Book chapter
Rock, Spires, Paper: Technical Aspects of Gothic Spires
Villard's Legacy, pp.135-156
Routledge, 1
2004
DOI: 10.4324/9781315235028-7
Abstract
The spire of Strasbourg Cathedral is the tallest surviving structure built in the Middle Ages. Gothic spires, in fact, were the tallest structures built by human hands until the late nineteenth century. A few were even taller than the 466-foot Strasbourg spire, but these have collapsed, and many other ambitious spire projects were left incomplete at the end of the Middle Ages. It is obvious that the creation of such structures entailed numerous technical and logistical challenges. The major technical issues that Gothic spire builders had to consider may be categorized as constructional, structural, and theoretical. All Gothic construction involved the lifting of building materials to high altitude, but the challenges involved in spire building were especially dramatic because the spire stood alone with no neighboring structures onto which scaffolding could be anchored. Towers and canopies of various kinds had appeared much earlier in the history of medieval architecture, but these differed from the Chartres spire in several significant respects.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Rock, Spires, Paper: Technical Aspects of Gothic Spires
- Creators
- Robert Bork
- Contributors
- Marie-Therese Zenner (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Villard's Legacy, pp.135-156
- Edition
- 1
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781315235028-7
- Alternative title
- Rocks, Spires, Paper
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2004
- Academic Unit
- Art and Art History
- Record Identifier
- 9984398332302771
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