AND ACH/EOLOGY W 'ON / WONDERS OF ART AND ARCHEOLOGY WONDERS OF ARCHITECTURE Translated from the French of M. Lefevre TO WHICH IS ADDED A CHAPTER ON ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE BY R. DONALD ILLUSTRATED' ' NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1886 PREFACE. THE object of tfye present work is to supply, in as accessible and popular a form as the nature of the subject admits, a connected and comprehensive sketch of the chief archi- tectural achievements of ancient and modem times. To give a history of the art treated of in the following pages, would require much more space than is here devoted to the subject. But whilst this has not been directly at- tempted, it may be said to be indirectly fulfilled. Com- mencing with the rudest dawnings of architectural science as exemplified in the Celtic monuments, a carefully com- piled and authentic record is given of the most remarkable temples, palaces, columns, towers, cathedrals, bridges, via- ducts, churches, and buildings of every description which the genius of man has constructed ; and as these are all described in chronological order, according to the eras to which they belong, they form a connected narrative of the development of architecture, in which the history and pro- gress of the art can be authentically traced. The book has been designed for the edification and amusement of the general reader, and not for the perusal of the professional student Care has been taken to popularise the theme as much as possible, to make the VU1 PREFACE. descriptions plain and vivid, to render the text free from mere technicalities, and to convey a correct and truthful impression of the various objects that are enumerated. Whilst, however, an effort has been made to place the architectural marvels of the world in a simple and easily recognisable manner before the mind of the reader, there has been retained sufficient of the professional phraseology to instruct the uninitiated in the rudiments of an art which is daily assuming a more prominent position. Although, as will be seen, the scheme has been carried out within very moderate compass, no building or structure that claimed, or still claims, to be ranked among the wonders of architecture, has been omitted. All the cele- brated structures that ever existed, or that are yet in ex- istence, from the Tower of Babel downwards, are described in connection with the various civilisations which gave them birth. It only remains to be added that the book is translated from the French. Many alterations have, however, been made in it, in order to make it more acceptable to English readers ; and a brief and sketchy chapter has been added upon the history and growth of English architecture. CONTENTS CHAPTER L CELTIC MONUMENTS. rAO , The Men-hirs of Croisic, of Lochmariaker, and of Plouarzel The Cromlechs of Abury and of Stonehenge Lines of Carnac Dolmens of Cornwall Covered Ways of Munster, Saumur, and Gavrinnis I CHAPTER IL PELASGIC AND ETRUSCAN MONUMENTS. Acropolis of Sipylus Ruins of Mycenae Monte Circello . II CHAPTER IIL ^GYPT. The Pyramids Thebes Ipsamboul ...... 19 CHAPTER IV. ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE. Jerusalem Nineveh Babylon Persepolis Ellora . . .29 CHAPTER V. GREEK ART. Athens The Acropolis- The Parthenon Greek Remains in Italy and Asia The Temples of Psestum The Temple of Diana at Ephesus .......... 43 CHAPTER VI. ANCIENT ROME. The Roman Forum Capitol Colosseum Temple of Peace Arches of Titus and Constantine Baths of Caracalla The Pantheon Trajan Column ....... 62 CHAPTER VII. THE ROMAN WORLD. The West Square House of Nimes Roman Gate at Treves Arena of Nimes Amphitheatre of Aries Palmyra and Balbek . . . 5 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. LATIN AND BYZANTINE STYLES. PAGB Basilicas Roman Churches Mosque of St Sophia at Con- stantinople Cathedral of Angouleme 103 CHAPTER IX. ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE. Arab Style Mosque of Omar The Alhambra Mosque of Cordova India Puri Juggernaut Monuments of Delhi Persia and China Ispahan The Chinese Wall The Por- celain Tower Central America 1 19 CHAPTER X. ROMAN ARCHITECTURE. Continental Churches and Cathedrals . . , . . . 138 CHAPTER XL GOTHIC ART. Characteristics of the Gothic Style Cathedrals of Amiens, Chartres, and Strasbourg The Florid Style Renaissance Gothic Military and Civil Structures of the Middle Ages . 153 CHAPTER XII. ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. Pisa The Leaning Tower Florence The Cathedral of Milan- Roman Palaces St. Peter's at Rome 180 CHAPTER XIII. FRENCH RENAISSANCE. The old French Chateaux Fontainebleau The Louvre . . 207 CHAPTER XIV. CLASSIC ART AND THE DECADENCE OF ARCHITECTURE. Versailles The Palais -Royal The Bourse The Madeleine- New Opera House 230 CHAPTER XV. ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Stonehenge Westminster and Melrose Abbeys Pontefract Castle Holyrood Palace 239 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. MM 1. The Temple of Neptune at Paestum, . . Frontispiece. 2. The Pillars of Karnac, . 4 3. The Merchant's Tables at Lochmariaker, .... 7 4. Ruins at Mycenae : I. Tomb of Atreus. 2. Gate of the Lions, 15 5. Karnak (Egypt), 26 6. Khorsabad Assyrian Temple Restored, . . . . 33 7. Temples of Ellora, 40 8. The Parthenon, from a photogiaph, 49 9. The Temple of Pandrosa, . 52 10. The Temple of Neptune at Paestum, from a photograph, . 57 u. The Colosseum at Rome, from a photograph, . . 67 12. Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, from a photograph, . .71 13. The Pantheon at Rome, 75 14. Trajan's Column at Rome 79 15. The Square House of Nimes, 86 1 6. Roman Gate at Treves, ... . . 87 17. The Arena of Nimes .90 18. The Amphitheatre of Aries, 92 19. The Pont du Gard, 96 20. Interior of St. Sophia at Constantinople . . . .109 21. Cathedral of A ngouleme 116 22. A View in the Alhambra, 123 23. Interior of the Mosque of Cordova, 127 24. The Cathedral at Spires, 139 25. Crypt of St. Kutrope de Saintes, ..... 142 26. Cathedral of Puy, ... 145 27. Notre Dame de Poitiers . . ... 149 28. Western Door of the Cathedral 01 Mans, . . . .151 Xll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. P101 29. The Cathedral of Chartres, 157 30. The Cathedral of Bourges, 160 31. The Cathedral of Rheims, 161 32. The Cathedral of Strasbourg, 163 33. Interior of St. Etienne de Metz at Paris, .... 169 34. Walls of Carcassonne, 174 35. Ruins of Coucy, 178 36. Interior of the Cathedral of Sienna, 185 37. The Vatican and St. Peter's at Rome, .... 194 38. The Front of St. Peter's, 197 39. Interior of St Peter's, 201 40. Val de Gr&ce, 203 41. The Chateau of Blois, 206 42. The Chateau of Chenonceaux, 209 43. The Chateau of Chambord, 213 44. The Porte Doree of the Chateau of Fontainebleau, . . 215 45. Gallery of Francis I. at Fontainebleau, .... 216 46. Court and Dauphin Gate, 218 47. The Louvre, 221 48. Colonnade of the Louvre, . . . . . . . 223 49. Richelieu Pavilion of the Louvre, ... . 226 50. The Turgot Pavilion (New Louvre), 228 51. Viaduct of Chaumont, . 233 52. Windsor Castle, 240 53. Opera House at Paris, . ...... 236 54. Stonehenge (restored), 242 55. Guild Hall 246 56. Westminster Abbey, ....... 249 57. Pontefract Castle, 253 58- Norwich Castle, 254 59. Melrose Abbey, , . 256 60. Holyrood House, ... .... 260 WONDERS OF ARCHITECTURE. CHAPTER I. CELTIC MONUMENTS. ON misty days, when sea and sky blend together on the grey horizon, a fitting spot for contemplation is the eastern extremity of the peninsula of Croisic a strip of bleak and unproductive land, which to the imagination looks like the world's end, so far does it stretch its low-lying and narrow tongue into the solitary seas. In that remote spot, a simple stone of unpretending dimensions raises its head from a gentle eminence, above purple granite rocks, beaten by the restless waves. Surrounded by soothing influences, and un- heedful of the passing hours, the reflective mind may there indulge in reveries of the past, under the shadow of this silent witness of the ancient times. Fancy, conjuring up visions of what has departed, may there picture once again the Druids and their strange life see them, with their long beards and their oaken wreaths, performing their mysterious rites, and hear the song of the gentle priestesses, sweeping past in picturesque procession, armed with their golden sickles. Of all ancient architectural remains, this stone of Croisic is perhaps the most insignificant, its proportions being very 2 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. small compared with some that may be mentioned. The great stone of Lochmariaker, for instance, is 70 feet in height an altitude as great as that of the Egyptian obelisks. Originally it formed one complete and imposing monumental pillar, but it is now overturned and broken into four pieces. Another pillar belonging to the same category, situated between Nantes and Larochelle, was still higher. That of Plouarzel, again, upon the highest point of Bas-Leon (Finisterre), is 36 feet above the level of the earth. It is of unwrought granite, its surface is covered with lichens and mosses, and it is of a form nearly quadran- gular. Upon two of its opposite sides a kind of bas- relief has been sculptured by a rude hand, which still is venerated by the peasantry of the country. This carving represents the cosmogonic egg of the great mythical dragon, the supposed source of all existing things, and is emblematic of the world, says Mr. Henry Martin. The same figure is to be traced upon other monuments. The upright stones which are to be found in France, England, ancient Germany, Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, China, Thrace, Northern Africa, and even in the New World, are known by different names. In Brittany and the depart- ments of Western France, where they abound, they are called men-hirs or long stones, or stone pillars. They were often employed to mark the burial-place of persons whose memory it was desired to commemorate ; they were fre- quently monumental in their character, having been erected merely to commemorate some notable event ; and occa- sionally they were purely religious in their signification. Not unfrequently these gigantic stones are found grouped around a central pillar of more than the usual height, and CELTIC MONUMENTS. 3 form what are called cromkehs or sacred circles. These circles were in ancient times used as temples and assembly halls. Sometimes the cromlechs surrounded tumuli in which the dead were deposited, the idea having evidently been to place the tombs within the consecrated enclosure. Again, instances are found of two or three cromlechs grouped together surrounded by stone pillars arranged in straight or curved lines ; and in certain cases the stones bear evidence of having passed through the workman's hands. They are arranged in thriliths, each of which, as the name signifies, consisting of three stones, two of which are upright pillars supporting a third, which forms a kind of architrave, uniting the two pillars by the help of mortices and bolts rudely ornamented. This arrangement, unknown in France, probably existed at Abury, and is still to be seen at Stonehenge, in what is known as the Cor-Gawr or Dance of Giants, the original plan of which can be easily made out from the remains. This Cor-Gawr consists of two circles and two ovoids, the one within the other, and is 300 feet in circumference. The thriliths of the inner circle measure 30 feet high by about 8 feet wide. Combinations of stone pillars, which do not of them- selves form enclosed figures, go by the simple name of lines. Morbihan possesses admirable examples of these, the most beautiful of them being the Lines of Carnac, near the sea. In spite of the ravages of time, there still remain 1,200 up- right stones, ranged in distinct order, and easily distinguish- able from the other monumental remains spread over the district Here must have existed an immense temple, up- wards of a mile in length, where the Druidic ceremonies were solemnised. The broken obelisks stand with their smaller 6 2 A MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. ends in the ground, and many of them are 18 feet in height, though a considerable number rise to only 3 feet. They are arranged in eleven parallel rows, forming ten ivenues leading towards a semi-circle, which formed the sanctuary or inner temple of the enclosure. The Pillars of Carnac. Celtic architecture is not restricted to stone pillars- indeed, these can hardly be said to belong to architecture at all. Different from these pillars is the dolmen or stone table, which has received a number of names, such as broad stone, covered stone, devil's table, fairy's table, and, in the Breton language, home of the fairies. The simplest dolmens con- CELTIC MONUMENTS. 5 sist of three stones two placed upright, and one broad horizontal slab supported by the other two. Very often there are four or more stones ornamented at one end and forming a grotto. Sometimes there are two or three tables supported by a dozen upright stones of great size. The demi-dolmen, raised only at one end, presents a sloping surface. The dolmen may be said to resen-ble the monuments of rough stones which Arrian says he saw in Asia Minor, and also those of which Calpurrius speaks in one of his Eclogues. Strabo, the celebrated geographer, whilst travel- ling in Egypt, encountered some temples of Mercury com- posed of two rough stones sustaining a third, in all of which could be traced the main features and characteristics of the dolmen, or stone table. Dolmens, however, were generally tombs, not temples places of burial and not places of worship, as they have been long believed to be. Celtic altars do not appear to have taken the form of chambers or grottos. The greater number of those which can now be identified consist either of a table placed upon one or two blocks, or of a shapeless slab supported by others of a like character. The stone-basins, of which much has been written, belong to this category. Antiquaries have eagerly searched these basins, in hopes of discovering the grooves in which ran the blood of the sacrificed victim. Cornwall enjoys the dis- tinction of possessing the giant of the dolmens, a memorial structure crowned with basins, the largest of which has a radius of 3 feet. The table itself, placed upon two natural rocks of low elevation, measures about 40 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 16 feet thick, and weighs upwards of 700 tons. These, surely, are proportions worthy of a true dolmen. 6 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. *. More extraordinary still, some altars have been found which have a hollow carved in them exactly the shape of the human body. In this hollow, as in a mould, the body of the victim was laid. Upon the tables of many dolmen?, among others the celebrated Merchants' Tables, at Loch- mariaker, can still be recognised the form of a hatchet or mason's trowel traced upon the stone. This was a symbol that was very common in primitive times. During the Roman era, trowels were found pictured upon monu- ments, with the inscription Sub ascia written beneath. The expression was meant to signify that the monument was yet under the trowel devoted to the purposes of a tomb ; the device, it is supposed, being resorted to in order to protect empty sepulchres from injury. Dolmens, or burial grottos, have in some instances groves or covered walks attached to them, which form avenues leading up to them. In the diocese of Munster, in Prussia, there is an alley of this kind where a hundred sheep can find shelter. Near Saumur, in France, another specimen exists in the shape of an entire gallery 55 feet long, and 6 feet high, the width being about 14 feet Each of its huge sides is formed of four stones, the floor is composed of a single slab, and all of them are inclined towards the interior. Four stones also compose the roof, and one of them, split up through its whole length, is sus- tained by a single pillar. Such figures and measurements speak for themselves. The longest of these covered avenues is at Esse (Ille et Vilaine), and the most curious near Lochmariaker t in the little isle of Gavrinnis. Twenty-three upright stones placed together range themselves in walls under ten enormous slabs. Everywhere at Gavrinnis extend parallel lines, oval or CELTIC MONUMENTS. 