relegated after another heavy defeat and cologne are likewise running out of games to climb out of the drop zone. while you're watching ditto the news of next is a documentary on gothic cathedrals for many of the rest of the team here in berlin take care and of course don't forget you can always keep up to date on our website season. 86. it's their story their very own personal drama. the people who survived the catastrophe and remember. and they share private footage with us that has never been seen before. back to chernobyl starts april 28th on g.w. .

sometimes not much is needed to change history. sometimes all it takes is one idea and a person who runs with it. the abbot of sound in the monastery near paris was such a person 9 centuries ago he boldly implemented new architectural concepts that were already in the air. abbots to share let in the light colored light. romanesque builders had occasionally experimented with such innovations but sushi air incorporated them into the rebuilding of his abbey church to create a total work of art. like glass pointed arches and ribbed vaults. these were architectural elements already known in romanesque times but now they

were finer and more transmission than ever before. let there. being light that is the message that this church broadcasts its birth the start of an era in which architects vied to build ever higher and more white filled cathedrals the gothic. the desire for more light in a church and teary or is one thing making it technically possible is another for the thick walls to be replaced by thin windows the weight of the building had to be distributed outward on to columns and vaulted arches the structural shell became a skeleton. and glass was needed glass that could be melted and colored using a new technique that may have reached western europe from the middle east in the

10th century. soon the stained glass fragments were joined with strips of lead to compose symphonies of color. in the summer of 1144 the abbey church of sound in the set off an architectural revolution across france . in the following century more than 20 major gothic churches arose in the region around paris. it became a contest to build the highest and most beautiful churches. within

a generation this development had gathered momentum still further afield stross books cathedral. was changed over to the gothic style in the 1st half of the 13th century artistic influences from across europe came together in this space. it was only much later that this pride of the alsace became a nationalist bone of contention between france and germany. german or french was not an issue more than 700 years ago when everyone from steinbach master builder from modern out did all previous interiors with this rose window. of course all this splendor was for the glory of god but these achievements also fired up the competition among architects and artists to create more masterpieces.

the so-called angels pillar. it's a depiction of judgment day the sculptures are palpable proof of the gothic artist's desire to make hard stone appears supple. is there a limit to what artists can achieve in this endeavor. hugh. the new self-assurance of the gothic gazes down from the gallery. the master builder put himself in the artwork on the lookout from above for the latest architectural marvel it's. one marvel took place at the start of the construction of the facade was envelop in

a curtain of delicate stone work the famous harp string tracery with its mighty rose window 60. years later 2 tower levels were built a central story made the construction more imposing but more clunky its heaviness was relieved by a tower extending almost crazily toward heaven. the former stone masons lodge now a museum contains a collection of what made this building a champion of the gothic. the building plans of the ingenious architects. course the smoke folk here in the greatest jewel of this collection is the oldest clan of a stress ball cathedral of park i'm in the fire on parchment it's an initial design for the rebuilding of the west facade with hope the central portal and the large rows window was already in place. and here we also have open work tracery and

cables i've identified tough there's a fantastic architectural drawing cool but unfortunately i don't know who made it and i don't mean. the names of most of the 1st architects who worked on the cathedral are unknown today but they were the ones who optimized the gothic principle of skeletal construction it comprised elements such as the open timber roof truss to reduce the load of the roof. the flying buttresses that gave lateral support to the name. and the rip vaults that gave the isles their sense of lightness. and the ingenious wooden constructions that enabled the masonry of the rounded arches and domes but which devoured entire forest. behind all this decorative design is the gothic principle of thrust and counterbalance which the competition

among the architects reduced to its essential so. they were driven by the idea of converting the fixed own space into a shrine of glass. the sheer radicality of the way erivan from shine box on his ever finer web of stone marked a new high point in the contest of gothic architecture. world war. 2. we don't know how evan function and buck really looked this sculpture made long after his time shows him with raised index finger. it's a finger that is less didactic than thoughtful ready to suddenly point out a tiny detail.

would lead the way. after all building a gothic cathedral also involves attention to the smallest things. how many hammer blows went into the 142 metre tall strong board cathedral all. it must have been like a goldsmith's a tell he crossed with a major construction site demanding not only the master builders love of detail but the ability to keep track of the overall structural engineering with. the idea to slow the. foot in evans time the science of architectural construction was not yet developed experimentation was his constant companion. he drew on the experience his masons brought with them from building sites across europe and these

ideas flowed into the great plaster or clay panels where the building plans were drawn. when evan began the rebuilding of the west work the west facing introns in $1277.00 the ground level of the building was already standing. over the next 40 years he was able to complete the next level which culminated in the breathtaking rose window. it was a symphony of light and illustration of god's love radiating to all sides a hint of paradise where earthly things dissolve in a mystical color space. could

this grandiose idea be taken still further some 80 kilometers up river from strasbourg in fribourg evan from korea lies to an even bolder vision a very special church spire the translation of his rose window into 3 dimensions. evan left a great legacy to the workers of the masons lodge the workshop of the 5 book minister a great legacy in need of great care. every year the stone masons have to climb up the tower to ensure that none of the crumbling stone fragments land on the market on minster square from a height of more than 100 meters. just .

