Western European architecture of the Middle Ages. It developed out of the Romanesque, flourishing from about the middle of the 12th century to the middle of the 16th century when it was eventually superseded by Renaissance architecture.
The main feature of Gothic architecture are the general adoption of the pointed arch, the development of the ribbed vault, the introduction and elaboratin of window tracery, the decorative treatment of structural elements such as buttresses and flying buttresses, vaulting members, piers, gables and a general emphasis on height (which reached its greatest expression in the Cathedral of Beauvais).
At the end of the Gothic period, Renaissance motifs were intoduced in domestic architecture. The earlier style gradually bended into the later, until its destinctive features disappeared altogether.
The lifeless Gothic revival of the 19th century which is recognised as a failure, led to the disappearance of of the stucco-covered Georgian style and the development of domestic architecture which has continued into the present.
