Pinnacle manuever.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A pinnacle is an
architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small
turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...
, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly used in Gothic architecture. The pinnacle had two purposes: # Ornamental – adding to the loftiness and verticity of the structure. They sometimes ended with
statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
s, such as in
Milan Cathedral Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...
. # Structural – the pinnacles were very heavy and often rectified with lead, in order to enable the flying buttresses to contain the stress of the structure vaults and roof. This was done by adding compressive stress (a result of the pinnacle weight) to the thrust vector and thus shifting it downwards rather than sideways.


History

The accounts of
Jesus' Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
temptations in Matthew's and Luke's gospels both suggest that the
Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
in Jerusalem had one or more pinnacles ( gr, το πτερυγιον του ιερου): :Then he (
Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
) brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. Some have stated that there were no pinnacles in the Romanesque style, but conical caps to circular buttresses, with
finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
terminations, are not uncommon in France at very early periods. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc gives examples from Saint-Germer-de-Fly Abbey and the Basilica of Saint-Remi, and there is one of similar form at the west front of Rochester Cathedral. In the 12th-century Romanesque two examples have been cited, one from
Bredon Bredon is a village and civil parish in Wychavon district at the southern edge of Worcestershire in England. It lies on the banks of the River Avon on the lower slopes of Bredon Hill. Location and geography Bredon is located 3 miles (5 km) ...
in Worcestershire, and the other from Cleeve in Gloucestershire. In these the buttresses run up, forming a sort of square turret, and crowned with a pyramidal cap, very much like those of the next period, the Early English. In this and the following styles, mainly in Gothic architecture, the pinnacle seems generally to have had its appropriate uses. It was a weight to counteract the thrust of the vaults, particularly where there were flying buttresses; it stopped the tendency to slip of the stone copings of the gables, and counterpoised the thrust of spires; it formed a pier to steady the elegant perforated parapets of later periods; and in France especially served to counterbalance the weight of overhanging
corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
tables, huge gargoyles, etc. In the Early English period the small buttresses frequently finished with gablets, and the more important with pinnacles supported with clustered shafts. At this period the pinnacles were often supported on these shafts alone, and were open below; and in larger work in this and the subsequent periods they frequently form niches and contain statues. About the Transition and during the Decorated Gothic period, the different faces above the angle shafts often finish with gablets. Those of the last-named period are much richer, and are generally decorated with crockets and finials, and sometimes with ball flowers. Very fine groups are found at Beverley Minster and at the rise of the spire of
St Mary's, Oxford The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of un ...
. Perpendicular pinnacles differ but little from Decorated, except that the crockets and finials are of later character. They are also often set angle-ways, particularly on parapets, and the shafts are panelled. In France pinnacles, like spires, seem to have been in use earlier than in England. There are small pinnacles at the angles of the tower in the
Saintes Cathedral Saintes Cathedral (''Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Saintes'') is a former Catholic church architecture, church located in Saintes, Charente-Maritime, Saintes, France. The cathedral is a national monument. It was formerly the seat of the Bishop of S ...
. At
Roullet-Saint-Estèphe Roullet-Saint-Estèphe () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Charente department The following is a list of the 364 communes of the Charente department of France. The comm ...
there are pinnacles in a similar position, each composed of four small shafts, with caps and bases surmounted with small pyramidal spires. In all these examples the towers have semicircular-headed windows. File:Notre-Dame de Paris composite transverse section.svg, The early-Gothic Notre-Dame de Paris. Arrows show forces (black:forces of cathedral on the ground, green: forces of ground on cathedral). The weight of pinnacles helps keep the line of thrust inside the buttress. File:View west along Duomo roof, Milan.jpg, Pinnacles with statues on the roof of
Milan Cathedral Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...
File:Cathédrale de Saintes (France)nnn.JPG, Pinacles at
Saintes Cathedral Saintes Cathedral (''Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Saintes'') is a former Catholic church architecture, church located in Saintes, Charente-Maritime, Saintes, France. The cathedral is a national monument. It was formerly the seat of the Bishop of S ...
File:Die Votivkirche in Wien; Denkschrift des Baucomit'es veröffentlicht zur Feier der Einweihung am 24. April 1879 (1879) (14597612677).jpg, Architectural drawing of a Neo-Gothic flying buttress with pinnacles for the late 19th-century Votive Church, in Vienna.


See also

* Gothic cathedrals and churches * Gothic architecture * Rayonnant * Cathedral architecture *
Pinnacle (geology) A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (german: Felsnadel, ''Felsturm'' or ''Felszinne'') in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. Examples are ...


References

* {{Authority control Ornaments (architecture) Architectural elements