Spanish Gothic architecture

Spanish Gothic architecture is the style of architecture prevalent in Spain in the Late Medieval period.

The Gothic style started in Spain as a result of Central European influence in the twelfth century when late Romanesque alternated with few expressions of pure Gothic architecture.^[1] The High Gothic arrives with all its strength via the pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James, in the thirteenth century. Some of the most pure Gothic cathedrals in Spain, closest related to the German and French Gothic, were built at this time.

In some cases the Gothic style was built and decorated with Mudéjar elements by Mudéjar craftsmen and Christian craftsmen influenced by them, creating a highly distinctive Gothic style unique to Spain and Portugal. The most important post−thirteenth-century Gothic styles in Spain are the Levantine Gothic, characterized by its structural achievements and the unification of space, and the Isabelline Gothic, under the Catholic Monarchs, that predicated a slow transition to Renaissance architecture. Gothic construction ended in Spain in the sixteenth century.^[2]

In 1172, French architect Giral Fruchel designed the first ever Gothic cathedral in Spain.^[3] Ávila Cathedral, a cathedral located in Central Spain, represents a blend of the Romanesque and Gothic styles.^[4] In 1227, Archbishop Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada initiated the rebuilding of the Toledo Cathedral in the Gothic style as well.^[5] Prior to this reconstruction, Toledo was under Muslim control and possessed Islamic architectural elements.^[6] Toledo's ground plan, for instance, resembled the ground plan of a mosque.^[7] The fusion of Islamic and French Gothic influences gave rise to a distinctive and uniquely Spanish Gothic architectural style, and Toledo Cathedral was among the first to exhibit this.^[8]