Laon Cathedral is distinguished by its unchanged elevation despite its relatively long period of construction (c. 1155-c. 1230). The triforium retained its three-arcaded composition. It is evident that the organization of the work site changed several times during the construction. However, existing analysis have not paid attention to this problem. This paper aims to answer this question through a study of the triforium.
The triforium, passageway inside the thickness of a Gothic wall, has been rarely studied. This is regrettable because the triforium is rich in information. Its complicated composition and the diversity of its elements sometimes reflect the ruptures of construction or the changes in organization of the work site.
I investigated the triforium of Laon Cathedral in the following procedure:
1. Make clear the ruptures in the construction on the basis of the masonry and the capital sculptures.
2. Examine the techniques of construction (the masonry, the mason’s marks and the putlog holes (trou de boulin)).
3. Measure the heights of the shafts and the plinths of all the colonnettes. Analyze their differences between each construction phases and see their regularity/irregularity.
The study suggests that the organization of the work site seem to have changed after the first and the third phases: The first phase is characterized by its naturalistic style of the capital sculptures and the usage of the mason’s marks; The originality of the second and third phases are the presence of the putlog holes (which testifies the usage of cantilevered scaffolding) and the construction of the shaft and the capital in the same block; These techniques can not be seen in the forth phase.
Despite its unchanged design throughout the whole construction campaigns, there were several changes in organization of the work site. Studying the triforium can contribute to the monographic research on Gothic monuments.
