The Levantino Gothic is the gothic style developed in former Crown of Aragon, in the Mediterranean area of Spain, characterized by its halls and churches of great horizontal extent with emphasis on the structural part supported by buttresses and minimal and austere decorations.
Valencia, which replaces Barcelona as a Mediterranean commercial port, will become the seat of the most important pictorial school of international Gothic in the Iberian Peninsula. However, it lacks a notable sculptural production, which does stand out in Catalonia.
The Levantine or Mediterranean Gothic is characterized in architecture by its halls and churches of great horizontal amplitude with emphasis on the structural part supported by buttresses and minimal and austere decorations.
The main differences with Castilian Gothic are:
Single nave instead of three, in case that there are, has the same height and the wider central.
Chapels between the buttresses.
Low figurative decoration, dominated by the geometric type.
Minor surface of openings, resulting in a low light penetration.
Very few examples of this style of architecture exist outside the larger Christian strongholds. The surrounding countryside was still being fought over by the Spanish Christians and Spanish Muslims (Moors). In the capital cities of Medieval mediterranean Christian kingdoms, cathedrals of this style were erected in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Many buildings of this architectural style can be found around the region of Valencia with its own style Valencian Gothic and across the Balearic Islands.
Examples of this art are the Cathedral of Santa María de Palma de Mallorca, begun in 1229, after the conquest of the island by Jaime I the conqueror ; the one of Santa Eulalia of Barcelona, begun in 1298 and the one of Santa Maria de Gerona, begun in 1312, that has after ships until the cruise, where a single one of spectacular dimensions continues. In it the technical difficulties caused the Crown of Aragon to send a board of architects to solve them.
During the 15th century Levantine Gothic was used in civil architecture, whose best example are the markets of Barcelona (1380-1392), de Palma (1420-1452) and Valencia (1482-1498). The one of Saragossa, besides belonging to the Aragonese Gothic, is later and with Renaissance criteria of century XVI, although it shares some characteristics. The one of Barcelona consisted of three naves separated by pointed arches that rest on columns with baquetones and with flat roof, constuida in wood. It was replaced in the eighteenth century. In Barcelona (where a ” Gothic Quarter ” is conserved ) the Gothic parts of the buildings of the Casa de la Ciutat, thePalau de la Generalitat and the Palau Reial Major.
Source from Wikipedia