Architecture, Medieval; Church architecture; Vaults (Architecture)
The second group is much larger and more widespread, and comprises all
the churches employing transverse tunnel vaults over the side aisles.
The examples belonging to the school of Perigord have already been
discussed,[106] and mention has been made of the fact that there are
possibly enough of such churches in Provence alone to constitute a fifth
type in that school.[107] But the system is too widespread to be
attributed to any one province. It is undoubtedly a product of Roman and
very early mediaeval architecture, for it is to be seen in such
buildings as the Basilica of Maxentius at Rome, and in a modified,
ramping form at Aachen.[108] Its structural advantage lies in the large
space which the tunnel vault affords for windows in the outer wall thus
lighting both the nave and aisles. Among the many examples are the
parish church of Chatillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d’Or)[109] of the twelfth
century, the abbey churches of Hauterive (Savoie), Ronceray[110]
(vaulted in 1115), Bénévent-l’Abbaye (Creuse),[111] and the cathedral of
Lescar (Basses-Pyrénées),--in which, however, the vaults are an addition
to a primitive construction.[112] In the church at Fontenay
(Côte-d’Or)[113] (before the middle of the twelfth century) concealed
flying buttresses appear over the transverse arches between the aisle
bays, thus aiding in securing a more even abutment for the continuous
thrust of the tunnel vault of the nave. A few churches like
Cavaillon,[114] and the cathedral of Orange (Vaucluse),[115] have
tunnel vaults over rectangular bays flanking the nave but not connected
by arches to form side aisles.
The vaulting of the ambulatory gallery of Mantes cathedral, of the
aisles of Fountains Abbey in England, and possibly the original vaults
of the aisles of Saint Remi at Reims[116] were also transverse tunnel
vaults. These latter churches differ from the ones previously mentioned,
however, in that they are not tunnel vaulted in the nave and, moreover,
are constructed with a clerestory so that the side aisle vaults do not
serve the purpose outlined in the account of tunnel vaulted churches in
the preceding paragraph.
TUNNEL VAULTS WITH CROSS RIBS
This brings the discussion of the standard methods of tunnel vaulting to
a close, but there remain two curious churches in which cross-ribs were
added beneath the surface of simple tunnel vaults. One of these is at
Lusignan (Vienne),[117] and the other at Javarzay (Deux-Sèvres). Both
date from about 1120 to 1140 though the ribs may be a later addition to
give the appearance of ribbed vaulting which was introduced at about
this time.
NAVES WITH GROINED VAULTS
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