The top of a tower or the end of a dome or helmet but mainly at the summit of church steeples. A spire is usually in the shape of a very tall, slender and pointed pyramid or cone. It may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan. It is also the slender helmet itself on top of a roof or tower. “Spires are typically built of stonework or brickwork, or else of timber structure with metal cladding, ceramic tiling, shingles, or slates on the exterior”. Brick or stone spires, sometimes openwork, were characteristic of Gothic architecture and they are called pinnacles. In French Gothic, the spire at the transept crossing is much more slender and openwork than the two towers (bell-towers) rising at the western end of a church, or more often a cathedral (region of Île-de-France). Whereas in English Gothic, the spire at the transept crossing is a much more massive steeple (tower) crowned with a spire, as it simultaneously plays the role of a bell-tower (for example, Salisbury cathedral). In the Baroque period, spires were made of copper sheet and were crowned with helmets. Spires are also a characteristic element of Ruthenian and Russian architecture.
Featured image: Spire of Salisbury Cathedral (completed 1320) (123 metres with its tower and spire on top). Photo by Antony McCallum (2016). The author is the uploader, photographer, full copyright owner and proprietor of WyrdLight.com. CC BY-SA 4.0. Image cropped; colours intensified. Photo source: “Spire” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
“Spire” (2021). In: Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Available at <https://bit.ly/2NyO6A1>. [Accessed 24th February, 2021].
Koch W. (2009) Style w architekturze. Arcydzieła budownictwa europejskiego od antyku po czasy współczesne. [Baustilkunde], pp. 444, 468, 497. Baraniewski W., Kunkel R., Omilanowska M., Sito J., Zięba A., Żak K. trans. Warszawa: Świat Książki.
PWN (2007). Słownik terminologiczny sztuk pięknych, p. 156. Kubalska-Sulkiewicz K., Bielska-Łach M., Manteuffel-Szarota A. eds. Wydanie piąte. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.