Brick Gothic (German:Backsteingotik,Polish:Gotyk ceglany,Dutch:Baksteengotiek) is a specific style ofGothic architecture common inNortheast andCentral Europe especially in the regions in and around theBaltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (thoughglacial boulders are sometimes available). The buildings are essentially built usingbricks. Buildings classified as Brick Gothic (using a strict definition of thearchitectural style based on the geographic location) are found inBelgium (and the very north ofFrance),Netherlands,Germany,Poland,Lithuania,Latvia,Estonia,Kaliningrad (formerEast Prussia),Switzerland,Denmark,Sweden andFinland.

As the use of bakedred brick arrived in Northwestern and Central Europe in the 12th century, the oldest such buildings are classified as theBrick Romanesque. In the 16th century, Brick Gothic was superseded byBrick Renaissance architecture.

Brick Gothic is marked by lack of figurativearchitectural sculpture, widespread in other styles of Gothic architecture. Typical for the Baltic Sea region is the creative subdivision and structuring of walls, using builtornaments to contrast between red bricks, glazed bricks and white lime plaster. Nevertheless, these characteristics are neither omnipresent nor exclusive. Many historic structures and districts dominated by Brick Gothic have been listed asUNESCOWorld Heritage sites.

About a quarter of medieval Gothic brick architecture is standing in theNetherlands, inFlanders and inFrench Flanders. Some of these buildings are in a combination of brick and stone. The towers of St Mary's church in Lübeck, the most significant Brick Gothic church of the Baltic Sea region, have corners of granite ashlar. Many village churches in northern Germany and Poland have a Brick Gothic design despite the main constituent of their walls being boulders.

In contrast to other styles, the definition of Brick Gothic is based on the material (brick), and a geographical area (countries around theBaltic Sea). In addition, there are more remote regions with brick buildings bearing characteristics of this architectural style further south, east and west—these includeBavaria, and westernUkraine andBelarus, along with easternEngland and the southern tip ofNorway.

In the course of the medieval Germaneastward expansion,Slavic areas east of theElbe were settled by traders and colonists from the overpopulated Northwest of Germany in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1158,Henry the Lion foundedLübeck, in 1160 he conquered the Slavic principality ofSchwerin. This partially violent colonisation was accompanied by theChristianisation of the Slavs and the foundation ofdioceses atRatzeburg, Schwerin,Cammin,Brandenburg and elsewhere.

The newly founded cities soon joined theHanseatic League and formed the "Wendic Circle", with its centre at Lübeck, and the "Gotland-Livland Circle", with its main centre atTallinn (Reval). The affluent trading cities of the Hansa were characterised especially byreligious and secular representative architecture, such as council orparish churches,town halls,Bürgerhäuser, i.e. the private dwellings of rich traders, orcity gates. In rural areas, themonastic architecture of monks' orders had a major influence on the development of brick architecture, especially through theCistercians andPremonstratensians. BetweenPrussia andEstonia, theTeutonic Knights secured their rule by erecting numerousOrdensburgen (castles), most of which were also brick-built.

In the regions along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, the use of brick arrived almost at the same time as the art of masonry. But inDenmark, especiallyJutland, in theFrisian regions, in present-dayNetherlands and in theLower Rhine region, many high-quality medieval stone buildings were built before the first medieval brick was burnt there. Nevertheless, these regions eventually developed a density of Gothic brick architecture as high as in the regions near the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. The central and southern regions ofPoland also had some important early stone buildings, especially the famous round churches. Many of these buildings were later enlarged or replaced using brick in a Gothic style. Especially inFlanders, the Netherlands, the lower Rhine region,Lesser Poland andUpper Silesia, Brick Gothic buildings often, but not alway, have some elements of stone ashlar. In the Netherlands it was mostlytufa, in Denmark old squaredgranite and newlimestone. On the other hand, in many regions regarded as typical for Brick Gothic, boulders were cheaper than brick, and therefore many buildings were erected using boulders, and only decorated by brick, all through the period of Gothic architecture.

