Gothic architecture originated in France in the 1300s during the medieval period. Three distinct features – pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaults – allowed builders to make Gothic churches bigger and brighter with huge stained glass windows. Notre Dame in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London are prime examples – many of these churches and cathedrals took over a hundred years to build.

In the 1600s the Renaissance period began and the older Medieval style was retroactively called “Gothic.” The Goths, a Germanic tribe associated with the fall of the Roman Empire, were considered barbaric and vulgar, so the term Gothic was not a compliment.

Gothic novels written in the late 1700s brought new connotations to the term, including brooding villains, melodramatic plots, graveyards, ruined castles and vampires. Hence, modern day Goth style include heavy black eye liner and nail polish, black dyed hair, bright lips and black clothes.

While building styles have continued to change considerably, what we refer to as Gothic Architecture has come to be widely appreciated and several Gothic revivals occurred in the 1800s and into the 1900s, especially in the design of universities and churches.