Sexpartite vault

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In architecture, a sexpartite vault is a rib vault divided into six bays by two diagonal ribs and three transverse ribs.{{cite book

| first = Francis D.K.

| last = Ching

| year = 1995

| title = A Visual Dictionary of Architecture

| edition=

| publisher=John Wiley and Sons

| location=New York

| isbn = 0-471-28451-3

| page = 263}}

The principal examples are those in the Abbaye-aux-Hommes and Abbaye-aux-Dames at Caen (which were probably the earliest examples of a construction now looked upon as transitional), Notre-Dame de Paris, and the cathedrals of Bourges, Laon, Senlis and Sens; from the latter cathedral the sexpartite vault was brought by William of Sens to Canterbury, and it is afterwards found at Lincoln and in St Faith's Chapel,[http://www.westminster-abbey.org/archive/visit-us/highlights/saint-faiths-chapel Saint Faith's Chapel - Westminster Abbey] Westminster Abbey.{{EB1911 |wstitle=Sexpartite Vault |volume=24 |page=749 |inline=1}}