Architectural Components
| Geometry, Goth Guggenheim Home |
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| Vocabulary |
| rose window - a round window in a rose-like pattern. |
| pediment - any similar ornaments over a door. |
| finial - a relatively small, ornamental, terminal feature at the top of a gable or pinnacle. |
| flying buttresses - where the high vaults meet the wall of the clerestory. |
| spires - slender, tapering parts, such as a newly sprouting blades of grass. |
| turret-is a small tower that projects from a wall of a building such as a medieval castle. |
| gothic arches -A pointed arch, having only two centers and equal radii. |
| labyrinth - an arrangement of winding passages or paths |
| vaulting - an arched structure, as a ceiling or roof. |
| tracery - a group of interlacing and branching lines forming an ornamental pattern, as in stonework or wood carving. |
| clerestory - the upper part of the nave, transepts, and choir of a church, containing windows. |
| triforium - the gallery of arches above the side aisle vaulting in the nave of a church. |
| oculus window - a round aperture, open, louvered, or glazed. |
Chartres Cathedral is interesting inside and out.There have been as many as five cathedrals on this site. The others were destroyed in war or by fires. The current Chartres originally had 186 stained glass windows which were donated by royalty. Now it has 152 windows. The others were lost during a previous fire that caused significant damage. It has a big rose window that was donated by the French queen Blanch of Castile. Above the rose window that was donated by the French queen, there is roof cresting and a pediment with a finial.Chartres Cathedral has complex flying buttresses, delicate carvings from a distance that appear to soar above the Earth. Chartres has two tall towers.There are two contrasting spires one is 105m and the other is 113m. An effortless transformation takes place, as the plain square mass tower becomes an eight sided spire. Small turrets that conceal the melding of the lower tower to the spire, also repeat the shape of the tower. With all of these components the building looks even more interesting than it already is. On the doors and porches medieval carvings of statues rise on each side of the entrance. They hold swords, crosses, books, and trade tools. These carvings still show their expressions which were carved over 700 years ago. Under the figures are statues of kings and queens. That's why this entrance is very important. These figures show the relationship between the kings and God. Chartres has gothic arches. What makes the gothic arches is a capital, a pier, and a base.
Inside Chartres there is a famous labyrinth. This labyrinth is a classical medieval pathway laid into the floor that curls around without looping or dead end. It is a pattern of concentric circles. It was a path for people to walk along and meditate. The vaulting raise the ceiling and the eyes. Between the supporting columns are open spaces allowing light to enter. Chartres has delicate tracery throughout the cathedral. There is a clerestory, and Triforium along the east-west axis.. Chartres is made of cut stone. Slow drying mortar was a problem for the masons. Chartres has paired and Oculus windows going down the south elevation. Chartres' south elevation has three gothic arches with finials that are shaped in crosses. There are special carvings just like the entrance. Chartres has gothic arched windows which jut out of the masterpiece. The current cathedral took thirty years to build. It is really amazing that so many people worked on it over so may years and yet Chartres appears to be a unified whole