9 semi-circular zigzags, fantastic labyrinths, and circles within circles, which it would be even more difficult to understand than to describe, Serpents, coins, and hatchet-heads can yet be distinctly traced among the carvings. Numerous sculptures are everywhere to be found upon the Celtic monuments, but in this respect Gavrinnis is unquestionably the most remarkable. Those dolmens which have covered ways were, perhaps, in former times, always sunk under ground, beneath the artificial hillocks that covered the dead, and to which the Latin name tumulus is applied. Primitive architecture in the West seems in these cases to have achieved its last and highest effort. Walls are to be found made of stones placed the one above the other vaults, transverse ways, lateral chapels, transepts such remains, in fact, as we might find in the excavations of Egyptian burial-places. Both England and France possess curious specimens of ancient architectural art, that in their main features almost realise the principle upon which is based our modern system of construction. One of the most interesting is near Caen, at Fontenay-le-Marmion, where can be seen the remains of ten circular vaults from 12 to 15 feet in width, which communicate by galleries at the circumference of the tumulus. Human bones have been found here in parts of the soil that have been excavated. All these monuments, stone pillars, cromlechs, lines, dolmens, covered ways, and tumuli are connected with an ancient religion to which the name Druidic has been given a religion that adored supreme power in the midst of savage nature, amidst forests, waters, and rocks, and contained within itself elevated conceptions, combined with practices of an extraordinary and cruel kind. The introduction of tiie Latin deities into the countries of Western Europe io MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. produced something like chaos in the religion of the Celts. Against Christianity the Druids held out defiantly for a long time. Councils of the Latin fathers were held, at which those who honoured trees, fountains, and stones were con- demned, and these objects of superstitious regard were ordered to be destroyed. King Chilperic threatened those that failed to destroy the sacred relics with heavy punish- ment. Later, however, the difficulty was wisely overcome by consecrating the objects to which the people were much attached to the Christian worship ; and when this was done the stone pillars were surrounded with crosses and ornamented with pious symbols. This procedure had, in course of time, the effect of uprooting the old Druidical system ; but the custom, in its turn, gave rise to superstitions, perhaps more enlightened, but not less enormous. In the centre and west of France, even at the present day, are to be found substantial traces, under new forms, of the religious rites and ceremonies of primitive times. The devotions paid to what are supposed to be the patron deities of Fear and Disease, the votive offerings suspended from the branches of trees, and the belief in fairies and goblins which is still so widely spread among the lower classes of society, form part of the legacy which has been handed down from this period. CHAPTER II. PELASGIC AND ETRUSCAN MONUMENTS. THE adventurous traveller advancing into the marshy, thickly-wooded lands, where lie buried the bones and the works of the Etruscans solitudes which terrible fevers seem to guard from the intrusion of human curiosity beholds, under the oaks and mountain olives, enormous stones ranged in the form of walls astonishing vestiges of the work of man. Leaving out of view the tumuli which enclose specimens of vaulted chambers and of masonry, the Celtic monuments, strictly speaking, ought not to be included at all within the pale of architecture. But the case is far different with the Pelasgic and Etruscan relics. Standing in their midst, the beholder cannot fail to recog- nise that they are based upon the system of true architectural construction, the predominant characteristics of which are extreme simplicity and power. And, taking into account the enormous size of the stones, and the solidity with which they are fitted together without cement of any kind, so that time has not been able to displace them, he may well be tempted to think that degenerate man in these times has lost much of the power of his ancestors. M. Petit-Radel, a Frenchman, enjoys the honour of having, at the commencement of the present century, dis- covered the Pelasgic monuments of Western Italy, and traced in them copies of those that were already known to exist in Tirynthia and Argos. His theory on the subject does not 12 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. seem to have been ever shaken. He fixes the period of the great Pelasgic movement between the twentieth and the fif- teenth century before our era. The Pelasgi setting out from Asia at a time not determined, but without doubt at an epoch posterior to that of the Celts, appear to have traversed Asia Minor, leaving some settlement behind in Cappadocia. According to the opinion of ancient geographers, they peopled Ionia, ^Eolia, Caria, Thracia, Epirus, Macedonia, Thessalia, and overran all Greece. Gradually advancing either from one island to another, or crossing the mainland by way of Thracia and Illyria, they reached Etruria and the Roman States, and the wave of their emigration broke upon the coasts of France and Spain. Of the structures which they reared in Asia, mention need only be made of the Acropolis of Sipylus. This temple formed a double enclosure, very well built with rect- angular stones. Near the outer wall was a great tumulus 280 feet in extent, the base of which was surrounded by many-sided irregular stones, well fitted the one to the other. Access to the top was gained by means of a great stair, of which some steps still remain. This acropolis formed the tomb of Tantalus, son of Jupiter and King of Lydia, who died about 1410 before our era; at least, Pausanias speaks of having seen the grave of Tantalus at Sipylus. Passing from Asia, Pelasgic rums are seen to abound in ancient Argolis a land famous for the adventures of Pelops, of Thyestes, and of Atreus; and for the assembly of the great Hellenic army under the command of Agamemnon. At Tirynthia, the town of Hercules, rises a powerful citadel which Pausanias has described, and which is fully 2,000 years old. Euripides has attributed its construction to the Cyclops, PELASGIC AND ETRUSCAN MONUMENTS. ' 13 the mythical blacksmiths. The enclosure is formed of many-sided blocks placed the one above the other without cement, smaller stones being placed between the larger ones to fill up the spaces and bind the structures more completely together. Extraordinary labour is said to have been expended upon the work, no secoad stone being laid until the one that had already been placed was firmly fixed ; so that by slow and successive degrees a wall was at length made which even cannon-balls could only with difficulty destroy. The prin- cipal parts of this relic date from the eighteenth century before our era ; but some portions of the wall, more regular in construction, were built in the fifteenth century before the Christian era. Next in order may be noticed the acropolis at Mycenae, the double enclosure of which presents three different styles of workmanship, corresponding without doubt to three suc- cessive epochs. Here are to be found in all directions irregular polygonal blocks of stone, some rough on the sur- face, others smooth and well jointed. The most ancient part of this structure, supposed to have been raised by Mycenas (1700 B.C.), is in limestone; but the more recent part, built by Perseus (1390 B.C.), is in puddingstone. Entrance into the acropolis is obtained by the " Gate of the Lions." The blocks forming this are enormous in size, quadrangular and horizontal. They are 15 feet high and 9 feet broad, and the opening is surmounted by a huge lintel of which the three dimensions are 15 feet long, 6 feet broad, and 3 feet thick. A bas-relief, 7 feet high and 10 feet broad at the base, forms a sort of triangular pediment over the gate, within which are sculptured two lions standing on their hind-feet, resting their fore-paws upon a pillar placed between them, so as to face each other. 14 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Their heads, which have been broken, formerly reached the height of the capital of the pillar. This pillar increases gradually in diameter from base to summit, and its capital is supported upon four discs, which are supposed to represent the billets of wood meant to maintain the sacred fire. An explanation of this latter fact is to be found in the pillar itself, which has the form of an altar. This "Gate of the Lions" formed, as we have said, the chief entrance to the Acropolis. There were two others of which the smaller presented a triangular bay, formed by two stones inclined the one towards the other. " There is still to be seen at Mycenae," says Pausanias, "the fountain of Perseus, and the subterranean chambers \vhere it is said Atreus and his children concealed their treasures. Near it is the tomb of Atreus and of all those whom Agamemnon brought back with him after the Trojan war, and whom ^Egisthus destroyed at the feast which he gave them." Tradition points out a tumulus near the Acropolis as being the subterranean chamber in which Atreus kept his treasure. The facade of this chamber alone is visible, the vault itself being entered by a wide high door, the flat lintel of which is surmounted by an empty triangular space. Two mouldings ornament the architrave and the jambs. Of the two stones of the lintel, the largest must have weighed about 170 tons, seeing that in size it is nearly 210 cubic feet, and measures 26 feet long by 32 broad. A long and wide passage, 60 feet by 18 feet, leads into a very large circular hall. All the courses in horizontal beds have been placed the one above the other, but projecting inwards. The angles, however, have been cut away, so that the wall from the foundation to the centre of the vault forms r ~-5*m$**... Bfc3.i-.- .-ii -.-.. MII ! iMiiiia ' 'I m Ruins at Mycenae: I. Tomb of Atreus. 2. Gate of the Lions PELASGIC AND ETRUSCAN MONUMENTS. 17 a surface regularly curved. In this way a vault, bold in its out- line, has been produced somewhat in the form of a bee-hive, the walls of which are 18 feet thick. Nothing obstructs the entrance to this subterraneous abode now, and no trace of iron-work, such as is used in the construction of gates or doors, has ever been found ; but notwithstanding this, it is possible that high palisades were planted in the soil in front of the entrance, or that the latter was concealed by masses of earth heaped up before it, which was removed when circumstances rendered it necessary. Among the forty-one Pelasgic monuments examined in Italy, those of Monte Circello, twenty miles from Rome, present a most picturesque appearance. They are placed on a mountain which, at seven different points, rises to the height of 1,500 feet above the sea. On the summit is the temple of Circe. Here is shown the tomb of Elpenor, one of the companions of Ulysses, whose figure Circe changed 'into that of a brute. It is a flattened cone, regularly formed of courses of quadrangular stones, and occupies a space of 39 square feet In the houses and in the churches also of Alatri can be traced distinctly three successive periods. The Pelasgic has become Roman, and the Roman has become in turn Chris- tian ; but the original character still remains. St. Peter has only taken the place of the god Faunus. The Pelasgic epoch has preserved its aspect and character intact in a square Lupercol, dedicated to Pan, and more especially in certain gates that are surmounted by enormous lintels. Upon one of the architraves of the Acropolis are seen emblematic sculptures; also in different places there are three very distinct figures of Pan, Hermes, and Faunus. At Cervetri or Caere again, the capital of the ancient King c 1 8 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Mezence, there has been discovered a very large tomb, or rather a tumulus covered by another tumulus, where five burial chambers abut upon two very long and narrow halls, vaulted in the corbelling fashion, and pierced with elliptical excavations. In one of these halls a chariot, and also some arms, vases, and small graven figures, were found to have been placed beside the bronze bed upon which it was the custom to put the dead. The excavations that have been cut in the rock are of comparatively recent origin, and con- taining as they were found to do cinerary urns, in which the ashes of the dead were deposited, the deduction may be drawn that even at a very remote period the influence of Greek and Latin customs had begun to be felt CHAPTER III. EGYPT. ON either bank of the Nile ancient Egypt accumulated temples, palaces, and tombs, the vastness of whose ruins proves that a mighty civilisation existed upon the earth at a time when the Persians and Greeks herded their flocks on the shore of the Caspian Sea. Everybody has heard of the pyramids, from the summit of which " forty centuries look down upon you." Napoleon would have been more accurate had he said sixty, for their average age may be set down at 4,000 years dating from before Christ. These marvellous structures are said to have been erected by three kings of the fourth dynasty Cheops, Cephrenes, and Marinus. A hundred thousand men, who relieved each other in relays every three months, were employed for thirty years in excavating the tomb of Cheops in the rock, and covering it with a mountain of masonry which measures 470 feet in height by 570 feet in breadth. Built wholly of per- fectly adjusted stones of the dimensions of thirty feet, the Great Pyramid rises to its summit by regular steps or grada- tions. Formerly it was covered by a reddish coating to which Herodotus refers, and its surface quite swarmed with inscriptions. The blocks composing it were smooth as a mirror, and its lofty and narrow point seemed to pierce the sky ; but at the present day its summit is terminated by a flat surface, created by the ravages of time. Situated two leagues from the Nile, and about the same C 2 20 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. distance from Cairo, upon the exterior elevations of the Lybian chain of hills, the pyramids tower over all the sur- rounding country. They can be seen from a great distance, and the traveller journeying towards them imagines every moment that he is on the point of arriving at their base, but like the mirage they seem to recede as he advances. "At length, however, they are reached," says Volney, " and nothing can express the variety of sensations which they provoke. The height of their summit, the steepness of their slope, the vastness of their surface, their tremendous weight, the memory of the times they have outlived, and, above all, the reflection that these mountains of masonry have been reared by petty and insignificant man, who creeps at their feet all impress the beholder, and fill at once the heart and the mind with astonishment, terror, humiliation, admi- ration, and respect." Profound as is the impression created at the foot of the pyramid where the spectator, face to face with the enormous mass, loses the full view of the angles and the summit it is only after ascending to the top that he obtains a just idea of the whole, and finds expectation eclipsed by reality. From the summit the eye might traverse a distance of thirty-six miles, were the human vision capable of distinguishing objects so far away. A stone thrown with the greatest possible force does not clear the base, but usually falls upon some of the lower steps. Owing to a common optical illusion, he who casts the stone imagines that he has sent his missile to a great distance ; but, as the eye follows it, the stone seems to turn back and it falls only at the foot of the vast structure. The interior of the Great Pyramid seems to be full Only one long gallery, smaller in proportion than the EGYPT. 31 burrowed passage of a mole under a hillock, has been discovered. A small opening, at the height of 45 feet above the base, gives access into a succession of obscure passages. Here locomotion is tedious and dangerous, the cold extreme, and the air thick and stifling. The traveller is compelled to advance in a stooping position, placing his feet as he goes upon narrow ledges which overhang a black abyss. This perilous path is succeeded by a low gallery, where he has to creep along a steep slope, and that in turn by a well without a parapet, which it is necessary to cross. Finally, pushed, dragged, carried on stout shoulders, the adventurous explorer succeeds in traversing the chamber called the Queen's Room, and arrives at the King's Hall. Nor is the return less difficult ; and when at last the traveller once more emerges into daylight, it is in a state of complete exhaustion. It is customary to shout aloud, and even to fire oft muskets in this subterranean quarter, in order to produce an echo, the reverberation of the pyramids being < elebrated for the sound repeating itself no less than ten times. This echo owes its strength and its purity to the perfection of the ceilings and the points. The whole of the King's Chamber is wrought out of granite exquisitely polished, and the ceil- ing is formed of nine stones, each of which must be about 2,000 Ibs. in weight. But the King's and Queen's Chambers, which are only from 1 6 to 32 feet wide, form quite an insignificant abode for such a formidable roof as that of the Great Pyramid which covers them. Can it be possible that there are not other spaces above and below these small rooms, or is it possible to conceive that this huge pyramid was piled up simply to contain two such chambers? Where 12 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. ends the abyss along which the explorer travels? Where would the well lead to if some bold spirit should suspend, himself in it at the end of a rope ? Perhaps to that sub- terranean spot where Herodotus believed Cheops to lie interred. Diligent searches in the interior of this colossus might yet reveal much, for it is well known with what care the Egyptians concealed their places of sepulture. Three hundred feet in front of the Great Pyramid may be seen the mysterious Sphinx, the head of which is 27 feet high. This strange figure is carved out of the rock : it is sunk in the sand up to the shoulders, and has been partly eaten away by time, for its nose and lips are both broken. Squat as the figure at first sight appears to be, it yet rises to the height of 75 feet above its natural base. West- wards from this extends, in four ranks, an almost endless number of rectangular and oblong constructions, perfectly equal, and covering an area not less than that of the Great Pyramid itself. A rampart of smaller and ruinous pyramids surrounds the pyramid of Cheops en the south and east. Might not this have been the necropolis of Memphis, that great city, sacred and royal, the rise of which is now marked by a palm-grove ? Hundreds of miles south of the pyramids, where the valley of the Nile opens out, lie the ruins of Thebes, the ancient rival of Memphis Thebes with the Hundred Gates, as it was named by Homer. These vast ruins still overrun the lower slopes of the western mountains towards the gorges of Biban-el-Molouk, where are the sepulchres of the kings. Medinet on the left bank, Gournah, Luxor, and Karnak on the right, form a majestic collection of architectural remains, which the army of Desaix beholding, saluted with enthusiasm. Desolation reigns in the whole of this vast space, if a few EGYPT. 23 villages or hamlets are excepted, the huts of which are miserable, the streets narrow, and the mud walls built upon rubbish. The whole place, in its relation to the extinct cities, is suggesive of unhealthy weeds growing around the feet of ancient oaks. The palace of Karnak, which is the first great ruin seen on the right bank of the Nile, originally covered an area of 270 acres enclosed within a wall of unbaked bricks. This wall is still visible in parts, though what remains is not a tenth part of what has perished. Of these ruins the principal masses are grouped upon a straight line, which may be named the great axis, and which runs from north-west to south-east. This axis is cut by another line of architectural remains which runs from north to south, and consists of palaces ari^d avenues of sphinxes. Upon the same bank, the remains of a vast staircase and numerous fragments of the sphinx and rams' heads show the site and dimensions of what was a magnificent avenue, terminated by two pylones tapering square towers, of gigantic proportions. These pylones form the entrance to a court, surrounded by ruined temples, obstructed by the shafts of vast votive columns, among twelve of which only one remains upright Passing between two ruinous pylones and a propylone, a magnificent gate is reached, which would be a triumphal arch were it not that an architrave is found where the semi- circle should be. All that has been described formed only the vestibule of the great hall, which has been named the Hypostyle, or the Hall ot Columns. A symmetrical forest of oaks and beeches ten centuries old would not give an adequate idea of its thirty parallel ranks of columns No tree, for instance, could attain the 24 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. diameter, or the height even, of the twelve great column? that form the axis of the hall. Twelve columns like the Monument on Fish Street Hill might give the reader some idea of the vastness of these pillars. The enormous mono- lith capitals heavy enough, one would think, to crush any pillar oppress the imagination with their size. A hundred men could stand on one of them without crowding. Never have greater masses of stone been laid than these. A few statistics may give some notion of the vastness of these ruins. The hall itself is 422 feet long by 165 feet broad. The stones of the ceiling rest upon architraves supported by 134 columns, which are still standing, and of which the largest measures 10 feet in diameter, and more than 72 feet in height. Sesostris and his two predecessors constructed the Hall of Columns, and the date of its construction was about the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries before Christ. Besides the ruins of the gallery or hall described, there are other pylones, another court with an obelisk, and the ruins of the gallery of the Colossi. Here is to be seen the largest obelisk in the whole of Egypt. It is over 90 feet in height ; its sculptures are perfect in execution, and some are more beautiful than the perfected arts of Europe could even yet produce. At its feet lie the fragments ;.? another obelisk which was a sort of pendant to it. Gazing on what he sees around, the imagination of the traveller; as it were, reconstructs the building, and setting upon their bases once more the sixty-two sculptured pillars in the form of giant caryatides, he begins to have some idea of the grandeur and vastness of the original. Further on we come to a small temple in red granite, the site of which is rendered conspicuous by two obelisks. EGYPT. 