Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

T

he great cathedrals erected throughout Europe in the later 12th

and 13th centuries are the enduring symbols of the Gothic age.

These towering structures are eloquent testimonies to the extraordi-

nary skill of the architects, engineers, carpenters, masons, sculptors,

glassworkers, and metalsmiths who constructed and decorated the

buildings. Most of the architectural components of Gothic cathedrals

appeared in earlier structures, but the way Gothic architects com-

bined the elements made the buildings unique expressions of me-

dieval faith. The essential ingredients of the Gothic “recipe” were rib

vaults with pointed arches (see “The Gothic Rib Vault,” page 464), fly-

ing buttresses, and huge colored-glass windows (see “Stained-Glass

Windows,” page 472). These and the other important Gothic archi-

tectural terms listed here are illustrated in FIG. 18-12.

❚PinnacleA sharply pointed ornament capping the piers or flying

buttresses; also used on cathedral facades.

❚Flying buttresses Masonry struts that

transfer the thrust of the nave vaults across

the roofs of the side aisles and ambulatory

to a tall pier rising above the church’s exte-

rior wall. (Compare FIG. I-18, right.)

❚Vaulting webThe masonry blocks that fill

the area between the ribs of a groin vault.

❚Diagonal ribIn plan, one of the ribs that

form the Xof a groin vault. In FIG. 18-4,

the diagonal ribs are the lines AC and DB.

❚Transverse ribA rib that crosses the nave

or aisle at a 90-degree angle (lines AB and

DC in FIG. 18-4).

❚SpringingThe lowest stone of an arch; in
Gothic vaulting, the lowest stone of a diag-
onal or transverse rib.
❚ClerestoryThe windows below the vaults
that form the nave elevation’s uppermost
level. By using flying buttresses and rib
vaults on pointed arches, Gothic architects
could build huge clerestory windows and

fill them with stained glass held in place by ornamental stonework

called tracery.

❚OculusA small round window.

❚Lancet A tall, narrow window crowned by a pointed arch.

❚TriforiumThe story in the nave elevation consisting of arcades,

usually blind arcades (FIG. 18-9), but occasionally filled with

stained glass (FIG. I-2).

❚Nave arcadeThe series of arches supported by piers separating

the nave from the side aisles.

❚Compound pier with shafts (responds)Also called the cluster pier,

a pier with a group, or cluster, of attached shafts, or responds,ex-

tending to the springing of the vaults.

❚ARCHITECTURAL BASICS:The Gothic Cathedral

ARCHITECTURAL BASICS

French Gothic 469

18-12Cutaway view of a typical French

Gothic cathedral (John Burge). (1) pinnacle,

(2) flying buttress, (3) vaulting web, (4) diagonal rib,

(5) transverse rib, (6) springing, (7) clerestory,

(8) oculus, (9) lancet, (10) triforium, (11) nave

arcade, (12) compound pier with responds.

Rib vaults with pointed arches, flying buttresses,

and stained-glass windows are the major ingre-

dients in the “recipe” for constructing Gothic

cathedrals, but other elements also contributed

to the distinctive “look” of these churches.