a gothic cathedral is essentially a mountain of sandstone and like every other rocky crag it is eaten away by erosion the more gothic it is the more delicate its details. but the more delicate the more vulnerable. cathedrals like the fribourg minster are never ending construction sites the most recent renovation of the tower an undertaking that lasted 12 years hasn't relieved the stone masons from regularly inspecting every centimeter of the structure. crumbling fragments are removed by hand. while larger damaged areas are secured with wire mesh until the next overhaul. which is certain to come. this 1st tracery spire

in history will remain in the hands of stone masons for eternity. what creative daring must have driven architect evan french to design a roof. for this tower a roof made of stone but full of home is. a

gothic marvel took around 300 years to build. org. and something distinguished it from the other places of worship the fly boatmen stone never belonged to the catholic church it was commissioned by an aristocratic family as a sign of its power and influence. soon after it belonged to the people of the city. the radiating chapels in the apps were funded as was common in the late gothic period by the sale of indulgences. these kinds of richly

appointed family chapels sometimes reached a level of extravagance as families vied to outdo each other. in the late gothic ceiling the rib vaulting was not only used in the traditional. to support the roof but additionally added as purely decorative diagonal ribs which grew together in wildly branching patterns where. the lawyers. battled the 5th the last duke of sailing in who had commissioned the rebuilding of the church 300 years earlier as a prestigious burial site had had very different ideas. he was a pious knight who still viewed the church as a center of royal or clerical power but his heirs ran out of money for the upkeep

of the project. around 1300 the citizens of my borg took over the administration of the church they founded a minster factory an association which financed the building work its members were obliged to give it the shirt off their backs literally i'm a dyed they pick waved their best piece of clothing to fund the building work. now the church windows did not only feature stories of the bible but bore the symbols of the guilds that were the financial backers the smiths the tailors the shoemaker's the coopers and the bakers. and they celebrated a line of business that was making fiberboard richer than ever silver mining. in the competition of the cathedrals the flyboy of minster was in the lead with what was at the time the highest building. am i and the community spirit was reflected

in the humorous depiction of the birth of christ. here in the manger the ox is trying to eat the infant jesus is diaper but joseph intervenes with his staff. today the floor of the minster has been paved with solid stone tiles but that was not always the case those who could afford it sought to be buried under the floor not only to be close to the saints but also to remain even in death a part of the citizens community assembled here. as late as the 17th century a visitor complained that in a minister one trips over hundreds of tombstone. i am. as a true citizens church it also provided practical services for the living it told time

for example and the units of measure engraved on the outer wall let buyers at the market check that the prices of the goods were fair but the price of grain varied enormously in the year 1270 customers could get a plump loaf of bread in the great famine of $1317.00 they were lucky to get a scanty roll for the money. just fits and beyond that is to really pleasing. the 14th century was a time of serious crises above all the great plague it has strophes fits it you know not even but even earlier in the 1st half of the 14th century we see famine house floods fail harvests shortages cost him both india and still almost at the same time we see a new form a depiction of reality a tool of nature and being. and the quickest think of the grotesque gargoyles but also the whimsical architectural details in the today almost seem ironic in the

olney on. the. game.

in times of crisis many certainties are called into question in strasbourg to the balance of power was shifting the emerging middle class had already rebelled against the all powerful mission. as a result not only judgment day and the saints adorn the entrance of the cathedral but also the statue of a controversial. politician count who'd off of hoppes book once excommunicated by the pope as an enemy of the church and later king of germany in the holy roman empire or to have sided with the citizens of strasbourg to rid the city of their unpopular bishop. from then on the minster architect was no longer accountable to the clergy but to free me elected city councillors. they would have to be convinced that the minster would be a priest diju object symbolizing the might of their city.

