Rib vault
A rib vault or ribbed vault is an architectural feature for covering a wide space, such as a
It is a type of
The earliest surviving example in Islamic architecture is at the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba in al-Andalus, which predates the earliest Romanesque examples by a century.[6][7][8] An alternative to barrel vaults in the naves of churches, rib vaults in 12th century early Gothic architecture began to be used in vaults made with pointed arches, already known in the Romanesque style. In these vaults, as in groin vaults, the weight was directed it to the corners, where piers, columns, or walls could support it. Walls in Gothic buildings were often abutted by flying buttresses. These elements made it possible to construct buildings with much higher and thinner walls than before, with immense bays, and larger stained glass windows filling the structure with light.[9][10][11]
Cross vaults are constructed of narrow, arched ribs that diagonally cross the area to be covered. The severies can be filled with small pieces of masonry, eliminating much of the massive weight of barrel vaults. These rib vaults could also more efficiently cover large rectangular areas. Thanks to the pointed arch employed in Gothic architecture, builders could raise or lower the arches so they would have the same height for a short span or a long span, something not possible with round arches. Pointed arches also made two intersecting vaults of the same height but different widths easier to construct.[12]
Early history
The Romans used an early version of the rib vault to strengthen
Rib vaults were not common in masonry buildings in
Cross vaults
Roman architecture
The first known example of ladder ribs used on cross vaults is the one documented in the Villa of the Sette Bassi in Rome, dating from the mid-second century AD.[16]
Islamic architecture
In the
The crossed-arch vaults of the mosque-cathedral of Córdoba served as models for later mosque buildings in the Islamic West, including
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Chapel of Villaviciosa,Great Mosque of Cordoba(962–965)
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Mosque of Cristo de la Luz, Toledo, Spain (c. 1000)
Romanesque architecture
The rib vault was developed further in northern Europe in the 11th century, as builders sought a way to construct larger and larger stone vaults to replace the wooden roofs of Romanesque churches, which were frequently destroyed by fire. Romanesque cathedrals and churches usually used the barrel vault, with rounded arches, and the groin vault, used when two vaults met at a right angle to cover the nave. The weight of the vaults pressed down directly onto the walls below, requiring thicker walls and smaller windows.[19]
Speyer Cathedral in Germany is the largest of all existing Romanesque churches in Europe, and has good examples of Romanesque barrel vaults and groin vaults in the nave. The groin vaults were built in 1060, and but had to be reinforced in 1090–1103 with a traverse arch between each arch.[20]
The
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Romanesque vaults ofSaint-Philibert de Tournus(1008–1050)
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Romanesque nave and vaults of Speyer Cathedral (1082–1103)
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Groin vault with ribs at Sainte-Croix Abbey church of Quimperlé, Brittany (1083)
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Star vault, Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen (1065–1166)
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Groin vaults of the choir of the Abbaye-aux-Dames (1080s)
Transition to Gothic architecture
Construction of the new church at
The work began at the east end of Durham Cathedral; the vaults over the aisles were complete in 1096, and over the choir by 1107.[22] The nave vaults, with pointed arches, were begun in about 1130. Thanks to the pointed arches, the upper level of the clerestory seemed to merge into the roof in a unified whole.[22] The Durham experiment, however, quickly ran into problems. The vault panels in the chancel were made of plastered rubble, and were heavier than expected, and began to crack, and had to be replaced in 1235.[22] In the meanwhile, experimentation in pointed rib vaults moved to France, where thinner and lighter panels were made of small cut pieces of stone, rather than rubble.[23]
The Romanesque
The transition from Romanesque to Gothic can also be seen in the nave of
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Nave of Durham Cathedral, (1093–1135)
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Early rib vault in east end of Lessay Abbey, Normandy (about 1098) (photo from before World War II)
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Nave of Vézelay Abbey, (1104–1132) with Romanesque groin vaults in the nave (foreground) and Gothic rib vaults in the choir (background)
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Vaulted church ofFontenay Abbey(1130–1147)
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Norman-Romanesque vaults in choir of Cefalù Cathedral (1148–1240)
Other variations of rib vaults, usually with rounded arches, appeared in
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Sainte-Croix Abbey church of Quimperlé (1083)
