Brick Gothic

Brick Gothic (German: Backsteingotik, Polish: Gotyk ceglany) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea, which do not have natural stone resources. The buildings are essentially built using bricks.

Buildings classified as Brick Gothic are found in Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia (exclave of Kaliningrad), and Sweden.

As the use of baked red brick arrived in Northern Europe in the 12th century, the oldest such buildings are classified as the Brick Romanesque. In the 16th century, Brick Gothic was superseded by Brick Renaissance architecture.

Brick Gothic is characterised by the lack of figural architectural sculpture, widespread in other styles of Gothic architecture; and by its creative subdivision and structuring of walls, using built ornaments and the colour contrast between red bricks, glazed bricks and white lime plaster.