Brick building became prevalent in the 12th century, still within theRomanesque architecture period. Wooden architecture had long dominated in northern Germany but was inadequate for the construction of monumental structures. Throughout the area of Brick Gothic,half-timbered architecture remained typical for smaller buildings, especially in rural areas, well intomodern times.

The techniques of building and decorating in bricks were imported fromLombardy. Also some decorative forms ofLombard architecture were adopted.^[1]

In the areas dominated by theWelfs, the use of brick to replace natural stone began with cathedrals and parish churches atOldenburg (Holstein),Segeberg,Ratzeburg, andLübeck. Henry the Lion laid the foundation stone of theCathedral in 1173.

In theMargraviate of Brandenburg, the lack of natural stone and the distance to the Baltic Sea (which, like the rivers, could be used for transporting heavy loads) made the need for alternative materials more pressing. Brick architecture here started with the Cathedral ofBrandenburg, begun in 1165 underAlbert the Bear.Jerichow Monastery (then a part of theArchbishopric of Magdeburg), where construction started as early as 1149, was a key influence on Brick Gothic in Brandenburg.

Romanesque brick architecture remained closely connected with contemporary stone architecture and often simply translated the latter's style and repertoire into the new material. The decorative techniques to suit the new material were imported form northern Italy, where they had been developed as part of theLombard Style. Among these techniques was the use of moulded brick to realize delicate ornament. Brick Gothic drew on Romanesque building (in stone and in brick) of its region, but in its core area Romanesque stone buildings were rare and often humble In character.

In most regions of Brick Gothic, boulders were available and cheaper than brick. In some regions, cut stone was available as well. Therefore, besides all-brick buildings, there are buildings begun in stone and completed using brick, or built of boulders and decorated with brick, or built of brick and decorated with cut stone, for instance inLesser Poland andSilesia.

Brick Gothic buildings are often of monumental size, but simple as regards their external appearance, lacking the delicacy of areas further south, but this is not exclusively the case.

None of these buildings is exactly the same today as in the Middle Ages. For instance, many of them have had alterations in a Baroque style and have then been re-gothicized in the 19th century (or reconstructed after World War II). Especially in the 19th century, some buildings were purified during restoration.^[2] In the city halls of Lübeck and Stralsund, medieval window framings of stone were replaced by new ones of brick.

At a time when ordinary people lived very locally based lives, the groups responsible for these buildings were internationally mobile: the bishops, abbots, aristocrats, and long-distance merchants who commissioned the work, and the highly skilled specialist craftsmen who carried it out. For this reason the Brick Gothic of the countries around the Baltic Sea was strongly influenced by the cathedrals ofFrance and by thegothique tournaisien orScheldt Gothic of theCounty of Flanders (where also some important Brick Gothic was erected).

One typical expression of the structure of walls, the contrast of prominent visible brick with the plastering of recessed areas, had already been developed in Italy, but became prevalent in the Baltic region.

Since thebricks used were made ofclay, available in copious quantities in the Northern German Plain, they quickly became the normal replacement for building stone. The so-called monastic format became the standard for bricks used in representative buildings. Its bricks measurecirca 28 x 15 x 9 cm to 30 x 14 x 10 cm, with mortar joints of about 1.5 cm. In contrast to hewn-stone Gothic, the bricks and shaped bricks were not produced locally by lodges (Bauhütten), but by specialised enterprises off-site.

•  
  Brick wall in "Gothic bonding"
•  
  Shaped brick
•  
  Glazed brick
•  
  Black-glazed shaped brick

The use of shaped bricks for tracery and friezes also can be found in some buildings of northwestern Gothic brick architecture. Masterly use of these elements is found in some of the Gothic buildings of northern Italy, where these highly sophisticated techniques had originally come from, having been developed in theLombard Romanesque period. There, such brick decorations can even be found on buildings which had been mainly erected inashlar. Some Italian Gothic brick buildings also have friezes ofterracotta.

While in central northern Germany and inGreater Poland suitable natural building stone was unavailable, trading cities could import it by sea. Therefore,St. Mary's Church inLübeck, generally considered the principal example of Brick Gothic, has two portals made ofsandstone, and the edges of its huge towers are built of ashlars, as normal for Gothic brick buildings in the Netherlands and the (German)Lower Rhine region. And the very slim pillars of itsBriefkapelle (letters chapel) are ofgranite fromBornholm.^[3]In the Gothic brick towers of the churches ofWismar and ofSt. Nicholas' Church inStralsund, stone is not used for structural reasons but to provide a contrast of colours. AtSt. Mary's of Gdańsk, all five lateral portals and some simple but long cornices are of ashlar.

Brick architecture is found primarily in areas that lack sufficient natural supplies ofbuilding stone. This is the case across theNorthern European Lowlands. Since the German part of that region (the Northern German Plain, exceptWestphalia and theRhineland) is largely coextensive with the area influenced by theHanseatic League, Brick Gothic has become a symbol of that powerful alliance of cities. Along with theLow German Language, it forms a major defining element of the Northern Germancultural area, especially in regard to late city foundations and the areas of colonisation north and east of theElbe. In theMiddle Ages andEarly Modern Period, that cultural area extended throughout the southern part of the Baltic region and had a major influence onScandinavia. The southernmost Brick Gothic structure in Germany is theBergkirche (mountain church) ofAltenburg inThuringia.

In the northwest, especially alongWeser andElbe,sandstone from the mountains of Central Germany could be transported with relative ease. This resulted in a synthesis of the styles from east of the Elbe with the architectural traditions of the Rhineland. Here, bricks were mainly used for wall areas, while sandstone was employed for plastic detail. Since the brick has no aesthetic functionper se in this style, most of the northwest German structures are not part of Brick Gothic proper. The Gothic brick buildings near the Lower Rhine have more in common with the Dutch Gothic than with the northern German one.

In Bavaria, there is a significant number of Gothic brick buildings, some in places without quarries, likeMunich, and some in places, where natural stone was available as well, such asDonauwörth. Several of these buildings have both decorations of shaped bricks and of ashlar, oftentuff. Also the walls of some buildings are all brick, but in some buildings the base of the wall is of stone. Most of the churches share a common distinctive Bavarian Brick Gothic style. TheFrauenkirche ofMunich is the largest (gothic and totally) brick church north of theAlps. Examples includeSt. Martin's and two other churches atLandshut and the Herzogsburg (Duke's Castle) inDingolfing.

Brick Gothic in Poland is sometimes described as belonging to thePolish Gothic style. Though, the vast majority of Gothic buildings within the borders of modern Poland are brick-built, the term also encompasses non-brick Gothic structures, such as theWawel Cathedral inKraków, which is mostly stone-built. The principal characteristic of the Polish Gothic style is its limited use of stonework to complement the main brick construction. Stone was primarily utilized for window and door frames, arched columns, ribbed vaults, foundations and ornamentation, while brick remained the core building material used to erect walls and cap ceilings. This limited use of stone, as a supplementary building material, was most prevalent inLesser Poland and was made possible by an abundance oflimestone in the region—further north in the regions ofGreater Poland,Silesia,Mazovia, andPomerania the use of stone was virtually nonexistent.