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Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge (c. 1130)
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Star vault,Caen Cathedral(1065–1166)
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Lantern vault, Laon Cathedral (1150s–1230)
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Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio (12th century)
Sexpartite vaulting
In sexpartite vaulting, each bay was divided by thin stone ribs into six compartments. The intermediate ribs diagonally crossing the vault formed a pointed arch, and there was an additional intermediate pointed arch, which crossed from side to side. Since the ribs carried the weight, the panels of the vaults were made of small pieces of stone, and were much lighter than traditional barrel vaults.[29] The ribs transmitted the weight outwards and downwards through slender columns to the piers on the lower level. The weight was not distributed equally; the additional weight of the diagonal traverse arches was supported by massive piers, while the intermediate crossing arch was supported by simple columns.[2] Since the weight of the vaults was carried by the columns and piers, not the walls, the walls could be thinner and higher, and they could be filled with larger stained glass windows.[2][26][29]
The sexpartite vault appeared almost simultaneously in England and France. The first cathedral to use sexpartite vaults was Durham Cathedral, begun in 1093. Durham was originally intended to be built with more traditional groin vaults. The vaults over the aisles were completed in 1096, those over the choir in 1107, these over the north transept and 1110. The traverse vaults of the nave, however, the arches over the south transept and nave, begun 1130, were given pointed arches.[22][30] Early examples of sexpartite rib vaults are found at the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (begun 1066) and Abbaye-aux-Dames at Caen. It then appeared in Noyon Cathedral (begun 1131); the square Gothic porch of the Romanesque church of Vézelay Abbey in France (1132); Sens Cathedral (begun 1135); the choir of the Abbey of Saint-Denis (begun 1140); Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1163); Bourges Cathedral; and Laon Cathedral. Ribbed vaults were built by William the Englishman at Canterbury Cathedral and in St Faith's Chapel in Westminster Abbey (1180).[31][failed verification][32][33][29]
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Six-part rib vaults in the narthex of Vézelay Abbey (1132)
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Ambulatory of the Basilica of Saint-Denis (completed 1144)
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Six-part rib vaults of ceiling of nave of Notre-Dame de Paris (1163–1345)
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Sexpartite rib vaults in Sens Cathedral (1135–1164)
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Cefalù Cathedral (1131–1240), with rib vault in the chancel at east end
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Six-part rib vaults of ceiling of the Cathedral of Santo Domingo (1504–1550), Dominican Republic
Quadripartite vaulting
A new variation of rib vault appeared during the High Gothic: the four-part rib vault, which was used in
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Four-part rib vaults at Amiens Cathedral (1220–1270) allowed greater height and larger windows
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Stronger four-part rib vaults at Rouen Cathedral (13th c.)
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The choir of Beauvais Cathedral (1225–1272), the tallest of Gothic church interiors.
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Nave of Cologne Cathedral (1248–1322)
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Hall of the guards of the Conciergerie, part of the earlier royal palace, in Paris (13th century)
Complex rib vaults
Beginning in England with the
Tierceron vaults make use of tertiary ribs (tiercerons) in addition to the main structural ribs of the regular quadripartite vault. This can be seen in the Decorated Gothic nave of Exeter Cathedral, begun in 1310; the massive vault has a profusion of tierceron ribs like palm leaves, with as many as eleven tiercerons curving upward from a single springer.[35] An octagonal tierceron vault completed in 1306 roofs the chapter house of Wells Cathedral, where 32 ribs spring from a single central pillar. At Ely Cathedral (1322–1342), tiercerons decorate the (wooden) vault of the octagonal lantern over the crossing.[36][29]
Lierne vaults also feature prominently in the Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic architecture of England. Liernes are very short decorative ribs that connect one rib to another. Most lierne vaults incorporate both liernes and tiercerons, resulting in intricate designs resembling stars, webs, nets, or other patterns. The Perpendicular Gothic choir of Gloucester Cathedral features an extremely complex net-like vault covered completely in liernes, while the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral has a vault of liernes concentrated mainly around the centreline of the ceiling.
