Buttresses and flying buttresses
Put buttresses along the wall of your church or castle. Choose pilasters, stepped buttresses with sloped caps, angle buttresses, or real flying buttresses with a free-standing pier and a pinnacle on top. You see the wall from the side, a cross-section through one bay and every layer from above.
Flying buttress
Side elevation along the wall
wallbuttresspierflyerstairspinnacleglassYou look at the wall from outside. Things further back are lighter. Click to choose a layer and the buttress for the cross-section.
Cross-section through the middle of the chosen buttress. Left is outside, the wall is on the right. The dashed lines are the exact underside and back of the flyer.
Top view: the top is outside, the wall is at the bottom. On a stair the dark half is the high side. Click blocks you have placed.
Build breakdown
Set-offs of the buttress
| Stage | Layers | Depth | Then | Cap |
|---|
Flyer column by column
| Column | To wall | Underside | Back | Layers | Blocks |
|---|
Per layer, from top to bottom
| Layer | Blocks | What happens here |
|---|
Build tips
- Build the wall to its full height first. Then put the buttresses against it layer by layer.
- For a flying buttress, start with the pier. Build the arch from the pier towards the wall, column by column, with the table next to it.
- Put a temporary scaffold under the flyer. An arch that is not yet attached to the wall would otherwise hang in the air.
- Stairs on the back of the arch and on the set-offs face with their high side towards the wall. In real life that is how the rain runs off.
- Choose a lighter or more decorative block for the pinnacles, for example Chiseled Stone Bricks or Quartz. Set the block palette to "Per part" to give every part its own block.
- A side aisle between pier and wall makes the church wider and hides the lower part of the flyers. The windows then go above the aisle roof.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the design as a schematic file and paste it into your world with WorldEdit, or rebuild it from a hologram in Litematica.
Shopping list
Add the amounts of this design to your list. There you see everything together, converted to stacks and shulker boxes.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
Why a wall needs support
A stone vault or a heavy roof does not only push down, but also sideways. Without support, the wall slowly leans outwards and can collapse.
A buttress is a thick piece of wall that stands at a right angle against the wall. It takes the sideways push and carries it to the ground.
Pilaster strips and Romanesque buttresses
The Romans already placed piers against their walls. In Romanesque churches you often see pilaster strips: narrow, flat strips that stick out only a little.
Romanesque walls were so thick that they needed little extra support. The strips mainly divided the wall into panels.
Gothic and the flying buttress
In the Gothic period, churches became much taller and got large windows. The walls became thinner. In the late 12th century, builders came up with the flying buttress.
A flying buttress is a half arch that jumps over the side aisle. It carries the push of the high vault to a separate pier outside. Notre-Dame in Paris was one of the first churches with such arches.
Stepped buttresses and pinnacles
Buttresses often become narrower towards the top, in steps. Each step gets a sloping cap, so rainwater runs off.
Builders placed a pinnacle on top of the piers: a small pointed tower. It is not only decoration. The extra weight pushes the pier down and makes it stronger.
Where can you still see them?
Famous flying buttresses can be seen at the cathedrals of Chartres, Reims, Amiens and Cologne. The Sainte-Chapelle in Paris has only normal buttresses.
In England, many parish churches have stepped buttresses. Castles and town walls have heavy, sloping buttresses. Many Dutch churches also have buttresses along the nave.
Did you know?
- In 1284 part of the vault of Beauvais Cathedral collapsed. After that, the church got extra buttresses.
- Beauvais Cathedral has the tallest Gothic choir in the world, about 48 metres.
- In French a flying buttress is called an 'arc-boutant'.
- A buttress at the corner of a building can stand diagonally, or as two buttresses at a right angle.
- The small leaf-shaped knobs along a pinnacle are called crockets.
About this tool
With this tool you place buttresses and flying buttresses along the wall of your church or castle in Minecraft. You enter the height, length and thickness of the wall. The tool spaces the buttresses evenly and works out every layer.
You choose from three types: a pilaster strip (straight buttress), a stepped buttress or a flying buttress with a pier. You space them at a fixed distance or as a fixed number. You set the width, depth, height and number of steps, with a sloped, slab or flat cap. For the corners you choose corner buttresses, a clasping buttress or a diagonal buttress.
On top you can add a pinnacle: a pointed turret, a spire with crockets or an open turret. For a flying buttress you choose the distance to the wall, the shape (quarter circle, segmental arch or straight and sloped), the thickness and one or two arches above each other. You can add a side aisle with a sloping roof and windows between the buttresses. Examples such as an English parish church or the long flying buttresses of Notre-Dame help you get started.
The side view, the section and the layer-by-layer build plan show exactly what to build, and the 3D view shows the whole design. The tables give every step and every column of the flying buttress. The counter counts blocks and stacks. With the block palette you give each part its own block, and then you download everything as a .schem file.
Build the rest of your church with the church planner and place Gothic windows between the buttresses.
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a flying buttress in Minecraft?
First build the wall and the separate pier. Then build the arch from the pier to the wall, column by column, with the table. Put a temporary scaffold under it, so you do not have to build in mid-air.
What is the difference between a buttress and a flying buttress?
A buttress stands directly against the wall. A flying buttress stands away from the wall: a pier outside is connected to the wall with an arch. This leaves room for a side aisle and large windows.
Which way do I place the stairs?
On the back of the arch and on the steps, the high side of the stair faces the wall. In real buildings this lets rainwater run off. In the build plan the dark half is the high side.
How far apart should the buttresses be?
On a church they often fit every 5 to 8 blocks, with a window in between. Choose 'Fixed spacing' for an even rhythm, or 'Fixed number' if your wall has a set length.
Which block suits pinnacles?
Choose a lighter or more decorative block, such as chiseled stone or quartz. Set the block palette to 'Per part' to give the pinnacles their own block.
Can I build this in Bedrock?
The layer-by-layer build plan works in every edition, including Bedrock. The .schem file is for Minecraft Java Edition, with WorldEdit or Litematica.