Ribbed Vault Research Articles

An observation on the fan vault of Henry VII Chapel, Westminster

A close inspection was made of the vault of Henry VII Chapel, Westminster Abbey, when it was scaffolded for repair and maintenance in 1994–95. Defects were seen which appear to be peculiar to fan vaults, and this paper attempts to explain these defects. The discussion involves an understanding of the behaviour of masonry, from the simplest arch form to barrel vaults, rib vaults and the complex fan structure, with an examination of the ‘pathology’ of these forms.

The Articulation of Rib Vaults in the Romanesque Parish Churches of England and Normandy

Rib vaults appear in English architecture at the end of the eleventh century and by the early part of the next had spread throughout most parts of the country and across the Channel into Normandy. Rib construction was pioneered by the builders of great churches, first apparently at Durham, and was then developed and elaborated at sites such as Winchester, Gloucester, Peterborough, Lessay, Saint-Etienne in Caen, and many others. Although it is impossible to pinpoint the precise moment, by the second quarter of the twelfth century ribs were also being constructed in smaller churches in many areas of England and Normandy. Anglo-Norman parish church masons might construct ribs under towers or in porches, but the majority of survivals are in chancels, where the presence of ribs was clearly the result of a desire to distinguish and embellish the functionally most important and most sacred part of the church.

Previously Undetected Wooden Ribbed Vaults in Medieval Britain

Wooden ribbed vaults have been associated with mature Gothic architecture in Britain. The circumstances for their detection in 12th- and early 13th-century churches are here presented. Documentary evidence suggests that wooden ribbed vaults were considered a viable form of ceiling even at the highest levels of patronage. They could be erected more quickly than their stone counterparts. Most importantly, they offered great flexibility for daring hollow-wall structures without the need for elaborate buttressing.

Previously Undetected Wooden Ribbed Vaults in Medieval Britain

Wooden ribbed vaults have been associated with mature Gothic architecture in Britain. The circumstances for their detection in 12th- and early 13th-century churches are here presented. Documentary evidence suggests that wooden ribbed vaults were considered a viable form of ceiling even at the highest levels of patronage. They could be erected more quickly than their stone counterparts. Most importantly, they offered great flexibility for daring hollow-wall structures without the need for elaborate buttressing.

A Problem in Romanesque Aesthetics: The Articulation of Groin and Early Rib Vaults in the Larger Churches of England and Normandy

Architectural historians have generally studied the Romanesque rib vaults of England and Normandy because they have held them crucial to the development of Gothic in the Ile-de-France in the middle of the twelfth century. In contrast, the present study attempts to view ribs, and the groin vaults that precede them, as part of an expressive aesthetic of muscular articulation rather than a revolutionary device leading to some opposite aesthetic. The way groins and ribs were articulated by Romanesque masons in England and Normandy gives us a clear insight into the priorities of masons, and presumably patrons, in the century on either side of 1100. These priorities did not necessarily involve a journey toward greater clarity or logic. Rather, individual solutions and consciously sought variety seem to predominate. At Durham the nave aisles are articulated in diametrically opposite fashion to those of the choir and transept that have just preceded them; at Romsey there are three separate schemes of vault articulation visible in as many decades. In neither case do the changes yield a development toward greater logic. Dealing with unruly and unsystematic variety is often frustrating for neat-minded academics, but it is only by examining closely the visual characteristics of each building's vaults that we can come to any true appreciation of either the fecundity of Romanesque architecture or its relation to Gothic.

Encore Lindisfarne Priory and the Problem of its Nave Vaults

An examination of at least six views of Lindisfarne Priory dating from the late eighteenth century, at which time most of the nave was still standing, led to the surprising conclusion in an earlier study that the nave was covered by groin vaults. Because of the unequivocal evidence of ribbed vaults in the choir, transept arms and crossing, as well as in the nave aisles, it would be expected that the form of the nave vault was the same. Since the evidence provided by the early views has been greeted with some scepticism, this study documents the collapse and restoration of the nave during the nineteenth century, closely examines the only two points at which the springing of the former nave vault is preserved, and, finally, considers the continued use of groin vaults in England after the appearance of ribbed vaults at Durham Cathedral, c. 1093–-1100. None of these further investigations produced any evidence that contradicts the conclusions based on the early views as initially presented, nor does a consideration of other views from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during which time the nave elevations were gradually collapsing. Whether ‘logical’ or not, the nave of Lindisfarne was covered by groin vaults. This finding leads to the suggestion that groin vaults, not ribbed vaults, may have been used over the choir of Durham.This paper was submitted for publication in November 1992.

Stone Vaults in English Parish Churches in the Early Gothic and Decorated Periods

AbstractThis study surveys the surviving stone vaults in English parish churches of the Early Gothic and Decorated periods. Of the approximately sixty surviving buildings with vaults the vast majority are to be found in the southern half of the country and particularly in the counties between Kent and Wiltshire. In spite of extensive parish church construction during this period in the Midlands and North there were very few vaults constructed there. Still more surprising was the finding that slightly more Romanesque rib-vaulted choirs survive in English parish churches than Gothic ones. In spite of the identification of rib vaults with the Gothic style by most architectural historians it is clear that only a small minority of English parish church masons saw it that way.Those vaults that were built show a range of articulations and aesthetics. Early examples tend to follow French models, with separate shafts provided for all vault components and diagonally set capitals for diagonal ribs. In the early thir...

From Gothic to Renaissance Stereotomy: The Design Methods of Philibert de l’Orme and Alonso de Vandelvira

From Gothic to Renaissance Stereotomy: The Design Methods of Philibert de I’Orme and Alonso de Vandelvira SERGIO LUIS SANABRIA Stereotomy is the art of cutting solids precisely so their parts fit together tightly. Although stereotomic problems arise in all masonry or wood construction in which a whole must be made of various parts, calculations are needed only for precise compound-angle or curved cuts. Cutting simple rectangular blocks demands no special knowl­ edge, and even complex cuts often can be determined empirically by approximation and fitting, in the way traditional carpenters or ancient Greek and Inca masons adjusted joints by sanding down or trimming points of contact until matching surfaces were obtained.1 Simple arches introduce a trivial complication: voussoirs require adding adjustable angle protractors, or bevels, to masons’ tool kits. Even the sloping barrel vaults of the Hellenistic temple of Apollo at Didyma could have been constructed without resort to geometric the­ ory. Complex curves based on conic sections appear in structures only after the Roman development of intersecting groin vaults. Treatises such as the Conics by Apollonius of Perga or its lost predecessor, the Four Books on Conics by Euclid, could have provided a conceptual background for this architectural innovation, although in fact they probably were superfluous. Roman builders avoided stereotomic com­ putations of vault groins by the use of mass concrete and brick that Dr. Sanabria teaches in the Department of Architecture at Miami University. He began his work on early stereotomy as part of his Princeton University dissertation under the direction of David Coffin, Robert Mark, and Michael Mahoney. His research interests include Gothic and Renaissance architecture in France and Spain, with a strong technological bent often inspired by the work of Carl Conclit. Since 1984 he has been engaged in a survey of the Cathedral of Metz to isolate its design campaigns between ca. 1215 and 1350, and he is currently writing a book on the architectural theory of Rodrigo (iil de Hontanon. 'For discussions of stonejoints in Greek temples, see Roland Martin, Manuel({'architecture grecque (Paris, 1965); and J. J. Coulton, Ancient Greek Architects at Work (Ithaca, N.Y.; 1977), pp. 46—48. For Inca work, see Jean-Pierre Protzen, “Inca Quarrying and Stonecutting ,” Journal of the Society oj Architectural Historians 44 (May 1985): 161—82.© 1989 by the Society for the History of Technology. All rights reserved. 0040- 165X/89/3002-0007$01.00 266 From, Gothic to Renaissance Stereotomy 267 were shaped with temporary wooden formwork. Using thick mortar joints, one can rely on formwork definition even in cut stone vaults. Carolingian and Early Romanesque stone vaults are examples, as are the infill webs of most Gothic rib vaults.2 Among the earliest buildings exhibiting stéréotomie skills is the Theater at Philippolis in Syria, with groin vaults executed in cut stone. Seven centuries later, in a.d. 965, more complex stéréotomie problems arise in stellar rib vaults built in the expansion of the Friday Mosque of Cordoba under al-Hakim IE The vaults, with up to three arches intersecting at compound angles, exhibit precisely cut bosses shaped as irregular polyhedra. These crisscrossing rib vaults spread beyond Spain in the 12th century to churches in the French Pyrenees and as far east as Armenia. Still later is the famous 12th-century vis St. Gilles, a hélicoïdal barrel vault carrying a spiral staircase on the north tran­ sept of the Romanesque abbey church of St. Gilles du Gard in Pro­ vence. The helicoidally warped surfaces of individual voussoirs ht smoothly against each other, creating a curved surface of extraordi­ nary elegance. Stereotomy and Constructive Geometry Flow were these opera mirabilia designed? Euclid and Apollonius of Perga had been available in Arabic translations since the 10th century, but, given the widespread illiteracy among Islamic and Christian ma­ sons, the necessary geometric training for exact stereotomic compu­ tations seems unlikely. Although evidence for the geometric training of Islamic craftsmen in Spain is very late, it suggests an adherence to rules learned by rote in the shops rather than an understanding of the mathematical structure of problems.3 Thus, even if a mathema­ tician were hired to solve the stereotomic...

A Roman Site at Stanton Low, on the Great Ouse, Buckinghamshire

An extensive Late Iron Age settlement (SP 842430), with Middle Iron Age predecessor, was succeeded by an early Roman land management/drainage scheme accompanied by roads, and a timber bridge. This was followed by the construction of storehouse and barns adjoining a timber wharf, the whole encircled by an engineered river channel enclosing at least three ha, with an outlying cemetery. In the early/mid second century at least four, and possibly six, separate substantial stone buildings, all apparently of villa quality, were constructed over an area more than 250 m across. There were hints of a late Antonine destruction. Subsequently structural additions were made up to the early third century. Decline in the mid third century was followed by extensive rehabilitation in the late third/early fourth century, succeeded by slum/industrial conditions in the mid fourth, with iron working and smithing. Notable finds include parts of an early black and white mosaic, rib vault voussoir tiles, stamped tegulae, part of a luxury bronze folding tripod, a lead coffin, an anvil and a coulter. The pottery series extends from the middle Iron Age to the seventh century A.D., with a gap in the late fourth. Coinage extended from a stater of c. 40–20 B. C. to issues of the House of Valentinian, c. A.D. 375.

The "Early Vaults" of Saint-Etienne at Beauvais

The church of Saint-Etienne (Saint-Vaast) in Beauvais was much discussed in the early literature on medieval architecture, particularly in regard to the vaults over the initial bays of the nave aisles. The vaults have long been considered among the earliest rib vaults in northern France, although their exact date had never been determined. The challenge to date these vaults precisely became critical in the late 1950s when local excavations under the present Late Gothic choir uncovered evidence that the original choir may have been rib-vaulted as well. This paper analyzes these unpublished excavations and their implications for the extant vaults of the nave aisles; it also provides a credible dating for the choir and these vaults. In the absence of constructional documents, the dating of Saint-Etienne must depend on stylistic comparisons correlated with the dates of major historical incidents in Beauvais that would have influenced the construction of the church. All of these factors taken together seem to indicate strongly the existence of a fully rib-vaulted choir at Saint-Etienne and of a unified campaign of construction encompassing this choir, the transept, and the initial bays of the nave aisles. Most significantly, a date as early as the 1070s is suggested for the vaults of the choir, thus making them the earliest known rib vaults in medieval architecture and forcing a re-examination of the structural aspect of medieval style in the 11th century.

Excavations at the Cathedral of Haghia Sophia, Andravida, Greece

The purpose of the 1984 Minnesota-Andravida Project was to establish a plan of the ruins of the former Frankish, 13th-century Cathedral of Haghia Sophia, Andravida, Elis, Greece. The second objective was to gather information that would aid in interpreting the structure above ground, comprising a sanctuary flanked by two chapels and roofed by rib vaults. The complicated history of the ruins was investigated through archeological methods and art historical analysis.

