A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are typically made of stonework or brickwork, or else of timber structures with metal cladding, ceramic tiling, roof shingles, or slates on the exterior.
Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock. The buildings are essentially built using bricks. Buildings classified as Brick Gothic are found in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kaliningrad, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
The Gothic architecture arrived in Poland in the first half of the 13th century with the arrival of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. The first elements of the new style are evident in the foundation of the Dominican Trinity church in Kraków (1226–1250), built by Bishop Iwo Odrowąż. Rebuilding of the Wrocław Cathedral, started in 1244, was another early manifestation of the Gothic style. The earliest building in Poland built entirely in the Gothic style is the chapel of St. Hedwig in Trzebnica (1268–1269), on the grounds of a Cistercian monastery.
The wooden churches of southern Lesser Poland of the UNESCO inscription are located in Binarowa, Blizne, Dębno, Haczów, Lipnica Murowana, and Sękowa. There are in fact many others of the region which fit the description: "The wooden churches of southern Little Poland represent outstanding examples of the different aspects of medieval church-building traditions in Roman Catholic culture. Built using the horizontal log technique, common in eastern and northern Europe since the Middle Ages..."
Blizne is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Jasienica Rosielna, within Brzozów County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It lies approximately 3 kilometres (2 mi) east of Jasienica Rosielna, 7 km (4 mi) north-west of Brzozów, and 32 km (20 mi) south of the regional capital Rzeszów.
Carpathian Wooden Churches is the name of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of nine wooden religious buildings constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries in eight different locations in Slovakia. They include two Roman Catholic, three Protestant and three Greek Catholic churches plus one belfry in Hronsek. In addition to these churches there are about 50 more wooden churches in the territory of present-day Slovakia mainly in the northern and eastern part of the Prešov Region.
The Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine are a group of wooden Orthodox churches located in Poland and Ukraine which were inscribed in 2013 on the UNESCO World Heritage List which explains:
built of horizontal wooden logs between the 16th and 19th centuries by communities of Orthodox and Greek Catholic faiths. The tserkvas bear testimony to a distinct building tradition rooted in Orthodox ecclesiastic design interwoven with elements of local tradition, and symbolic references to their communities’ cosmogony. — World Heritage Centre
The architecture of Scotland in the Middle Ages includes all building within the modern borders of Scotland, between the departure of the Romans from Northern Britain in the early fifth century and the adoption of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century, and includes vernacular, ecclesiastical, royal, aristocratic and military constructions. The first surviving houses in Scotland go back 9500 years. There is evidence of different forms of stone and wooden houses exist and earthwork hill forts from the Iron Age. The arrival of the Romans led to the abandonment of many of these forts. After the departure of the Romans in the fifth century, there is evidence of the building of a series of smaller "nucleated" constructions sometimes utilizing major geographical features, as at Dunadd and Dumbarton. In the following centuries new forms of construction emerged throughout Scotland that would come to define the landscape.
Assumption of Holy Mary Church in Haczów - a Gothic, wooden church located in the village of Haczów from the fifteenth-century, which together with different churches is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland. The church in Haczów is the largest wooden Gothic church in Europe, and simultaneously one of the oldest wooden framework churches in Poland.
Saints Philip and James Church is a Gothic, wooden church in the village of Sękowa from the 15th century. Together with different churches it is designated as the UNESCO Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland. Due to its history and unique architecture the church is frequently called the Pearl of the Beskid Niski.
St. Leonard's Church in Lipnica Murowana - a Gothic, wooden church located in the village of Lipnica Murowana from the fifteenth-century, which together with different churches is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland.
St. Michael Archangel's Church is a Roman Catholic Gothic-wooden church located in the village of Binarowa, southeast Poland, dating from the 15th or early 16th century. Together with different churches is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland.
St. Michael Archangel's Church in Dębno is a Roman Catholic Gothic-wooden church located in the Polish Goral village of Dębno from the fifteenth-century. Together with different churches, it is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden Churches of Southern Lesser Poland.
Protection of Our Most Holy Lady Church in Owczary is a Gothic, wooden church located in the village of Owczary from the seventeenth century, which together with different tserkvas is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
St. Michael Archangel's Church in Brunary is a Gothic, wooden church located in the village of Brunary from the eighteenth-century, which together with different tserkvas is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
St. Michael Archangel's Church in Smolnik - a Gothic, wooden church located in the village of Smolnik from the eighteenth-century, which together with different tserkvas is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
St. Paraskevi Church in Kwiatoń - a Gothic, wooden church located in the village of Kwiatoń from the nineteenth-century, which together with different tserkvas is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
St. Paraskevi Church in Radruż is a Gothic, wooden church from the sixteenth-century located in the village of Radruż, Poland, which together with different tserkvas is designated as part of the UNESCO Wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region in Poland and Ukraine.
Polna is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Grybów, within Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland.
The architecture of Belarus spans a variety of historical periods and styles and reflects the complex history, geography, religion and identity of the country. Several buildings in Belarus have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in recognition of their cultural heritage, and others have been placed on the tentative list.
Blizne, Poland