The flying buttress, also called flying arch , is an external structural element used at the behest of construction and that has a form of half arch in charge of collecting the pressure at the start of a vault, transmitting it to a buttress or abutment that will appear attached to the wall of a lateral nave.
The flying buttress is a characteristic element of gothic architecture with him pointed arch and ribbed vault.
As it is an external discharge arch, it usually appears in an inclined arrangement, for this situation it is considered a quiet arch, it has its starts at different heights.
Meanwhile, the lower part of it is supported by a buttress abutment and the upper part acts as a support, in most cases of a ribbed vault; the stirrup is crowned by a pinnacle (A typical decorative element of Gothic architecture that has a pillar shape and is topped by a pyramidal or conical figure at the top).
It is worth noting that the flying buttress can always be seen from the outside.
This exterior structural element it was used for the first time in the 12th century at the behest of the construction of the central nave of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris, better known as Notre Dame, the oldest cathedral representing precisely the Gothic style, with the clear mission of reinforcing its pointed vault.
Thanks to the construction of the mentioned flying buttress, it was possible to transfer the pressures from the start of the high vaults to the buttresses outside, thus opening openings in the walls of the central nave. And the pointed arch managed to magnify the height of the building.
The flying buttress emerged as a replacement for the abutments used at the request of Romanesque architecture in order to avoid the lateral thrusts of the vault, because by freeing the wall from the task of buttressing the constructions could be made higher and allow light to enter through the stained glass windows.
Likewise, the flying buttress is often used to lead rainwater from roofs to the outside; Traditionally, this type of drain can be found adorned with some grotesque figure, called gargoyles.
