首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
"’Building with Arches" Round Arch and Vault → Although the round arch was used by the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia
"’Building with Arches" Round Arch and Vault → Although the round arch was used by the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia
admin
2012-01-14
59
问题
"’Building with Arches"
Round Arch and Vault
→ Although the round arch was used by the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia several centuries before our common era, it was most fully developed by the Romans, who perfected the form in the 2nd century B.C.E. The arch has many virtues. In addition to being an attractive form, it enables the architect to open up fairly large spaces in a wall without risking the building’s structural soundness. These spaces admit light, reduce the weight of the walls, and decrease the amount of material needed. As utilized by the Romans, the arch is a perfect semicircle, although it may seem elongated if it rests on columns. It is constructed from wedge-shaped pieces of stone that meet at an angle always perpendicular to the curve of the arch. Because of tensions and compressions
inherent
in the form, the arch is stable only when it is complete, when the topmost stone, the keystone, has been set in place. For this reason an arch under construction must be supported from below, usually by a wooden framework.
→ Among the most elegant and enduring of Roman structures based on the arch is the Pont du Gard at Nimes, France, built about 15 C.E. when the empire was nearing its farthest expansion. At this time, industry, commerce, and agriculture were at their peak. Roman engineering was applied to an ambitious system of public-works projects, not just in Italy but in the outlying areas as well. The Pont du Gard functioned as an aqueduct, a structure meant to transport water, and its lower level served as a footbridge across the river. That it stands today virtually intact after nearly two thousand years (and is crossed by cyclists on the route of the famous Tour de France bicycle race) testifies to the Romans’ brilliant engineering skills. Visually, the Pont du Gard exemplifies the best qualities of arch construction. Solid and heavy, obviously durable, it is shot through with open spaces that make it seem light and its weight-bearing capabilities effortless.
→ When the arch is extended in depth—when it is, in reality, many arches placed flush one behind the other—the result is called a barrel vault. This vault construction makes it possible to create large interior spaces. The Romans made great use of the barrel vault, but for its finest expression we look many hundreds of years later, to the churches of the Middle Ages.
→ The church of Sainte-Foy, in the French city of Conques, is an example of the style prevalent throughout Western Europe from about 1050 to 1200—a style known as Romanesque. Romanesque builders adopted the old Roman forms of round arch and barrel vault so as to add height to their churches.
Until this period most churches had beamed wooden roofs, which not only posed a threat of fire but also limited the height to which architects could aspire.
With the stone barrel vault, they could achieve the soaring, majestic space we see in the
nave
of Sainte-Foy.
Pointed Arch and Vault
→ While the round arch and vault of the Romanesque era solved many problems and made many things possible, they nevertheless had certain drawbacks. For one thing, a round arch, to be stable, must be a semicircle; therefore, the height of the arch is limited by its width. Two other difficulties were weight and darkness. Barrel vaults are both literally and visually heavy, calling for huge masses of stone to maintain their structural stability. Also, the builders who constructed them dared not make light-admitting openings in or around them, for fear the arches and vaults would collapse, and so the interiors of Romanesque buildings tend to be dark. The Gothic period in Europe, which followed the Romanesque, solved these problems with the pointed arch. A
The pointed arch, while seemingly not very different from the round one, offers many advantages.B Because the sides arc up to a point, weight is channeled down to the ground at a steeper angle, and therefore the arch can be taller. The vault constructed from such an arch also can be much taller than a barrel vault.C Architects of the Gothic period found they did not need heavy masses of material throughout the curve of the vault, as long as the major points of intersection were reinforced. D
Glossary
nave: the long central area in a church with aisles on each side
What can be inferred from paragraph 4 about Romanesque architecture?
选项
A、Arches and barrel vaults were used in the designs.
B、Wood beams characterized the buildings.
C、The structures were smaller than those of Roman style.
D、The architecture was popular during the Roman occupation.
答案
A
解析
"Romanesque builders adopted the old Roman forms of round arch and barrel vault so as to add height to their churches." Choice B is not correct because wooden beams characterized buildings before the Romanesque style. Choice C is not correct because the Romanesque buildings added height. Choice D is not correct because the Romanesque style was many hundreds of years later.
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/dPyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
DothefollowingstatementsagreewiththeviewsofthewriterinReadingPassage3?Inboxes31-36onyouranswersheet,write
Lookatthefollowingstatements(Questions19-23)andthelistofpeoplebelow.MatcheachstatementtothecorrectpersonA-D.W
Completethesentencesbelow.ChooseNOMORETHANTWOWORDSfromthepassageforeachanswer.Writeyouranswersinboxes10-13
AncientPeopleinSaharaOnOct.13,2000,PaulSereno,aprofessorfromtheUniversityofChicago,guidedateamofpalaeon
TheStudyofChimpanzeeCultureA.Afterstudyingthesimilaritiesbetweenchimpanzeesandhumansforyears,researchershav
AccordingtoMrSingh,onwhichthingdomanypeoplemakesuperficialobservations?Whatisbecomingmorewidelyavailabletop
【21】Whatdoesthetutorgivethestudentalistof?
Theprofessorsaysthatsuperhighways______.【25】
Theprofessorsaysthatsuperhighways______.Thestudentbelievesthathighways______.
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.AgricultureandEnvironment(31)productio
随机试题
直流并励电动机采用能耗制动时,切断电枢电源,同时电枢与电阻接通,并(),产生的电磁转矩方向与电枢转动方向相反,使电动机迅速制动。
A.凝滞B.重浊C.善行D.炎上风邪的致病特点是()
A、醛固酮B、氢化可的松C、泼尼松D、氟氢可的松E、地塞米松抗炎作用强,几乎无钠潴留作用的是
迁徙生长的细菌最有可能是
新生儿生理性体重下降发生在出生后
对于小区内的两个班的幼儿园,下列设计原则正确的是:
录用人民警察的程序包括()。
此前,美国《科学》杂志均由其编辑部评出每年的“十大科学突破”,但2014年增加了两轮网友投票环节。第一轮投票中,欧洲探测彗星的“罗塞塔”任务获得最多投票,第二和第三名分别是可以返老还童的“年轻血液”和可能开启糖尿病治疗新途径的细胞;第二轮投票中,“年轻血液
经济制度是人类历史发展一定阶段上的生产关系的总和,经济体制反映社会经济采取的资源配置方式。经济制度和经济体制的关系表述正确的有( )
Supermarkets--storesthatcarryavarietyofproductsrangingfromfoodtoclothingandappliances(家电)--willgrowinnumber
最新回复
(
0
)