27 This temple was richly ornamented, and contained two parallel ranges of chambers in which the priests lodged. It lies at the portico of the palace of Mceris. Three of the walls of this vestibule sustain thirty-two square pillars and twenty-four columns, and present to the gaze four ranks of persons, seated the one above the other. This is the most ancient portion of Karnak, and it is also the most muti- lated. Courts full of rubbish, a chaos of columns and bassi-rilievi, are all that now remains of the palace of Mceris. Three or four hundred miles to the north we next notice a large propylone, raised by the successors of Alexander, which an avenue covered with ddbris connects with the central mass. On the south, a majestic temple dedicated to the divinity Kons, also connected with the Hall of Columns, commanded a long road which is now lost in plantations of sugar-cane and palm-trees, but the direction of which can still be made out. This triumphal way was originally bordered throughout all its length with monolith sphinxes, no less than 112 having been counted within a space of 650 yards. Taking the total, there must have been 1,000 sphinxes, seeing that the road along which they were ranged was upwards of a mile long. In ascending the Nile from Thebes to the first cataract, we pass numerous collections of ruins Hermonthis, Esneh, Edfou, Com-Ombos, Philae, Deboud, Kartas, Kalabche, Talmis, Dandour, Ghirch-Hussein, Pselcis, Maharakka, Seboua, Deer, Ibrim. At some distance from the cataracts of Ouadi-Alfa, the two temples of Ipsamboul are seen, worked out of the rock by the banks of the river, and form- ing wonderful caverns which will last as long as the world. The greater temple, 143 feet long by 140 feet high, has in front of it four sitting statues, leaning with their backs aS MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. against the mountain of rock of which they form a part, and which are not less than 120 feet in height. Thirty-two seated figures decorate the cornice. There are a number of smaller figures in the interior, whose height is 25 feet. The walls are covered with enormous bassi-rilievi. Upon the altars of the three demi-gods Ammon, Phre, and Phta are found huge carvings representing Sesostris, the conqueror of Africa and Asia. His wife, Nofre-Ari, served as the model for the six colossal figures, 36 feet in height, which are ranged in front of the little temple dedi- cated to the goddess Hator. The severe gloom of these sanctuaries has been well described by Lamennais : " A single thought," says he, " dominates Egypt a grave and sad thought, not to be driven away, and which, from Pharaoh surrounded with the splendour of the throne to the humblest of his labourers, weighs upon man, preoccupies him inces- santly, possesses him entirely : this thought is the thought of death. This people, seeing time gliding onward like the waters of the great river that traverses their naked plains, were led to believe that what passes so quickly is unreal and evanescent; and regarding the present life as fleeting and unsatisfactory, they were prompted by their faith, by their desires and aspirations, to look forward to a life that is permanent and immutable. Existence, in the estimation of the Egyptian, commenced at the tomb and that which preceded death was only a shadow a fleeting image. Thus his religious conceptions, his philosophical speculations, his dogmas, all tended in the direction of this great mystery of death, and his temple became a sepulchre." CHAPTER IV. ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE. THE Temple of Jerusalem, built by Solomon about the tenth century before our era, reconstructed by Esdras in the time of Cyrus, and ruined by Titus, was a triple edifice ; being at once a place of assembly foi the people, a dwelling-place for the Levites, and a place of worship wherein the high priest officiated. In the centre was the temple, properly so called ; around it were the courts of the priests ; and on the outside the courts of the people, together with the galleries for strangers and proselytes. The people dared not pene- trate within the second wall; the priests were excluded from certain parts of the central portion of the temple ; and the high priest alone and that only once a year, might pass within the veil to the Holy of Holies, and contemplate the ark of the covenant face to face. The temple was situated upon Mount Moriah and over- looked Jerusalem. A combination of walls and colonnades, it seems, like all the Phoenician and Jewish structures, to have excelled more on account of the richness of its decorations than its architectural merits. Precious metals were profusely used in its ornamentation. Josephus, who saw it in all its glory in the first century of our era, has described with pride its ceilings of polished cedar, enriched with gilded leaves; its columns of bronze, 18 cubits high; its cornices also of bronze, sculptured with lilies and pomegranates ; its wonderful doors of cedar, enriched with 30 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. gold and silver; and its magnificent curtains of linen, embroidered with purple and scarlet. The central part of the temple, intended for the accom- modation of the high priest and the priests engaged in sacrifices, was 60 cubits long by 20 wide, and presented three tiers or storeys, rising above each other, surrounded by galleries and small chambers. Its height was equal to its length. A vast portico, access to which was gained from the east side, surrounded this lofty and splendid building. Both tradition and the Bible attribute the con- struction and furnishing of the temple to a great Tyrian artist, named Adoniram, who was at once its architect, sculptor, and builder. Perhaps an inexact idea will not be given of the Jewish structures if they are likened to the monuments left by other nations descended, like the Hebrews, from the Semitic stock, and who were continually mixed up the one with the other, either as enemies or oppressors. Nineveh and Babylon were the immediate predecessors of Tyre and Jerusalem. Nineveh, the ancient capital of Assyria, is said to have been founded by a legendary chief named Assur. Historians, however, declare that it is the town of Ninus or Ninias. At a period even earlier than Babylon the people of this city were the victorious enemies of the Jews. On a bas- relief still in existence can be recognised King Jehu of Israel, who was a tributary of the kings of Assyria. The inspired writers of the Bible speak with terror of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Salmanazar. Jonas, the Hebrew prophet, no doubt made prisoner in some invasion, went about the streets of Nineveh crying, " Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed !" Enervating luxury, the weak- ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE. 3! ness of the kings, and the hostility of powerful Babylon combined to bring ruin upon this immense town. Besieged, taken, and sacked in 625 B.C., but still known in the time of Tacitus, who mentions its capture in the time of Claudius 49 A.D., it was at length so completely effaced from the earth, that till the year 1842 even its site remained all but un- known. According to Diodorus of Sicily, the city wall measured 18 leagues, was 95 feet high, and was flanked with gigantic towers. It contained 600,000 inhabitants. Long buried from human sight, its glory was, after many centuries, exhumed as it were and brought to light. A Frenchman, M. Botta, discovered at Khorsabad the palace of Sargon, of which the Asiatic Journal gave a full description; and some years after, Mr. Layard, in digging in the Hill of Nimrod, came upon the dwellings of Sardanapalus and Salmanazar. With the bassi-rilievi, and the inscriptions to which it is supposed the key has been found, it may be possible to reconstruct a civilisation that has disappeared, and to reinvest the heroes of that land with the environ- ments in which they lived, moved, and had their being. M. Botta commenced his researches in 1842, and the French government published the results in a magnificent work, illustrated from designs by M. Eugene Flandin. Funds, voted under the republican government of 1848, permitted M. Place, M. Botta's successor, to continue the researches. The result was that to the fourteen chambers already ex- plored he added 134 more. Among these were thirty-two courts or esplanades, of which the following is the general plan of distribution : i. The residence of the king, embracing chambers or- namented with bassi-rilievi. 2. The offices, whose princi- pal court, upwards of two acres in extent, communicated J3 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. with the kitchens, stables, cellars, and the magazines, in which have been found 100 tons of instruments and iron tools. 3. The harem, the dwelling of the women, with all the furniture proper for this purpose. 4. The ob- servatory, a square block of seven storeys, painted in various colours, and more than 120 feet high. The king's palace at Khorsabad, with its vast offices and outhouses, was like the citadel of a great town. Explora- tions have resulted in the discovery of the wall of the enclosure. It was quadrangular in shape, about 80 feet thick; 150 towers were placed along it at regular intervals; and it covered a space of two leagues. The seven gates of the town have been exhumed, of which three veritable triumphal arches are adorned with sculptures. It was the custom of the Assyrians to build vaults both in brick and in stone. One colonnade has been discovered of an entirely new species. The columns are distributed in groups of seven, and each of these groups is buttressed by a double pilaster. Another range of columns, grouped by sevens in the same manner, was covered with black mastic. One of the gates of the town, constructed of great hewn slabs of limestone, has preserved its arch, which can be seen in the form of a plain semicircle made of bricks, and resting on piers also built of bricks. This gate, reckoning from summit to base, is 20 feet high and 10 feet wide. The brick of which it has been built has been handled with the greatest skill and intelligence. Large numbers of mounds, seen afar off on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite Mossoul, indicate with some- thing like exactitude the immense space of ground occupied bv Nineveh. Khorsabad Assyrian Temple Restored. ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE. 35 Babylon, the town of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, was but another Nineveh. Enormous masses of brick-work, covered with pictures in enamel ; vast halls ornamented with bassi rilievi, and covered to the ceiling with cuneiform inscrir> tions relative to contemporary events ; houses of three and four storeys ; fifty streets parallel to or at right angles with the Euphrates, and fields sufficiently large to produce food for the inhabitants in time of siege all this magnificence overtowered by the temple of Belus, the Hanging Gardens, and the ramparts such, according to the historians, was Babylon, the city which was extolled and admired even by the founders themselves. Daniel, who from a prisoner cam^ to be chief minister in Babylon, has preserved for us the words of Nebuchad- nezzar cqncerning it : " This is that great Babylon which I have made the seat of my empire, and which I have built in the grandeur of my power, and in the greatness of my glory." The walls of this gigantic city were 390 feet high and 98 feet thick, and were flanked by two rows of towers, the one inside and the other outside the wall. Between the towers there was sufficient room for a four-horse chariot to turn easily. A ditch, wide and deep, banked with bricks and filled with water, surrounded the whole town. Twenty-six gates of massive brass gave ingress and egress on each of the four sides of the walls. Perhaps the tower of the great temple of Belus was among the most remarkable monuments of Babylon. Eight gradually diminishing storeys gave it the look of a pyramid with enormous gradients. Upon the summit stood the temple, surmounted by a platform, where the priests assidu- ously devoted themselves to the study of the celestial bodies. 36 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. They believed that science was the supreme aim of man, and was the crown of religion. This temple was still in existence in the second century of our era. A bridge, which Quintus Curtius, the historian of Alexander, ranks among the wonders of the East, united the two portions of the town on the respective banks of the Euphrates ; and immense reservoirs received and turned aside the surplus waters during the time of floods. Finally, all antiquity has celebrated the praises of the Hanging Gardens, piled terrace above terrace, and supported by twenty large ramparts, crossed by conduits of water, and crowned by trees that gave them the appearance of a wooded hill. Babylon had a long and a glorious career. Founded, says a respectable tradition, by Nirnrod, the mighty hunter, who disputed the possession of Chaldea with the lions and wild bulls, it was occupied at a very early date by the Arabs, or at least by those migratory nomads and shepherds who wandered about this time over the north of Egypt. Belus, King of Nineveh, captured the town, but did not injure its prosperity; on the contrary, he embellished and strengthened it. Regaining its independence after the fall of Sardanapalus, it became the capital of a powerful kingdom, and one of its earliest sovereigns, Nabonassar, inaugurated an era which bears his name, 747 B.C. When Nebuchadnezzar took Nineveh and destroyed it, 625 B.C., Babylon became the most powerful and dominant city then existing, and received the name of Queen of the East. Powerful, and without a rival, it held in subjection the regions of Bactria, Armenia, Media, Persia, Phoenicia, and India. Cyrus, King of Persia, after a siege of two whole years, made himself master of Babylon by a bold stratagem, and assumed the title of ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE. 37 King of Kings. He it was 7<-*ho reduced the walls of the town to half their height. Darius, one of his successors, carried away the gates of brass, after a revolt. Alexander, on the return of his expedition from India, made a triumphal entry into the city, and died there at the very time he was resolving upon making it his capital. Soon after, weakened by the neighbouring town of Seleucia, on the Tigris, it rapidly fell, although in the first century of our era it was still inhabited. At the present day, according to an observant traveller, the plain of Babylon is covered to the extent of eighteen leagues with debris, mounds, aqueducts, canals, and rubbish- heaps. All these have been so intermingled that it is difficult to recognise the sites or the dimensions of even the largest buildings. Desolation bears undisputed reign around. Not a house, not a field, not a tree in leaf : the scene is completely deserted both by man and nature. Tigers, jackals, and serpents have taken up their abode in the ruins, and frequently the traveller is terrified by scenting the lion. Alexander saved Babylon by proposing to make it his capital, but he destroyed a city not less famous, which also deserves to be ranked among the Marvels of Architecture. Persepolis, the holy city of the enemies of Greece, he was compelled to sacrifice to the fury of his army. He himself, it is said, in a fit of drunkenness set fire to the palace of the king. His companions in the debauch, and after them the common soldiers of the army, followed his example. " Thus," says Quintus Curtius, " perished the capital of the East a city to which nations had come in search of laws a city that was the birthplace of kings, and the terror of Greece in former times a city that could send forth a 38 ARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. fleet of a thousand vessels, and armies that inundated Europe." Istakhr the name by which Persepolis was known within comparatively recent times occupies at the present day a space of between four and five miles in circumference, the mounds of which show how much the surface of the earth in this region has changed. Under the upper layer of vege- tation antique masonry is still to be discovered. Alone in the midst of these remains rises a single upright column, with prostrate fragments lying around. This was the " town of the people," so named to distinguish it from " the city of the kings," where dwelt the monarchs. Crossing the canals and the marshes which intersect the plain, the traveller finds himself face to face with the most remarkable antiquities of the whole of Persia. That portion of Persepolis known as the palace of the kings rises and extends over a long rampart, divided by a gigantic double flight of steps. Above is a great group of columns, which still support vestiges of their elegant capitals. On the left are massive pillars, on which are still to be seen the imposing colossal figures which formerly guarded the entrance to the royal dwelling. On the right is the palace in ruins ; whilst afar off may be seen, through the spaces between the columns, masses of stone covered with symbolical figures ; and yet farther off, through the bluish haze of the motionless atmosphere, hollow tombs excavated in the flank of the mountain which serves as a background of this imposing landscape. Regarding the founders of Persepolis nothing is known. Cyrus and his successors dwelt for a long time at Babylon. The last kings of Persia preferred to stay at Susa and at Ecbatana. However, Persepolis remained the sacred city to ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE. 41 which the kings came to be crowned. What Thebes was to Egypt that was to Persia the metropolis of the nation, and the cradle of the enormous power which Greece eventually crushed. Thebes, it is said, was built by the gods ; but if so, Persepolis was the work of the genii. We read in the " Book of the Kings " a long epic poem, written in the tenth century of our era, and which contains a multitude of ancient legends that Djemschid, the fourth king of the country, gave orders to the genii to mingle earth and water togethei and knead it into bricks for the building of the city. Like Persia, the peninsula of India was occupied more than 1,000 years before our era by a nation whose language, ideas, and general character bear a striking resemblance to those of nations now inhabiting Western Europe. The Aryan race, as this people was called, have left behind them but a confused history. But the books and the monuments of which they were the authors, and which have survived many ages and frequent devastations, bear witness to their genius. Among the latter may be mentioned the sculptured caverns and temples of Ellora in the Deccan, which are justly ranked among the Marvels of Architecture. Their character is antique, but their, date is uncertain ; all that can be conjectured being that the more ancient portions of them belong to the ages before Christ. They are conse- crated to several divinities of the Brahminic Pantheon. The hills of Ellora extend a length of two miles in the form of a crescent, turning their hollow face to the west of the village of Rozah.