Art History 106 - Images & Ideas
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The Arch II

 

The vulnerable point in this structure was not in the middle of the covering stones, as was the case with the lintel, but at the springing point where the arch met the vertical support. In order to strengthen the support, a mass of masonry or brickwork was sometimes built against it or out from it. This structure is called a buttress.

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© Elizabeth Rankin and Amanda Skeet, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland, 2004.