Original subtitles

A.

Twelve twenty five

a fire destroyed the quiet of the former cathedral of Beauvais.

First built on a grand scale in the years around one

thousand the old church had probably been extended

with a new choir

in the late eleventh hundreds.

The new cathedral

dedicated to st Peter

was initiated

by the powerful bishop miles of Dante

said

to have been

as proud as nebuchadnezzar.

Lavish funding derived from the regular income of the clergy

permitted

an ambitious architectural program

and rapid can instruction.

The new gothic

cathedral the present one

has a generous transept

and choir

unusually wide

is flanked by double isles

the inner one

taller than the outer

like old st Peter's in Rome.

Work began on the transept arms

and the outer walls of the first base of the choir

west to east

north

before south.

Each transept on

was to be flanked by great twin towers.

As construction moved east into the choir

the spacing of the piers was increased

culminating in a very wide third bay.

Seven years into the project

the bishop's funds

were already exhausted

and

to make things worse

in twelve thirty two

rioting on the part of the townsfolk

led to the hostile intervention

of the young king Louis the ninth

who confiscated the bishop's palace and revenues

forcing him to flee your city.

The new bishop

robbers

of Crescent sack

submitted

to royal sovereignty and

with the restore all

of the

revenues

work resumed on the polygonal eastern

end of the choir

the hemicycle

as well as the interior supports

which are made thinner

than their counterparts in the transept.

The eastern end is slightly misaligned with the body of the coil

suggesting

poorly coordinated building campaigns

caused

by political upheaval

in the twelve fifties under the direction of a parisian master Mason

work continued on the upper choir

under the bishop William of grants.

It was decided to increase the height of the superstructure

in order to transcend the nearby cathedral of emea.

The goal

was to reach one hundred and forty four feet to the keystone

heaven

is described in the book of revelation

as one hundred and forty four cubits in height.

The first mass

was held in the completed choir

on the Eve

of all saints day

twelve seventy two.

The cathedral

is known above all as the tallest of the French gothic cathedrals

but it's special characteristics

go well beyond great height.

This was a white double space structure

with a low

outta toll in the aisle

and with a transfer of sexual

properly

originally planned

around

equal actual triangle asset

damn of Paris

and bush cathedral.

Very wide spacing of the stemmed appears at the

main arcade yielded spectacular views into an

and ambulatory

girded by a

forum

and

glowing stained-glass windows.

The towering upper choir was increased in height

during construction

producing a square transfer section

and a structure

that was dangerously

top heavy.

Alas

such sublime beauty was perilous

surviving only

a decade and a half.

Reading from a source

contemporary to the disaster

quote.

On

Friday November twenty ninth twelve eighty four

at eight o'clock in the evening

the great vaults of the choir fell

and several xd period pillows were broken

and the great windows smashed.

Divine office

ceased

her forty years.

The extent of the collapse

was actually quite limited

one transverse arch in the middle bay

of the upper playa failed

and came down

together with it's attendant flyers

and adjacent volt panels

the tracery

of the two history windows to the east on each side

was badly damaged

while the western windows

those to your left

remained intact.

It has been hard to avoid the simplistic notion

that pride goes before a fall

attributing

the disaster to the great height of the cathedral

in fact.

The disaster resulted from a serious design flaw

which can be located

in a specific part of the building.

The third day of the choir

to the east is the largest space in the cathedral

it's masonry vault

was therefore the heaviest

with the greatest outward thrust.

On the east side of this vault

that trust was met

by the solid blocks of masonry at the base of the chapels.

On the west side however

the skinny isle appears

and upper buttresses

were inadequate.

The peers themselves were unsuitable

tending to rotate inward

and the exposed upper supports were subject

to extreme isolation

in winter windstorms

the failure these supports

caused the flyers snap

bringing down one main transverse arch

together with the adjacent portions of the hi volts.

Panic ensued and a massive program of demolition

and rebuilding continued

for more than half a century.

