Flying Buttresses Adorn the Washington National Cathedral

            A flying buttress, or arc-boutant, is a specific type of buttress usually found on a religious building such as a cathedral. They are used to transmit the horizontal thrust of a vault across an intervening space (which might be an aisle, chapel or cloister), to a buttress outside the building. The employment of the flying buttress means that the load bearing walls can contain cut-outs, such as for large windows, that would otherwise seriously weaken them. Flying buttresses are often found in Gothic architecture.  The purpose of a buttress is to provide horizontal strength to a wall. The majority of the load is carried by the upper part of the buttress, so making the buttress as a semi-arch provides almost the same load bearing capability, yet in a much lighter and cheaper structure. As a result, the buttress seemingly flies through the air, rather than resting on the ground and hence is known as a flying buttress.

This image is a blending of 6 exposures on a point and shoot camera.  Varied shutter speed between shots and processed with Photomatrix.  A tripod was necessary because camera does not have auto-bracketing.

August 23, 2011
Today, there was apparently damage to the cathedral as a result of the most severe earthquake on the east coast in 115 years.  Portions of three of the cathedral's spires fell off the building.

Photo by Kevin Borland.  Portions of the text derived from Wikipedia article(s).

Taken in: United States / District of Columbia / Washington / Northwest Washington (show map)

Taken on: June 25, 2008

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Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

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Sets appears in: • 40-40.9/50 • Ward 3 DC more » • District of Columbia « less

Groups appears in: • Washington DC/Metro Area • Washington, DC Metro Area Sights more » • Score Me! (post 1, score 5) • CHURCHES & HOUSES OF WORSHIP • Realistic HDR Images • Views: 5000 • Point and Shoot HDR • i like big buttresses and i cannot lie « less

Camera: Canon PowerShot SX100 IS, f/8.0, 1/60 sec, 20.1mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX100 IS
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	20.1mm
ISO:	80
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
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