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 The lines and arrows represent the direction of the building's weight distribution. These are called "lines of thrust." |
For thousands of years the most common type of building material
for large buildings was stone. Walls were
made from cut stone, and roofs were made of large slabs of stone or
concrete. This worked well, but buildings
were extremely heavy. The entire weight of the roof rested on the
walls. |
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Stone
was strong and durable; it held well against time. But its weight,
which made it so strong, was also it greatest weakness. It was
impossible to build churches of great height, because the stones at the
bottom would be crushed under the weight of the walls and the
roof. The higher the building, the more weight pressing down on
the foundation. For this reason, stone and concrete churches never
got to be very high. Another problem was stability. It was extremely difficult to add stability to such large, heavy buildings. Because the walls had the job of carrying the weight of the building, there could only be a few small windows. Windows were weak places in the wall, so they were mostly avoided. As a result, churches were dark and dreary inside. Notice the size of the windows in the building to the left. There were many abbeys, or churches, across Europe in the Romanesque style. But European architecture would be changed drastically when the King of France instructed one of his abbots to rebuild the church in Paris named after the city's patron saint. The abbot's name was Suger and the church was St. Denis. |
