The vast curtain walls of Chartres cathedral are supported by great stone flying buttresses, while the vert-de-gris [verdegris] copper roof is supported by an enormous iron framework not usually seen, a relatively modern wonder of engineering.

The architecture of the cathedral, with its innovative combination of rib vaults and flying buttresses, permitted the construction of much higher and thinner walls, particularly at the top clerestory level, allowing more and larger windows.

In many ways, the cathedral’s design resembles those of its contemporaries, especially Laon Cathedral, but it displays innovations with its tall arcades, unusually narrow triforium, and huge clerestory—the massive weight of which required using flying buttresses in …

What are flying buttresses, quadripartite vaults, triforium, clustered pillars? This page takes you through all of the explanations of the structural elements of the building, their technical use, and their symbolic sense.

Elevation and Flying Buttresses: The cathedral pioneered the use of flying buttresses, allowing for lighter walls and larger windows. These buttresses counterbalance the outward thrust from the cathedral’s rib vaults.

FLYING BUTTRESSES are a structural exoskeleton transferring structural forces from interior to exterior further dematerializing interior structure (images 2 and 4). At the end of the transepts is often a large, monumental circle-shaped window called a ROSE WINDOW .

Flying Buttresses. The use of buttresses (see figure, left) led to the abandonment of the graduated external profile in favour of an elevation on two levels, simple but majestic.

Chartres Cathedral is the epitome of French Gothic architecture. Its soaring spires, pointed arches, and intricate flying buttresses exemplify the height of medieval innovation and engineering.

The Chartres Cathedral is a milestone in the development of Western architecture because it employs all the structural elements of the new Gothic architecture: the pointed arch; the rib-and-panel vault; and, most significantly, the flying buttress.

Chartres was the first cathedral to use flying buttresses extensively. At the time of its building, it had the tallest roof in the Western world (about 38 meters). Unlike most medieval cathedrals, Chartres Cathedral was rapidly completed to a single plan in the early 13th century.