^ Their flanks are pierced with subterranean galleries not less than two leagues in extent Here is to be found a great hall, nearly square, which is 180 feet long, 150 feet broad, and 18 feet high. The roof is supported by twenty-eight columns. Certain of the excava- 42 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. tions disclose many storeys which communicate with each other. What the visitor especially admires, however, is the temple of Kailasa, a magnificent jewel in stone, as large as the Royal Exchange of London, made of a single isolated rock, hollowed within and magnificently carved without. Nothing is wanting to render its proportions, its grace, and its beauty perfect. The hand of a master must have fashioned this gorgeous structure, which comprises chapels, porticoes, colonnades supported by figures of elephants, two basilisks 39 feet high, a pagoda 100 feet high, flights of stairs and galleries, made solemn with a dim and almost a religious light. The whole structure covers a space of 340 feet in length by 195 feet in breadth, and the exterior walls are separated from the cliff to which the rock originally be- longed by an excavated passage 26 to 32 feet in width; so that this wonderful rock temple is completely isolated in the centre of a court hollowed out in the flank of the hill. Time, passing over the walls covered with innumerable statues, has blackened them, but in robbing them of much it has also imparted to them a real beauty. And here it may be re- marked that the strange sculptures of Ellora are only to be compared to the shapeless works of our middle ages'; and though they are wanting in the repose of the Egyptian sculptures, they seem to live and breathe with a monstrous life. CHAPTER V. GREEK ART. I. ATHENS. ALL the elements of Greek art can be traced in tht architecture of Egypt, Assyria, and Persia. Eastern tradi- tions and the tuition of Egypt had undoubtedly an influence upon the architects of Sicyon and Paestum ; but in this, as in all other instances, it is found that the character of archi- tecture is modified by that of the people. What the Greeks chiefly strove after was the application of architecture to the wants and tastes of man. Their great secret was that they knew the range of human vision. By the simple combina- tion of straight lines they achieved in architecture a grace, a harmony, and a great and prevailing sweetness. Their monuments resemble a man whom a rare combination of nobility of soul and perfect health of body elevates above his fellows. With none but ordinary proportions they create within us the sentiment of majesty. Before describing some of the masterpieces which have been destroyed or disfigured by successive devastations, it is necessary to refer at least to the salient points of the three orders of architecture transmitted by the Greeks to the Romans, and which we discern again among the peoples of Western Europe the pupils and heirs of antiquity. The Doric order, the most ancient, the most simple, and perhaps the noblest of all, seems to have been a reproduction in stone or in marble of the structures which the Hellenes, while yet barbarians, built not without a certain grace 44 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. of the beams furnished by the Thessalian forests. Short, stumpy columns, thick at the bottom, generally lightened by flutings which softened their massive and somewhat clumsy look, rest without base upon a continuous sub- basement. The capital, austere and without ornamentation, supports a large flat stone called the architrave, also bare and unornamented. The extremities of the transversal joists and the spaces which separate them, have given birth to triglyphs and metopes, the attributes of the Doric frieze ; only the spaces are filled up and the metopes are covered with votive shields, trophies, and bassi-rilievi. Above the frieze projects a cornice of stern and simple outline, which sustains the pediment. The Ionic order, applied at first to the decoration of tombs, is more extended than the former; adds to its columns a base, which varies in dimensions ; divides its architrave into three plat-bands ; suppresses the triglyphs and metopes of the frieze, and enriches the cornice. This order draws its distinctive character from the form of its pillar-capitals, which are truly very beautiful. In shape the capital is oblong, and is formed by a sort of scroll, which curves outward, and falls in a large volute at both extremities. Still richer is the Corinthian capital, which belongs to the third order of Grecian architecture. It is a double corbel of the leaves ot the acanthus, which throw out eight small and eight large volutes, intended to sustain an abacus, curved at its angles and hollowed out on its sides. The whole order is in keeping with the capital. The base oi the column is higher and bolder; the architrave is orna- mented with rows of beads ; the frieze is flowing and richly carved ; and the cornice is so developed as to combine the three orders, for the purpose of increased embellishment GREEK ART. 45 I f is supposed that the Corinthian order, much later than the two others, was invented at Corinth by the architect Callimachus. Few examples of it are now seen in Greece. Perhaps the Romans, who were very fond of it, transported to Rome all the capitals and columns which they could find in the original country. Having premised thus much, let us glance at Athens, the city of Themistocles, of Cimon, and of Pericles. Full of gratitude towards the mother of arts and sciences, the instructress of Rome and the world, the ideal country of genius and mind, let us, as it were, seek the remains of her past splendour as an affectionate son searches beneath the wrinkles of his mother's face for that youthful beauty and those beloved lineaments which are the first to impress themselves upon his memory. A little investigation enables the explorer to trace the still visible foundations of the long rampart built by The- mistocles to connect the town with the Piraeus. Passing under the lofty rampart, and under the black rocks which serve as the base of the Parthenon, our attention is first directed to the Acropolis. Neither at Corinth nor at Eleusis can the Pro- pylaeum be compared with the magnificent vestibule of this structure. It is the work of Menesicles ; it was raised about 457 B.C., and cost an immense sum of money. In spite of the barbarous treatment which it met with at the hands of the Turks, the original structure may be still admired. Six columns sustain the pediments, and form the middle of the facade ; five doors are placed in the spaces between the columns, and richly-sculptured compartments divide the white marble ceiling. The grand flight of steps of the long Propylaeum is on the right. A high rampart serves as the basement for 46 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. the little temple of the Wingless Victory, demolished in 1687 by the Turks, in order to give place to a battery, and after- wards built up again, stone by stone, by two German architects. Athens dedicated it to her divine protectress, Athena, or Minerva. The friezes represented the combats in which this goddess assured victory to her people, and upon the balustrade the Victories, her winged messengers, seemed to await her orders. The whole edifice is constructed of marble, the bases of the columns being composed of single stones. The bassi-rilievi of the south and west were taken away, and transported to England by Lord Elgin, and now form what are called the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. Small and ruined as it is, this temple, with the interior of the vestibule of the Propylaeum, forms one of the most ancient examples of the Ionic order. It is attributed, with some authority, to the era of Cimon, the predecessor of Pericles. The orator Lycurgus afterwards added the decoration of the balustrade. These interesting relics, which have initiated us into the pure beauty of the Grecian architecture, appropriately pre- pare us for an examination of the Parthenon, which travellers and artists have unanimously placed at the summit of architectural art, as Ictinus and Phidias placed it at the summit of the Acropolis of Athens. I " The appearance of the Parthenon," says Lamartine, " testifies more loudly than history itself to the greatness of this people. Pericles will never die ! What a civilisation was that which found a great man to decree, an architect to conceive, a sculptor to adorn, statuaries to execute, workmen to carve, and a people to pay for and maintain such an edifice ! In the midst of the ruins which once were Athens, and which the cannon of the Greeks and Turks have pulverised and scattered through- GREEK ART. 47 out the valley, and upon the two hills on which extends the city of Minerva, a mountain is seen towering up per- pendicularly on all sides. Enormous ramparts surround it; built at their base with fragments of white marble, higher up with the ddbris of friezes and antique columns, they terminate in some parts with Venetian battlements. This mountain seems to be a magnificent pedestal cut by the gods themselves, whereon to seat their altars." Here it was that the Parthenon towered nay, towers still, even in its ruins, above the Pentelic valleys, the plain of the Piraeus, and the sea, whe^e shine the pediments of the temple of Jupiter ^ginus. / " By what fatality," exclaims Chateaubriand, " is it that these masterpieces of antiquity, which the moderns travel so far and undergo so many fatigues to behold and admire, owe partly to the moderns themselves their destruction? Down to the year 1687 the Parthenon remained entire.l The Christians converted it first into a church, and the Turks, jealous of the Christians, afterwards converted it into a mosque. Then came the Venetians, in the highly civilised seventeenth century, and cannonaded the monuments of Pericles. They shot their balls upon the Propylaeum and the temple of Minerva ; a bomb sunk into the roof, set fire to a number of barrels of gunpowder inside, and de- molished in part a building that did less honour to the false gods of the Greeks than to the genius of man. The town being taken, Morosini, with the design of embel- lishing Venice with the spoils of Athens, wished to take down the statues of the pediment of the Parthenon, and broke them. A modern succeeded in achieving (in the interest of the arts) the destruction which the Venetians had begun. Lord Elgin lost the merits of his commend- 48 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. able enterprises in ravaging the Parthenon.^ He wished to take away the bassi-rilievi of the frieze ; in order to do so, he employed Turkish workmen, who broke the archi- trave, threw down the capitals, and smashed the cornice."" Numerous descriptions of the Parthenon, by writers of antiquity as well as travellers of all ages, enable us to re-construct it for the mind's eye in its general aspect, and almost in all its details. The ancient sanctuary of Minerva had been so com- pletely annihilated by the Persians of Xerxes, that Themistocles did not hesitate to employ the remains in the construction of ramparts. Pericles charged Ictinus and Callicrates, under the direction of Phidias, to raise a new edifice worthy of the power of Athens, and of her goddess. The architects adopted the Doric style, on account of its nobleness and simplicity; but they reserved the privilege to themselves of lightening its somewhat squat proportions, and softening its rudeness by precise and finished work. Inspired with the idea of the object of the work the honour of Minerva herself they never lost sight of the divine virgin, whose glorious image Phidias fixed in marble, as she sprang from the forehead of Jupiter the issue of supreme thought an ideal in which strength did not exclude grace, In every part of the architecture the highest degree of elegance and serenity was conspicuous. Without sacri- ficing any of the traditional merits of the Doric order, they subordinated them to the idea which it was necessary to embody. Columns of greater length than formerly supported bolder capitals and a lighter entablature ; a richer and more delicate decoration was made use of in the friezes, and in the very smallest details the loftiest and most purely Attic spirit breathed. GREEK ART. Jl The temple, 234 feet by 98 feet, entirely of white Pentelic marble, was surrounded by a peristyle, sustained upon forty-six columns, eight supporting each pediment. The columns, placed without pedestals upon three steps, measured 20 feet high, and nearly 6 feet in diameter. Forty-six to forty-eight colossal figures, about 13 feet in diameter, admir- ably grouped, formed the pediments, and were relieved in pure white upon a reddish background. Below, between the triglyphs, painted in blue, ran upon the ninety-two metopes of the exterior frieze those famous alti-rilievi, the Centaurs and the Lapithae, Hercules and Theseus, Perseus and Bellerophon, by Phidias. Amidst the gods and heroes a place was reserved for men. The principal episodes of the battle of Marathon, won by the Athenians over the Persians, occupied the metopes of the western faade. Outside the colonnade, upon the exterior wall of the temple, ran a long frieze, embracing subjects treated in alto-rilievo, like cameos, and having a marvellous finish. There were religious processions coming from both sides at once to honour the figures of the gods upon the facade. In the sanctuary was a colossal Minerva, 46 feet in height, clothed in a tunic of gold, and holding a spear of ivory in her hand. The Acropolis of Athens also contains the united temples of the Erechtheum of Minerva Poliades " Great works also," says Lamartine, " but drowned in the shadow of the Parthenon." Mention may here be made of a small temple united to the Erechtheum, which presents a feature we have not hitherto noticed. The place of columns is in this instance supplied by statues. Six beautiful caryatides (figure -pillars) in white marble, and crowned with elegant capitals, support an entablature, lightened by having no E 2 5 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. frieze. A heavy superincumbent weight would have givei these figures a painful appearance of effort, than which there is nothing more foreign to Greek art. By the absence of this, however, and the skill of the designer, their ex- pression is one of unequalled serenity blended with that dignity and geometric arrangement which is more The Temple of Pandrosa. characteristic of architecture than of statuary. Their arms are cut off between the shoulder and the elbow, and the straight folds of their garments, especially behind, look like the flutings of columns. Their feet rest upon a pedestal equally high in all cases. Modern art can hardly equal them even in the case of the splendid caryatides of the tribune of the Louvre, in which grace, size, and charming GREEK ART. 53 ndivetk are substituted for and supplement the astonishing nobleness and absolute purity of the feminine figure- columns that, in the small temple of Erechtheum, guard the celebrated olive the tree: and present of Minerva. This little temple was dedicated to the nymph Pandrosa, one of the daughters of Cecrops, and it is generally called the Pandroseium. Among the numerous monuments, the traces, or at least the sites, of which we can still discover upon the soil of Athens, there are few so entire as the temple of Theseus the most beautiful, after the Parthenon, which Greece has raised to her gods or her heroes. It is con- ceived in the same spirit, and presents a similar arrange- ment, to that great masterpiece. Combats of Centaurs and Lapithae decorate the frieze. Its harmonious mass and its beautiful columns stand out clearly relieved against the deep sky of Attica, crowning, as it does, an isolated cliff, wild and bristling with sharp rocks. Like the Pecile and the theatre of Bacchus, it is a work of Cimon. A little monument, formerly known under the name of the Lantern of Demosthenes, and of which a copy occupies at St. Cloud the summit of a tower well known to the Parisians, deserves attention as one of the rare specimens of the Corinthian order to be seen in Greece. It formed one of those small houses which were used to contain the tripods received by the victors in the scenic games those same tripods which were on high occasions employed for the decoration of one of the thoroughfares of Athens, called in consequence the Street of the Tripods. Above a rectangular pedestal rose a small round chamber, closed by six marble panels, that crowned the frieze and circular cornice, and of which the joinings were concealed by six 54 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. fluted columns partly sunk into the wall, and rising to the height of 13 feet. The cupola, delicately carved in the upper part, where it imitated a roofing of laurel leaves, supported an ornament in the shape of a pieca of flower- work, full of caprice, and very artistic in the management of the foliage. Here it was that the tripod was kept a. GRKEK REMAINS IN ITALY AND ASIA. Piesl-um, the Poseidonia of the Greeks, owes its origin to the first Dorian immigrations into Italy. This celebrated structure was situated a short distance from the sea, and from the river Silarus. Its decline dates from three centuries before our era, though it existed still under the empire previously to its capture by the Saracens, who