Editing Gothic architecture (section)

===Pointed arches===
{{main|Pointed arch}}

The defining characteristic of the Gothic style is the [[pointed arch]], which was widely used in both structure and decoration. The pointed arch did not originate in Gothic architecture; they had been employed for centuries in the [[Near East]] in pre-Islamic as well as [[Islamic architecture]] for arches, arcades, and ribbed vaults.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Warren|first=John|year=1991|title=Creswell's Use of the Theory of Dating by the Acuteness of the Pointed Arches in Early Muslim Architecture|publisher=BRILL|volume=8|pages=59–65|doi=10.2307/1523154|jstor=1523154|periodical=Muqarnas}}</ref> In Gothic architecture, particularly in the later Gothic styles, they became the most visible and characteristic element, giving a sensation of verticality and pointing upward, like the spires. Gothic [[rib vault]]s covered the nave, and pointed arches were commonly used for the arcades, windows, doorways, in the [[tracery]], and especially in the later Gothic styles decorating the façades.<ref>Encylopédie Larousse, ''L'Architecture Gothique'' (retrieved May 24, 2020)</ref> They were also sometimes used for more practical purposes, such as to bring transverse vaults to the same height as diagonal vaults, as in the nave and aisles of [[Durham Cathedral]], built in 1093.<ref>{{cite web|title=Architectural Importance|url=http://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/architectural-importance|publisher=Durham World Heritage Site|access-date=2013-03-26|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024061051/https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/architectural-importance|url-status=live}}</ref>

The earliest Gothic pointed arches were lancet lights or [[lancet window]]s, which are narrow windows terminating in a lancet arch. A lancet arch has a radius longer than their breadth (width) and resembles the blade of a [[Lancet (surgery)|lancet]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=lancet|url=https://www.oed.com/start;jsessionid=9D1DE9F1D5CB349EAA5210147C5C13C7?authRejection=true&url=%2Fview%2FEntry%2F105422|website=Oxford English Dictionary Online|access-date=2020-05-25|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126203231/https://www.oed.com/start;jsessionid=9D1DE9F1D5CB349EAA5210147C5C13C7?authRejection=true&url=/view/Entry/105422|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Lancet|date=2018|url=https://www.bloomsburyarchitecturelibrary.com/dictionary-article?docid=b-9781350122741&tocid=b-9781350122741-gloss-0001307|title=Sir Banister Fletcher Glossary|publisher=Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the University of London|doi=10.5040/9781350122741.1001308|isbn=978-1-350-12274-1|quote=Gothic arch or window rising to a point at its apex.|access-date=2020-05-25|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126201804/https://www.bloomsburyarchitecturelibrary.com/dictionary-article?docid=b-9781350122741&tocid=b-9781350122741-gloss-0001307|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 12th-century ''First Pointed'' phase of Gothic architecture (also called the ''Lancet style'') and before the introduction of tracery in the windows in later styles, lancet windows predominated Gothic building.<ref name=":03">{{Citation|title=Lancet style|date=2015|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606789.001.0001/acref-9780198606789-e-2596|work=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198606789.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|quote=First Pointed Gothic of the late C12 before the introduction of tracery.|access-date=2020-04-09|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126203259/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198606789.001.0001/acref-9780198606789-e-2596|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The [[Flamboyant]] style of Gothic architecture is particularly known for lavish pointed details such as the ''arc-en-accolade'', where a pointed arch over a doorway was topped by a pointed sculptural ornament called a [[Fleuron (architecture)|fleuron]] and by pointed pinnacles on either side. The arches of the doorway were further decorated with small cabbage-shaped sculptures called ''chou-frisés''.{{sfn|Renault|Lazé|2006|p=37}}

<gallery heights="180" align="center">
File:Wells-Cathedral 9762.jpg|Eastern end of Wells Cathedral (begun 1175)
File:Reims Cathedral, exterior (4).jpg|West front of [[Reims Cathedral]], pointed arches within arches (1211–1275)
File:Catedral de Salisbury, Salisbury, Inglaterra, 2014-08-12, DD 35-37 HDR.JPG|Lancet windows of [[transept]] of [[Salisbury Cathedral]] (1220–1258)
File:Lincoln, Cathedral 20060726 015.jpg|Pointed arches in the arcades, [[triforium]], and [[clerestory]] of [[Lincoln Cathedral]] (1185–1311)
File:Cathedrale-de-Strasbourg-IMG 4235.jpg|A detail of the windows and galleries of the west front of [[Strasbourg Cathedral]] (1215–1439)
</gallery>