Flying buttress, Westminister Abbey

Flying buttresses at Bath Abbey, Bath, England. The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church The Abbey Church of Saint Peter Bath, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is an Anglican Parish church and a former Benedictine Monastery Bath is a city in Somerset in the south west of England It is situated west of London and south-east of Bristol. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Of the six seen here, the left hand five are supporting the nave, and the right hand one is supporting the transept. In Romanesque and Gothic Christian Abbey, Cathedral Basilica and church Architecture, the nave is the Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram. Notice their shadows cast on the windows.

Close-up of two flying buttresses at Bath Abbey, Bath, England.

Villard de Honnecourt's drawing of a flying buttress at Reims, ca. Villard de Honnecourt lived in 13th century France and may have been an itinerant master-builder of Picardy in northern France. Notre-Dame de Reims ( Our Lady of Rheims) is the Cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned AD 1320–1335 (Bibliothèque nationale)

A flying buttress, or arc-boutant, is a specific type of buttress usually found on a religious building such as a cathedral. A buttress is an architectural structure built against (a counterfort) or projecting from a Wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall This article is about the history and organisation of the cathedral They are used to transmit the thrust of a vault across an intervening space (which might be an aisle, chapel or cloister), to a buttress outside the building. A Vault (French voute Italian volta German Gewölbe Polish sklepienie, Spanish An aisle is in general a space for walking with rows of seats on either side or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other A chapel is a holy place or area of Worship for Christians, which may be attached to an institution such as a large church, a College, a A cloister (from Latin claustrum) is a part of Cathedral, Monastic and Abbey architecture The employment of the flying buttress means that the load bearing walls can contain cut-outs, such as for large windows, that would otherwise seriously weaken the vault walls. A load-bearing wall or bearing wall, is one in which a wall of a structure bears the weight and force resting upon it conducting the vertical load from the upper Flying buttresses are often found in Gothic architecture. See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period.

The purpose of a buttress is to reduce the load on the vault wall. The majority of the load is carried by the upper part of the buttress, so making the buttress as a semi-arch provides almost the same load bearing capability, yet in a much lighter and cheaper structure. As a result, the buttress seemingly flies through the air, rather than resting on the ground and hence is known as a flying buttress.

Though employed by the Romans in early Romanesque work, it was generally masked by other constructions or hidden under a roof. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Regional characteristics of Romanesque architecture|Romanesque art Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which However, in the 12th century it was recognized as rational construction and emphasized by the decorative accentuation of its features, such as in the cathedrals of Chartres, Le Mans, Paris, Beauvais, and Reims. Le Mans (ləmɑ̃ in French) is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. NotreDameFlyingButtressjpg|right|thumb|250px|Notre Dame de Paris Flying Buttress]] Notre Dame de Paris is a Gothic Cathedral on the eastern half of the Beauvais is a town and commune of northern France, Préfecture (capital of the Oise département. Notre-Dame de Reims ( Our Lady of Rheims) is the Cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned

Sometimes, for the great height of the vaults, two semi-arches were thrown one above the other, and there are cases where the thrust was transmitted to two or even three butts across intervening spaces. Normal buttresses would add significantly to the weight of the overall structure, so the flying buttress is an essential aspect of the architecture. Because a vertical buttress, placed at a distance, possesses greater power of resistance to thrust than if attached to the wall carrying the vault, vertical buttresses like those at Lincoln Cathedral and Westminster Abbey were built outside the chapterhouse to receive the thrust. Lincoln Cathedral (in full The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church Vertical buttresses are usually weighted with pinnacles to give greater power of resistance. A pinnacle (from Latin pinnaculum, a little feather pinna compare Panache) is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap

This technique has also been used by Canadian architect William P. Anderson to build lighthouses at the beginning of the 20th century. A lighthouse is a Tower, building or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or in older times from a fire and used as an The twentieth century of the Common Era began on ^[1]

Construction

"To build the flying buttress, it was first necessary to construct temporary wooden frames which are called centering. The centering would support the weight of the stones and help maintain the shape of the arch until the mortar was dry. The centering were first built on the ground by the carpenters. Once that was done, they would be hoisted into place and fastened to the piers at the end of one buttress and at the other. These acted as temporary flying buttresses until the actual stone arch was complete. "^[2]

See also

• Gothic architecture
• Cathedral architecture

References

1. ^ Russ Rowlett, Canadian Flying Buttress Lighthouses, in The Lighthouse Directory. See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. A Cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a Bishop.
2. ^ Alex Lee, James Arndt, and Shane Goldmacher, Cathedral Architecture.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone