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Home , Barrel vault, Groin vault, Rib vault, Vault (architecture)

Ribbed (Edited from Wikipedia)

SUMMARY

“Vault” is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a or . The intersection of two to three barrel vaults produces a , or ribbed vault, when they are edged with an armature of piped often carved in decorative patterns. While the mechanics of the weight of a and its transmission outwards to the supporting pillars remained as it had been, the new use of rib vaults demonstrates the skill of the masons and the grandeur of the new ideas circulating at the introduction of Gothic in the end of the eleventh century. These advances in vaulting allowed for the addition of higher up in the 's .

This technique was new in the late eleventh century, for example in the roofs of the choir side at Durham . Ancestors of the Gothic rib vault in the Romanesque vaults can be found at and Durham, both sites of early Gothic constructions, and elsewhere.

HISTORY

Ribbed vaults evolved from a series of increasingly advanced vault designs which came before it, beginning with the .

The Barrel Vault

A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design. The barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault: effectively a series of placed side by side, i.e., one after another. It is a form of barrel roof.

As with all -based constructions, there is an outward thrust generated against the walls underneath a barrel vault. There are several mechanisms for absorbing this thrust. One is, of course, to make the walls exceedingly thick and strong - this is a primitive and sometimes unacceptable method. A more elegant method is to build two or more

1 vaults parallel to each other; the forces of their outward thrusts will thus negate each other. This method was most often used in construction of churches, where several vaulted ran parallel down the length of the building. However, the outer walls of the outermost vault would still have to be quite strong or reinforced by buttressing. The third and most elegant mechanism to resist the lateral thrust was to create an intersection of two barrel vaults at right angles, thus forming a groin vault.

Barrel vaults are known from , and were used extensively in Roman architecture. They were also used to make underground sewers. Early barrel vault designs occur in northern , , and other regions. In medieval Europe the barrel vault was an important element of stone construction in , , tower and other structures. This form of design is observed in cellars, , long hallways, cloisters and even great .

Ancient Romans most probably inherited their knowledge of barrel vaulting from Etruscans. Romans were the first to use this building method extensively on large-scale projects, and were probably the first to use scaffolding to aid them in construction of vaults spanning over widths greater than anything seen before. However, Roman builders gradually began to prefer the use of the groin vault; though more complex to erect, this type of vault did not require heavy, thick walls for support, and thus allowed for more spacious with greater openings and much more light inside.

After the fall of the , few buildings large enough to require much in the way of vaulting were built for several centuries. In the early Romanesque period, a return to stone barrel vaults was seen for the first great ; their interiors were fairly dark, due to thick, heavy walls needed to support the vault . One of the largest and most famous churches enclosed from above by a vast barrel vault was the of Cluny Abbey, built between the 11th and 12th centuries.

In 13th and 14th Century, with the advance of the new Gothic style, barrel vaulting became almost extinct in constructions of great Gothic cathedrals; groin vaults reinforced by stone ribs were mostly used in the beginning, and later on various types of spectacular, ornate and complex medieval vaults were developed.

However, with the coming of the and the style, and revived interest in art and architecture of antiquity, barrel vaulting was re-introduced on a truly grandiose scale, and employed in the construction of many famous buildings and churches.

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The Groin Vault

A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word "groin" refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round. In comparison with a barrel vault, a groin vault provides good economies of material and labour. The thrust is concentrated along the groins or arrises (the four diagonal edges formed along the points where the barrel vaults intersect), so the vault need only be abutted at its four corners.

Groin vault construction was first exploited by the Romans, but then fell into relative obscurity in Europe until the resurgence of quality stone building brought about by Carolingian and . It was superseded by the more flexible rib vaults of in the later . Difficult to construct neatly because of the geometry of the cross groins (usually elliptical in cross section), the groin vault required great skill in cutting stone to form a neat arris. This difficulty, in addition to the required to create such constructions, led to the rib vault superseding the groin vault as the preferred solution for enclosing space in Gothic architecture.

While the barrel vault was more common than the groin vault in very early architecture, including Roman and even earlier civilizations, the Romans developed the groin vault widely for applications in a variety of structures, some with significant span widths. Their application of groin vaults to vast halls in the and became highly influential in church architecture in the Middle Ages.

The aspirations of church building reached its zenith then, and the groin vault was pursued aggressively for its ability to create strength, without massive buttress formations; in addition, it provided the church architects a remedy for the dim illumination inherent in the barrel vault design.

The construction of a groin vault can be understood most simply by visualizing two barrel vault sections at right angles merging to form a squarish unit. The resulting four ribs convey the stress loading to the four corners, or piers. The more complex groin vault is intrinsically a stronger design compared to the barrel vault, since the barrel vault structure must rest on long walls creating less stable lateral stress, whereas the groin vault design can direct stresses almost purely vertically on the piers.

A common association of vaulting in cathedrals of the Middle Ages involves a of barrel vault design with of groined vaulting. Rib (or “ribbed”) vaults resemble

3 groin vaults but introduce structural ribs running along the angles which carry much of the weight, making possible much greater variations of proportion.

The Ribbed Vault

One of the defining characteristics of Gothic architecture is the pointed or ogival arch. Arches of this type were used in the Near East in pre-Islamic as well as before they were employed structurally in medieval architecture, and are thought to have been the inspiration for their use in France, as at Autun Cathedral, which is otherwise stylistically Romanesque.

In Gothic architecture, are the intersecting transverse ribs of arches that establish the surface of a Gothic vault. An or ogival arch is a pointed, "Gothic" arch, drawn with compasses, or with arcs of an ellipse as described.

When employed for the ribs of a vault, however narrow the span might be, by adopting a pointed arch, its summit could be made to range in height with the diagonal rib.

The first introduction of the pointed arch rib took place at and pre- dated the abbey of St. Denis. Whilst the pointed rib-arch is often seen as an identifier for gothic architecture, Durham is a romanesque cathedral whose masons experimented with the possibility of rib-arches before it was widely adopted by western church architecture.

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the late 10th century, this later date being the most commonly held. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches. Examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in is traditionally referred to as .

Combining features of ancient Roman and Byzantine buildings and other local traditions, Romanesque architecture is known by its massive quality, thick walls, round arches, sturdy pillars, groin vaults, large towers and decorative arcading. Each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan; the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to

4 follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics and different materials.

Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great abbey churches, many of which are still standing, more or less complete and frequently in use. The enormous quantity of churches built in the Romanesque period was succeeded by the still busier period of Gothic architecture, which partly or entirely rebuilt most Romanesque churches in prosperous areas like England and Portugal.

The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of southern France, northern and rural . Survivals of unfortified Romanesque secular houses and , and the domestic quarters of monasteries are far rarer, but these used and adapted the features found in church buildings, on a domestic scale.

The general impression given by Romanesque architecture, in both ecclesiastical and secular buildings, is one of massive solidity and strength. In contrast with both the preceding Roman and later Gothic architecture, in which the load-bearing structural members are, or appear to be, , pilasters and arches, Romanesque architecture, in common with , relies upon its walls, or sections of walls called piers.

The walls of Romanesque buildings are often of massive thickness with few and comparatively small openings. They are often double shells, filled with rubble.

The building material differs greatly across Europe, depending upon the local stone and building traditions. In Italy, Poland, much of and parts of the Netherlands, is generally used. Other areas saw extensive use of limestone, granite and flint. The building stone was often used in comparatively small and irregular pieces, bedded in thick . Smooth ashlar masonry was not a distinguishing feature of the style, particularly in the earlier part of the period, but occurred chiefly where easily worked limestone was available.

Because of the massive nature of Romanesque walls, buttresses are not a highly significant feature, as they are in Gothic architecture. Romanesque buttresses are generally of flat square profile and do not project a great deal beyond the . In the case of aisled churches, barrel vaults, or half-barrel vaults over the aisles helped to buttress the nave, if it was vaulted.

5 The arches used in Romanesque architecture are nearly always semicircular, for openings such as and windows, for vaults and for arcades. Wide doorways are usually surmounted by a semi-circular arch, except where a with a lintel is set into a large arched recess and surmounted by a semi-circular "lunette" with decorative carving. These doors sometimes have a carved central jamb.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by . Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as Opus Francigenum ("French work") with the term Gothic first appearing during the later part of the Renaissance. Its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault, and the . Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys, and churches of Europe. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings, such as dorms and .

It is in the great churches and cathedrals and in a number of civic buildings that the Gothic style was expressed most powerfully, its characteristics lending themselves to appeals to the emotions, whether springing from faith or from civic pride. A great number of ecclesiastical buildings remain from this period, of which even the smallest are often structures of architectural distinction while many of the larger churches are considered priceless works of art. For this reason a of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches.

A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th- century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, into the 20th century.

Origin of the Term

The term "Gothic architecture" originated as a pejorative description. Giorgio Vasari used the term "barbarous German style" in his Lives of the Artists to describe what is now considered the Gothic style. In the introduction to the Lives he attributes various architectural features to "the Goths" whom he holds responsible for destroying the ancient buildings after they conquered , and erecting new ones in this style. At the time in which Vasari was writing, Italy had experienced a century of building in the

6 Classical architectural vocabulary revived in the Renaissance and was seen as evidence of a new Golden Age of learning and refinement.

The Renaissance had then overtaken Europe, overturning a system of culture that, prior to the advent of printing, was almost entirely focused on the Church and was perceived, in retrospect, as a period of ignorance and superstition.

RENAISSANCE OCCULTISM

The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden". In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science. The term is sometimes taken to mean knowledge that "is meant only for certain people" or that "must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences. The terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural.

Both bourgeoisie and nobility in the 15th and 16th century showed great fascination with the magic arts prohibited by Church law, which exerted an exotic charm by their ascription to Arabic, Jewish, Romani, and Egyptian sources. There was great uncertainty in distinguishing practices of vain superstition, blasphemous occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly knowledge or pious ritual. The intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in the Early Modern witch craze, further re-enforced by the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation, especially in Germany, England, and .

Christian authorities have generally regarded occultism as heretical whenever they met this: from early Christian times, in the form of gnosticism, to late Renaissance times, in the form of various occult philosophies.

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