In twelfth-century Île-de-France, builders combined the pointed arch, the rib-vault and the external flying buttress to carry the thrust of high stone roofs outward and down to slender piers and detached supports. The approach was pioneered in the rebuilt choir of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, consecrated in 1144, and developed at Chartres and other cathedrals. Because the buttresses bore the loads, the walls between them no longer had to be massive and could be opened into vast windows filled with stained glass. The result was unprecedented height and luminous interiors.
Gothic structural engineering let cathedrals rise far above surrounding roofs, fixing the church as the dominant vertical landmark and visual and symbolic focus of the medieval European city for centuries.