ABSTRACT

Within the last century the history of architecture has sought to explain the origin and meaning of the Gothic cathedral by singling out, one after the other, three of its main aspects: function (Gothic solution of statical problems), design (Gothic form as the expression of certain esthetic principles), and significance (Gothic form as the symbolic expression of certain ideas).The interpretations based upon each of these three aspects stand in a curious relationship to one another.Developed polemically and antithetically, each has sought to interpret Gothic architecture in terms of one of the three aspects, uderlying or belittling the significance of the two others. In point of fact, each of the three approaches has greatly advanced our knowledge; it seems to us today as if they not only complement, but actually point toward one another, encircling, as it were, a truth that lies in their midst.