Architecture Moment: Notre-Dame, Louviers

The church of Notre Dame in Louviers (30km outside of Rouen) is one of the finest examples of the profusion of decoration in the very last era of French Gothic architecture. Unlike the late Gothic of Southern and Eastern Germany, which saw numerous advances in structural engineering and decorative concepts, the late French Flamboyant architecture was an elaborate conservative pouring of decoration onto traditional forms. The church includes this fine altarpiece: