Outside
Flying buttress
A half-arch (the flyer) that leaps over the aisle roof from an outer pier to the upper wall of the nave, carrying the outward push of the high vault down to the ground. It let medieval builders make tall walls full of glass.
- Where to look
- Outside, above the aisle roofs: arches springing from tall outer piers to the clerestory wall.
- Styles
- On the drawings
- Cross-section