Iam reminded of trees, or of the undersides of flowers. I get the feeling the designers of the churches used them as inspiration as they planned the graceful arcs of the vaults.
Some while back, I saw a documentary about preserving the great cathedrals that are in danger of falling. It seems that the trusses in some had their stress points incorrectly calculated. I enjoyed the way computers and lasers were used to examine the buildings.
Thanks, Speedway. How weird to see Cathedrals and hear an American voice doing the commentary. Truth is: no church or Cathedral had its stress points calculated - correctly or otherwise. The ones that still stand are there because the ones that got it wrong fell down. Norwich itself has had two spires and most Cathedrals at least that many. The slender flying buttresses that survive are there because the other types failed and collapsed. People give too much credit to the structural genius of the great mediæval builders, but in truth, they just built what they wanted and if it didn't fall over it was more by luck than judgement.
6 comments:
Lovely…
Always.
Iam reminded of trees, or of the undersides of flowers. I get the feeling the designers of the churches used them as inspiration as they planned the graceful arcs of the vaults.
Some while back, I saw a documentary about preserving the great cathedrals that are in danger of falling. It seems that the trusses in some had their stress points incorrectly calculated. I enjoyed the way computers and lasers were used to examine the buildings.
See it below:
http://youtu.be/N_8DCGeQTdU
Thanks, Speedway. How weird to see Cathedrals and hear an American voice doing the commentary.
Truth is: no church or Cathedral had its stress points calculated - correctly or otherwise. The ones that still stand are there because the ones that got it wrong fell down. Norwich itself has had two spires and most Cathedrals at least that many. The slender flying buttresses that survive are there because the other types failed and collapsed. People give too much credit to the structural genius of the great mediæval builders, but in truth, they just built what they wanted and if it didn't fall over it was more by luck than judgement.
Magnificent!!
It surely is, Ms.M.
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