I love old cathedrals and whenever I get a chance, I visit them. While my wife has often gone along, I know she is just being nice, as after a while I can see she's getting pretty bored. As she one time admitted, 'After a while, they all seem kind of the same'! Well, this show is for folks like me and not normal folks like my wife, as I love cathedral documentaries.
This one isn't exactly about how exactly they built the cathedrals, it's more about the dimensions and shortcomings of the designs. In several cases the show visits cathedrals that have structure problems, such as Amiens (which is held together now with metal bands/chain) and Beauvaise (which uses ugly wooden supports since the original buttresses were too thin and weak). It's a little-known fact that MANY cathedrals made during the Middle Ages DID fall down--and sometimes 2, 3 or more versions were built because they kept dropping down unexpectedly! Fortunately, the late Middle Ages brought stronger and more sound cathedrals! All in all, rather interesting if you like this sort of thing--and it's full of technical information and a few French cathedrals.
This one isn't exactly about how exactly they built the cathedrals, it's more about the dimensions and shortcomings of the designs. In several cases the show visits cathedrals that have structure problems, such as Amiens (which is held together now with metal bands/chain) and Beauvaise (which uses ugly wooden supports since the original buttresses were too thin and weak). It's a little-known fact that MANY cathedrals made during the Middle Ages DID fall down--and sometimes 2, 3 or more versions were built because they kept dropping down unexpectedly! Fortunately, the late Middle Ages brought stronger and more sound cathedrals! All in all, rather interesting if you like this sort of thing--and it's full of technical information and a few French cathedrals.
