buttress

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Click images to enlarge
In architecture, a vertical mass of masonry that acts as a support or brace, projecting from the outer face of a wall at intervals. Its presence helps to resist the outward thrust of a vault, roof-truss, or girder. Buttresses were seldom used in classical architecture, and in Romanesque architecture were of slight bulk and projection. In the Gothic period they became increasingly larger, enabling the intervening wall to be reduced in thickness and to be pierced with large windows.

Types of buttress include the flying buttress, which arcs over a side aisle to support the heavy stone roof of a cathedral; and the pier buttress, which is simply a solid mass of stone.

Known as ‘white sun in blue sky’, the flag of Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Zhong Shan appears in the canton. The rays of the sun represent 12 traditional Chinese hours (each equalling two hours) symbolizing progress. Red is a traditional Chinese colour. Effective date: 8 October 1928. >>