St. Germain des Pres (Paris, 1000 AD) In 542 AD, the Merovingian king Childebert (Clovis' son) was fighting the Visigoths in Spain when he heard that the people of Saragossa were praying to St. Vincent [...]
History of cement: An underground mithraeum in the Roman port town of Ostia History of cement Cement is a very hard kind of rock that people make themselves. People all over [...]
Roman baths of Cluny in Paris - barrel vault Making an arch into a roof Once you've built an arch, you know how to make a doorway or a window [...]
Nave of Abbaye aux Dames (Caen, 1050 AD) The nave is the long narrow part of a Roman basilica or a Christian church - the part where people sit in a [...]
Six-part groin vault (Abbaye aux Dames, Caen, 1050 AD) Stone roofs and fireproofing In Romanesque churches, in the 1000s AD, architects or often just had a wood roof. But wood [...]
Buttress of St. Germain des Pres (Paris, 1100s AD) A buttress holds up a wall A buttress is a big pile of stone that keeps a building's walls from falling down. [...]
Arches of the Medieval Baptistry at Pisa How do you hold up the roof? People building houses or any other kind of people have always had this one big problem, [...]
