Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Arching above a side aisle roof, flying buttresses support the main vault of St. Mary's Church, in Lübeck, Germany.. The flying buttress (arc-boutant, arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that ...
Unlike Laon Cathedral, the façade of Notre Dame, with its two towers, expressed a remarkable calm and harmony. Notre-Dame was modified in the later Gothic period, with the addition of the rose windows in the transepts (1250–1260) and double flying buttresses. [12]
Early Gothic architecture was the result of the emergence in the 12th century of a powerful French state centered in the Île-de-France.King Louis VI of France (1081–1137), had succeeded, after a long struggle, in bringing the barons of northern France under his control, and successfully defended his domain against attacks by the English King, Henry I of England (1100–1135).
The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 105-metre (349 ft) plain pyramid completed around 1160 and the 113-metre (377 ft) Flamboyant (late Gothic) spire on top of an older tower. Its ...
The flying buttresses are the architectural device that made possible the exceptional height of the walls of the nave and choir. The arched buttresses leap over the outer, lower level of the cathedral, where the ambulatory and chapels are located, to stabilise the upper walls of the clerestory.
Flying buttresses were used less frequently in England, where the emphasis was more on length than height. One example of English buttresses was Canterbury Cathedral, whose choir and buttresses were rebuilt in Gothic style by William of Sens and William the Englishman. [37]
During the High Gothic period, with the development of the four-part rib vault and the flying buttress, the tribune was eliminated at Chartres and other new cathedrals, allowing taller windows and arcades. By the 15th century, at Rouen Cathedral, the triforium also disappeared, and the walls between the traverses were filled with high windows. [29]
The flying buttresses attached to the nave and transepts were rebuilt to match those bracing the choir. An ornate but structurally artificial upper extension of the cathedral's front facade of unknown date was removed; it was replaced by a balustrade and the current Madonna and Child statue.