Much of the coast of theBaltic Sea in the period from the 12th century to 1637 belonged to theGriffins'Duchy of Pomerania. Nowadays its territory is divided into two parts—middle and eastern in Poland and westernmost in Germany. The most outstanding Gothic monuments in this area are Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist inKamień Pomorski,Cistercian abbey in Kołbacz, ruins of Jasienica Abbey inPolice, ruins ofEldena Abbey (a Danish foundation) inGreifswald, St. Mary's Church inUsedom,Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes in Darłowo, remnants ofLöcknitz Castle, St. Nicholas collegial church inGreifswald,St. Nicholas' Church in Stralsund,St. Mary's Church in Stralsund, St. Mary and St. Nicholas churches inAnklam,St. Mary's Church in Stargard, St. Nicholas Church inWolin, St. Peter's Church inWolgast,Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle in Szczecin, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary inKoszalin, Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary inKołobrzeg andChurch of Our Lady in Sławno and city halls inStralsund,Szczecin (Old Town Hall) andKamień Pomorski. The most important defensive systems were located inSzczecin andDąbie (present district of the city of Szczecin),Pyrzyce,Usedom,Greifswald,Anklam andStargard with the water gate onIna river calledStargard Mill Gate.

Even theWesthoek region in the very north ofFrance, situated betweenBelgium and theStrait of Dover has instances of northern Brick Gothic. For example, there is a strong similarity between theBelfry of Dunkirk [fr] and the tower ofSt Mary's Church inGdańsk.

Southern French Gothic is a specific style ofGothic architecture developed in the south of France. It arose in the early 13th century following the victory of theCatholic church over theCathars, as the church sought to re-establish its authority in the region. As a result, church buildings typically present features drawn from military architecture. The construction material of Southern French Gothic is typically brick rather than stone. Over time, the style came to influence secular buildings as well as churches and spread beyond the area where Catharism had flourished.

In the 19th century, theGothic Revival—Neogothic style led to a revival of Brick Gothic designs. 19th-century Brick Gothic "Revival" churches can be found throughout Northern Germany, Scandinavia, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, the Netherlands, Russia, Britain and the United States.

Important churches in this style includedSt Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham (1841), byAugustus Pugin, the 1897Mikkeli Cathedral inMikkeli in Finland, andSt. Joseph's Church inKraków, Poland, is a late example of the revival style.

• List of Gothic brick buildings
• European Route of Brick Gothic
• Gothic architecture in modern Poland
• Gothic architecture in Lithuania
• Belarusian Gothic
• List of Brick Romanesque buildings
• List of Brick Renaissance buildings

• Hans Josef Böker:Die mittelalterliche Backsteinarchitektur Norddeutschlands. Darmstadt 1988.ISBN 3-534-02510-5
• Gottfried Kiesow:Wege zur Backsteingotik. Eine Einführung. Monumente-Publikationen der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn 2003,ISBN 3-936942-34-X
• Angela Pfotenhauer, Florian Monheim, Carola Nathan:Backsteingotik. Monumente-Edition. Monumente-Publikation der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn 2000,ISBN 3-935208-00-6
• Fritz Gottlob:Formenlehre der Norddeutschen Backsteingotik: Ein Beitrag zur Neogotik um 1900. 1907. Reprint of 2nd ed., Verlag Ludwig, 1999,ISBN 3-9805480-8-2
• Gerlinde Thalheim (ed.) et al.:Gebrannte Größe – Wege zur Backsteingotik. 5 Vols. Monumente-Publikation der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn, Gesamtausgabe aller 5 Bände unterISBN 3-936942-22-6
• B. Busjan, G. Kiesow:Wismar: Bauten der Macht – Eine Kirchenbaustelle im Mittelalter. Monumente Publikationen der Deutschen Stiftung Denkmalschutz, 2002,ISBN 3-935208-14-6 (Vol. 2 of series of exhibition cataloguesWege zur Backsteingotik,ISBN 3-935208-12-X)

• RDK-Labor: digitized text ofReallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte (1937),Backsteinbau by Otto Stiehl (chapters I–III) and Hans Wentzel (chapters IV–VI)
• European Brick Gothic Route
• ExhibitionWege zur Backsteingotik 2002–2005
• Permanent exhibitionWege zur Backsteingotik, WismarArchived 5 March 2016 at theWayback Machine