The grid crossing vault of the Cathedral of Merida in Yucatán_01 Print

The next experience that we present now is the construction of what was formerly called a grid crossing vault. This is a vault formed by a grid of orthogonal ribs, composed of a series of cross-shaped voussoirs that are joined to form an orthogonal spatial network. Therefore, a vault is composed by two types of pieces: the voussoirs of the arches and the crossings (photo 1).

The vault we built is inspired in several examples existing in Spain such the spectaculars vaults of the church of Cazalla de la Sierra in Seville, or the imposing vaults of the Cathedral of Merida in Yucatán, Mexico, built in the late 16th century (photo 2).

In the grid crossings vaults, the gothic ribbed vaults adapt themselves to a Renaissance reticular pattern, drawing on the surface of the vault a design of coffering in line with the stricter Roman canon. We can say that the crossing vaults represent an outstanding example of gothic rib work which, without letting down its medieval construction principles, can adapt itself to Renaissance models (photo 1 y 2). [....]

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