Flying Buttress Prototype

Timeline

1. c. 1150–1180Île-de-France · FranceEarly Gothic experiments still relied on thick walls and attached buttresses to absorb vault thrust; nave height and window area were constrained by wall weight and stability requirements.
2. 1190Notre-Dame de Paris · ParisDuring 1190s construction, Notre-Dame de Paris experimentally placed flying buttresses outside the choir and aisle walls, spanning the aisle roof as arches to transmit rib-vault thrust outward, allowing thinner walls and larger high windows.
3. c. 1200–1250Reims and Chartres · FranceThirteenth-century cathedrals at Reims, Chartres, and Amiens standardized flying buttresses as a rhythmic external skeleton on the façade, replacing the prototype stage's experimental practices with more precise geometry and multi-tiered buttress systems.