Flèche (architecture)
{{short description|Spires in Gothic architecture}}
File:Clocher de la Sainte-Chapelle.JPG, Île de la Cité, designed by Jean-Baptiste Lassus.{{Citation|title=Lassus, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-2613|work=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|year=2015|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|access-date=2020-05-27|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan|url-access=subscription}}]]
File:Notre Dame de Paris Est side.jpgTwo pictures of Notre-Dame de Paris with its 19th century flèche, lost to fire in 2019.|alt=]]
File:Михайловский (Инженерный) замок, Башня церкви.jpg, St Petersburg, designed by Vasily Bazhenov.{{Citation|title=Bazhenov, Vasily Ivanovich|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-476|work=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|year=2015|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|access-date=2020-05-27|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan|url-access=subscription}}]]
File:Maquette de la charpente de la flèche de la cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris.jpg made for Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1859) (Museum of Historic Monuments, Paris)]]
A flèche ({{IPA|fr|flɛʃ|lang}}; {{langnf|fr||arrow}}){{cite Collins Dictionary |spirelet |access-date=2020-05-21}} 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.{{cite web |title=spire|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-4392|website=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|year=2015|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|access-date=2020-05-27|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan}}{{Citation|title=flèche|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-1827|work=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|year=2015|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|access-date=2020-05-27|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan|url-access=subscription}} In particular, the spirelets often were built atop the 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 spire of Notre-Dame de Paris (1858{{En dash}}2019) by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was about {{Convert|100|ft|m|abbr=}} before its destruction in the Notre-Dame de Paris fire, while the 16th century flèche of Amiens Cathedral is {{Convert|148|ft|m|abbr=}} high.{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/209889/fleche|title=Flèche | architecture|website=Britannica|access-date=2017-12-14}}
The highest flèche in the world was built at the end of the 19th century for Rouen Cathedral, {{convert|157|m}} high in total.{{Cite journal |last=Causarano |first=Marie Ange |date=2009-12-30 |title=La cattedrale e la città: il cantiere del Duomo di Siena. Risultati delle indagini archeologiche |journal=Arqueología de la Arquitectura |issue=6 |pages=199–224 |doi=10.3989/arqarqt.2009.09013 |issn=1989-5313|doi-access=free |hdl=11577/3279811 |hdl-access=free }}
A short spire or flèche surrounded by a parapet is common on churches in Hertfordshire; as a result, this type of flèche is called a Hertfordshire spike.{{Citation|title=Hertfordshire spike|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-2249|work=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|year=2015|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|access-date=2020-05-27|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan|url-access=subscription}}
