Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/356

 26o General History oj Europe CROSS SECTION OF AMIENS CATHEDRAL It will be noticed that there is a row of rather low windows opening under the roof of the aisle. These constitute the so-called triforium (E). Above them is the clerestory (F), the win- dows of which open between the flying buttresses. So it came about that the walls of a Gothic church were in fact mainly windows. The Egyptians were the first to invent the clerestory 429. The Gothic Style. The architects of France in the twelfth century invented a new and wonderful method of constructing churches and other buildings which en- abled them to do away with the heavy walls and put high, wide, graceful windows in their place. This new style of architecture is known as the Gothic, 1 and its under- lying principles can readily be understood from a little study of the accompanying diagram, which shows how a Gothic cathedral is sup- ported not by heavy walls but by buttresses. The architects discovered in the first place that the concave stone ceiling, which is known as the vaulting (A), could be supported by ribs (B). These could in turn be brought together and sup- ported on top of pillars which rested on the floor of the church. So far so good ! But the builders knew well enough 1 The inappropriate name " Gothic " was given to the beautiful churches of the North by Italian architects of the sixteenth century, who did not like them and preferred to build in the style of the ancient Romans. The Italians, with their "classical" tastes, assumed that only German barbarians whom they. carelessly and ignorantly called Goths could admire a Gothic cathedral.