Brick Gothic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lübeck, the "mother" of Brick Gothic.

Examples: in the front, Holstentor (city gate); in the background, St. Mary at left; St. Peter at
right.

Malbork Castle on the Nogat river in Pomerania (Poland), world’s largest Brick Gothic castle

St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk (Poland), world’s largest Brick Gothic church.

Brick Gothic (German: Backsteingotik, Polish: Gotyk ceglany) is a specific style of Gothic
architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions
around the Baltic Sea, that do not have natural stone resources. The buildings are essentially built
using bricks.

Brick Gothic buildings are found in Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia,
Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.

As the use of baked red brick in Northern Europe dates from the 12th century, the oldest such
buildings are classified as the Brick Romanesque. In the 16th century, Brick Gothic was
superseded by Brick Renaissance architecture.
Brick Gothic is characterised by the lack of figural architectural sculpture, widespread in other
styles of Gothic architecture; and by its creative subdivision and structuring of walls, using built
ornaments and the colour contrast between red bricks, glazed bricks and white lime plaster.

Many of the old town centres dominated by Brick Gothic, as well as some individual structures,
have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Contents
 1 Distribution
 2 Historical conditions
 3 Development
 4 Characteristics of Brick Gothic
 5 Brick as the basic material
 6 19th century Gothic Revival—Neogothic
 7 See also
 8 Bibliography
 9 External links

Distribution
Brick architecture is found primarily in areas that lack sufficient natural supplies of building
stone. This is the case across the Northern European Lowlands. Since the German part of that
region (the Northern German Plain, except Westphalia and the Rhineland) is largely concurrent
with the area influenced by the Hanseatic League, Brick Gothic has become a symbol of that
powerful alliance of cities. Along with the Low German Language, it forms a major defining
element of the Northern German cultural area, especially in regard to late city foundations and
the areas of colonisation north and east of the Elbe. In the Middle Ages and Early Modern
Period, that cultural area extended throughout the southern part of the Baltic region and had a
major influence on Scandinavia. The southernmost Brick Gothic structure in Germany is the
Bergkirche (mountain church) of Altenburg in Thuringia.

Other national or regional identifications have also occurred. For example, buildings of the Brick
Gothic style in Poland are sometimes described as belonging to Polish Gothic. Although the vast
majority of Gothic buildings within the borders of modern Poland are brick-built, the term also
encompasses non-brick Gothic structures, such as the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, which is
mostly stone-built.

Marienkirche in Lübeck (Germany), an Early Hanseatic brick cathedral.

In the northwest, especially along Weser and Elbe, sandstone from the mountains of Central
Germany could be transported with relative ease. This resulted in a synthesis of the styles from
east of the Elbe with the architectural traditions of the Rhineland. Here, bricks were mainly used
for wall areas, while sandstone was employed for plastic detail. Since the brick has no aesthetic
function per se in this style, most of the northwest German structures are not part of Brick Gothic
proper.

The lack of available stone did not necessarily lead to the development of distinctive brick
architecture. For example, some areas in Southern Germany, such as Upper Bavaria or Upper
Swabia also lacked building materials, but the artisans did not create typical brick-based styles.
Instead, they clad brick cores with stone ashlar, and added architectural sculpture of worked
stone. Examples include St. Martin's Church at Landshut and the Frauenkirche of Munich.

Treptower Tor, one of the 4 unique Brick Gothic city gates in Neubrandenburg (Mecklenburg-
Vorpommern).

City Hall and St. Nikolai Church at the Old Market, Stralsund (Germany).

Historical conditions
In the course of the medieval German eastward expansion, Slavic areas east of the Elbe were
settled by traders and colonists from the overpopulated Northwest of Germany in the 12th and
13th centuries. In 1158, Henry the Lion founded Lübeck, in 1160 he conquered the Slavic
principality of Schwerin. This partially violent colonisation was accompanied by the
Christianisation of the Slavs and the foundation of dioceses at Ratzeburg, Schwerin, Cammin,
Brandenburg and elsewhere.

The newly founded cities soon joined the Hanseatic League and formed the "Wendic Circle",
with its centre at Lübeck, and the "Gotland-Livland Circle", with its main centre at Tallinn
(Reval). The affluent trading cities of the Hansa were characterised especially by religious and
profane representative architecture, such as council or parish churches, town halls,
Bürgerhäuser, i.e. the private dwellings of rich traders, or city gates. In rural areas, the monastic
architecture of monks' orders had a major influence on the development of brick architecture,
especially through the Cistercians and Premonstratensians. Between Prussia and Estonia, the
Teutonic Knights secured their rule by erecting numerous Ordensburgen (castles), most of which
were also brick-built.

St. Marien Church detail, Greifswald (Germany).

Lehnin Abbey detail (Germany).

Heiligen-Geist-Hospital & surroundings in Lübeck (Germany).

Photochrome circa 1876.

