Elements and Materials

Flying Buttress

FLY-ing BUTT-ress

Also Known As Arc-boutant

Structural Element

Citation Formats

General Reference

Architecture and Design Atlas. "Flying Buttress." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://architecture.interactiveatlas.org/elements/flying-buttress.

APA Style

Architecture and Design Atlas. (n.d.). Flying Buttress. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://architecture.interactiveatlas.org/elements/flying-buttress

BibTeX

@misc{architectureanddesignatlas-flying-buttress,
  author = {Architecture and Design Atlas},
  title = {Flying Buttress},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://architecture.interactiveatlas.org/elements/flying-buttress},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The exposed half-arch that leaps from an outer pier to the upper wall of a Gothic church, catching the outward thrust of the high vaults and carrying it over the aisle roofs to the ground. By taking the load off the wall it let the clerestory dissolve into glass; Notre-Dame de Paris was among the first buildings to use it at full scale.

Facts

Element Kind

Structural element 1

First Used Era

Notre-Dame de Paris (begun 1160s, flying buttresses in place by 1180) is among the earliest Gothic cathedrals to use them; the apse of the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Pres used a similar lateral support at about the same time, completed 1163. 2

First Used Era

Twelfth century France 1

Cross-Tradition Connections