The Perpendicular Gothic
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Tierceron vault in the nave of Exeter Cathedral
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Lierne vault in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral (begun 1321)
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Lierne vault in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral (1331)
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Lierne vault in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral (late 14th century)
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Late Gothic star vault of theMonastery of Batalha, Portugal (1386)
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Fan vault in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge (1446–1554)
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Tierceron vault in the Church of Saint-Pierre, Caen (15th century)
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Fan vault in Bath Abbey (mostly 19th century)
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Tierceron vault in the chapter house of Wells Cathedral
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Decorative rib vault in the hall of Prague Castle
Function
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Structure of a six-part Gothic rib vault (Drawings by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc) The six-part vault could cover two bays of the nave, but required alternating pillars and columns to support the difference of weight distributed by the traverse and diagonal ribs.
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The dynamics of a rib vault, with outward and downward pressure from ribs balanced by columns and buttresses. The pieces in the model can stand by themselves, without cement. (National Museum of French Monuments, Paris)
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Rib vaults support the roof; they transfer the force of the weight outwards and downwards through a web of thin stone ribs, connected by thin pillars to the piers and columns below and to buttresses outside
The development of the rib vault was the result of the search for greater height and more light in the naves of cathedrals. In Romanesque cathedrals, the nave was typically covered by a series of
Rib vaults are reinforced by a network of thin stone ribs (French: ogives). In the first six-part vaults, the vault was supported by two diagonal crossing ribs, plus an intermediate rib, which together divided the vault into six sections. The diagonal ribs were in the form of semicircular arches, which raised the centre of the vault above the level of the
The problem was ultimately solved by the introduction of the
This six-part vault was successfully introduced in Noyon Cathedral, Laon Cathedral, and Notre-Dame de Paris. A single six-part vault could cover two traverse sections of the nave of Notre-Dame. However, the six-rib vault had its problems. The weight was not distributed evenly to the columns on the ground floor. When a vault covered two traverses, more massive piers were needed to bear the weight from the doubleaux, the diagonal ribs, than for the intermediate ribs. This problem was solved by simplifying the vault and eliminating the intermediate rib, making a four-part or quadripartite rib vault. Under this system, which was promptly used at Amiens Cathedral, Reims Cathedral and many others, each traverse section had just one four-part vault. This innovation, along with the use of the flying buttress, saw Gothic cathedral walls go higher and higher, with larger and larger windows.[33]
The simplification of the rib vault was soon followed, particularly in England, by another tendency – to make them more complicated. One of the earliest examples of the introduction of the intermediate ridge rib is found in the nave of Lincoln Cathedral; This element, called a ridge rib, was not connected to the walls. Architects in England began adding new ribs, largely for decoration. In the nave of Exeter Cathedral three intermediate ribs were provided between the wall rib and the diagonal rib. In order to mask the junction of the various ribs, their intersections were ornamented with richly carved bosses, and this practice increased with the introduction of another short rib, known as lierne vaulting. The lierne, a term in France given to the ridge rib, in English refers to short ribs that cross between the main ones; these were employed chiefly as decorative features, for example in stellar vaults, one of the best examples of which is in the vault of the oriel window of Crosby Hall, London. Ribs came more and more numerous and more and more decorative leading to the extraordinarily elaborate and decorative fan vault, first used in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral.[12]
Construction
The first step in the construction of a vault was a wooden scaffold up to the level of the top of the supporting columns. Next, a precise wooden frame was constructed on top of the scaffold in the exact shape of the ribs (French: nervures). The stone segments of the ribs were then carefully laid into the frame and joined with mortar. When the ribs were all in place, the keystone was placed at the apex where they converged. Once the keystone was in place, the ribs could stand alone, supported by their weight pressing downwards and outwards. Workers then filled in the compartments between the ribs with small fitted pieces of brick or stone. The framework was removed. The masonry of the compartments was about 15 cm thick. Once the compartments were finished, their interior surface was plastered and then painted.[37]
The construction of a medieval rib vault was a complex operation involving a team of specialized workers. The masons included hewers (French: taileurs), who cut the stone; poseurs, who set the stones in place; and layers (morteliers), who joined the pieces together with mortar. These craftsmen worked alongside carpenters who built the complex scaffolds and models.[37]
See also
Notes and citations
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica on-line "Gothic architecture - Ribbed vault" (retrieved June 4, 2020)
- ^ a b c d Renault & Lazé 2006, pp. 34–35.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-350-12274-1. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
Form of constructing roofs in Romanesque and Gothic architecture whereby two or three barrel vaults intersect, with the edges producing a series of thin pointed ribs, usually of stone and highly decorated.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-967498-5. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
with ribs framing the webs and concealing the groins
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-860678-9. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
Any vault with an under-surface subdivided by ribs framing the severies or webs.
- ^ Giese, Pawlak & Thome 2018.
- ^ a b c Giese-Vögeli 2007.
- ^ Harbison 2009, p. 103.
- ^ Renault & Lazé 2006, pp. 33–38.
- ^ Ducher 2014, pp. 40–42.
- ^ Mignon, Olivier, Architecture des Cathédrals Gothiques (2015), p. 10
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rib Vault". Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ a b c O'Reilly 1921, Note 11.
- ^ Watkin 1986, p. 94.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88402-310-4.
- ^ Amici, Carla Maria (2019-01-01). "Vaulting Ribs in Roman Architecture: Invention, Use and Evolution". Proceedings of the CHS 6th Conference.
- ^ S2CID 107069160.
- ^ FERRE DE MERLO, Luis (2000). "Bóvedas nervadas en el Castillo de Villena (Alicante)" (PDF). Actas del Tercer Congreso Nacional de Historia de la Construcción (in Spanish). Madrid, Sevilla, Granada. Archived from the original (pdf) on 11 December 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ a b Watkin 1986, p. 99.
- ^ Watkin 1986, p. 96.
- ^ a b c Watkin 1986, p. 105.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Watkin 1986, p. 108.
- ^ Watkin 1986, pp. 108–109.
- ^ a b "gothique". Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne (in French). Retrieved 2020-06-15.
- ^ Bechmann 2017, pp. 188–190.
- ^ a b Bechmann 2017, pp. 163–71.
- ^ "voûte sur croisée d'ogives". Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne (in French). Retrieved 2020-06-15.
- ^ "Le Guide du Patrimoine de France", Editions du Patrimoine, Centre des Monuments Historique, p. 472 (2009)
- ^ a b c d e f g Renault & Lazé 2006, p. 34.
- ISBN 0-471-28451-3.
- ^ pixeltocode.uk, PixelToCode. "What to see and do". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ^ Gardner's Art Through the Ages, (2006), Ch. 13. Gothic Art: "Architectural Basics" p. 352.
- ^ a b c d Ducher 2014, p. 40.
- ^ a b c Watkin 1986, p. 134.
- ^ Watkin 1986, p. 149.
- ^ Watkin 1986, p. 150.
- ^ a b Bechmann 2017, p. 206.
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- Giese-Vögeli, Francine (2007). Das islamische Rippengewölbe: Ursprung, Form, Verbreitung [Islamic rib vaults: Origins, form, spread] (in German). Berlin: Gebr. Mann. ISBN 978-3-7861-2550-1.
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