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The study of European gothic enjoyed an unrepeatable moment at the end of the 19th century. The discovery of European medieval past made us look back towards the remarkable names of Middle Ages’ architecture: the huge cathedrals that appear all over the European landscape, from Portugal to Poland. Architects, historians and unique characters succeeded to find extraordinarily convincing constructive explanations to gothic Architecture.

When, in the 20th ct., new building materials made their appearance, particularly concrete and iron, most architects lost interest in ancient major buildings and, particularly, in the technical and construction knowledge that made them possible. With few exceptions, this situation continued throughout the last century.

Fortunately, in our days, we are witnessing a rebirth of the interest to tackle the knowledge of architecture from its very construction. It is in this context where this site focusing on the cross ribbed vault as the main feature of European Gothic is situated. The significant work, both in quantity and quality, carried out by a group of professors in the Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, led us to start this initiative aimed at providing structure and visibility to all this work by means of a web page that we are about to show you.

The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, thanks to its program of aids to Educational Innovation, has firmly supported this initiative developed in the Departamento de Construcción y Tecnología Arquitectónicas in the Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid by Professor José Carlos Palacios Gonzalo. In this endeavour he is assisted by the Research group: Teoría y Restauración de Construcciones Históricas, as well as by a large group of professors interested in a better comprehension of European gothic style.

Nuremberg, Saint Lorentz