ABBEY AUX HOMMES ,CANE

ABBEY AUX HOMMES ,CANE

Also known as "Sainte Etienne, is French Romanesque church located in the west side of Caen, Normandy, located in northwestern France.

1church was founded by William, Duke of Normandy. Remember this is the ruler who would eventually be known as "William the Conqueror

semicircular arches following the roman period is described as romanesque, pointed arches are indicative of gothic period.this building is an example of both.

Another outcome of gothic period- walls began to be placed at right angles to the building

Flying buttresses -become a feature of structural and aesthetic design of Gothic church development.helpS to support the latest construction of the church, that of the upper nave,completed in the 12th century. Earlier wooden roof construction over the nave was removed in 1115, the upper section of the nave walls raised . to accommodate sexpartite vaults,

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the four-part groin vault, by the way, c"quadripartite" vault, and seemingly resulted during Roman construction from the intersection of two barrel vaults. There are seven radiating chapels branching out of the apse

The altar, with the apse behind.

The stone skeleton is the structure, pure and simple. The crossing dome, divided into eight segments. This is the intersection of the nave and the transepts.

As the nave extent towards the altar, the semi-circular pilasters transforms the piers into articulated verticals.

The height is approximately 66 feet (20m.)

The columns begin as round shafts, they do articulate above their capitals, and can be traced up to a convergence, from which some do come down on the opposite side.

France is noted for the stained glass within its churches. Aside from the aesthetic beauty achieved, and the spiritual quality of the light produced within the church, church-goers were illiterate, and these windows provided pictorial representations of biblical themes

* MATERIALS CANE STONE. STAINED GLASS, WROUGHT IRON

This is another step in the direction towards articulated Gothic structural development.

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