Architecture, Medieval; Church architecture; Vaults (Architecture)
The developed system of Bourgogne may be seen to advantage in the abbey
church of Paray-le-Monial (Saône-et-Loire) (Figs. 14, 15), which dates
from the early twelfth century and is thus only slightly later than
Cluny itself. Its nave is wider and loftier than any yet seen in which a
tunnel vault was used, though not equal in size to that at Cluny, which
was thirty-two feet wide and ninety-eight feet high. All the structural
arches are pointed, but those used for windows, doors and decoration are
still round headed.[98] The clerestory, while it has only moderately
large windows, is so high above the ground as to render the support of
the vaults above it exceptionally difficult. This difficulty was
overcome, first by giving the vault a pointed section and thus reducing
the thrust; second, by building as light a web as possible and covering
it with a wooden roof; third, by using tie-rods of wood or metal,
running along near the impost of the vault in the thickness of the
walls, thus to a certain extent concentrating the pressure upon the
piers; and, finally, as has already been stated, by carrying the
exterior walls of the church to a point considerably above the window
heads (Fig. 15), thus obtaining a downward pressure which offsets the
outward thrusts.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--PARAY-LE-MONIAL, ABBEY CHURCH.]
The side aisles of the school of Bourgogne are also worthy of mention.
They are usually covered with groined vaults, in many cases of slightly
domical form. Whether this method came directly from Lombardy where
there exist early examples of its use, or whether it came in through the
influence of Poitou and Auvergne which had come into close contact with
Carolingian architecture, is an open question. It seems quite likely,
however, that, since the Byzantine builders developed this type and
transmitted it to the Carolingian builders of the Rhine valley, it
should have passed from there into France and spread over the three
northern-central schools as it did over Lombardy. Regardless of its
origin, it became the standard type in all the important churches of the
Cluniac region. Occasionally, as at Souvigny (Allier) (possibly eleventh
century), the enclosing arches are of stilted round headed form, a type
which is also found as far north as Vézelay (Yonne) La Madeleine (after
1140) (Fig. 16). Neither of these churches, however, is near the center
of the school,[99] and the pointed structural arch as used in the abbey
church of Paray-le-Monial (Fig. 14) is the common form.
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