The high vaults of Chartres close at about 36-37 m
The main structure of the rebuilt cathedral is substantially complete within roughly a quarter century of the fire. The three-storey elevation drops the tribune gallery that earlier Gothic churches used to buttress the nave, and its place is taken by flying buttresses on the outside - which is exactly the trade this Journey is about: the support moves out of the building, and the wall it vacates becomes glass.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Chartres Cathedral · site · France
- The Gothic rib vault · technology system · Western Europe · not located
- The flying buttress · technology system · Western Europe · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
Experiments in Gothic Structure
Photoelastic model studies of Gothic structures arguing that wind loading on the high roof and clerestory, rather than vault thrust alone, was a principal design driver for flying buttresses, and that upper flyers are best explained as wind bracing. V55 verification basis: real and widely cited; not read in this session, and the argument is summarised here from its reception rather than from the text.
MIT Press, Robert Mark · 1982 · Partly verified
Mark, R., Experiments in Gothic Structure, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1982
Chartres Cathedral - UNESCO World Heritage List
Chartres Cathedral, rebuilt from 1194 after fire and substantially complete within a generation, is inscribed on the World Heritage List. V55 verification basis: whc.unesco.org is blocked by the environment egress proxy; inscription year and list reference number are stated from established record and must be confirmed.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre / World Heritage Committee · inscribed 1979 · Partly verified
UNESCO World Heritage List, Chartres Cathedral (inscribed 1979), https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/81/
Recorded on Chartres Cathedral
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Fire destroys the roof and spire of Notre-Dame de Paris · 2019-04-15
- Chartres is consecrated · 1260
- Fire destroys most of Chartres Cathedral · 1194-06-10
- Notre-Dame de Paris is begun · 1163
- Suger's choir at Saint-Denis is consecrated · 1144
- Durham roofs a great nave with ribbed vaults · c. 1093-1133