The mysteries of Renaissance architecture, or Fleur de Lis

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

This is the Chambordveaux castle of France. A rather beautiful architectural object, it can rightfully be considered a visiting card of the country. But what is so strange about it that distinguishes it from the general number of similar building complexes, well, except for beauty, of course? That's right, the presence of platforms with columns under the domes on almost all structures.

In general, this is not a strict individuality, these architectural solutions were used on many structures and not only in France. Even in our currently deaf province, such decisions were applied:

What's really unusual about that? At first glance, nothing, If not for the names of these architectural elements. We will call them a drum, a colonnade, whatever you like, but in France it is simply called a lantern (lanterne). And nothing else. Of course, the Russian language is great and powerful, there is no dispute, but here is exactly the case when the narrowness of the French etymology makes it clear what this architectural detail was called at all times. And it is not at all ambiguous. The lantern is what shines. Even we have no other meanings of this word. Well, if only a black eye. And where and how did this architectural lantern actually shine?

Archival documents dating back to the second half of the 19th century will help us to answer this question. And what did we have there at the Chambord castle?

These are actually drawings of the same main tower of the castle.

Apart from the etheric condensers, which, as always, are standing on the tower, there is also a very unusual element at the top - the top of the dome in the form of a lily, or Fleur de Lis. It is considered the national emblem of the French royal family. If we discard heraldic symbolism, why was this figure bullied there? There is a suspicion that this figure previously stood over the domes of all the towers, just over time they were changed due to dilapidation to more convenient spiers. But let's continue. If in the search engine to score other architectural structures with the tag "lanterne", then the network will give out a lot of similar old engravings that are not related to the Chambord castle. I will cite only the most interesting ones.

Unidentified Lantern Tower. The elements are the same.

This is the lantern of the Octave de rochepune castle. The elements are the same.

At first glance, this is an unidentified church with an ordinary cross, but if you look at a close-up of the cross, you can see our lily again. Moreover, in several places, and even with a turn on horizontal sections.

Judging by the fact that it is impossible to see what is at the ends of the cross from the ground, it is obvious that the point here is not in symbolism and not in heraldry. This is the usual top of the dome, which were considered here, but only of a specific national form. In general, they perform the same functions. Let's go further. I came across an interesting engraving of a lantern in Versailles, but already in section and with an indication of the scheme of metal connections. Here we probably need to dwell in more detail.

As you can see, the tower has a complex system of metal connections. Elements A, B and C are pretty self-explanatory. Very interesting are the cruciform connections between the elements B. When masonry, they can be laid only on the surface, inside or outside, but they do not perform any reinforcing functions at all. Hence the conclusion - they serve only to move eddy currents from horizontal metal bonds. Elements C are column reinforcement. What is element D? If this is the threaded part of the bolt, then there is no point in labeling it. Nearby there are a lot of the same. But most likely, this is a special element that is a continuation of the central trunk of the dome. Due to the cavitation of the ether, as described here, a huge potential accumulates on it, which causes a cold discharge and illuminates the entire space with it. There are also considerations about the same bolts sticking up at the place of transition of the cylindrical metal connection to the dome, namely, that they carried out a galvanic connection with the ether capacitors. But there is no clear evidence of this.

In general, the picture has cleared up. Only our lilies remained. What is it and where did they come from at all? Working on this topic, there was an opinion that they were installed as domes only on lantern structures, so that they would attract people and call inside. The meaning of the works of A. Dumas becomes clear, from whose novels we learned that tattoos of this form were done to prostitutes in those days. The goals were the same, the logic is clear. In general, in the archives there are many varieties of the image of this lily.

There is no doubt that this is the same kind of cross, only with its own national peculiarity. The author of the concept of such a device slightly deviated from the canonical fractal geometry, and applied art, but judging by the fact that it was installed, the element worked no worse than elements of other geometric types.

Thus, following our logic, the main tower of the Chambord castle (see figures and photos) is a three-stage amplifier of the waves generated by the dome. The third cascade starts from the end of the last dome and ends at the bottom. And in the first stage, additional light is emitted. Now imagine what the castle would look like if all its towers-lanterns were shining. Probably beautiful.

In addition to the theme of lanterns, I offer more material for those who are interested.

Lily, it turns out, was attached even to simple street lamps. But symbolic or for some technical purpose, it is no longer possible to establish.

This is a lantern in the Notre Dame de Loret cemetery. Officially, the cemetery was opened after the First World War for the funeral of the fallen soldiers, the photo is most likely from those times. As a builder with 20 years of experience, I assure you that this is not the construction of a lantern, but restoration. It was built much earlier. Note the lack of vegetation around. The feeling that the mudflow has just passed through, the earth is so mineralized that even the grass does not grow. Now everything is different there.

There is also a Rochelle castle in France. It is famous for the fact that there is also a lantern, but not typical for France architecture. Doesn't it look like anything?

This is a lantern, and everywhere it is officially called that. And there are many engravings confirming this.

The feeling that the owner of the castle ordered an architect from Tartary, and he erected a lantern in the style of a la russe for him, something like this:

It turns out that all of our similar bell towers, of which there are still many in Russia, are nothing more than lanterns. So, the lanterns were not only in France and here everything is far from so simple.

That's all for now, until we meet again.