The Frankish Cathedral of Andravida, Elis, Greece

In the first half of the 13th century the Frankish princes of the Morea built a Gothic cathedral at Andravida, Elis, Greece. The Frankish period of dominance of the Peloponnesus lasted from 1204 to 1430. It is the least studied of any period of the history of the region. Very little exact information exists about Frankish architectural procedures. Consequently, very few indications exist to help with the identification and the dating of many of the ruins scattered throughout the Peloponnesus. The east end of the Cathedral of Haghia Sophia still stands. It consists of a sanctuary flanked by two chapels covered by rib vaults. The Greek Byzantine Ephoreia granted a permit to the Minnesota-Andravida Project to examine the Cathedral. In 1983, the Project set itself the task of establishing Frankish construction techniques of the first half of the 13th century by determining the condition and the history of the existing fabric of the Cathedral by archaeological means and by art historical analyses.

12世紀,13世紀イル・ド・フランスにおける支柱組織の展開について : 6分ヴォールトの諸問題その4

The transition of the pier system in Ile-de-France from the early 12 th century to the early 13 th century is the process that heavy compound piers are replaced with slender colomns by stages. At Early Gothic the sexpartite vault was employed in order to accommodate to the remarkable alternation of the pier system witch was the result that the heavy compound piers have been replaced with slender columns on every other piers. The intermediate pier of Early Gothic sexpartite vaulting church has shafts standing on the capital, from witch terminals arches and ribs depart. I think that such a composition (column-constitution) was originally created when constructors made a trial to cover the apse of ambulatory type choir with rib vault. In this paper, I treat of the evolution of pier constitutions in the whole central space including both choir and nave. As a result, it is able to be considered that the evolution of pier-constitutions of Ile-de-France, from the early 12 th centuy to the early 13 th century, is the process that the column-constitution which was created in the apse of the ambulatory type choir spreads over the other portions of the central space gradually.

The Rib Vaults of Durham Cathedral

The original high vaults in the choir of Durham Cathedral seem to have been the first with ribs. The arrangement was six-part. However, at the tribune level the shafts would have supported a four-part vault in the choir and a wooden ceiling in the transepts. The changes to the disposition we have today may have resulted from the employment of three different builders in the tribune zone. The replacement of the six-part vaults in the choir may have resulted from structural instability in the flattened diagonal ribs. The vaults were laid out in the manner of groin vaults, with ribs set into the cells as they were being laid, layer by layer. The rib was an aid to construction; it was not seen at the outset as having a structural function. The documents and the identification of the building campaigns help to date each of the vaults and the chevron patterns.

The Mechanization of Design in the 16th Century: The Structural Formulae of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón

The existing fragments of an architectural booklet by the 16th-century Spanish architect Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón reveal an ingenious attempt to systematize the design process by creating a sequence of formulaic procedures to be followed in ecclesiastical projects. The formulae are addressed to two more or less separate issues. The first is to synthesize Gothic and Classic proportioning methods, and demonstrate their fundamental identity. The second is to establish an independent "science" of structural design. Aside from the more theoretical writings of Leonardo da Vinci, the work of Rodrigo Gil is the principal evidence extant for the development of structural thinking among 16th-century master masons. Seven formulae discussed here are concerned with the correct depth of a buttress to support an arch or a rib vault. The formulae do not seem to have been derived through theoretical analysis, using the medieval Scientia de Ponderibus. Rather they are the result of new experimentation and traditional Gothic geometric thinking applied to classical arches, and of new arithmetic procedures applied to Gothic rib vaults.

Master Jehancon Garnache (1485-1501) and the Construction of the High Vaults and Flying Buttresses of the Nave of Troyes Cathedral

Evidence from the fabric accounts of Troyes Cathedral, coupled with an analysis of the forms of the building itself, will allow the reader to gain an acquaintance with the personality of a late Gothic mason, and to follow the sequence of operations undertaken during his tenure as master mason of the Troyes Cathedral workshop. The work of Jehancon Garnache is of particular interest since it involved critical decisions concerning the priority of flyers or vaults in the sequence of construction of the upper nave, and the techniques associated with the construction of a Gothic rib vault. It will be demonstrated that the severies of the Troyes vaults were centered upon mounds of earth, heaped onto high-level wooden platforms.