Development
Brick architecture became prevalent in the 12th century, still within the Romanesque architecture
period. Wooden architecture had long dominated in northern Germany but was inadequate for
the construction of monumental structures. Throughout the area of Brick Gothic, half-timbered
architecture remained typical for smaller buildings, especially in rural areas, well into modern
times.

In the areas dominated by the Welfs, the use of brick to replace natural stone began with
cathedrals and parish churches at Oldenburg (Holstein), Segeberg, Ratzeburg, and Lübeck.
Henry the Lion laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral in 1173.
In the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the lack of natural stone and the distance to the Baltic Sea
(which, like the rivers, could be used for transporting heavy loads) made the need for alternative
materials more pressing. Brick architecture here started with the Cathedral of Brandenburg,
begun in 1165 under Albert the Bear. Jerichow Monastery ( then a part of the Archbishopric of
Magdeburg ), with construction started as early as 1148, plays a key role regarding Brick Gothic
in Brandenburg.

Characteristics of Brick Gothic

Romanesque brick architecture remained closely connected with contemporary stone architecture
and simply translated the latter's style and repertoire into the new material. In contrast, Brick
Gothic developed its own typical style, characterised by the reduction in available materials: the
buildings were often bulky and of monumental size, but rather simple as regards their external
appearance, lacking the delicacy of areas further south. Nonetheless, they were strongly
influenced by the cathedrals of France and by the gothique tournaisien or Schelde Gothic of the
County of Flanders.

Later, techniques that led to a more elaborate structuring of the churches became prevalent:
recessed wall areas were often painted with lime plaster, creating a marked contrast to the darker
brick-built areas. Furthermore, special shaped bricks were produced to facilitate the imitation of
architectural sculpture.

Brick as the basic material

Since the bricks used were made of clay, available in copious quantities in the Northern German
Plain, they quickly became the normal replacement for building stone. The so-called monastic
format became the standard for bricks used in representative buildings. Its bricks measure circa
28 x 15 x 9 cm to 30 x 14 x 10 cm, with interstices of about 1.5 cm. In contrast to hewn-stone
Gothic, the bricks and shaped bricks were not produced locally by lodges (Bauhütten), but by
specialised enterprises off-site.

Brick wall in "Gothic bonding" ("gotischer Verband")


 Glazed brick

Shaped brick

Black-glazed shaped brick

1831 Friedrichswerder Church by Schinkel (Berlin)

1880 Saint Mary Church and Rectory (Brookline, Massachusetts).

19th century Gothic Revival—Neogothic

In the 19th century, the Gothic Revival—Neogothic style led to a revival of Brick Gothic
designs. 19th-century Brick Gothic "Revival" churches can be found throughout Northern
Germany, Scandinavia, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Russia, and the United States.

Important architects of this style included Friedrich August Stüler in Berlin and Simon Loschen
in Bremen. Although the style became popular especially from the 1860s onwards, one of the
best known examples was completed in 1831, Friedrichswerder Church in Berlin by Karl
Friedrich Schinkel. The 1880 Saint Mary of the Assumption Church complex in Brookline,
Massachusetts is an example in the U.S.

See also
 List of Brick Gothic buildings
 European Route of Brick Gothic
 Gothic architecture
 Hanseatic League
 Brick Romanesque
 Brick Renaissance

Bibliography

Brick interior elements of Brick Gothic Storkyrkan (St. Nicholas church), Stockholm (Sweden).
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources
remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by
introducing more precise citations. (November 2009)

 Hans Josef Böker: Die mittelalterliche Backsteinarchitektur Norddeutschlands.

Darmstadt 1988. ISBN 3-534-02510-5
 Gottfried Kiesow: Wege zur Backsteingotik. Eine Einführung. Monumente-Publikationen
der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-936942-34-X
 Angela Pfotenhauer, Florian Monheim, Carola Nathan: Backsteingotik. Monumente-
Edition. Monumente-Publikation der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn 2000,
ISBN 3-935208-00-6
 Fritz Gottlob: Formenlehre der Norddeutschen Backsteingotik: Ein Beitrag zur Neogotik
um 1900. 1907. Reprint of 2nd ed., Verlag Ludwig, 1999, ISBN 3-9805480-8-2
 Gerlinde Thalheim (ed.) et al.: Gebrannte Größe - Wege zur Backsteingotik. 5 Vols.
Monumente-Publikation der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn, Gesamtausgabe
aller 5 Bände unter ISBN 3-936942-22-6
  B. Busjan, G. Kiesow: Wismar: Bauten der Macht – Eine Kirchenbaustelle im
Mittelalter. Monumente Publikationen der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, 2002,
ISBN 3-935208-14-6 (Vol. 2 of series of exhibition catalogues Wege zur Backsteingotik,
ISBN 3-935208-12-X)

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the
German Wikipedia.

External links
 European Brick Gothic Route.
 Exhibition Wege zur Backsteingotik 2002–2005
 Permanent exhibition Wege zur Backsteingotik, Wismar

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brick Gothic.

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