Vault (architecture) Facts for Kids

A Vault (French. voute, Italian. volta, German. Gewölbe, Polish. sklepienie, Spanish. bóveda) is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof.

Images for kids

Interior elevation view of a Gothic cathedral, with rib-vaulted roof highlighted
In a pitched-brick vault the bricks lean (are pitched) against an existing wall.
St Paul's Cathedral Choir looking east, London
Top of the rib-vaulted ceiling over the nave of Salisbury Cathedral
Vaults and dome of the Gol Gumbaz
Neobyzantine vaults in Saint Sava. The vaults, 37.7 m high and 24 m wide are designed as concrete boxes. They were prefabricated and lifted with chains to their shown positions.
Gothic rib vault ceiling of the Saint-Séverin church in Paris
Assyrian bas-relief from Nimrud showing domed structures in the background
A groin vault viewed from the underside, showing the arris or 'groin'
Plan of a groin vault from above showing resultant outward thrust
The rib vault of Reims Cathedral, France
Rib vault of church Sint-Niklaaskerk in Ghent, Belgium
Rib-vault ceiling, with Lierne ribs, of the Liebfrauenkirche, Mühlacker 1482
Fan vaulting over the nave at Bath Abbey, Bath, England
Section through the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
Neo-Byzantine vaults in portal of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris, France
The dome of the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus
Nave of Lisbon Cathedral with a barrel vaulted soffit. Note the absence of clerestory windows, all of the light being provided by the rose window at one end of the vault.

Vault (architecture) facts for kids

Images for kids

See also