The stonemasons of Northern Europe in the 13th century built vaults 100 to 150 feet high without having to calculate the stresses, as modern engineers would. They did this by putting the skeleton of the cathedral on the outside by using flying buttresses. The next seminal development in the erection of tall buildings didn’t occur until the steel and girder technology of the 20th century high-rise came along.
The flying buttress opened up tremendous interior spaces since cathedral walls didn’t need to bear lodes. As a result, giant panes of stained glass, such as the rose windows often found at the rears of churches, let in great quantities of light, serving as sun tapestries. The medieval masons used no blueprints. They had no formal training. To paraphrase an ancient aphorism from China: The job taught them the work.
I twined my way through a gallery of drowned elms in a medieval forest on a sullen Sunday morning, the bark black from days of permeating fog and rain that dripped with cool, sweet drops like tiny mirrors. The elms sculpted a corridor of Gothic archways long before the masons founded them in stone. And the elms didn’t calculate the stresses or devise blueprints for how far apart each tree should stand, or the degree of arc in the limbs. They made it up as they went along. I didn’t have to know where I headed in that exceedingly fine mist. I could make it up as I went along. My walking showed me the path.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within