in 915 burned it before abandoning it to the Italians. In addition to three famous temples of which it was com- posed, there still remains a fragment of the ancient wall, formed of enormous blocks. On the space of four miles which these ruins cover, are to be found fragments of columns, of cornices, and of pools of water where now grow only coarse reeds sad successors of the roses so much extolled by the ancient poets. In the low plain, where now are scattered the remains of this great temple, the soldiers of Crassus in former times crushed the almost invincible army of Spartacus. Even the dead have not fertilised this marshy tract of land. There is no appear- ance of life or of restless animation to disturb the solemn impression and the imposing effect of these old and solitary temples. The smallest of the three temples has lost every trace of interior walls, and preserves only its stout Doric columns GREEK ART. 55 and two pediments. Nine columns rear themselves in its front, and thirteen at the side, which show to great advantage when gilded by the sun of the South. Above the entablature rests a irieze with modules. There are still three columns standing in the inside, and broken shafts and debris encumber the enclosure. Of the three temples of Paestum, the best preserved ranks among the most beautiful works of antiquity, and is situated between the two others. Neptune was the god to whom it was dedicated. Its fluted columns, of which there are six on the facade and fourteen on the sides, rest upon three broad steps of most harmonious proportions. They are short, their height not being more than 14 feet. Their diameter gradually diminishes towards the top, and thus they present somewhat of the appearance of a pyramid. Between the columns the space is little more than the diameter of the pillars, and this helps to make the play of light and shade among them very striking and varied. The capitals spring boldly out, and the entablature is a little more than half the height of the columns. Below the capitals are four small fillets, fine and light ornaments, which are placed opposite each other, and give great delicacy to the ornamentation. Judging from what remains, a pretty correct estimate can even at the present day be formed of the arrangement of the sanctuary of the temple. It was ornamented with pilasters, and with two ranks of columns which supported an architrave on another range of columns of smaller size, destined to support the roof. Scarcely another example exists of this superposition of orders among the Greeks. Sicily was at an early date colonised by the Dorians, 56 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. whose dialect it preserved. Notwithstanding the successive conquests which devastated it, it still contains architectural lemains which are well worthy of the mother country, the most complete of which is the temple of Segesta. The town of Egesta, or Segesta, the foundation of which is attributed to the fabulous Acestes, the companion of ./Eneas, was destroyed by the Saracens in the eleventh century. A temple, a theatre, and some shapeless debris situated at a shoit distance from Calatafimi, are all that now remain of it. Majestically based upon a promontory, as upon a great pedestal, the temple seems to have always been isolated from the town, which circumstance was, probably, the cause of its beiijg preserved from the fury of the destroyers of the latter. Antiquarians do not agree as to whether it was consecrated to Ceres or to Diana. It has the form of a square, and is sunounded by thirty-six columns, its circumference being more than 500 feet. All the attributes of the Doric order are to be found in it. Columns without bases swelled out at the bottom, round capitals, an architrave, a frieze and a cornice, with triglyphs and metopes, a double pediment, and four steps at the spaces where the doors afforded entrance such are the main features of the temple of Segesta. The columns are in calcareous tufa, and were doubtless originally coated with stucco. Indentations upon some of the stones, which were doubtless made in order to facilitate the transportation of the great blocks, seem to indicate that this temple was never finished. No traces are to be found of an altar, of steps, or of interior porticoes. It is believed that the building was interrupted when Agathocles devastated the town during the Punic war. The preserva- tion of the edifice itself, so far as it was completed, is as perfect as possible. Its interior is completely unfurnished, GREEK ART. 59 except with grass, upon which flocks browse in the shadows of the columns. No roof covers it but the vault of heaven. This solitary colossus towering over the mountains, with its reddish columns eaten away by time an abandoned ruin rising in the midst of the desert calls forth the admiration and respect of him who is fortunate enough to behold it. Asia is the cradle of Greece. The Hellenic race sojourned for a long time in Ionia ; but the devastations of the Persians and the Turks have scarcely left there any memorials of their ancient architecture. Some columns at Ephesus, some tombs among others the famous Mausoleum are almost all that can be traced. According to Pindarus, the first temple of Ephesus was built by the Amazons at the time when they made war upon Theseus. Strabo attributes it to the architect Ctesiphon ; and Pliny informs us that before being burnt it was a type of architecture as much admired for the proportions of its columns as for its capitals. After Erostratus burnt it, in 356 B.C., says Strabo, the gifts brought from all parts, the donations of pious women, the presents of the colonies, and the valuable articles deposited by the kings in the ancient sanctuary, enabled the people to rebuild the temple on a still more magnificent scale. All Asia joined in the undertaking, and the structure took no less than 220 years to raise. It was placed on a marshy soil, to ensure it against earthquakes; and in order to obtain sufficiently strong foundations for such a considerable mass, a bed of ground carbon was laid down, and a bed of wool above that. The entire temple was 425 feet long and 220 feet wide. As many as 127 columns were raised in honour of as many kings, which columns were 60 feet high. Of these columns thirty-six were sculptured. 60 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Perhaps the greatest marvel in connection with the whole enterprise was the raising of the architraves. The greatest difficulty was experienced with the frontispiece over the entrance gate. Such was the weight of this enormous mass that it could not be placed upright. The artist was on the point of committing suicide ; but during the night, says Pliny, a goddess informed him that she had arranged the stone, and in the morning he found that the promise had been redeemed. Chirocrates is supposed to have been the architect, the same who built Alexandria. Works from the chisel of Praxiteles and of Trason covered the altar and walls. As for the wood-work, it was simply wonderful all the carpentry being in cedar. In the thirteenth century A.D. the Persians first, and afterwards the Scythians, pillaged and burnt the temple of Ephesus. What of destruction was left unaccomplished by these was completed by the Goths and Mahomet the Great. The temple is represented upon ancient medals bearing the effigies of Diocletian and Maximin, with a frontispiece of two, four, six, and eight columns respectively variations to be attributed solely to the caprice of the engraver. This temple was the most perfect model of the Ionic order. Among the Seven Wonders of the World might with justice be ranked the Mausoleum, or tomb of the Carian King Mausole, at Ephesus, raised by his wife Artemisia. South and north its walls, according to the elder Pliny, measured 63 feet ; but the two others were not so large. The entire circumference of the remains is 411 feet, and the height 25 cubits. Thirty-six columns formed a peri- style around it. It was erected at different epochs the north side was built by Bryaxis, the east by Scopas, the south by Timotheus, and the west by Leocharis. Queen GREEK ART. 6 1 Artemisia, who had designed the monument in honour ol her spouse, died before it was completed ; but the artists, believing that it would redound to their glory and to the interests of art, determined to finish it This was ac- cordingly done, and above the peristyle, or pteron, a pyramid was raised of the same height as the rest of the edifice, composed of twenty-four steps, which decreased in size as they ascended. Upon this summit is a quadriga, the work of Pythis, which accessory gave to the structure a height of more than 150 feet. Other Greek tombs at Alinda, in Asia Minor, in Sicily, in the isle of Santrim, present the form of a square tower sustained by Ionic and Doric columns. These monuments succeeded the tumuli of the Pelasgians, which we find among the Etruscans, and even among the Romans. CHAPTER VI. ANCIENT ROME. 1. THE ROMAN FORUM. ROME borrowed her chief architectural ideas from the Etruscans and the Greeks; but what she thus took she reconstructed in accordance with her own spirit, converting the whole into realisations of grandeur and ostentation, in response to the wants which arose from her conquests and her wealth. Captivated with the beauties of Grecian architecture, she quickly abandoned the Tuscan model she was following for the primitive Doric. She added even to the graces which she borrowed, and in order to enjoy at once the Ionic and the Corinthian, she combined the two into an order which has consequently been termed the Composite. In the external appearance and the deco- ration of those buildings can clearly be traced an imitation of Greece, and often the workmanship of Greek artists ; but they all possess at the same time that special individual cha- racter which at a glance declares that the structures are Roman in their essential principles. Roman architecture may be described as an original transformation of Greek architecture. Applying it to much larger structures, Rome introduced the superposition of orders in storeys, substituting the vault and the arcade for the ceiling and the plat-band. She employed the smallest materials, and enlarged the inter- vals between the points of support. The temples alone remain tolerably faithful to the Greek type. The trium- phal arches, the baths, the amphitheatres, and the aqueducts ANCIENT ROME. 63 widely differ in their structure from the Greek model : these are all purely Roman works. The spectator could not walk ten paces in the ancient Forum without perceiving that he was not in Athens. Situ- ated at the foot of the Capitol, it formed one of the promi- nent objects of ancient Rome. Upon a height which cir- cumscribed the view rose the Tabularium, or palace of Archives, at the foot of the fortress of Romulus and of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Regarded at the present day, a number of protecting divinities are seen grouped to- gether, whose duty it was supposed to be to watch over the fortunes of Rome. The Capitol that cradle of an empire that has lasted 1,200 years is now a mere common hill garnished with mansions devoid of grandeur. Its height even has been diminished, owing to the masses of rubbish that have gradually accumulated around the sides, and it was found necessary to dig up and remove the soil in order to restore to the half-buried ruins of the Forum the elegance of their proportions. The arch of Septimus Severus, the foot of which was for a long time buried underground, rises in front of the Capitol, near the Mamertine prison, where so many of the vanquished died after having marched in the triumphal procession of their conquerors. It was raised about the year 203 A.D., in honour of Septimus Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. A number of Corinthian columns separate the three unequal semicircles. Above the middle one recline two figures of Victory, while above the smaller arches are bassi- rilievi, representing combats between the Parthians, the Arabs, and other Eastern nations. Formerly the upper plat- form supported a huge chariot in bronze, conducted by Severus and his two sons around the figures of Victory. 64 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. The Arc du Carrousel in Paris is a copy of this triumphal arch. Leaving the arch of Septimus, the spectator sees on the right and in front of him almost an entire side of the temple of Fortune, the three Corinthian columns of Jupiter Tonens, and the beautiful remains of the Grecostaxium, where foreign ambassadors were lodged. In the same direction, towards the left, the visitor seeks in vain, in the pediments of the church of St. Adrian, for any vestiges of the Emilia basilica constructed towards the latter years of the republic, and restored by Tiberius. This structure enriched St. John de Latran with a gate of brass, and St. Paul with numerous pillars in violet marble. It is gratifying, however, to find that the high facade of the temple of Antoninus and Faus- tinus has been spared a fagade which Goethe always re- garded with great admiration. The edifices which enclosed the Forum on the east having fallen, gives an uninterrupted view on the right of the Palatine Hill, where Augustus and Nero had their palaces and gar- dens. It is at the present day merely a huge collection of open vaults, buried galleries, and halls paved with mosaics. Close at hand is the arch of Titus, on the Via Sacra. It was raised at the end of the first century to commemorate the taking of Jerusalem. In spite of its limited dimensions and its singular appearance, the beauty of its proportions and sculptures renders it a true model of the class of architecture to which it belongs. It has lost four of the eight composite columns that ornamented its fagades. Two admirable bassi- ilievi are to be seen on it, but they are unfortunately muti- lated. One represents Titus on a chariot conducted by a female figure of Rome, crowned with victory, escorted by a multitude of soldiers, senators, and people. The other ANCIENT ROME. 65 depicts the spoils of Jerusalem, the table of gold, the seven- branched chandelier, the sacred vases, and the Jewish pri- soners. On the frieze, on which is emblazoned the triumphal pomp, is the river Jordan figuratively represented and carried by two men. Four Victories decorate the archivolt At some distance on the left may still be admired the enormous ruins of a basilica, called the temple of Peace, the astonishing vaults of which inspired Michael Angelo. This edifice originally formed an oblong more than 325 feet by 212. Prodigious Corinthian columns sustained a long nave and two aisles. All the vaults shone with mosaics and orna- ments in bronze. There now remain only the bays of the left aisle and the commencement of the great vault. The only column that remained intact was transported to one of the squares of Rome, the centre of which it now decorates. Between the arch of Titus and the Colosseum, the im- posing ellipse of which looms grandly upon the spectator, only the shafts of overturned columns are to be met with. On the right, at the bottom of a lonely avenue, the arch dedicated to Constantine after his victory over Maxence opens its three semicircles, surrounded by eight beautiful fluted antique pillars of the Corinthian order. The bassi- rilievi of the lower part, executed in the time of Con- stantine, attest the decline of that art ; but others, to the number of twenty, placed higher up, are specimens of the best style, though these properly belonged to one of the arches which ornamented Trajan's Forum. Of the first great stone amphitheatre, constructed about the year of Rome 725, upon the Campus Martius, by Stati- lius Taurus, there now remains not a single trace. Augustus declared his intention of constructing another, but this task was left to be accomplished by Vespasian, who made his 66 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Jewish prisoners work for him gratuitously. Titus built the Flavian amphitheatre, and dedicated it about the year 80 A. D. Struck with its immense proportions, the people called it the Colosseum. At the inauguration under Titus, 5,000 wild beasts were put to death, and 11,000 on the occasion of the games which celebrated Trajan's victory over the Parthians. Probus caused a little forest to be planted in the arena, in which he placed a thousand ostriches and a vast number of other animals. In the sixth century the practice of cele- brating the barbarous games for which the building was reared was disused. A fortress in the middle ages, and afterwards an hospital, the Colosseum finally became a sort of quarry, from which the Farnese and others took material to build their palaces. Leo X. put an end to these depre- dations, and consecrated the building to the memory of the martyrs that had been devoured within it by wild beasts. Walls and buttresses of support were latterly employed to arrest the decay of the building, and these accomplished the object in a large measure even after half the exterior wall had disappeared. The exterior of the Colosseum presented four storeys superposed: three arcades, with piers ornamented with Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns ; and one with pilasters orna- mented with a bold cornice, at which were fixed mats, to be stretched across for the protection of the spectators from the sun. Two subterranean storeys contained the animals, which were brought up by traps. Altogether, the building covered a space of 65,000 square feet. The oval arena, 260 feet long by 150 in width, had its two entrances situated at the two broad extremities of the circus. It was surrounded by gradually ascending steps, which formed seats for the spectators. On the first rank ANCIENT ROME. 69 were placed, at one side the box for the imperial family, and on the other that of the consuls. Right and left were places reserved for ambassadors, first magistrates, senators, and other great dignitaries. The senators and equites occupied stalls of white marble, these "upper ten" being separated from the plebeians by a deeply cut division, forming a kind of fixed gulf between them. The amphitheatre terminated with a beautiful portico at the roof, formed of eighty marble columns. The Colosseum accommodated 90,000 spectators. Night is the time when one should contemplate the Colos- seum, when a beautiful, clear moonlight plays among the hollow vaults and on the broken steps, giving to what it lights up, and what it darkens with shadow, proportions more vast and shapes even stranger than their own. Then it is that the terrible scenes of the past crowd on the memory of the traveller. We imagine we see, says Chateaubriand, "the people assembling in the theatre of Vespasian ; all Rome gathered to drink the blood of the martyrs ; a hundred thousand spectators, some shaded by the hems of their robes, others by umbrellas, crowding the seats ; multitudes vomited forth, as it were, by the porticoes, descending and ascending the long stairs, and taking their places. Railings of gold ward off the senators' box from the attacks of the ferocious beasts. In- genious machines scatter a perfumed spray throughout the vast space, cooling the air and making it pleasant Three thousand statues in bronze, an endless multitude of pictures, columns of jasper and porphyry, balustrades of crystal, vases of the richest workmanship, dazzle the eye and lend variety to the scene. In a canal surrounding the arena swim a hippopotamus and crocodiles. Five hundred lions, forty ele- phants, and tigers, panthers, and bulls, accustomed to the 7O MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. slaughter of human beings, rage and roar in the caverns of the amphitheatre ; while here and there gladiators not less ferocious wipe their blood-stained arms." The Baths exhibit the life of the Romans even more intimately than the amphitheatres. Of these there were at Rome more than 800, which were frequented from mid-day till evening. Agrippa was the first who opened them to the people, and a great many emperors, wishing to eclipse their predecessor in luxury and magnificence, followed his ex- ample. We can still see the ruins of the baths of Titus ; those of Diocletian furnished to Michael Angelo the idea which resulted in the beautiful church of St. Mary of the Angels ; while those of Caracalla have been preserved from being put to other uses by the vast quantity of rubbish accumulated about them. At the foot of Mount Aventine, in a deserted region of Rome, in the midst of wild vines, are vast ruins which time has covered over with mosses. Here lizards sun themselves in peace, and here the humble guardian of the ruins has built himself a squalid hut, in which the huntsman of the Emperor Caracalla would not have kept his dogs. At certain places one can climb from stone to stone over green mounds, which were originally porticoes and colonnades. In these baths the bathers had i,6oo marble seats, special and common halls, and hot and cold baths of various degrees of temperature. One of these baths was no feet in diameter; another measured 126 feet by 78, exclusive of the niches around the sides and the halls at each extremity. The vaulted roofs were supported upon pillars 45 feet high, one of which was carried off to the Trinity Square at Florence, where it stands surmounted by a statue in red porphyry. HP [~T Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. Ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, from a photograph. ANCIENT ROME. 73 Taken m their entirety, the aspect of the baths was monu mental. Upon the Appian Way rose two storeys of porticoes, and behind the long gallery of 1,170 feet formed by these, a vast platform, at the height of the first storey, supported the building, surrounded with plantations. Within were all sorts of appliances for the exercise of the body and amuse- ment of the mind, which the ancients always combined. Everything had its special purpose and character, and there was such an infinite variety that all wants and tastes might find their gratification. Looking at these baths, the spectator cannot help feeling that the impression caused by the Colosseum itself becomes weakened. Nowhere within the Eternal City do we trace more distinctly the vast accumulation of riches among a single people. In the refinements of these baths may be read, as in a book, the intense, luxurious, and delicate life of the Romans. It might be v/ell to recall these baths, which were at once public baths, restaurants, gymnasiums, promenades, libraries, halls of declamation, and congresses, before we boast of our own civilisation and prosperity. II. THE PANTHEON, &C. On the other side of the Mount Aventine, near tht Tiber, lie the inhabited quarters of Rome, containing curious ruins, which we can only mention. Here is the small temple of Vesta, a charming spiral edifice, formerly open on all sides, and covered with a white dome supported by twenty fluted columns of white marble ; but at present submerged ; n a heap of bricks, and hidden by the fallen roof. Here, 74 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. also, are the arches of the four-fronted Janus ; and further off the opening of the Cloaca Maxima, a celebrated sewer which dates from the time of the Kings of Rome. Still further off lies the beautiful temple of Fortuna Virilis, now converted into a church called the Egyptian Mary. Holding on in the same direction, we come next to one of the most beautiful and best preserved remains of ancient Rome the Pantheon of Agrippa, The site of this build- ing is ugly and dirty. Its approach is guarded by a granite pillar, formerly an obelisk of Serapis, and a fountain, the water of which falls back into a basin of porphyry. So great is the accumulation of rubbish about the ruins, that only two out of the five steps leading up to the edifice are now visible. I Agrippa's Pantheon consists of two very distinct por- tions a rectangular portico and a circular body. Even in its present state of decay, a want of harmony can be detected between the ornamented fagade and the high, red, bare walls, which have lost all their exterior decoration. This is ex- plained by the fact that the portico and main body of the building are, in reality, different structures. The circular part possesses a fagade independent of that of the portico ; and these differ from each other in style, that of the portico being superior to that of the Rotunda. Bestowing a few minutes' examination upon the details, we find that the superb peristyle is sustained by two ranges of eight columns 42 feet in height, irrespective of bases and capitals, the whole composed of white marble. Each column is hewn out of a single block of Eastern marble ; those in front being of white and black granite, and the others of red granite. There are very small spaces between the columns. The front columns sustain a noble ANCIENT ROME. 77 entablature, but the mass of the pediment rests upon arches concealed by the architraves. Formerly, the bassi-rilievi of the pediment, the inscription, and the great gate of the temple were of bronze. All this metal, however, was removed in the seventeenth century by Pope Urban VIII., and has since been used in constructing the immense canopy of the altar of St. Peter's. The great gate leading into the temple opens between fluted pedestals wrought in bronze, and the gate itself is covered with thick plates of the same metal.) Furthermore, we note that the threshold is of African marble, and the sides and architrave of white marble. The interior of the temple is no less rich than majestic, its diameter being more than 13 feet, and the thickness of the wall 19 feet From pavement to summit the height is the same as the diameter. Light is admitted by a single circular open- ing, 29 feet in diameter, in the middle of the vaults. Access to the cupola is obtained by a flight of 190 steps; Passing to the interior, we find that the circumference of the Rotunda is decorated with Corinthian columns of rare marble, to which pilasters are attached, the bases and the capitals being of white marble, and the frieze of porphyry. Above these is a range of windows, now walled up, the entablature of which supports the cupola. Plates of silver and bronzes covered the ribs of the vault in former times; and bronze caryatides, the work of Diogenes of Athens, guarded the windows. | In the year 27 B.C., on the occasion of the victory of Actium, when universal peace was declared, the great edifice was dedicated to all the gods, and figures of these in gold, in silver, in bronze, and in precious marbles were placed in niches within it, and hence the name Pantheon. \ 78 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. To the same date as the Pantheon ought to be assigned the theatre of Marcellus, the remains of which are united to a particular house. It was a vast and superb edifice, more than 325 feet long, and could contain 16,000 spec- tators. Augustus dedicated it to his nephew, the poetic youth commemorated by the genius of Virgil. Of the four semicircular stages which constituted the wall, traces ol only two remain. Every one admires the equilibrium of its Ionic columns. These form the models which are fol- lowed by modern architects in designing structures wherein the orders are superposed. Among the monumental forms of which Rome has furnished us the type, the votive columns must be classed. There were two of these the Antonine, dedicated to Marcus Aurelius ; and the Trajan, of which the column in the Place Vendome, at Paris, is a bronze reproduction. The Trajan column had the immense pile of rubbish surrounding il cleared away for the first time in 1540, but it was not entirely evealed till 1813. In height it has often been excelled, but it would be difficult to find anywhere an equal harmony of proportions. Its pedestal is admirable, and the spiral bassi- rilievi which twist around its shaft of white marble have been studied with advantage by Raphael. For the pedestal, the shaft, the capital, and the statue of Trajan, Apollo- dorus of Damas, the architect of Trajan's Forum, employed thirty-four blocks of marble, marvellously fitted together. Throughout its whole length the column is pierced by a staircase leading to the summit. What forms the parti- cular beauty of Trajan's column is the unity of conception which it displays. Everything is varied, but there is no incoherency. Underneath, in the earth, was the golden urn that contained the ashes of Trajan; and upon the pedestal '1 nijan's Column at ANCIENT ROME. 8 1 garlands of oak, symbolical of peace, were suspended. Laurels gird the base of the pedestal. The shaft is enriched with a kind of endless scroll, which winds round its circumference from base to summit. Here may be beheld, ascending as it were from the bottom to the top. 2,500 figures of soldiers and prisoners, with an endless number of horses, elephants, weapons, and war-material. Standing on the top, the con- queror, as it were, looks down upon this triumphal cavalcade marching upwards in winding file, and is recompensed for his victory. Above the tomb is the trophy ; above the trophy the apotheosis ; and rare fortune for a monument nothing jars upon the mind of the spectator in gazing at this great memorial ; for he remembers that Trajan deserved all the honours that were paid to him. Only accidentally, as in the case of Trajan's column, were these votive pillars employed as tombs. Among the architectural forms which the Romans preferred for the pur- poses of sepulture, the tumulus and the tower were the richest and the most considerable. Adrian's Mole, that enormous mass which has so often served Rome as a citadel under the name of the Castle of St. Angelo, is simply the mausoleum of Adrian. " I have but little pleasure," writes Brosses, " in seeing the castle of St. Angelo fortified with its five bastions, when I remember that it was originally but a monumental tower of three storeys surrounded with porticoes and statues." The principal portion of the tomb is raised in a solid mass upon a square basement, ornamented with niches and Doric columns. In shape it was circular, and its two porticoes, superposed the one above the other, inclining inwards, sup- ported a dome surmounted by a hugh pine-apple in bronze, now to be seen in the Vatican. The exterior was wrought in white marble. The circumference of the square measured a 8a MARVELS OP" ARCHITECTURE. 1,170 feet, and that of the first portico was 580 feet, the total height being nearly 300 feet. After the Pyiamids of Egypt this is the most stupendous sepulchre that ever was constructed. Adrian's Mole formed a pendant to that of Augustus, of which the ruins are still seen on the other bank of the Tiber, near the gate of Renette. The mole or tomb of Augustus, it is supposed, was destroyed by the Norman Robert Guiscard about the eleventh century. Nothing now remains of its cupola or of its porticoes. The two obelisks which were formerly placed before its entrance, at the pre- sent day decorate the apse of St. Mary Major and the square of Monte Cavallo. Within the arena formed by its lofty vault graduated seats and boxes were in ancient times constructed, for the accommodation of spectators to witness bull-fights and other spectacles of a similar character which there took place. Richness of conception and decoration was the distin- guishing trait of the Roman tombs, and this is explained by the purpose they were intended to serve the decoration of the principal streets of the city. The tomb of Augustus was in former times the centre of a vast necropolis. The Appian Way passed between two great rows of sepulchral monuments, of which the most famous and the best preserved is that of Cecilia Metella, wife of the triumvir Crassus. This latter formed a vast circular mass, the dia- meter of which was 98 feet. Not far from the gate of St. Paul stood the monumental pyramid of Caius Cestius, an obscure contemporary of Augustus. It was 130 feet high, 98 feet wide at the base, and entirely faced with white marble. The burial vault, 19 feet by 13, had a plain circular rocn, and was d*~o ANCIENT ROME. 83 rated with a number of pictures executed upon very hard stucco. In all these constructions arches, temples, amphitheatres, baths, columns, and tombs whatever was not positively enormous in size was at least solid and strong. It was the custom of the Romans to combine beauty with strength, but beauty was for them none the less an object of iHeir efforts because they considered it should be combined \vth utility. They may be said to have chosen by instinct out- lines, Curves, and elevations that pleased the eye a custom from which modern architects might learn a useful lesson. The twenty-two aqueducts which, down to the time of Procopius, broi g:t supplies of the purest and most whole- some waters to Rome, were not only admirable for the per- fection of their interior arrangement, but they also served as a decoration to the country through which they passed. Nothing could be more noble or more simple than their innumerable files of arches which bore water to the Eternal City. At the present day their ruins are striking, and break the dead monotony of the desert plains, where rattle the many-coloured wings of the grasshoppers, and little is to be seen but parched herbage. Looking upon the remains of the Anio Novus, the traveller can easily imagine what it was in ancient times. It was the most important of all the aque- ducts, was nearly 60 miles long, and in some places the height of its arcades was 130 feet. Constructed under Caligula and Claudius, about 30 B.C., it carried to Rome the waters of the river Anio, which at present is known by the title of the Teverone, and forms the cascades of Tivoli at the foot of the circular temple of the Sibyl Albuiiea. Whilst Rome drew toward herself all the wealth and the active forces of the countries she conquered, making use first 84 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTUKE. of Italy, then of Greece and the East, and eventually of Spam and France, she gave an equivalent wherever she carried her eagles, and spread all around her genius and her arts. Edifices of every kind were reared upon the banks of the Tiber, the prevailing ideas of which were borrowed from other nations ; while foreign countries, on the other hand, were embellished with the products of the Roman genius. Italy was covered with aqueducts, and the highways were lined and ornamented with tombs. Towers and temples covered the land. Herculaneum and Pompeii, preserved and sealed up as it were in lava, still show us how great were the luxury and the good taste prevailing even in the smaller cities. Following the example thus set by Rome, almost every town in the ancient world came in time to have its arena, its triumphal arch, its columns, and its baths. Rome multiplied herself, yet remained ever unique. She has left recognisable imprints of her presence in Syria, Egypt, India, Africa, France, and Spain. From the second century every- thing became Roman in its characteristics, and ages have not sufficed to suppress the habit which became a second nature* CHAPTER VIL THE ROMAN WORLD. I. THE WEST FRANCE, which was under the domination of Rome foi more than 500 years, still preserves some antique temules reared under the influence of the Romans. That of Ver- negues, some miles from Aix, recalls by its pointed' leaves and Corinthian capitals the early times of the conquest. Vienne, in Dauphine, also possesses a temple which con- tains at the present day a rich collection of antiquities. The circumference is still entire, but the edifice is dis- figured by the efforts that have been made to restore it. Undoubtedly the best preserved and most important of these ancient structures which have escaped the devastations of barbarians, and the hostile zeal of early Christians, is situ- ated at Nimes. It is called the Maison-Carree, or Square House owing, doubtless, to its rectangular form. At the present day its interior is used as a museum. Fronting it rises a portico, placed on a beautiful basement ; and its three other sides are decorated with engaged columns. A vast colonnade, the bases of which are still to be seen in the fosse facing the temple, formed at one time a forum. This beautiful edifice was attributed to Augustus ; but the exag- gerated richness of the frieze and the Corinthian cornices, and an inscription on the fa9ade, fix the period of its con- struction in the time of Antoninus. Even before the conquest of Caesar, Nimes was quite a Roman town. An inscription attributes to Augustus the 86 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. building of the walls. The line of walls can be traced for a considerable distance, and, judging from the remains, they must have been about 29 feet high, and from 6J to 9 in thickness. Like the gates, the town and upper parts were constructed of hewn stone. We can still distinguish the The Square House of Nimes. shape of the two gates, which were named the gates of France and of Augustus. Traces of Roman towers are still to be seen in the citadel of Carcassonne. Larigres and Treves also have preserved remains of ancient walls and gates, but they are not in any way comparable to the gates of Arroux and of St. Andrei at Autun. THE ROMAN WORLD. 