Apinnacle is anarchitectural element originally forming the cap or crown of abuttress or smallturret, but afterwards used onparapets at the corners oftowers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a smallspire. It was mainly used inGothic architecture.
The pinnacle had two purposes:
The accounts ofJesus'temptations inMatthew's andLuke's gospels both suggest that theSecond Temple inJerusalem had one or more pinnacles (Greek:το πτερυγιον του ιερου):[1]
Some[who?] have stated that there were no pinnacles in theRomanesque style, but conical caps to circular buttresses, withfinial terminations, are not uncommon inFrance at very early periods.Eugène Viollet-le-Duc gives examples fromSaint-Germer-de-Fly Abbey and theBasilica of Saint-Remi, and there is one of similar form at the west front ofRochester Cathedral.
In the 12th-century Romanesque two examples have been cited, one fromBredon inWorcestershire, and the other fromCleeve inGloucestershire. 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, theEarly English.
_PT_en.svg)
In this and the following styles, mainly inGothic architecture, the pinnacle seems generally to have had its appropriate uses. It was a weight to counteract thethrust of thevaults, particularly where there wereflying buttresses; it stopped the tendency to slip of the stone copings of thegables, and counterpoised the thrust ofspires; it formed a pier to steady the elegant perforatedparapets of later periods; and in France especially served to counterbalance the weight of overhangingcorbel tables, hugegargoyles, etc.
In the Early English period the small buttresses frequently finished withgablets, 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 theDecorated 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 withcrockets and finials, and sometimes withball flowers. Very fine groups are found atBeverley Minster and at the rise of the spire ofSt Mary's, Oxford. 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 theSaintes Cathedral. AtRoullet-Saint-Estèphe 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.
nnn.JPG)
_(14597612677).jpg)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pinnacle".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 628.
Authority control databases: National |
|---|