High Gothic construction is distinguished by  four part vaulting systems, pointed arches, rib groin vaults, flying buttresses, and three story elevations.  The Cathedrals of Notre-Dame of Chartres begun in 1194 and St. Etienne of  Bourges begun in 1195 mark the beginning of this period which includes buildings like the Cathedral of N.-D. of Reims (1211) and ends around 1230.  [ labyrinth on the floor of Chartres Cathedral]

The Cathedral of N.-D. of Amiens, France, nave and facade 1220-1254, choir completed 1269.  Built by Masters Robert de Luzarches, Thomas de Cormont, and Cormont's son.   Note colonnette uniting nave arcades to clerestory through triforium.  New sense of verticality.  Third master puts windows behind triforum creating more luminosity in interior. 

The Cathedral of S. Etienne of Bourges, begun in 1195, choir completed in 1214, nave c. 1225.  Note transeptless plan, arcades have their own the part elevation. 

The Cathedral of Saint-Pierre of Beauvais, France, begun in 1225, completed 1272, collapsed 1284.  At 157 ft the highest of Gothic churches.  Its collapse marks the end of High Gothic experiments.  [interior, plan]

Late Gothic in France, 1240-1550, called Rayonnant and Flamboyant. Rayonnant from rayonner, to radiate or shine, used to describe window traceries.  Rayonnant: duplication of elements, overlapping of parts, glazing through triforium, lose of High Gothic logic in favor of ornament and less differentiation. Flamboyant: even greater ornament and unity, 1400-1550 

Sainte Chapelle, royal chapel on Ile-de-la-Cite in Paris.  Built by Louis IX between 1241-1246 to house the Crown of Thorns and other relics.  Heavily restored but retains original impression of a huge glass reliquary.  Note: lack of buttresses, use of chains, correspondences to Palatine Chapel at Aachen. West rose window replaced by Flamboyant window in 1485.  [ interior view, plan, interior (upper chapel), another interior (upper chapel)]

Saint-Urbain, Troyes, choir and transept, 1262-1266, an example of a Rayonnant church. 

Gothic buildings in Italy illustrate how reluctant the Italians were to fully embrace French ideas.  Eg.  Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi (begun 1228). 

English Gothic structures: Lincoln Cathedral, c. 1230, in which Gothic ribs and traceries take on a greater expressive importance than in France. More compartmentalization than in French High Gothic. Secondary ribs, tiercerons, added to vaults. [ plan]   Wells Cathedral, c. 1413. Note double arch to stabilize nave vault and chapter house column with multiple shafts. [plan, plan (early version), interior, west facade]  Henry VII Chapel, Westminster Abbey, London, 1503-19, represents the last great building of the English Gothic. The style is called perpendicular because of the vertical ribs and flowing ornament of the fan vaults.  Note: stone pendants hanging from fan vaults, hammer-beam ceilings in stone.