How long did cathedrals take to build

He understood that the natural world is rife with curved forms, not straight lines. And he noticed that natural construction tends to favor sinewy materials such as wood, muscle, and tendon. But his belief in the beautiful efficiency of natural engineering clearly anticipated the modern science of biomimetics. He understood that nature is constructed by laws of mathematics.

What is strongest is inherently lightest and most efficient—and therefore most beautiful. Portions of this article appeared in the December issue of National Geographic magazine.

All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city Caracals have learned to hunt around the urban edges of Cape Town, though the predator faces many threats, such as getting hit by cars. India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big.

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In , its construction was stopped. For the next three centuries, the Cologne Cathedral stood incomplete in the center of the city. The ruin, with its medieval construction crane, became the involuntary landmark of the city.

During the 18th century, the building was even used by French revolutionary troops as a horse stable. Finally, like all outdated trends, Gothic came back in style. During the Romantic period, Cologne's inhabitants looked back to the Middle Ages, rekindling their interest for not only the building, but also for its old architectural plans.

Instead of discretely concealing this fact, Cologne proudly underlined it in the cathedral's official document: "To the eternal memory of the largest German cathedral, happily completed after six centuries," it read. The people along the Rhine aren't the only ones to have taken their time in their building projects, as this week's High Five shows.

Click through the gallery above to discover more of these slow-paced developments. Soccer god by day, perfumer by night?

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From air guitaring to extreme ironing, there are odd world championships all over the world. Winning isn't always top priority - most of them are all about the thrill. Visit the new DW website Take a look at the beta version of dw. Go to the new dw. More info OK. Wrong language? Change it here DW. The scale of medieval cathedrals amazes visitors to this day. Find out what drove people to build such monumental buildings, and how they did it.

The building of monumental cathedrals in the middle ages was a reflection of faith and the channel for much of the creative energy of medieval European society. Although cathedral building was driven by religious figures or institutions, it was often a community effort. From the mid-twelfth century, the Church started granting indulgences forgiveness of sins to those who would help to build a church or cathedral, and therefore, rather than going on crusades, which had been a popular means of absolving sins in the late eleventh century, people dedicated more effort to the construction of houses of God instead.

There was always a faction among the pious that disapproved of excessive spending on the construction and decoration of lavish religious buildings, but these were a minority, and the dominant feeling was one of great enthusiasm, ambition, and a desire to excel in this quest to construct magnificent buildings reflecting God's glory. As cathedrals took decades, and often even centuries to complete, few people who worked on them expected to see them finished during their lifetimes.

Being involved in the construction of a cathedral, even as the building patron, required a willingness to be part of a process that was larger than oneself. Relics of important saints were an important source of prestige but also of income.

For the community of St Cuthbert , the most important relic was, of course, the incorrupt body of the saint himself, which was preserved in this wooden coffin dating from the 7th century. The coffin is still on display inside Durham Cathedral.

The construction of a cathedral was often led and financed to a large extent by the Cathedral Chapter the senior clergy , while bishops tended to contribute at their own free will. However, at Durham, the bishops' contribution - both intellectual and financial, was substantial.