Scaffolding is almost as old as building - evidence of notches to accept scaffold timber exists in Nubian construction; it can also be seen in Roman construction and many of the later Gothic and Romanesque structures in Western Europe. So no big deal.

aliens and tractor beams..... i thought you knew

a sky-hook

Well, a mount is built in many parts. Over many centuries.

This type of building is an evolved form of the motte-and-bailey variety of building-- a combination of crypts and foundations being built into the earthwork finishing with a fortress capping an artificial hill.

With this variety of building however... it was not built from ground toward sky. It was built from the top down. But this description is kind of deceiving.

Rather, for this kind of building, it was built by hollowing the stone out from below forming rooms, hallways and crypts. The cut stone was then used to build the exterior walls, reinforcements and buttressing.

This does one of two things, it recycles construction waste and makes the structures appear taller than they actually are. for example, Mont. St. Michel isn't that tall if you measure from the top of the natural mount to the highest building. If you measure from the bottom near the ocean to the tower on top... then yes, this structure would be impressive for pre-Gothic architecture.

Almost all pre-Gothic castles were built this way with some minor exceptions-- the minor exceptions being castles and fortresses built where there was clay, lime or volcanic ash available. Such as parts of Southern England and Southern France (lime), the Rhine River Valley (known for its brilliant Orange clays) and central Italy (volcanic ash is a natural cement).

Typical in castle building is that castle construction was built from a corner around the perimeter back to the same corner, slowly increasing in height. This circular construction allowed for two things... the use of ramps and cranes.

This only happened on heavyweight construction however. When castles became palaces in the Gothic age, cranes were used on built floors. so each section of exterior and supporting walls had to be fully finished and outfitted with structural floors before the next story's walls could be constructed. Gothic construction techniques and their relatively thin walls could barely support the weight of works lead alone the weight of cranes.

The vaulting, columns and arches of Gothic structures are what actually hold the whole buildings up. Gothic structures are inherently flimsy until the last stones up in the roof get laid.

Gunpowder, canons and even catapults are what drove castle building into palace building sometime around the 15th-century as fortification became a non issue.

First, castles in all their stone glory are actually comprised of timber structures wrapped in stone. Few 'architects' ever used barrel vaulting in creating structural floors. The amount of moisture, the cold regulated temperatures and the presence of infestation lead many castles to rot out quickly and fall apart.

This lead to the second part and the aforementioned vaults and arches-- the need for permanent structures lead to the increase of Gothic-styled buildings as the construction allowed for all stone-and-brick construction minimizing the need for wooden support structures.

And all of this use of stone lead to interesting problems in architecture onwards when it came to buildings castles, fortresses and palaces-- there became a shortage in stone in Europe.

This is one aspect that fueled the creation of Baroque, Neoclassical and Georgia styles is an increase in the use of concrete, brick and stone veneers as they were cheaper and more available. The decreased building weight lead to lighter (and artificial) foundations, higher ceilings, larger window spans and the increase in the number of stories buildings had.

But yes, they've had cranes and scaffolding since about 700 B.C.E.

Unicorn:

Thanks for your history lecture. I need to keep up with your explanation. There are some I don't understand, can you elaborate? Could you post a drawing/video to explian the following?

"Rather, for this kind of building, it was built by hollowing the stone out from below forming rooms, hallways and crypts. The cut stone was then used to build the exterior walls, reinforcements and buttressing."

1) Shows the site before construction.

2) Shows the initial structure cut from mount and assembled on mount.

3) Shows how the building was cut from within the mount itself.

4) Shows the addition of walls and additional structures.

5) Shows the process repeated again.

6) Shows how the complex has filled out and how it looks bigger than it actually is.

Can't see it clearly. Unicorn.

hahahaha, love the last two responses.

Is that Casa del Fascio off to the right?

I can't use IE on windowXp to see the picture unicorn attached. But I can see it on IE in window 7. Strange.

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