Gothic and Ulm Cathedral

If Gothic architecture held a contest for "Who is the tallest?", the Ulm Minster would take first place. Its spire soars to a height of 161.5 meters – until October 2025, it was the tallest church tower on Earth, until it was surpassed by the under-construction Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. More than five centuries passed from the laying of the cathedral at the end of the 14th century to its final completion in 1890.

How did medieval European architecture make the turn from the austere Romanesque to the skyward-reaching Gothic?

Gothic

The Romanesque style began to spread across Europe starting in the 11th century. It was based on the scheme of the Roman basilica – a secular building that in ancient times served as a market, court, and place for public gatherings: an elongated rectangular space divided by columns into naves with a raised central nave where light penetrated through narrow windows. Such buildings rarely impressed with their elegance: minimal decoration, maximum stone. They were built like fortresses, and aesthetics were subordinated to the idea of protection and stability.

With the "Renaissance of the 12th century," a new architectural style began – Gothic, where buildings ceased to be erected as fortresses and began to embody the aspiration towards light. Romanesque architecture relied on semicircular arches – strong but "spreading" sideways, causing walls to "thicken." Gothic masters replaced them with pointed arches, which transferred the load of the horizontals downwards rather than sideways. This allowed for taller and more graceful constructions.

A key element of Gothic architecture became the ribs – framework ribs that supported the vault. From the simplest ribbed vaults, entire families of complex and intricate vaults of various kinds later developed. By adding additional ribs to the ribbed vault, a star pattern was created. Ribs emanating from one corner formed a fan vault. Finally, vaults without diagonal ribs were called net vaults.

Another engineering marvel of Gothic architecture was the "flying buttresses," which seemed to "fly" beyond the building and connected to it via arches – flying arches. This diverted lateral pressure from the vaults outward, allowing walls to be built almost weightless, so that they rather "covered" the building than supported it.

Of course, one cannot forget the rich sculptural decoration that adorns Gothic cathedrals. Statues and bas-reliefs tell religious stories and simultaneously emphasize the architectural features of the building. Sculptures accentuate entrances, lighten the weight of individual parts, serve as gargoyles, or reinforce corners – all of this turns the cathedral into a living encyclopedia and a remarkable union of art and engineering.

Special attention was paid to portals, or entrances. Usually, there are three: the central one is the largest and most ornate, with two more modest ones on the sides. Starting in the 13th century, a high triangular pediment – a gable – was placed above the portals. Its edges were often adorned with carved plant curls (crockets), and it was topped with a carved finial (finial).

Gargoyles were carved in the form of fantastic beasts, protruding beyond the cornice as if guarding the cathedral. Their kin – chimeric figures on towers and galleries – are fantastic creatures with features of humans, animals, or mythical beings.

Windows occupy a special place in the appearance of a Gothic cathedral. There are two main types: rectangular with an arched top and round. The former are most often multi-part, with two, three, or even more sashes assembled into a single frame. In late Gothic, special attention was paid to the design of window tracery: "flaming" forms and "fish bladder" motifs emerged, creating sinuous lines as if flames were breaking through the stone. Such solutions allowed for endless variations in compositions.

Rose windows – "wheels" with radial divisions – were already present in Romanesque architecture. Gothic made them enormous, with curved, intricate tracery filling the facade and turning sunlight into a miracle of colored radiance.

Ulm Minster

Ulm is a city in southern Germany on the border of modern-day Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, which experienced a flourishing as a Free Imperial City between the 14th and 16th centuries, located on trade routes between Germany and Italy. Becoming a center of trade and art, Ulm needed to reflect its status in a giant Gothic cathedral.

Work began in 1377 on the site of the old Church of St. Martin. By the 16th century, most of the cathedral was completed, but in 1543 construction was halted for the next 300 years. During the Reformation, Ulm embraced Protestantism and was no longer interested in Gothic opulence, and the decline in trade with Italy and the reorientation of trade routes to the Atlantic significantly reduced the city's treasury. The cathedral tower remained unfinished at a height of 100 meters.

The resumption of construction, postponed for 300 years, took place in 1844 on the wave of Romanticism, which focused on the medieval past. The building was finally completed in 1890 in the unified German Empire. The cathedral successfully survived all the trials of the 20th century and even withstood the Allied bombings in 1944 – 1945.

What makes the Ulm Minster the pinnacle of Gothic architecture? It is not just a building with a tall tower, but a true textbook of Gothic written in stone. The main nave – long, high, and narrow – directs the gaze straight upwards. Perpendicular to it stretches the transept – the transverse nave, giving the building the shape of a cross.

One of the main architectural elements is the ribbed vaults. The ceiling of the cathedral is like a network of arches intersecting at certain angles. These ribs serve as a sturdy "skeleton" on which the entire vault rests. Huge spaces are covered without the need for heavy walls.

And, of course, the cathedral's hallmark is its tower, crowned with a spire 161.5 meters high. It starts with a rectangular base and rises upwards, gradually transforming into an octagonal spire adorned with decorations from stone crosses to miniature turrets and carvings, creating an illusion of lightness and flight.

The Ulm Minster is a vivid example of how technical achievements can work for artistic effect. Ribbed vaults, pointed arches, buttresses, and flying buttresses are not just structural elements but tools for creating an atmosphere of elevation and light, reflecting engineering thought, the evolution of society, religion, and art.