Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

(FIGS. 18-9and 18-10a). The trifo-

rium occupies the space correspond-

ing to the exterior strip of wall covered

by the sloping timber roof above the

galleries. The insertion of the trifo-

rium into the Romanesque three-

story nave elevation reflected a grow-

ing desire to break up all continuous

wall surfaces. The new horizontal zone

produced the characteristic four-story

Early Gothic interior elevation: nave

arcade, vaulted gallery, triforium, and

clerestory with single lancets (tall,

narrow windows ending in pointed

arches). Shown in FIG. 18-10is a com-

parison of the Laon nave elevation

with that of another four-story Early Gothic cathedral (FIG. 18-10b)

and with elevations of two three-story High Gothic cathedrals (FIGS.

18-10cand 18-10d).

Laon Cathedral’s west facade (FIG. 18-8) signals an even more

pronounced departure from the Romanesque style still lingering at

Saint-Denis and the Chartres Royal Portal. Typically Gothic are the

huge central rose window, the deep porches in front of the doorways,

and the open structure of the towers. A comparison of the facades of

Laon Cathedral and Saint-Étienne (FIG. 17-30) at Caen reveals a much

deeper penetration of the wall mass in the later building. At Laon, as in

Gothic architecture generally, the guiding principle was to reduce

sheer mass and replace it with intricately framed voids.

NOTRE-DAME, PARISAbout 1130, Louis VI moved his offi-
cial residence to Paris, spurring much commercial activity and a great
building boom. Paris soon became the leading city of France, indeed of
all northern Europe, making a new cathedral a necessity. Notre-Dame
(FIG. 18-11) occupies a picturesque site on an island in the Seine
River called the Île-de-la-Cité. The Gothic church, which replaced a
large Merovingian basilica, has a complicated build-
ing history. The choir and transept were completed by
1182, the nave by about 1225, and the facade not until
around 1250–1260. Sexpartite vaults cover the nave, as
at Laon. The original elevation (the builders modified
the design as work progressed) had four stories, but the
scheme (FIG. 18-10b) differed from Laon’s (FIG. 18-10a).
In place of the triforium over the gallery, stained-glass
oculi (singular oculus,a small round window) open up
the wall below the clerestory lancets. As a result, win-
dows fill two of the four stories, further reducing the

masonry area. (This four-story nave elevation can be seen in only one

bay in FIG. 18-11,immediately to the right of the south transept and

partially hidden by it.)

To hold the much thinner—and taller (compare FIGS. 18-10a

and 18-10b)—walls of Notre-Dame in place, the unknown architect

introduced flying buttresses,exterior arches that spring from the

lower roofs over the aisles and ambulatory (FIG. 18-11) and counter

the outward thrust of the nave vaults. Gothic builders employed fly-

ing buttresses as early as 1150 in a few smaller churches, but at

Notre-Dame in Paris they circle a great urban cathedral. At Durham,

the internal quadrant arches (FIG. 17-33,right) beneath the aisle

roofs, also employed at Laon, perform a similar function and may be

regarded as precedents for exposed Gothic flying buttresses. The

combination of precisely positioned flying buttresses and rib vaults

with pointed arches was the ideal solution to the problem of con-

structing towering naves with huge windows. The flying buttresses,

like slender extended fingers holding up the walls, are key compo-

nents of the distinctive “look” of Gothic cathedrals (see “The Gothic

Cathedral,” page 469, and FIG. 18-12).

0 30 feet

051 0 meters

10 20

a Laon b Paris c Chartres d Amiens

18-10Nave elevations of four French Gothic cathedrals at

the same scale (after Louis Grodecki).

Gothic nave designs evolved from the Early Gothic four-

story elevation to the High Gothic three-story elevation

(arcade, triforium, and clerestory). The height of the vaults

also increased from 80 to 144 feet.

18-11Notre-Dame (looking north), Paris, France,

begun 1163; nave and flying buttresses, ca. 1180–1200;

remodeled after 1225.

Architects first used flying buttresses on a grand scale

in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The buttresses

countered the outward thrust of the nave vaults and

held up the towering nave walls.

468 Chapter 18 GOTHIC EUROPE