Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

simple pillars ornamented with abstract designs (diamond, chevron,
and cable patterns, all originally painted) alternate with compound
piers that carry the transverse arches of the vaults. The pier-vault re-
lationship scarcely could be more visible or the building’s structural
rationale better expressed.
The bold surface patterning of the Durham nave is a reminder
that the raising of imposing stone edifices such as the Romanesque
churches of England and Normandy required more than just the tal-
ents of master designers. A corps of expert masons had to transform
rough stone blocks into the precise shapes necessary for their specific
place in the church’s fabric. Although thousands of simple quadran-
gular blocks make up the great walls of these buildings, the builders
needed large numbers of blocks in much more complex shapes. To
cover the nave and aisles, the stonecutters had to carve blocks with
concave faces to conform to the curve of the vault. Also required were
blocks with projecting moldings for the ribs, blocks with convex sur-
faces for the pillars or with multiple profiles for the compound piers,
and so forth. It was an immense undertaking, and it is no wonder
that medieval building campaigns often lasted for decades.
The plan (FIG. 17-34) of Durham Cathedral is typically English
with its long, slender proportions. It does not employ the modular
scheme with the same care and logic seen at Caen. But in other ways
this English church is even more innovative than the French church.
It is the earliest example known of a ribbed groin vault placed over a
three-story nave. And in the nave’s western parts, completed before
1130, the rib vaults have slightly pointed arches, bringing together
for the first time two of the key elements that determined the struc-

Normandy and England 455

17-33Interior (left) and lateral section (right) of Durham

Cathedral, England, begun ca. 1093.

Durham Cathedral is the first example of a ribbed groin vault

placed over a three-story nave. Quadrant arches were used

in place of groin vaults in the tribune to buttress the nave

vaults.

17-34Plan of Durham Cathedral, England (after Kenneth John

Conant).

Durham Cathedral is typically English in its long, slender proportions.

In the nave, simple pillars alternate with compound piers that support

the transverse arches of the seven-part groin vaults.

Quadrant arch

N

0 50 1 00 feet

0 10 20 30 meters

Seven-part vaults

Addition

tural evolution of Gothic architecture. Also of great significance is

the way the English builders buttressed the nave vaults. The lateral

section (FIG. 17-33,right) reveals that simple quadrant arches (arches

whose curve extends for one quarter of a circle’s circumference) take

the place of groin vaults in the tribune. The structural descendants

of these quadrant arches are the flying buttresses that epitomize the

mature Gothic solution to church construction (see “The Gothic

Cathedral,” Chapter 18, page 469).