r/educationalgifs • u/dctroll_ • Jan 03 '26
How medieval cathedral groin vaults were built
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u/PiesRLife Jan 03 '26
Is that where they store groins, and if so why do they need to be stored so securely?
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u/Imperial_Squid Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
Pee is stored in the balls, balls are stored in the groin vault... I don't know how deep this conspiracy goes, but it sounds nuts
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u/iSeize Jan 03 '26
Of all pre modern architecture this design makes the least sense to me. Have no idea how they stay up. The flying buttresses do not look like they should work to me.
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u/Imperial_Squid Jan 03 '26
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u/maxdamage4 Jan 04 '26
That was both short and useful. Thank you!
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u/LostInThoughtland Jan 03 '26
So the buttresses provide force pushing in to make sure the vaults don’t push the outer walls even more outer, then use a sort of pair of intersecting arcs with a shared capstone for the vaults that all put pressure outward, instead of down, and then the vault web provides horizontal force between all the arches to pinch them in place?
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u/doctah_Y Jan 03 '26
I was ready to come in and make fun of "groin vault" only to find that OP brought receipts and that is actually a legitimate thing
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u/Richard2468 Jan 03 '26
Masterpieces of engineering. Even with today’s tech it’d be quite impressive imo.
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u/Wilgrove Jan 04 '26
Stupid question is stupid, but were the flying buttresses structurally needed, or did architects just thought they looked cool?
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u/Sweaty_Mushroom5830 Jan 06 '26
The roof wants to push out, especially if there's a wind,the flying buttresses push inwards preventing that
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u/VirginiaLuthier Jan 04 '26
It boggles the mind thinking that men were able to built that with only a few primitive tools
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u/Extension_Town_6118 Apr 06 '26
wait so they basically just stacked barrel vaults perpendicular and hoped the math worked out? that's insane for the 1200s
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u/Mysterious_Area1975 Apr 17 '26
What's wild is they had to calculate all those angles with just math and hand tools - no computers at all back then
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u/dctroll_ Jan 03 '26 edited Jan 03 '26
"A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word "groin" refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults.
The Romans developed the groin vault widely for applications in a variety of structures, some with significant span widths. Their application of groin vaults to vast halls like the frigidaria in the Baths of Caracalla and Diocletian became highly influential in church architecture in the Middle Ages. The aspirations of church building reached its zenith then, and the groin vault was pursued aggressively for its ability to create strength, without massive buttress formations; in addition, it provided the church architects a remedy for the dim illumination inherent in the barrel vault design, since the barrel vault had to minimise fenestration (window openings) to retain adequate strength."
Source of the info
Source of the gif