but the city councillors were not necessarily the arbiters of artistic taste instead of continuing to construct the 2 planned towers they decided on a central section to contain the bells it went up in just 5 years and transform the for side into a rectangular box it's. imposing yes but also clunky and a distraction from evan's beautiful rose window soon cause grew loud to beautify this block with special towers but was it possible to find competent builders on short notice. the municipal archive in all holds a special piece of evidence that may answer that question. and accosting upon

a name has spent 6 years studying the medieval account books of the all minster it's a treasure trove of information about the movements of builders at the time. if you don't it tells us where the stone masons came from here is how in the east front door last paid 15 shillings hands from being who also gets 15 shillings comms we have one from brandon burke near where i'm from the vin hausen from canton and in the course of this week 2 stone masons immigrate from style color had fun style and thomas. get 5 shillings in high. these are no purpose they were taken on for a week by all the workshops they would always have an opportunity to work for a week or at least until the next payout when the next. and around a quarter of the stonemasons were wandering journeyman and they'd stay at the

building site for just a week or 2 and then move on to the next building site and the next day live out of . the analysis of the account books the daily schedules and hiring contracts from the 15th century helps to decipher the network they're connected the gothic cathedral workshops by compiling the names of the artisans it is possible to reconstruct the workers movements and the phases of the construction one document in particular proves how closely connected these medieval church building specialists were. and that if he sticks to our planet and this is one of the most important building plans we have because it tells us a great deal about the masons lodges the middle ages on the one side we have the tower on the cathedral with the per middle tower with the many steps and and all the other side written in the same hand we have the plan for the tower of the oil minster and what that means that they knew precisely what was going on in other

workshops where designs were being developed there might and they share this information as the towns were competing for the most famous master builders but the architects communicated amongst themselves and share their knowledge of the toast. the 2 sided plan is proof that gothic builders had several irons in the fire and worked simultaneously on different sites spurred on by the city's appetite for these prestigious projects. the builders in strasbourg had heard that the wealthy textile export ing city of home was planning a church with a gigantic tower that was exactly what they wanted to aspire to turn the blocky front into a thing of beauty. a messenger was dispatched to on. was

there was only one contemporary depiction of the man known to history as an inspired master builder of towers the sculpture of the architect and singer eroded by time shows him gazing upward to where his spires grew up into the sky. was. polish designed the towers and schloss board and all but he was never to see them completed. a precious document in the central library shows the ambitious planning that went into the project in the up and coming city. it's a 15th century chronicle of the city written by a dominican monk named felix fabry.

for police candid account of what happened in allman the late middle ages includes major events but also plenty of gossip. one event particularly fascinated him the laying of the cornerstone of the oem minster. the start of the construction work was quite unusual fabric wrote. the citizens build their church as he put it without the support of the clergy and nobility. it was a daring undertaking. not churchmen but city councilman climbed into the building pit to lay the foundation. what courage what optimism. top renames 1377 as the start of construction and praises the boldness of the oem

citizens who had grown rich through the textile train. but felix fabry did not know that it would take another 513 years for the building to shine in all its splendor. today the omen star is still the tallest church in the world. but for centuries this glory was neglected because soon after its completion in the 16th century home became protestant and the lutheran preachers did not appreciate such soaring spaces for their somber sermons. martin luther visited only and called the minster gigantic but quite impractical gothic was out.

and status symbols like the precious glass windows the besser hours a merchant family had placed in their chapel which against the tastes of the a qana clastic protestants as did presumably the gothic humor of this depiction of mary and st peter. to peter is wearing spectacles. for when the travails of the master builder were commemorated by showing him kneeling under the weight of his work q. in strasbourg oldish and sing out was working in parallel on his 2nd tower project an exclusive 8 sided north tower with the help of novel cranes he wanted to raise

the minister to 140 metres in height. in the 20 years until his death he was to achieve half of the 80 meters that were still planned. but his plan gave reality to a special construction it was one of the most ingenious designs of the entire gothic period. my. am. a star architect did manage to complete his 4 slender towers containing stairways but when all reached died in 1419 his work stood like a hollow tooth luckily the gothic style was still all the rage until the mid 15th century and straw spork was determined to finish its prestige project. so by

1439 the highest church tower at the time reached a height of 142 meters. or an. my. when things are too perfect people sometimes lose interest in them and by the end of the 15th century the public had seen too much of the ever more finely carved stone. the pulpit in strasbourg made by master builder hans hummer can perhaps be seen as both the high point of and farewell to 300 years of gothic architecture. what the builders created we inherit and inheriting is not always easy inheritance is also

a mission. when in the 19th century these pillars began to sink under the weight of an singer's tower it was clear that a cathedral of this size is never finished. bush gosport cathedral museum the former masons lodge has a book of photos that document a nearly 20 year long battle to preserve the minster this is a family portrait with johann later celebrated as the savior of the minster. can out a native of cologne and his team succeeded in an engineering feat without which. would probably not be standing today. the problem was the pillar and its foundation that was too weak.

