Chartres Cathedral - Table of Contents .......... France - Table of Contents
East elevation - Chartres Cathedral
Chartres, France
Photographs taken in February 2012.
| The plan of the [Chartres] Gothic cathedral
is a Latin cross with three aisles, a short transept and an ambulatory.
The rounded east end has five semi-circular radiating chapels. The high nave is supported by double flying buttresses, anchored by colonnettes and great abutments. The latter were lightened in appearance with niches filled with sculptures. An extra row of single flying buttresses supported the apse from the beginning and a third row was added in the 14th century. Chartres was the first building on which buttresses were used as a structural element that determined the overall external appearance of the building. They were necessitated by the unprecedented size of the clerestory windows and the height of the nave. - Sacred Destinations (April 2012)
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 Gothic style  Radiating chapel    Flying buttresses  Radiating chapels    |
| The plan of the Gothic cathedral
is a Latin cross with three aisles, a short transept and an ambulatory.
The rounded east end has five semi-circular radiating chapels. The high nave is supported by double flying buttresses, anchored by colonnettes and great abutments. The latter were lightened in appearance with niches filled with sculptures. An extra row of single flying buttresses supported the apse from the beginning and a third row was added in the 14th century. Chartres was the first building on which buttresses were used as a structural element that determined the overall external appearance of the building. They were necessitated by the unprecedented size of the clerestory windows and the height of the nave. - Sacred Destinations (April 2012)
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