Editing Fan vault (section)

{{Short description|Form of vaulting}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
[[File:bath.abbey.fan.vault.arp.jpg|thumb|Fan vaulting over the nave at [[Bath Abbey]], England: made from local Bath stone, this is a [[Victorian restoration]] (in the 1860s) of the original roof of 1608]]

A '''fan vault''' is a form of [[Vault (architecture)|vault]] used in the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic style]], in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a [[fan (implement)|fan]].  The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with [[England]].

The earliest example, dating from about 1351,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/church/studies/glosarch.html |title=Britannia: Architecture of Gloucester Cathedral |access-date=2006-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130072100/http://www.britannia.com/church/studies/glosarch.html |archive-date=2018-11-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref> may be seen in the cloisters of [[Gloucester Cathedral]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?Document=1.C.2.2.1.4 |title=Pevsner Architectural Guides fan vault design |access-date=2006-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927235052/http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?Document=1.C.2.2.1.4 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The largest fan vault in the world can be found in [[King's College Chapel, Cambridge]].

The fan vault is peculiar to England. The [[Lierne (vault)|lierne]] vault of the cathedral of [[Barbastro]] in northern Spain closely resembles a fan vault, but it does not form a perfect [[conoid]]. [[John Harvey (historian)|John Harvey]] (1978) suggests [[Catherine of Aragon]] as a possible source of English influence in [[Aragon]].<ref name="harvey"/>