Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A classic account of the design and building of the great cathedrals of the Gothic era



In The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals, John Fitchen systematically walks readers through the process of erecting the great edifices of the Gothic era. He explains the building equipment and falsework needed, the actual operations undertaken, and the sequence of these operations as specifically as they can be deduced today. In the absence of contemporary accounts of the techniques used by medieval builders, Fitchen's study brilliantly pieces together clues from manuscript illuminations, pictorial representations, and the fabrics of the building themselves. The result is the clearest picture available of the innovations and techniques that enabled these buildings, which still generate awe today, to rise majestically above the low buildings of their surrounding towns. It's a book that will enthrall readers of history, and one that, as Progressive Architecture noted, "no student of architecture should miss."

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Figures
• 1 Sources of Information
• The structural aspects of medieval building, and the contemporary sources of possible information about its execution.
• 2 Constructional Means
• The multiple nature and scope of the falsework requirements--scaffolding, shoring, formwork, and centering--with some provisionally assumed solutions.
• 3 Medieval Types of Vaulting
• An analysis of the chief structural developments in medieval times; problems, innovations, and solutions.
• 4 Gothic Framework
• The significance of the rib. An assessment of what others have written on the nature and extent of the formwork used in Gothic vaulting, together with a possible solution of the formwork problem.
• 5 Gothic Centering
• An analysis of the centering problem in Gothic vaulting, along with the types of falsework employed as support for the centering.
• 6 Erection of Rib Vaulting Without Formwork
• Systems of construction that dispense with falsework
• The Gothic system of vault erection without formwork
• Summary review of the erectional sequence and procedures in French Gothic rib-vaulted churches.
• Notes and Comments Appendixes
• A An Annotated Bibliography of Falsework Literature
• B The Occurrence of Putlog Holes and the Location and Extent of the Scaffolding They Reveal
• C Passageways in Lincoln Cathedral
• D A Tower Vault of the Eleventh Century
• E Medieval Vault Thickness
• F Surfaces of Double Curvature in Gothic Vaults
• G The Slow Setting Time of Medieval Mortars and Its Consequences
• H Oblique or Skew Vaults of Masonry
• I Pole Scaffolding
• J Arch and Vault Ties in Medieval Construction
• K Medieval Falsework Practices in England
• L Abbot Suger on the New Work at St-Denis: A Reinterpretation
• M Strutting Systems Used in Centering Frames
• N An Instance of Vault Centering that Survives from the Gothic Era
• O Intersecting Centering Frames, and the Use of Models to Solve the Difficulties Encountered
• P Medieval Lifting Devices and Procedures
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Indexes
• 1 Author
• 2 Subject
• 3 Places and Buildings