Although the upper castes the wall and the roof amazingly

remained intact

the three original base of the climb were doubled

through the insertion of additional supports both in the main arcade

and in the aisles

moreover

the exterior uprights and the flyers

at the west side of the critical third bay

were entire aly rebuilt.

The history and voting

the three

straight days of the choir were demolished and rebuilt a six space

reusing

many of the old stones.

The heavy cycle

remained intact.

For more than a century and a half the cathedral remained

in it's unfinished state propped up

and provisionally closed in

at the cliff like

western end.

In the years

towards fifteen hundred

noticing that the western peers were tending to lean out when

the clergy began to consider the

work of completion.

For the demolition of the old cathedral

cleared the way for a new transit

to be built

by the most prestigious parisian architect

of late gothic

Marcel Jean bij

well known

from his previous work

on the transept of songs cathedral.

Sean beach

had exploratory trenches dug

finding

the foundations of the old cathedral

were about thirty feet deep.

Work started

on the very public south transept quarter.

This was a new kind

of super gothic

where substantial

masses of masonry

were enlivened

with a profusion of niches pilasters canopies and tracery yet the simple

intersection of balustrade and gable

surmounting the portal

record

the prestigious transept

of notre dame of Paris.

Work then concluded on the more secluded north transept facade

where forms are simpler.

In the interior

shall be

used his characteristic undulating supports

bringing in the south transept full-height

before turning

to the camp please

have the upper north transept

where he was joined

by his son

Pierre.

My sunshine beach died

in fifteen thirty two

and was buried in the crossing space

of his cathedral.

Rather than continuing

to the completion of the nave

the builders of the cathedral were seduced

by the notion of a very tall central tower and spire

going beyond the height of the new st Peter's in Rome.

Work began

on a masonry lantern tower

topped by a wooden

spire

in the fifteen fifties

the total high white

has to be close

to four hundred and fifty feet.

It was said from the top

one could see the distant towers and spires of Paris.

The openwork lantern

must have been particularly awesome

at night

a great lamp that sometimes raised aloft

and lowered inside

creating a spectacle

visible

for miles around.

Plans for the completion of the cathedral

which must have existed at the start of work

were updated

with the construction

of the new steeple

here we see

a possible scheme that might have been devised

at the inception of work in twelve twenty five

a nave

with double isles

and and not a damn of Paris type for some.

St Peter's of Beauvais

could finally surpass

st Peter's

Rome.

Now

this earlier vision

morphs into a scheme

appropriate

for the sixteenth century

somewhat in the style of massage on the beach

with triple portals

set in a sumptuously decorated western frontispiece

kept

one only

by stumpy turrets.

However

only one bay of the nave was ever completed

and the remnants of the old cathedral

remain in place

to this day

the enormous weight of the central tower

soon induced grave deformation

in the fort supporting piers of the crossing

the western pa

unsupported by the nave

continued to move

but the eastern peers

buttressed by the presence of the choir

shit off

allowing the steeple and ta

to topple

to the northeast.

On the day of ascension

April thirtieth

fifteen seventy three

at seven am

the gigantic mass of stone and timber

came down

in a tangle of debris and dust

injuring a priest who was saying mass

in the adjacent chapel

of the holy sepulchre

and

badly damaging

the northwest corner

of the choir.

Plans

for the completion

of the western end

within abandoned

the unfinished nave was propped up to the west

with massive buttresses

and closed in

with a provisional what a wall.

In nineteen eighty six

extreme isolation

was noticed in the flying buttresses

during

an intense windstorm.

Work began on the installation of tubular

metallic tight races

to stabilize the system

and then panic

over the cumulative

movement of the western supports the edifice

in the nineteen nineties

led to the installation

of the massive

wooden

tight races in the transept

and the great prop

to support

the western isle peers

on the north side.

The future of this glorious cathedral

remains uncertain.

So.

And so.