Practice question · Match the pairs
Match each Gothic element to its structural job.
- Pointed arch
- Rib vault
- Flying buttress
- Stained glass
- Fills the wall the structure no longer needs
- Concentrates load onto ribs and piers
- Carries residual thrust over the aisle
- Steepens the thrust line toward vertical
Hints
- Three structural devices work together to a single end.
- The light is the purpose the engineering serves.
Show the answer
- Pointed arch → Steepens the thrust line toward vertical
- Rib vault → Concentrates load onto ribs and piers
- Flying buttress → Carries residual thrust over the aisle
- Stained glass → Fills the wall the structure no longer needs
Why
Three structural moves buy one aesthetic result. Light is not decoration added to Gothic engineering, it is the purpose the engineering serves.
Practise Medieval Art and Architecture
The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.
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