Sondergotik (Special Gothic) is the style of Late

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

prevalent in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

between 1350 and 1550. The term was invented by

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Kurt Gerstenberg Kurt Gerstenberg (23 July 1886, Chemnitz − 2 November 1968, Würzburg) was a German art historian, a pupil of Heinrich Wölfflin. Gerstenberg's 1913 work ''Deutsche Sondergotik'' (''German Special Gothic'') gave the name to Sondergotik, a style ...

in his 1913 work ''Deutsche Sondergotik'', in which he argued that the Late Gothic had a special expression in Germany (especially the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

) marked by the use of the

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

or ''Hallenkirche''. At the same time the style forms part of the

International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by th ...

style in its origins. The style was contemporaneous with several unique local styles of Gothic: the

Flamboyant Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...

in France and Belgium, the Isabelline in Spain, the

Manueline The Manueline ( pt, estilo manuelino, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manuel ...

in Portugal and the

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

in England. Like these, the Sondergotik showed an attention to detail both within and without. In many Sondergotik buildings, fluidity and a wood-like quality were stressed in carving and decoration, particularly on vaults. The rib patterns of Sondergotik vaults are elaborate and often curved (in plan), sometimes using broken and flying ribs (features extremely rare in other regions). Outside, the buildings tended towards mass buttressing. Among the most famous Sondergotik constructions is Saint Barbara Church in

Kutná Hora Kutná Hora (; medieval Czech: ''Hory Kutné''; german: Kuttenberg) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. The centre of Kutná Hora, including the Sedlec Abbey and its ossuary, was designa ...

(modern

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

), built by the Parlers, a family of masons. File:Kutn%C3%A1_Hora-Cathedral_St_Barbara-interior5.jpg, Curved, broken ribs at Kutná Hora. File:Prag_Vladislav-Saal.jpg, Curved, broken ribs in

Vladislav Hall Vladislav Hall ( cs, Vladislavský sál) is a large hall within the Prague Castle complex in the Czech Republic, used for large public events of the Bohemian monarchy and the modern Czech state. Built between 1493–1502 by Benedikt Rejt dur ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. File:AnnabergSachsen6.jpg, Reticulated vault of St. Annenkirche,

Annaberg-Buchholz Annaberg-Buchholz () is a town in Saxony, Germany. Lying in the Ore Mountains, it is the capital of the district of Erzgebirgskreis. Geography The town is located in the Ore Mountains, at the side of the ''Pöhlberg'' ( above sea level). Hi ...

Sources

The Grove Dictionary of Art: ''Sondergotik''.
*Cole, Emily, ed. (2002). ''The Grammar of Architecture''. Bullfinch Press. {{Archhistory Gothic architecture in Austria Gothic architecture in Germany Gothic architecture