87 "When we see the remains at Autun," says Me'rime'e, "and recall the terrible disasters which that town has suffered, imagination can scarcely picture to itself what it must have been in the days of its splendour. At the end of the third century it was sacked and burnt, and its Roman Gate at Trfcve*. temples and edifices were for the most part levelled. Attila continued the work of devastation when he made himself master of it in the middle of the fifth century. Thereafter the Huns contributed towards the destruction of the remain- ing ruins, and finally Rollo and his Normans found some- thing still to destroy, their visit being the last and most terrible blow which was given to the unfortunate town." 88 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Like those of Nimes, but higher and thicker, the walls formed a grand line, flanked by 2 20 round towers. The two gates still exist, and are among the most perfect that are known. They have two great bays, 13 feet high and 6| wide. They are of hewn stone, laid without mortar, and their style, strong and severe in its outlines, is very im- posing. In spite of its decay, the gate of Rheims, built in the year 360, is very interesting on account of some bassi-rilievi, and especially for its unique arrangement, which consists of three almost equal arches resting upon the same moulding. Whilst on the subject of gates, it may be mentioned that in France many Roman triumphal arches are to be found, but they are almost all in a state of decay. One only, which is very simple in its design, and is pierced with two equal semicircles, like the gates of a town, belongs to the Augustan age. It is to be seen at Saintes, on the banks of the Cha- rente, in a favourable spot to which it has been recently transported, stone by stone. Formerly it stood upon the middle of the bridge. The most celebrated Roman arch in France, however, is that of Orange. No traveller omits to pay it a visit, and contemplate its three circles and the sculptures which orna- ment them. It has been skilfully repaired, fortunately by architects whose object was to strengthen the general mass without touching its details. In this, as in other cases, man had hurried on the work of destruction more than the elements. One cannot but specially admire the composition of the maritime trophies depicted upon the arch, and the beautiful execution of their details. Some antiquarians assign the erection of the triumphal arches of Provence, Orange, St Remy, and Carpentras, all to the same date, THE ROMAN WORLD. 89 and the same purpose namely, to celebrate the victories of Marcus Aurelius in Germany and on the Danube. At Benevento, in Italy, we shall, however, find the most beautiful arch raised by the Antonines. Ancient tradition gives it the name of the gate of gold. It resembles the arch of Titus in its unique bay, its frieze ornamented with a triumphal procession, and its bassi-rilievi between the columns. Both in its entirety and in its details it has escaped barbarian hands, and has been very tenderly dealt with by time. It is constructed wholly of Parian marble, and is remarkable for the beauty of its proportions and the richness of its composite style. It does great honour to the reign of Trajan, whose victories it celebrates, and to its architect Apollodorus of Damas, the architect also of the famous column of Trajan. Passing from the triumphal arches, and coming next to monumental remains, we find among the Roman tombs of Provence two of an original form. One near Vienne bears, upon a basement vaulted and pierced by four arcades, a pyramid 50 feet high ; the other, at St. Remy, is raised upon two steps, and its square basement is ornamented with three beautiful bassi-rilievi, and with Ionic pilasters. The first storey rises above the moulding that terminates the basement ; in each of its fronts is worked a richly-orna- mented arcade, and four Corinthian columns are engaged in the four angles. Muses sport upon the frieze; the crown of the tomb is formed by an elegant circular colonnade, covered by a cone ornamented with imbricated scales. Within the columns two statues are preserved. France is rich in amphitheatres, and can show remains nearly equal to the renowned arenas of Verona and Pola. Rousseau, in the last century, complained of the neglected 9 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. state in which the arenas of Nimes were allowed to lie. " This vast and superb circus," he says, " is surrounded by contemptible little houses, while huts still smaller and more contemptible fill up the arena ; so that a disagreeable and confused scene meets the eye, instead of one that might awaken pleasure and surprise." Not till the year 1810 was The Arena of Nimes. an act passed for the clearing of this great amphitheatre, and now there is no obstruction to the view. Situated in the middle of the town, and not far from the ancient wall, the arenas of Nimes have long been famous for their size and preservation. Their extent is 420 feet by 330. They are supposed to be contemporaneous with the Colosseum j and they could, like it, be transformed into a place large THE ROMAN WORLD. 91 enough for a naval battle by the flooding of the canals surrounding the arena, but which were generally covered over. Two rows of porticoes, with arcades, form the exterior decoration of the amphitheatre, and are in a style of decora- tion at once compact and simple, somewhat akin to the Doric. The interior presents only a picturesque mass of ruins ; but the principal parts may even yet be easily dis- tinguished. Seats to the number of thirty-five were divided into four classes, each department of which was supplied with separate exits and entrances. A judicious distribu- tion of the galleries, staircases, and doors of egress, saved the 20,000 spectators whom it could accommodate the inconvenience and struggle which the architects of our modern theatres do not know how to avoid. Large as was the circus we have been describing, the amphitheatre at Aries was still larger, being, in fact, the largest in France. It was built upon lofty and very solid vaults. Nothing could have been more imposing than the interior of this edifice, built of enormous blocks, cut with true Roman precision. The two stages of exterior porticoes were separated by a cornice at the parts now hardly recog- nisable, which rested upon the engaged columns between each arcade. The first storey was in the robust Doric, and the upper was Corinthian, as is proved by one column, which is the only one that retains its capital. The top part of the building has long ago disappeared. M. Merimee has drawn a parallel between tne two struc- tures, which will be read with interest. He says : " At Nimes the arena, disencumbered of all obstructions, occupies the centre of a large space, where, at a single glance, we can take in the whole enclosure ; while at Aries the vicinity of the houses and the slope of the land 03 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE, permit us only to get glimpses and snatches of the ancient amphitheatre. "Although the exterior porticoes of Nimes greatly re- semble those at Aries, some differences are observable not to the advantage of the former. For example, the centre of The Amphitheatre of Aries. the interior archivolts of the second storey and that of the exterior archivolts are different, an irregularity which offends even the inexperienced eye, and which nothing justifies. At Nimes, as well as at Aries, the galleries of the first stage are formed by a suite of vaults enclosed between two bandeaux of a single stone resting upon piers ; but in the arena of Aries the eccentricity of this construction is less apparent THE ROMAN WORLD. 93 " If the arena of Aries is better preserved in the interior, the wall of that of Nimes is more intact, and its crown has not suffered so much ; it still preserves the greater part of the corbels, where were implanted the poles used to support the awnings for the protection of the spectators from the sun. Taken together, these two amphitheatres furnish almost complete details of the construction of these build- ings, the purpose of which, and their gigantic proportions, argue a state of things so different from our own." Leaving the amphitheatres, we turn next to the baths, and here again we find distinct traces of Rome in Western Europe. The best known are those of Julian, at Paris, the cold bath hall of which alone preserves its vaulted roof 50 feet high, which has for many ages been covered with a layer of earth four feet thick, capable of nourishing great trees. The springings of this greatly admired vault repose on the prows of vessels carved in stone ; and altogether the remains of these baths are considered as the most ancient of the city of Paris. At Nimes also there exist important remains of baths, which contribute to the ornamentation of a charming garden in which they are situated. Specially may be mentioned the beautiful cold pool, surrounded by a low colonnade, and divided into chambers by partitions of stone. Several conduits of water meet in this pool, over which perhaps a nymph presided. For some unknown reason the place has received the name of the Temple of Diana. After the relaxations of the bath and excitement of the arena, the attractions of the theatre formed the next great amusement of the Roman world. We have described what remains of the theatre of Marcellus ; but, in this respect, France has been more favoured than even Italy itsel 94 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Orange contains an admirable theatre, very well preserved ; its faade is seen from a great distance, and towers over all the modern buildings, its wall being 330 feet long and no feet high. The nearer one approaches this wall the more prodigious it seems to become, and the more one is astonished that so simple a wall should produce so powerful an impression. Three gates or doors symmetrically arranged, a range of false arcades, two lines of corbels, and a bold cornice, are all that break up the monotony of this great wall. Beyond the wall the building is a chaos. Where in former times stood the stage, the retiring-rooms, and the machinery, are now to be seen merely remains of founda- tions, of basements, vestiges of corridors, and the debris of staircases. Three superposed colonnades of granite and white marble which decorated the interior facade have been destroyed or removed. Traces of a violent fire are dis- coverable, which has reddened the stones, calcined the marble, and left great heaps of ashes upon the soil. The stone seats curve round on a hill, partly artificial and partly natural ; they are numerous and high, but even when one has ascended to the topmost step the huge wall of the facade seems to tower as high as ever. For a long time encumbered with mean structures, the theatre of Orange is now cleared; but between the proscenium and the seats grows a little grove of fig-trees, which adds to the picturesqueness of the colossal ruins. Aqueducts, again, such as those which covered the Roman Campagna, and surround the greater number of the cities of Italy, are not wanting in France. Traces of them are to be seen at Fr6jus, Luynes, Saintes, Jouy, Arcueil ; while of those at Lyons have been left important remains. Near the village Oullin* on the right bank of the Rhone, at THE ROMAN WORLD. 95 the bottom of the valley of Bonnant, extend these picturesque ruins. Here the entire arches and pillars are covered with ivy; at other places may be seen, still adhering to the Roman brick, the dried branches of other ivies long dead, and perhaps in their day contemporaneous with the great work itself. Those parts that are naked display marks of extremely beautiful construction. Portions of the aque- duct are built of white and black stones on the draught- board pattern, with courses and arches in red bricks Ascending towards the vicinity of the village of Chaponost, we notice still more considerable remains of the aqueduct that conveyed the waters from Mount Pilat to the ancient Lugdunum, a distance of forty miles. These waters were collected in admirable reservoirs, and distributed by means of a system of ingenious syphons, of which the one under notice is the only example to be found. The famous Pont du Card served the double purpose of a bridge and an aqueduct. It crossed the river Garden between two mountains some leagues from Nimes. Three ranges of arcades, superposed, decreasing in size from the, lowest range, and constructed of hewn stone laid without mortar or cement, constituted this marvellous work. No other ornaments, save great embossments, adorn these huge piles formed by enormous heavy blocks. Rain has not been able to penetrate the seams of this uncemented structure, nor has time been able to dislocate its joints. And yet the architect provided for such a contingency, for he erected certain piers which were intended to sustain scaffolding for the purpose of making whatever repairs might in time be necessary. " Such confidence," says Morimee, " had they in the stability of their empire, that they provided for the day K-hen repairs might be necessary for the Pont du Card I * 9 6 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. The canal of this viaduct was between 5 and 7 feet wide. It was entirely covered with thick flag-stones, coated with a species of stucco cement to prevent evapora- tion. It was paved with impermeable mortar, and stretched along the summit of the topmost range of arcades, 160 feet above the earth. The Pont du Card is in the style of the The Pont du Card. best Roman epoch. It is attributed to Agrippa, who came to Nimes in 19 A.D., and who had the superintendence of the waters at Rome. No Roman monument is more admired. Rousseau says of it: "After partaking of an excellent breakfast of figs, I took a guide and went to see the Pont du Card. It was the first Roman work I had ever gone to see, and I did not expect to behold a monument worthy of the hands that constructed it When I reached it, however, THE ROMAN WORLDk 97 I found that the object itself surpassed my expectations. This noble and simple work struck me all the more because it lay in the middle of a desert, where silence and solitude added to the general effect. I could not help asking myself what force it was that transplanted these enormous stones from their quarry, and assembled together thousands of workmen in an uninhabited region. I traversed the three storeys of arcades, of which the aqueduct is composed, and the echoing of my feet on these immense vaults made me believe I heard the strong voice of those who built it. I was lost like an insect in its immensity. And yet, though feeling myself altogether insignificant in body, something elevated my soul, and with a sigh I exclaimed, * Would that I had been born a Roman I" 1 The bridge of Segovia, in Spain, deserves to be mentioned after the Pont du Card, although it is not its equal in majesty, having only two ranges of arcades. Its great grey blocks touched with black, and laid without cement so closely that not a weed has been able to strike its roots into their crevices, increase the grandiose appearance of the structure by their severe colour. It has been attributed both to Ves- pasian (69 A.D.) 'and to Adrian (117 A.D.). Isabella, the Catholic, removed thirty-five of its arches, but the aqueduct is still in use, and carries the waters of a little river called Rio Frio. The bridge of Alcantara, over the Tagus, is not an aqueduct, but simply a bridge 609 feet long, 26 feet wide, and 200 feet high, It is the work of Trajan, the first emperor of Spain (98 A. D.), and formed six arches of different heights, entirely constructed of granite without cement. One of the small arches, demolished by the Saracens in 1213, was removed by Charles V. in 1513. Set H 98 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. up again in wood, it was burnt in 1836, and has not been rebuilt The traveller has consequently to cross the Tagus in a ferry, at the place where it would be easy to repair a bridge which would last for centuries to come. Another town called Alcantara, situated in Africa, to the south of Constantine, has a bridge of a single arch thrown over a narrow and deep ravine, washed by a torrent. This site was probably chosen for its picturesqueness. From the bridge the view extends over a beautiful oasis in which 75,000 palms flourish. All the north of Africa was as thoroughly Roman as France or Spain. Hippona, Carthage, and Alexandria were, under the empire, intellectual centres like Lyons or Cordova. Reflecting upon this great civilisation, which the years have trampled under foot and annihilated, we are forced to avow that all is not progress in the history of humanity. *. PALMYRA AND BALBEK. As we have seen, the architecture of Western Europe differed little in many respects from that of Rome. In Gaul the imported architecture of Italy had not to contend against a national style of art, for the skill of the Celts was limited to the construction of round houses in the earth, and their gods had only dedicated to them dolmens and covered ways. But it was quite otherwise in Africa and Asia. In these continents, it is true, Rome succeeded Greece, but the Greek influence was of too short duration to efface the marks of former dominations. Egypt, Assyria, Lydia, Phrygia, Cappa- docia, resisted Greece and Rome more by their persistent nationality than by their arms. The Ptolemies and the THE ROMAN WORLD. 