Gothic cathedrals were the height of medieval architecture—but how did they build these jaw-dropping structures with only rudimentary tools?
Here's the step-by-step process of building a gothic cathedral🧵
In the 11th-13th centuries, unprecedented population growth and newfound wealth in northern Europe created a need for larger church buildings. The aging Romanesque-style churches were simply too small.
In comes gothic architecture.
With a focus on large, cavernous spaces, gothic churches allowed more people to congregate inside while their pointed arches, flying buttresses, and intricate masonry meant they could serve as visible symbols of a city’s prestige.
So how did they build them?
The first hurdle in any building project is money.
Acquiring the capital for a project this large was no small task, so multiple avenues were utilized.
Wealthy financiers and bishops often contributed large sums of money, while parishioners donated smaller amounts in exchange for eventual burial under the cathedral’s floor.
Poor parishioners gave their labor, cart-animals, or raw materials for the cause.
Professional guilds also made donations so that their organization would be featured on a section of stained-glass window—medieval paid advertising.
Once funds were secured, detailed construction plans needed to be developed. In the medieval world, this meant the presence of a master mason, the main architect overseeing the project. He was responsible for preparing plans, selecting materials, and coordinating work.
A deep knowledge of theology was also needed to implement iconography and symbolism into the design.
Some masons became renowned for their expertise. Pierre de Montreuil of Notre Dame was nicknamed “doctor of stones” due to his extensive knowledge of both masonry and theology.
Because construction projects could last decades or longer, master masons often left projects to their children.
One family of builders was that of Peter Parler, who worked on St. Vitus Cathedral. After his death in 1399, construction was taken up by his sons Wenzel & Johannes.
The master mason started a design with a blueprint or scale model of the building made from papier-mâché, wood, or plaster. The plans were then presented to the bishop for his approval.
Once approved, it was time to build.
But building a gothic cathedral required material — lots of it. Salisbury Cathedral in England needed a whopping 70,000 tons of stone, for example.
Stone was extracted from a quarry. Sometimes Cathedrals owned the quarry, other times they simply rented out the rights to it.
Stone was then shipped or pulled to the site via oxen.
Wood and iron were also essential materials. Wood for scaffolding, platforms, hoists, and beams; iron for the reinforcement of walls, windows and vaults. However, iron eventually decayed forcing builders to replace it with more stable support methods like flying buttresses.
Once on site, stones were finished and placed according to the drawings or floor layout of the master mason.
Lifting these massive blocks of stone required new technologies—remember, buildings of this size hadn’t been constructed since the Roman Empire.
New cranes were developed to maneuver the heavy blocks. One innovation was the treadmill crane, a hoist that utilized the force of men walking inside a wheel-shaped treadmill—like a giant hamster wheel.
Using this device, one man could lift up to 1300 lbs (600kg).
As stones were set into place, a variety of tools were used to ensure their correct alignment. Lead-filled glass tubes made for excellent levels to ensure flat surfaces, and foreman often used compasses to translate miniature plans to full size.
After all the heavy lifting was complete, it was time for artisans to transform the stone skeleton into a work of art. This started with sculptures.
Though sculptures were common in older Romanesque churches, gothic churches incorporated them *everywhere*.
Sculptures weren’t the bare stone figures we see today though. They were colorful. Scientists have found traces of paint on the sculptures of cathedral facades.
Using lasers, they’ve reconstructed how the originals might have looked:
Stained glass windows were another defining feature of gothic architecture. These were made by specialized craftsmen who worked near forests because of the enormous amount of firewood required to heat and melt the glass.
Metal oxides were mixed into the molten glass and then blown into a bubble, which the craftsmen flattened into sheets.
The sheets were sent to the building site where windowmakers shaped and fit them into the window frame. After assembly, details were painted onto the windows.
Towers were the last structures to be built. They were sometimes not completed until decades after the main structure.
Bells were the finishing touch, and their addition signified the completion of a cathedral.
Bells could be massive and required heavy cranes to hoist. Even after construction, it took significant manpower just to ring them—the main bell at Notre-Dame de Paris, installed in the 15th century, required eleven men to ring and was said to deafen the men for hours afterward.
The tolling of bells across a medieval city meant that its gothic cathedral was finally complete.
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Kenneth Clark lamented that civilization was a fragile thing.
He observed three “enemies” that could topple even the mightiest cultures — what are they?🧵
The first enemy is fear:
“fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees or even planning next year’s crops. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you daren’t question anything.”
Fear paralyzes a people and stifles adventure, invention, and grand building projects.
The great men of history read intensively — it's how they gained an edge over their rivals.
We can do the same, today.
So here are the classics that influenced the greats, from ancient warriors to modern emperors🧵
Alexander
According to Plutarch, Alexander was given an annotated copy of the Iliad which he carried with him everywhere.
He considered it a “perfect portable treasure of all military virtue and knowledge” and was especially fascinated by the character Achilles.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius was extremely well-read. His tutor Fronto described how the emperor read works of Cato the Elder, Cicero, Lucretius, and Seneca in addition to numerous Greek tragedies.
The East India Company was the most powerful corporation of all time.
It had an army larger than Great Britain's, and its influence shaped the borders of nations.
So how did a company become stronger than most countries?🧵
The East India Company's origins started with famed explorer Francis Drake.
His voyage in 1577 opened the world to the East Indies, and when he returned to England in 1580, he brought exotic spices from the Spice Islands that investors believed could be a lucrative venture.
Soon after, the Queen granted a charter to a group of wealthy merchants and explorers for the region. The new corporation was called “Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies” or more commonly the “East India Company.”
Rome is usually remembered for its monuments, emperors, and epic battles.
But it was a haven for learning and literature as well. Some of the greatest written works were penned during Rome’s rule.
Here are 12 of the best🧵
12. The Annals and Histories, Tacitus
Tacitus’ works explore Rome in the first century. As a Roman senator he likely had privileged access to the Senate’s records from which to base much of his work.
Ronald Mellor calls Annals the “pinnacle of Roman historical writing.”
11. The Satires, Juvenal
A collection of satirical poems, it captures the energy of everyday Roman life.
Poems on prostitutes, fortune-tellers, politicians, and sycophants create a powerful denunciation of the degeneracy of Roman society.
The world of the late bronze age was the first “globalized” society.
But this highly connected network of cultures crumbled into a dark age after a series of disasters.
There are some striking parallels to today…🧵
In the 12th century BC, something strange happened in the Mediterranean.
The previously flourishing civilizations of the Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Hittites, and Babylonians all experienced a rapid, seemingly unexplainable decline.
Dozens of major cities were abandoned or completely demolished within a short period of time. Previously connected kingdoms became isolated, and cultural development stagnated.
“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder,” according to 20th-century historian Arnold Toynbee.
He claimed every great culture collapses internally due to a divergence in values between the ruling class and the common people…🧵
Toynbee was an English historian and expert on international affairs who published the 12 volume work “A Study of History,” which traced the life cycle of about two dozen world civilizations.
Through his work he developed a model of how cultures develop and finally die…
Toynbee argued that civilizations emerge from primitive societies as a response to unique challenges — pressures from other cultures, difficult terrain or “hard country,” or warfare.