rectangle comprising five aisles with lateral chapels. The central aisle is 56 ft. wide and 145 high; the side aisles and chapels diminish gradually in height, and with the uniform piers in six rows produce an imposing effect, in spite of the lack of transepts or chevet. The somewhat similar New Cathedral of Salamanca (1510–1560) shows the last struggles of the Gothic style against the incoming tide of the Renaissance.
LATER MONUMENTS. These all partake of the over-decoration which characterized the fifteenth century throughout Europe. In Spain this decoration was even less constructive in character, and more purely fanciful and arbitrary, than in the northern lands; but this very rejection of all constructive pretense gives it a peculiar charm and goes far to excuse its extravagance (Fig. 146). Decorative vaulting-ribs were made to describe geometric patterns of great elegance. Some of the late Gothic vaults by the very exuberance of imagination shown in their designs, almost disarm criticism. Instead of suppressing the walls as far as possible, and emphasizing all the vertical lines, as was done in France and England, the later Gothic architects of Spain delighted in broad wall-surfaces and multiplied horizontal lines. Upon these surfaces they lavished carving without restraint and without any organic relation to the structure of the building. The arcades of cloisters and interior courts (patios) were formed with arches of fantastic curves resting on twisted columns; and internal chapels in the cathedrals were covered with minute carving of exquisite workmanship, but wholly irrational design. Probably the influence of Moorish decorative art accounts in part for these extravagances. The eastern chapels in Burgos cathedral, the votive church of San Juan de los Reyes at Toledo and many portals of churches, convents and hospitals illustrate these tendencies.
FIG. 146.—DETAIL, PORTAL S. GREGORIO, VALLADOLID.
PORTUGAL is an almost unknown land architecturally. It seems to have adopted the Gothic styles very late in its history. Two monuments, however, are conspicuous, the convent churches of Batalha (1390–1520) and Belem, both marked by an extreme overloading of carved ornament. The Mausoleum of King Manoel in the rear of the church at Batalha is, however, a noble creation, possibly by an English master. It is a polygonal domed edifice, some 67 feet in diameter, and well designed, though covered with a too profuse and somewhat mechanical decoration of panels, pinnacles, and carving.
MONUMENTS: Germany (C = cathedral; A = abbey; tr. = transepts).—13th century: Transitional churches: Bamberg C.; Naumburg C.; Collegiate Church, Fritzlar; St. George, Limburg-on-Lahn; St. Castor, Coblentz; Heisterbach A.;—all in early years of 13th century. St. Gereon, Cologne, choir 1212–27; Liebfrauenkirche, Treves, 1227–44; St. Elizabeth, Marburg, 1235–83; Sts. Peter and Paul, Neuweiler, 1250; Cologne C., choir 1248–1322 (nave 14th century; towers finished 1883); Strasburg C., 1250–75 (E. end Romanesque; façade 1277–1365; tower 1429–39); Halberstadt C., nave 1250 (choir 1327; completed 1490); Altenburg C., choir 1255–65 (finished 1379); Wimpfen-im-Thal church 1259–78; St. Lawrence, Nuremberg, 1260 (choir 1439–77); St. Catherine, Oppenheim, 1262–1317 (choir 1439); Xanten, Collegiate Church, 1263; Freiburg C., 1270 (W. tower 1300; choir 1354); Toul C., 1272; Meissen C., choir 1274 (nave 1312–42); Ratisbon C., 1275; St. Mary’s, Lübeck, 1276; Dominican churches at Coblentz, Gebweiler; and in Switzerland at Basle, Berne, and Zurich.
—14th century: Wiesenkirche, Söst, 1313; Osnabrück C., 1318 (choir 1420); St. Mary’s, Prentzlau, 1325; Augsburg C., 1321–1431; Metz C., 1330 rebuilt (choir 1486); St. Stephen’s C., Vienna, 1340 (nave 15th century; tower 1433); Zwette C., 1343; Prague C., 1344; church at Thann, 1351 (tower finished 16th century); Liebfrauenkirche, Nuremberg, 1355–61; St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg, 1361–77 (nave Romanesque); Minden C., choir 1361; Ulm C., 1377 (choir 1449; nave vaulted 1471; finished 16th century); Sta. Barbara, Kuttenberg, 1386 (nave 1483); Erfurt C.; St. Elizabeth, Kaschau; Schlettstadt C.—15th century: St. Catherine’s, Brandenburg, 1401; Frauenkirche, Esslingen, 1406 (finished 1522); Minster at Berne, 1421; Peter-Paulskirche, Görlitz, 1423–97; St. Mary’s, Stendal, 1447; Frauenkirche, Munich, 1468–88; St. Martin’s, Landshut, 1473.
Secular Monuments. Schloss Marienburg, 1341; Moldau-bridge and tower, Prague, 1344; Karlsteinburg, 1348–57; Albrechtsburg, Meissen, 1471–83; Nassau House, Nuremberg, 1350; Council houses (Rathhaüser) at Brunswick, 1393; Cologne, 1407–15; Basle; Breslau; Lübeck; Münster; Prague; Ulm; City Gates of Basle, Cologne, Ingolstadt, Lucerne.
The Netherlands.