Chartres cathedral – inside the church
Chartres nave Inside Chartres cathedral The architect started from the west end of the cathedral, at the nave. The builders built the nave very tall, the highest in France at that [...]
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07, 2017
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07, 2017
Caen – Abbaye aux Dames
Caen - Abbaye aux Dames What is the Abbaye aux Dames? Matilda of Flanders ordered her architects to build this Christian church about 1050 AD in her capital at Caen. (Find out why.) The Abbaye [...]
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05, 2017
What is cement? History of Architecture
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 [...]
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05, 2017
Barrel vault – History of Architecture
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 [...]
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05, 2017
What is a nave? History of Architecture
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 [...]
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05, 2017
What is a groin vault? History of Architecture
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 [...]
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05, 2017
What’s a buttress? History of Architecture
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. [...]