Craigston Castle, Aberdeenshire

The main tower (1604-7) compares with the then recently remodelled Fyvie but also has features reminiscent of Borthwick 150 years earlier; it was probably built by the Bell family of masons with modifications for the client (Urquhart). The re-entrant of the entrance front is arched over and painted to resemble a ribbed vault, there is a carved balcony above, and much carved and painted work within. Flanking wings were added in 1747-53, the surviving farm court with its surrounding buildings in 1766-77. The article includes biographies of the Urquhart owners and of various plans for works in the 18th and 19th centuries. D F R

Diagonality and Centrality in Early Rib - Vaulted Architectures

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiagonality and Centrality in Early Rib - Vaulted ArchitecturesJean BonyJean Bony Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Gesta Volume 15, Number 1/21976Essays in Honor of Sumner McKnight Crosby Sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/766747 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 9Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1976 International Center of Medieval ArtPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Malcolm Thurlby THE ABBEY CHURCH OF LESSAY (MANCHE) AND ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE IN NORTH-EAST ENGLAND, The Antiquaries Journal 94 (Jul 2014): 71–92.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581514000262Lawrence R. Hoey The Articulation of Rib Vaults in the Romanesque Parish Churches of England and Normandy, The Antiquaries Journal 77 (Apr 2011): 145–177.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500075181 Lawrence R. Hoey A Problem in Romanesque Aesthetics: The Articulation of Groin and Early Rib Vaults in the Larger Churches of England and Normandy, Gesta 35, no.22 (Oct 2015): 156–176.https://doi.org/10.2307/767180J. Philip McAleer Encore Lindisfarne Priory and the Problem of its Nave Vaults, The Antiquaries Journal 74 (Apr 2011): 169–210.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500024422J. David McGee The "Early Vaults" of Saint-Etienne at Beauvais, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 45, no.11 (Mar 1986): 20–31.https://doi.org/10.2307/990126 John James The Rib Vaults of Durham Cathedral, Gesta 22, no.22 (Oct 2015): 135–145.https://doi.org/10.2307/766922William W. Clark Spatial Innovations in the Chevet of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 38, no.44 (Dec 1979): 348–365.https://doi.org/10.2307/989458William W. Clark The Nave Vaults of Noyon Cathedral, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 36, no.11 (Mar 1977): 30–33.https://doi.org/10.2307/989144 William W. Clark The Nave of Saint Pierre at Lisieux: Romanesque Structure in a Gothic Guise, Gesta 16, no.11 (Oct 2015): 29–38.https://doi.org/10.2307/766866

Romsey Abbey: A Progenitor of the English National Traditional in Architecture

Previous articleNext article No AccessRomsey Abbey: A Progenitor of the English National Traditional in ArchitectureM. F. HearnM. F. Hearn Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Gesta Volume 14, Number 11975 Sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/766644 Views: 3Total views on this site Citations: 7Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1975 International Center of Medieval ArtPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Lawrence R Hoey, Malcolm Thurlby A Survey of Romanesque Vaulting in Great Britain and Ireland, The Antiquaries Journal 84 (Apr 2011): 117–184.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500045820 Lawrence R. Hoey A Problem in Romanesque Aesthetics: The Articulation of Groin and Early Rib Vaults in the Larger Churches of England and Normandy, Gesta 35, no.22 (Oct 2015): 156–176.https://doi.org/10.2307/767180 Lawrence Hoey The Design of Romanesque Clerestories with Wall Passages in Normandy and England, Gesta 28, no.11 (Oct 2015): 78–101.https://doi.org/10.2307/767027E. C. Fernie Contrasts in Methodology and Interpretation of Medieval Ecclesiastical Architecture, Archaeological Journal 145, no.11 (Dec 2014): 344–364.https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.1988.11077855 Eric Fernie The Use of Varied Nave Supports in Romanesque and Early Gothic Churches, Gesta 23, no.22 (Oct 2015): 107–117.https://doi.org/10.2307/766883J. Philip McAleer The Romanesque Choir of Tewkesbury Abbey and the Problem of a “Colossal Order”, The Art Bulletin 65, no.44 (Aug 2014): 535–558.https://doi.org/10.1080/00043079.1983.10788111 William W. Clark The Nave of Saint Pierre at Lisieux: Romanesque Structure in a Gothic Guise, Gesta 16, no.11 (Oct 2015): 29–38.https://doi.org/10.2307/766866

Photoelastic and finite-element analysis of a quadripartite vault

A lively controversy exists in the architectural historical literature concerning the functional role of many Gothic cathedral structural elements. The most complex of these is the ribbed vault which has never before been fully analyzed.