Sexpartite vault

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sexpartite vault, in architecture, is a name given to the single bay of a vault, which, in addition to the transverse and diagonal ribs, has been divided by a second transverse rib, forming six compartments.

The principal examples are those in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes and Abbaye-aux-Dames at Caen (which were probably the earliest examples of a construction now looked upon as transitional), Notre Dame de Paris, and the cathedrals of Bourges, Laon, Noyon, Senlis and Sens; from the latter cathedral the sexpartite vault was brought by William of Sens to Canterbury, and it is afterwards found at Lincoln and in St Faith's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

[edit] See also

• Cathedral architecture

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.