Zigzag pattern
The zigzag pattern ( French chevron ) is a pattern of short straight stretches that are lined up at the same angles so that their ends describe two parallel lines or arcs. A zigzag pattern is constructed by repeatedly mirroring a segment; it is also produced in braiding and weaving and is one of the oldest known ornamental patterns in human history (e.g. the megalithic and bell-shaped culture ).
Architecture examples
While zigzag pattern hardly occur in the ancient architecture (except herringbone ), they form a popular motif in the Anglo-Norman (z. B. at the portals of Southwell Minster or architectural decoration of Galilee Chapel of the Cathedral of Durham , England) or of later Islamic art (e.g. minarets of the Jahangir mausoleum in Lahore , Pakistan).
Anglo-Norman south portal of Southwell Minster (around 1130)
Portal of the Romanesque church of Sotosalbos , Segovia province (around 1140)
Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral (ca 1180)
Minaret of the Jahangir Mausoleum , Lahore , Pakistan (around 1630)
Recent examples
- Zigzag patterns are a basic element of many ornaments and decorations , for example porcelain and ceramics .
- The zigzag seam can be machined by a sewing machine . Zigzag seams are characterized by their elasticity, which is important when sewing fabrics that are stressed in different directions (e.g. balloon envelopes , parachutes , sails ). See under: sewing
- The sawtooth wave and the triangular wave describe a zigzag pattern.
- Zigzag often describes the direction of text running within several columns or lines. It is important here that at the end of the row or column there is a jump to the beginning of the next row or column - in contrast to the "queue" direction, in which the continuation takes place at the beginning of the next row or column that is closer. Normal German multi-column texts are formatted with zigzag. The snake running direction is more likely to be used when arranging ornaments or several equal parts of text and is therefore rare overall.
