The king's works : Saint-Pierre de Montmartre (1131-1134). Louis VI le Gros and the invention of gothic

The abbey of Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, the only religious foundation directly resulting from the royal patronage of Louis VI, is also one of the monuments that expressed the early gothic style of architecture. Our knowledge of the edifice, however, is based on an article by F. Deshoulieres, published in 1913. Louis VI and his wife Adelaide de Savoie are thought to have launched the project in 1133, but the work was thought to have progressed slowly with a change of plan. On the contrary, by returning to the texts, to critical observation and an analysis of the architectural conception, one can show that the abbey, financed by the royal couple and envisaged as a Capetian memorial monument, was built in a single campaign between 1131 and 1134. The original central vessel had rib vaulting, but without any system for containing the strong pressure on the empty spaces allied with this kind of vaulting. The result was that thirty or forty years after the church was built, the ribs began to show signs of weakness, which required their dismounting and replacement by a wooden covering.