Gothic art in England

The Chapter House of York Minster

With towering stained-glass windows and an open plan, the Chapter House of York Minster is an extraordinarily grand space.

Gothic architecture explained

Just how did Gothic architects support heavy stone ceilings and create the effect of heaven on earth?

Matthew Paris’s itinerary maps from London to Palestine

While this map may look like a true physical route, its maker traces a spiritual journey that mirrors a monk's route in their abbey

Gloucester Cathedral

Famous for its fan vaults and the Perpendicular style, Gloucester Cathedral is a feast for the eyes.

Four styles of English medieval architecture at Ely Cathedral

An Anglo-Saxon princess founded a nunnery in the eel-filled marshy waters of East Anglia; see how it developed during the Middle Ages.

Ely Cathedral’s Lady Chapel

Art Historian Paul Binski recovers the Lady Chapel's former opulence in his imagination, and ours.

Henry VII Chapel

Lincoln Cathedral

The enormous west front of Lincoln Cathedral stacks Gothic lancets over rounded Romanesque arches. Inside, “crazy vaults” render space illegible.

Wells Cathedral

Hidden behind a brightly painted, screen-like façade, the medieval musicians of Wells Cathedral played for crowds assembled outside.

The Wilton Diptych

Hinged together, these two panels stage Richard II’s audience with the Virgin and Christ Child. Count the angels!

Salisbury Cathedral

A superlative example of Early English Gothic, Salisbury grew taller and pointier in the 14th century. Today its spire tilts 27 inches southeast.

Southwell Minster

This medieval British church is oriented east to west. Points on a compass also mark different styles: the east end is Gothic; the west, Norman.