Explain the importance of the flying buttress in architecture.

Flying buttresses allowed architects to design buildings
with much higher ceilings and much thinner walls with more of the wall area being
available for windows. These changes allowed for significant changes in the construction
of churches and cathedrals in the Middle Ages.

The heavy
stone structure needed for vaulted ceilings of churches exerted tremendous outward
pressure on the walls of the building. Buttresses constructed separate from the main
wall could counteract that force through arches braced between the buttress and the main
wall. At various times, the arches and buttresses were given added decorative
touches.