developments of un contrfort (buttress) and un arc-boutant (flying buttress). The buttresses and flying buttresses were used to push the weight of the roof away fromthe walls so that larger windows could be used. The large windows that were put in werestained glass windows. The purposes of these large, colorful, and utterly beautifulwindows were to tell pictorial stories, that of the Catholic faith, and that of the workersand donators of the le cathedrale, and also let in the divine light of God. This light wasmade even more beautiful by the splendid detail and magnificent color of each piece ofglass. The statuary of gothic cathedrals was also different from that of Romanesquecathedrals. There were no spiral designs, floral designs, or horrible creatures in thestatuary of gothic cathedrals. Instead the focus was on saints, bible stories and peopleinvolved in the building and funding of the cathedral. The people of gothic cathedralswere very realistic and natural looking. They had natural length, a natural expression,natural looking folds, and a curved or twisted shape which was meant to implymovement. One of the most famous architects of that time period was Abbot Suger. Hedesigned the Abbey of St. Denis, and for it is remembered at the “father of gothicarchitecture”. The Abbey of St. Denis was the first time that all of the gothic elementshad been captured together all in one place and therefore is considered the “birthplace ofGothic Architecture”. Some of the most famous Gothic cathedrals in France areChartres, Bourges, Reims, Amiens, Laon, and Notre Dame de Paris. All of thesecathedrals took between 30 and 90 years to complete. Not only was the architecture of les cathedrales important, but what theycontained remained just as substantial. Inside almost every cathedral is a relic, which is atangible artifact that is supposed to be proof of the stories of Christianity. Relics rangedfrom things s...
