Strasbourg, France

West Front, Strasbourg Cathedral

825

c. 1277–1365 A.D. (Rayonnant and Flamboyant Gothic)

The facade is world-renowned for its openwork screen, where the stone is carved into an impossibly delicate, web-like grid standing independent of the main wall structure. Extreme deep-relief carving and undercutting creates complex shadow traps throughout the facade, allowing intense interplay between direct light and shadow that gives the massive pink sandstone structure a sense of weightlessness and ethereal motion.