it was not only sinking but leaning to one side and threatening to collapse and crash through the name. developed a bold plan to envelop the pillar in reinforced concrete. this meters thick mental was to be based on a foundation ring cast out of pressure resistant reinforced concrete so the ground under the pillar had to be dug up and replaced by a concrete base. using hydraulic presses it would be possible to raise the pillar again the hydraulic press acting laterally would correct the twist to the left it was all a question of mathematics and engineering science at the start of the 2. 20th century. here gotta look at these amazing photos from 922 of the incredible reinforcement we both meet of 7

meters of this giant its sheath in a reinforced concrete corset cause that. this was the biggest restoration mesha carried out almost gospel cathedral and it contributed significantly toward securing the cathedral tower and the entire building. they worked directly beneath the pillar under a weight of 10 and a half 1000 tons. and then came the moment when the concrete course it had to be removed again. sandstone is softer than reinforced concrete and very sensitive.

in october 1926 the rescue of the minster was celebrated with a lot of fanfare. but you know one cannot was not present as a german he had been expelled from what was now france. they could be drawn architects work is never done in ome underlays boom is in charge of a project to repair or replace damage stones there are $4500.00 of them marked in blue or yellow on the diagram. in the case of the own minister the stonemasons needed a century to carry out a thorough renovation and once that was over the next 100 years began and that is the way it's always been. heaped up to 45th and that's why not i found

a book from 141-0021 person wrote i might once on a sunday the people were at the nearing service when 2 stones fell down from the vaulted ceiling a minister started to think we were scared it would fall over. probably the problems are the same as today. stones don't fall from the ceiling nowadays. but to ensure that it stays that way even the tiniest cracks in the building have to be regularly monitored.

unglazed does that with this cannon like device. with a laser he pinpoints the often in excessively high cracks and with a telescope he can recognize whether and when the walls might break apart. it's ok i've got it. now it's sharp. this crack has in fact shrunk by 3 millimeters. you know there are hardly any changes compared to last year. we're looking at about a 10th so that's ok. that's a relief the table of measurements goes back to the 19th century a time at which investigations turned up quite different values. in the

850 s. irreverent caricature has appeared poking fun at the half finished and dilapidated state of the building. the tower was not even 100 meters tall but it was dangerously shaky the well behaved passers by slink by in silence the police caution those who speak on a billy a sign warns talking loudly on minster square is forbidden. it seems the risk was so high that loud conversation or laughter could cause the beautiful gothic structure to tumble down. 170 year old photographs reveal the truly pitiful state of this super building which had hardly been worked on since luther's time. but now in the mid 1900 century it was time to rescue the minsters as in straws book buttresses in the original style were added to stabilize the shaky walls of the navy. and the

east towers planned and singers time were finally erected. and at the entrance soon a super tower rose high one which might have pleased old rich and senior to know in . a group photo with the capstone which seen up close is truly impressive. so around 1900 the minster envisioned by the citizens of ome 500 years earlier was finally completed for the moment. and. it soon became clear that the world's new tallest church tower was so heavy that it

destabilized the entire building. a rescue plan was needed. and it can be seen down here. at the end of a basement chaffed. the heart of steel that holds it all together. i mean our farm and all these 14 crops still pieces were derived from experiences in building mines to retrofit the tower still parts where he did to 380 degrees celsius and then these clamps were tightened and as a called the steel was pulled together. and live and all 14 still parts exerted tensile force of

a 1000 tons to hold the minster tower together and stabilize the entire building. because of all work. did the architects 6 centuries ago building ever higher believe their cathedrals would last this long. their faith in god clearly led them to presume they would succeed. and they were right. daniel wagner and andre young are natives of own and their church is still the highest in the world. to celebrate that super tive they thought up a special trip they plan to fly a camera drone to capture the beauty of the minster in a single take. it should so i'd say let's take it over mr square can

slowly up the minster towards the flying buttresses soon and then through it as you know it i would yes and i go relatively 2223 meters through. and then go down through the butter says and then emerge but with these buttresses we're around 20 to 25 meters would he and then here all the way up to 86 and then circle around as you mean up to the topic of yes once around the outside let's go super. eyes are all full have a good flight. play

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great books of the 20th century. present day hoaxes. curing ignorance source may 3rd. this is deja news and these are our top stories the race to succeed on the american as germany's chancellor is heating up as her conservators alliance struggles to agree on a candidate for september's general actually the standoff is between various premier mako sudha and the head of that medicals seaview in a recent poll shows more supposed support for zuda among voters. a wildfire.