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Some considerations on the early development of cross vaults and rib vaults in medieval architecture

  • The fundamental shift in the geometric design of cross vaults that gave way to the development of Gothic vaults is usually associated with the introduction of cross ribs built with cut stone. And it is generally assumed that the development of the rib vault occurred in Norman architecture shortly before 1100, from where it was introduced to early Gothic vault architecture. In particular, the requirements of stone planning in the ribs has been interpreted as a guiding feature of the geometric design of the vaults. However, surveys and geometric analyses carried out in some prominent vaulted structures suggest that this innovation in the geometric concept of vaults may have taken place at an earlier date, and that this development has a more complex relation to the use of ribs than it has been generally assumed. We discuss this in case studies on the geometric concept of the cross vaults in the Palatine Chapel at Aachen and in the two medieval building phases of Speyer Cathedral. In the latter, archaeological evidence shows that inThe fundamental shift in the geometric design of cross vaults that gave way to the development of Gothic vaults is usually associated with the introduction of cross ribs built with cut stone. And it is generally assumed that the development of the rib vault occurred in Norman architecture shortly before 1100, from where it was introduced to early Gothic vault architecture. In particular, the requirements of stone planning in the ribs has been interpreted as a guiding feature of the geometric design of the vaults. However, surveys and geometric analyses carried out in some prominent vaulted structures suggest that this innovation in the geometric concept of vaults may have taken place at an earlier date, and that this development has a more complex relation to the use of ribs than it has been generally assumed. We discuss this in case studies on the geometric concept of the cross vaults in the Palatine Chapel at Aachen and in the two medieval building phases of Speyer Cathedral. In the latter, archaeological evidence shows that in the complex, wide spanned high vault of the nave one original bay still survives from the late 11th century. The research in progress on the earliest known rib vaults in central European architecture also raises questions regarding the early history of stereotomy. In the lack of written or graphic sources about the design and building technology in these structures, the built object is an essential source for understanding the decision-making processes in planning of complex spatial structures stable by their shape. The interpretation of the geometric data and the evidence from building archaeology gives an insight also on the background of knowledge in the design of highly demanding spatial structures in the middle-ages.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author: David WendlandORCiD, Mark Gielen
URL:https://www.constructionhistory.co.uk/publications/books/
ISBN:978-0-9928751-9-0
Title of the source (English):Studies in Construction History : the Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference of the Construction History Society : Queen's College, University of Cambridge, 12-13 April 2023
Publisher:Construction History Society
Place of publication:Cambridge
Editor: James Campbell
Document Type:Conference publication peer-reviewed
Language:English
Year of publication:2023
Tag:Aachen Cathedral; Cathedral Notre-Dame in Paris; Construction History; Early Gothic; History of Architecture; Medieval architecture; Rib vaults; Speyer Cathedral; Vaults
First Page:29
Last Page:42
Faculty/Chair:Fakultät 6 Architektur, Bauingenieurwesen und Stadtplanung / FG Bautechnikgeschichte
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