Flèche (architecture)
A flèche (; ) is the name given to spires in Gothic architecture. In French, the word is applied to any spire, but in English it has the technical meaning of a ''spirelet'' or ''spike'' on the rooftop of a building. In particular, the spirelets often were built atop the Crossing (architecture), crossings of major churches in mediaeval French Gothic architecture are called flèches. On the ridge of the roof on top of the crossing (the intersection of the nave and the transepts) of a church, flèches were typically light, delicate, timber-framed constructions with a metallic sheath of lead or copper. They are often richly decorated with architectural and sculptural embellishments: tracery, crockets, and miniature buttresses serve to adorn the flèche. Flèches are often very tall: the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival spire of Notre-Dame de Paris (18582019) by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was about before its destruction in the Notre-Dame de Paris fire, while the 16th cent ...
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