secured; but it was soon seen that the same result might be reached on a less projecting foundation by giving more weight to the upper part of the buttress. [1] Accordingly the outer faces of these buttresses of the nave rise more vertically and have a more equal volume at different levels. A further improvement which they exhibit is that of the gabled form
FIG. 41.
in which their tops terminate—a form which is better adapted for protection, as more readily shedding water, and one which is also more pleasing to the eye. The pier buttress is, like that of the apse, stopped at the level of the coping of the flying buttress, the wall above being entirely unbroken throughout its length, which is the case also in some other undeveloped Gothic buildings, as in the apse of St. Remi of
- ↑ See Viollet-le-Duc, s.v. Centre-Fort, p. 297.
