Bourges, Saint-Étienne, main roof.
Photograph: Clarence Ward
Collection. Courtesy of Oberlin
College.
monospatial structure spreading laterally to the equivalent of its height. Construction
started with the crypt, necessitated by expansion of the site beyond the Gallo-Roman city
wall, and included the remarkable pyramidal elevation reaching five stories in height. The
lower level included the ambulatory and radiating chapels; the intermediary level (the
inner aisle) has a full three-story elevation, which is revealed by the extraordinary height
of the main nave piers. The daring and complexity of the design is matched by the
audacious engineering of the structure, supported by steep, thin flying buttresses. The
second builder, who took over after completion of the chevet, continued the pyramidal
spatial scheme but increased the size and thickness of the flying buttresses, as well as
reinforcing the chevet buttresses by adding an upper layer to both ranks, probably in
response to problems at Notre-Dame in Paris.
In spite of Branner’s attempt to link the Bourges designer to areas outside of Paris, it
was the scheme of Notre-Dame that served as the starting point for the Bourges design.
On the other hand, the builder is the most original designer of his generation. He borrows
from a number of sources but synthesizes them into his unique design. The audacity of
the design, as well as its exterior profile, may partly explain why this most magnificent
spatial achievement of Gothic architecture was so seldom imitated.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 268