Figure 2.6 Chartres cathedral was one of the first buildings to utilise the full potential of flying buttresses. There are three levels along the exterior of the nave.
A third flyer of arches stretch from the top of the buttresses to just below the gutter of the upper nave
The second level is connected by small columns arranged like spokes of a wheel
The first level takes the form of a simple arch.
Figure 2.7 Tracery on a rose window from Chartres Cathedral.
The Gothic Spire Romanesque church spires had been simple, four-sided structures, but Gothic spires evolved into taller, slimmer, eight-sided structures that also symbolised aspiring towards heaven. Small pinnacles blended the square base with these octagonal forms.
Spires are quite fragile in bad weather. One of the spires in Chartres was destroyed by lightning in 1506 and was rebuilt in the later Flamboyant style.
Pinnacle: A miniature spire which was used both as a decorative and functional element.
28
Figure 2.8 A drawing of the Cathedral of St Denis with the north tower before its demolition in the 19th century.
