Editing Gothic architecture (section)

=== Armenian influence ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Odzun cupola.jpg|Cupola of [[Odzun Basilica]] in [[Armenia]], supported by [[squinch]] vaulting, an early form of [[pendentive]]. (8th century)
File:Ani-Cathedral, Ruine.jpeg|The Armenian [[cathedral of Ani]], completed in the early 11th century.
</gallery>

A number of scholars have cited the [[Armenia]]n [[Cathedral of Ani]], completed 1001 or 1010, as a possible influence on the Gothic, especially due to its use of pointed arches and cluster [[pier (architecture)|piers]].{{sfn|Lang|1980|p=223|ps=: "With this experience behind him, it is not surprising that [[Trdat the Architect|Trdat]]'s creation of the Cathedral at [[Ani]] turned out to be a masterpiece. Even without its dome, the cathedral amazes the onlooker. Technically, it is far ahead of the contemporary [[Anglo-Saxon architecture|Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Norman architecture]] of Europe. Already, pointed arches and clustered piers, whose appearance together is considered one of the hallmarks of mature Gothic architecture, are found in this remote corner of the Christian East."}}<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kite|first=Stephen|title='South Opposed to East and North': Adrian Stokes and Josef Strzygowski. A study in the aesthetics and historiography of Orientalism|journal=[[Art History (journal)|Art History]]|date=September 2003|volume=26|issue=4|pages=505–533|quote=To Near Eastern scholars the [[Armenia]]n [[Ani Cathedral|cathedral at]] [[Ani]] (989–1001), designed by [[Trdat the Architect|Trdat]] (972–1036), seemed to anticipate Gothic.|doi=10.1111/j.0141-6790.2003.02604002.x}}</ref>{{sfn|Stewart|1959|p=80|ps=: "The most important examples of [[Armenian architecture]] are to be found at [[Ani]], the capital, and the most important of these is [[Ani Cathedral|the cathedral]]. [...] The most interesting features of this building are its pointed arches and vaults and the clustering or coupling of the columns in the Gothic manner."}}{{sfn|Rice|1972|p=179|ps=: "The interior of [[Ani Cathedral|Ani cathedral]], a longitudinal stone building with pointed vaults and a central dome, built about 1001, is astonishingly Gothic in every detail, and numerous other equally close parallels could be cited."}} However, other scholars such as [[Sirarpie Der Nersessian]], who rejected this notion as she argued that the pointed arches did not serve the same function of supporting the vault.{{sfn|Garsoïan|2015|p=300}} Lucy Der Manuelian contends that some [[Armenians]] (historically documented as being in Western Europe in the [[Middle Ages]]){{sfn|Grodecki|1977|p=37}} could have brought the knowledge and technique employed at Ani to the west.{{sfn|Der Manuelian|2001|p=7}}