GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE LOW COUNTRIES Gothic design throughout Belgium and Holland is a mixture of influences from France and Germany. Little transitional work exists, but, especially in Belgium, there are many delightful 13th and i4th century examples which show the dominance of French forms. It is noticeable that a circular column in place of the clustered pier is retained much later than elsewhere in Europe.
The cathedral at Brussels (choir 13th, nave 14th century) and the beautiful church of St. Martin at Ypres, of the same period, are typical. In the flamboyant period of the 15th century Ger man influence became stronger. The cathedral at Antwerp (be gun 1352, completed 14i4, spire 1518) is remarkable for being a seven aisle church and for its rich, late Gothic spire, obviously indebted to German precedent. The richest of all the flamboyant work is St. Jaques at Liege (I 513-38), in which Renaissance elements appear, but without modifying the delicate Gothic struc ture or harming the lacy intricacy of detail. In Holland, the cathedral at Utrecht (middle 13th century) is a typical French design ; much more characteristic are the brick churches of the I 5th century, frequently with wooden vaults, such as the new church at Amsterdam and the Great church in Haarlem.
Throughout the Low Countries, however, civic buildings are universally more interesting than ecclesiastical. The great Cloth Hall at Ypres (I 2oo-13o4, destroyed during the World War), with its simple range of traceried arcades, and its great central tower, was the largest and most monumental. Others, of the i4th and 15th centuries, though smaller, show greater richness. The town-halls of Brussels, Gouda and Middleburg show the lavish use of pinnacles, tracery and niches that was common. This ornateness of the late Gothic reached a climax in the town-halls of Louvain (1448-63) (now destroyed), and Ghent (1518-3 5)• Certain brick houses at Bruges and other places, in which simple window arrangements are decorated with brick piers and flam boyant wall tracery, and in which stepped gables top the façade, are also interesting.