99 Antonines, men who repaired and constructed much in Egypt, adopted the traditional forms of the pilones and the hypogees, and nothing at first sight more resembles the palace of Sesostris than the colonnades of Philae or the ruins of Antinoe, the town of Adrian. The Egyptian style was changed only to be degraded. Asia Minor, on account of the affinity of its peoples and its proximity to Europe, was more docile, and took more kindly to the classic style. The temple of Ancyra, on the walls of which is inscribed the will of Augustus, is a building that would not be out of place in Italy. But the most famous examples of classic architecture in the East are pre- sented by the ruins of Palmyra and Bulbek. Although remains of more ancient eras may be noticed in these places, yet the general character of the ruins is Graeco- Roman. Strabo does not mention Palmyra ; but Pliny describes it thus : " Palmyra is remarkable because of its situation, its rich territories, and its agreeable streams. On all sides a waste desert separates it from the rest of the world, and it has preserved its independence between the great empires of Rome and Parthia." But in the year 270 A. D., its queen, Zenobia, made war upon Aurelian, and the massacre of a Roman garrison brought about the destruction of the town. Aurelian rebuilt it, however, and restored the Temple of the Sun, which was one of its ornaments, and after him Diocle- tian and Justinian further embellished it The ruins of Palmyra or Tadmor were situated at an equal distance between the Orontes and the Euphrates. Behind an aqueduct and some high tombs, a pile of upright columns, the bases of which are higher than a man, stretches over a space of more than a mile and a half. In some places H 2 100 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. the fall of many of the columns has spoiled the symmetry of the porticoes, the palace, and the temples. In others the columns retreat away from the eye, in lines, like avenues of leafless trees. Overturned shafts, broken capitals, great blocks of stone lying higgledy-piggledy, friezes broken, entab- latures, violated tombs, and altars overturned in the dust, are what we see on and around the. site of Palmyra. " Archi- tecture,'* says Volney, " was prodigal of its magnificence in the Temple of the Sun. Along the wall of the square ran a double range of Ionic pillars ; the peristyle was formed of forty columns, and the fagade resembled the present colon- nade of the Louvre. The only difference was that at Pal- myra the columns were isolated, while at Paris they are grouped in couples. Everywhere was to be seen the winged disc, the emblem of the sun." "Balbek/'continuesVolney, "celebrated among the Greeks and Romans as Heliopolis, or the city of the sun, was situated at the foot of the anti-Lebanon range, exactly at the last undu- lation of the mountain upon the plain. Arriving from the south, the traveller discovers the ruins of the city, at the distance of a league and a half, behind a fringe of trees, above which rise the white domes and minarets. After an hour's travelling, we arrived at the trees, and found that they were very beautiful walnuts ; and after traversing ill-cultivated gardens, by tortuous foot-paths, we found ourselves conducted to the town. Arrived there, we saw a ruined wall flanked by square towers. This wall, which is only ten or twelve feet high, allowed us to peep into the interior of the cit) , which we found consisted of desolate tracts encumbered with rubbish, which seems to be the distinguishing feature of all Turkish towns." When the traveller has ascended a terrace formed of enor- THE ROMAN WORLD. IOI mous blocks, his first glance naturally falls upon six magni- ficent columns at the end of a vast court, and he finds himself in front of the peristyle of a great temple. As a background we have the mountains, the flanks of which are of an ashy- red colour, and stand out clear against the sky. These magnificent columns, consisting at most of two 01 three blocks so perfectly fitted that we can scarcely distin- guish the joinings, are more than 7 feet in diameter and over 70 feet in height. Nothing could be richer than theii capitals and their sculptured entablatures. On the left of these pillars is to be seen the most com- plete edifice in Balbek, namely, the temple of Jupiter Helio- politanus. Its columns, also of the Corinthian order, are almost as thick as those just noticed, but not nearly so high, nor are they comparable to the others for beauty of propor- tions. Thirty-eight of them still remain, and the colonnade is entire, with the exception of a portion belonging to the southern facade. Capitals and drums have tumbled, and form a kind of stair of rough stones, by means of which we can reach the plauorm. One column has slipped without breaking from the height of the rampart, and remains sup- ported against the wall like the trunk of an uprooted tree. As soon as we arrive at the portico we are struck with the richness of the ceiling. Upon the compartments that com- pose it are designed alternately a hexagon and four lozenges, which enclose heads thrown out in bosses. Some blocks, covered with delicate ornaments, have become detached from the ceiling and fallen to the earth. Speaking of Balbek, Saulcy says : " A high terrace, built of prodigious masses of stone, raises its remains above the horizon. The largest block measures 65 feet by 1 6 in width and thickness. Hadger-el-Kiblah, or stone of the south, is lot MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE the name given to it by the Arabs. It would require the force of 20,000 horses to move it, or the concentrated and simultaneous effort of 40,000 men to move it at the rate of three feet in ten seconds. Human intelligence is staggered at the thought of how such stones were conveyed into the desert, and by what machinery they were raised so as to form parts of gigantic edifices. But even greater wonders than these remain to be accounted for. We find that masses as large have been transported at least the distance of three- quarters of a mile ; and that at a distance of eighteen feet above these, other masses equally enormous are jointed with all the skilful contrivance displayed by the best workmen in laying stones of ordinary size." Considering the extraordinary magnificence of Balbek, it is certainly astonishing that the Greek and Latin writers have said so little about it Wood, in his " Description of London," published in the year 1757, states that mention is made of it by John of Antioch, who attributed the construc- tion of the edifice just described to Antoninus the Pious. Inscriptions which still remain bear witness to this opinion ; but the inhabitants prefer to regard it as the work of the genii under the commands of Solomon. CHAPTER VIII. LATIN AND BYZANTINE STYLES. ABOUT the time of Constantine, a number of general law were imposed upon all architects throughout the whole Ro- man world But after the capital had been transferred to Byzantium, the bonds of tradition relaxed, and the Oriental taste, which had introduced at Rome the employment of mosaics and coloured marbles, again rose into the ascendant, and proportions were sacrificed to masses, and beauty of lines to conspicuousness of ornaments. Somewhat later a new style of architecture came into vogue, which, without inventing anything, changed everything. Taking up what was exceptional at Rome, namely, the cupola, architects forthwith made it the chief feature and best-known charac- teristic of their art Persian influence, it is supposed, had something to do with the development of this particular style, which was named Byzantine, and of which the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople remains the greatest model. While this occurred in the East, the West remained faithful to the rules of Vitruvius, and continued to obey the instruc- tions it had received. Even the triumph of Christianity did not bring about a sudden revolution in the arrangement of religious houses. The Christians contented themselves with choosing among the public monuments the form which was most suitable to their religious ceremonies. For instance, the basilica introduced by the Romans for the transaction of negotiations or of judicial business an oblong building 104 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. divided in the direction of its length into a nave and three aisles, was easily adapted to the Christian service. The aisles were set aside for the accommodation of the men and women ; while in the nave the catechumens, the choir, and the minor clergy found accommodation. The upper part of the basilica was raised above the level of the other part of the building by a few steps, and here, when such buildings were converted into churches, divine service was performed. In the middle of the sanctuary was placed the altar; the seat of the praetor became the throne of the bishop ; and the priests were accommodated on a circular bench, leaning back at the extremity of the great nave, and terminating in a hemicycle which took the form of an apsis. Subsequently the apsis and the choir were elongated, and the low sides of the choir were extended like arms on each side in the form of a cross. This development took the name of the transept. The square of the transept the point of intersection of the transept and the nave was lighted by a tower or lantern. Afterwards the apsis was doubled by the addition of a collateral gallery, and chapels were pierced in the walls round the church. Thus was it that these successive transformations, by means of which the basilica became the Gothic cathedral, operated upon the primitive plan devised by the Roman architects. The facade of the basilica was decorated by a portico or porch which extended along all its length. In front of the portico extended a square court, whose interior was sur- rounded by a gallery. In the midst of the court stood a fountain, used for the purpose of ablution, and the gate of entrance was protected by a portal. These accessories have, however, gradually disappeared. Latin basilicas are no longer found in Gaul ; indeed, LATIN AND BYZANTINE STYLES. 105 there scarcely exist any remains of them there. But Rome presents us with a good number, which, in spite of later alterations, have, in the interior at least, preserved their ancient physiognomy. Such, before its destruction by fire, was St. Paul's beyond the walls, a work of the time of Constantine; such still is St. Agnes beyond the walls, St. Croix of Jerusalem, and eight or nine more. We will briefly examine two or three of these edifices. De Brosses, who saw the basilica of St. Paul, was greatly struck by the view of its five naves or aisles divided by four lines of columns in white Parian marble, in alabaster, in cipolin marble, in breccia, in granite, and in all sorts of precious material. Constantine raised these magnificent pillars as a mausofeum to Adrian. The whole interior shone with por- phyry. Theodosius and Honorius increased and aggrandised the edifice ; and after them, the Popes accumulated within it their treasures of mosaics, their pictures and statues. Set fire to and destroyed in 1823, it has since been re-constructed according to its former plan, and with equal magnificence, Sainte-Marie Majeure, one of the most imposing churches of Rome, is clothed exteriorly with all the magnificence and extravagance of the seventeenth century, but its great nave retains all the beautiful style of ornamentation of the antique art. It belongs to the fifth century, having been built by Sextus III. in 432, upon the ruins and with the remains of a temple of Juno. Here it may be noted that the greater number of the ancient churches have been erected on the sites of pagan temples. More than twenty in Rome belong to this class, and all are enriched with the spoils of antiquity. Their pillars were not carved for the use they are now put to : pagan Rome furnished them. At Sainte-Marie Mtijeure the visitor might believe himself in a Greek temple. He 106 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE admires its lofty roof, sustained by two ranges of white columns. " Each of these," says M. Taine, " naked and polished, without othei ornament than the delicate curves of their white capitals, is purely and truly beautiful." St. Clement's is, perhaps, the church that has best pre- served all the constituent features of the Christian basilica. In it nothing is wanting. We find the square atrium sur- rounded by eighteen columns of granite ; the portico sup- porting the faade ; the great altar, isolated in the apse ; and the marble slabs where the clergy took their seats. At a short distance from St. Agnes beyond the walls stands the circular church of St. Constance. The interior diameter of this edifice is 65 feet. Twenty-four Corinthian columns of granite, standing in couples, sustain the cupola above the great altar. Between the colonnade and the ancient wall are to be seen, on the ceiling, vine-branches and youths in mosaic the joyous appearance of the youths leading to the belief that the worship of Bacchus here preceded the rise of the Christian religion. The two Constances, the daughter and sister of Constantine, were baptised in this church. St. Jean in fonte is the church in which it is believed Constantine was baptised by Pope Sylvester. Deprived of its wealth by the barbarians, restored after the Renaissance, this Baptistery of Constantine, as it is called, has evidently preserved its primitive form and aspect. In the midst is the piscina, paved with beautiful marbles, and comprising a vase of green porphyry. The font is covered with a cupola which sustains two superposed ranges of brick columns. At the entry of the chapel there still exist two vast and rich columns of porphyry, of which the entablature is antique. St^ Etienne-le-Rond, to which we next turn, was con- LATIN AND BYZANTINE STYLES. IO? structed in the fifth century by Pope Simplicius, with the debris and on the site of a temple of Claudius. This religious edifice is little more than a baptistry. From the central part of the building, which is its highest part, rises a conical roof, relieved by another which surmounts the col- lateral aisle. Two circular ranges of columns, of different styles of architecture, support and divide the edifice. Originally there was a third, but it was destroyed in the fifteenth century. Turning eastwards, we find that at Constantinople the long naves of the religious edifices are metamorphosed into a series of square chambers surmounted by cupolas. Here the proportions of the antique basilicas are altered and lost ; but great beauties make up for the loss. The boldness of the cornices, the powerful relief of the supports, the pendants and corbels which connect the square nave with the circular cupola, the unity of the entire edifice, all parts of which bear upon the central mass, supporting and sustaining it, are the chief features of Byzantine art, and make it both original and captivating. The barbarity of the- capitals in which the Corinthian acanthus degenerates into a meagre fillet, the strange mixture of figures in mosaic 0*1 a ground of gold which replace the breathing sculptures and the delicate ornaments of the ancient temples, are faults that are forgotten in the harmonious impression of the whole a harmony which has caused many travellers and artists to prefer St. Sophia's at Constantinople to St. Peter's at Rome. At the present day there remains no trace of the first St. Sophia, built in the fourth century by Constantine. After having been frequently burnt, it was totally reduced to ashes in the vear 532. Justinian caused it to be rebuilt by I08 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Anthemius de 'Tralles and Isidore de Milet Ephesus, Palmyra, Pergamos, and a multitude of cities and temples were despoiled to enrich it, and furnished to the architects columns of porphyry and of granite, which were prodigally lavished upon its interior. Ten thousand workmen were employed in the construction of its brick ramparts, vaults, and mosaics. Its peculiar beauties were such that, notwith- standing the mutilations to which the Turks subjected it in 1453, we can still appreciate the proud exclamation of Justinian, referring to the Temple of Jerusaleu " Solomon, I have surpassed thee !" The proportions of St Sophia are by no means gigantic. It measures only 266 feet by 248. Its exterior is somewhat naked, and is disfigured by a number of buildings which hide the general outlines. Between the buttresses raised by Amurrath III. to sustain the walls shaken by successive earthquakes tombs, schools, baths, stalls, &c., are crowded. But putting out of consideration this confusion, and for- getting the four hybrid minarets with which conquerors have flanked the great mass itself, the spectator cannot but admire the beautiful curves of the apse, and the central cupola, whose elliptical shape exaggerates its size. Two long covered porticoes lead up to the body of the church, the second of which communicates by nine gates with the interior. So soon as he enters the building, the visitor takes in at a glance the entire conception of the architect, and is forced to render homage to the genius which, casting aside tke restrictions of the classic school, combined in such perfect accord the circle and the straight line. Around the basilica, up to the height where the vault springs, are vast rows of seats, supported by richly decorated circular galleries. Nothing can equal the majesty of these porticoes, Hteror of St. Sophia at Constantinople. LATIN AND BYZANTINE STYLES. Ill in the Corinthian capitals of which animals, allegorical figures, and crosses are interlaced among the leaves. St. Sophia has lost all its ornaments. The iconoclastic zeal of the Moslem has left it nothing but its precious pavement, which was always concealed under carpets. The statues have been removed ; the altar, made of an unknown metal, which was a mixture of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious stones, melted together, is now replaced by a slab of red marble. Of the mosaics on a' gold ground, with which the building was at one time enriched, only the four gigantic cherubim have been preserved, but the heads of these figures are concealed under a rose of gold the reproduction of the human face being a horror to the Mussulman. At the end of the sanctuary may con- fusedly be perceived the lines of a colossal figure which time has not yet obliterated. This represents Sophia, the goddess of wisdom and patroness of the church, who, under her semi-transparent veil looks down upon the ceremonies of a foreign worship. In the West, Byzantine art took root first in the posses- sions of the Greek Emperors in Italy. The church of St. Vital, at Ravenna, was constructed in the sixth century, at the same time as St. Sophia. This religious edifice is small and octagonal. Its cupola is supported upon eight large pillars resting upon eight apses ; and between the pillars and the apses runs an aisle, from which each apse is separated by three arcades. A gallery runs round the church, above which springs the cupola, pierced by eight windows. St. Vital is removed still further than St. Sophia from classic architectural traditions; none of its ornaments having been borrowed from the ancient monuments. Cer- tain capitals distinctly recall the Corinthian ; but the volutes [12 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. and the foliage are very far from being pure. Most of them are square at the top, and assume by insensible gradations the circular form. Sculptured trellis-work helps to redeem the poverty of the outline. Like all the Byzantine constructions, St. Vital has, in spite of its limited dimensions, an aspect of decided grandeur and character. Very beautiful mosaics and mar- bles formerly lent to it a splendour of which it is now deprived, the choir alone having preserved its primitive decorations. Unfortunately some one has painted the cupola with a still life illusion, and visitors are shocked by seeing in the inside of the vaj'ft a representation of a Corinthian colonnade. The church which Charlemagne constructed at Aix-la- Chapelle, and which he considered superior to all the churches in the world, is but a barbarous copy of St. Vital. It is a curious specimen of the poor talent and depraved taste of the Western architects of that period. Astonish- ment need not be felt that Charlemagne, one of the most intelligent men of his time, knew much less about archi- tecture than a modern school-boy. At that time it was difficult to find a workman who could carve a capital or even square a monolith. Such was the poverty of skilled labour, that the common expedient was to rob an old edifice in order to furnish material for a new one. Proceeding upon this principle, Charlemagne caused certain columns to be transposed from Ravenna to Aix-la-Chapelle for the adornment of this church, which is interesting only for the memorials it contains, being a kind of historical sanctuary. " St. Mark of Venice," says Theophile Gautier, " is a St Sophia in miniature, a reduction on the scale of an inch to the foot, of the immense structure of Justinian. Nor is this LATIN AND BYZANTINE STYLES. IIj to be wondered at Venice, which a narrow sea only separates from Greece, was always in familiarity with the East, and its architects sought out and reproduced the type of church which was then considered the most beautiful and rich in the Christian world. St. Mark was commenced in 979, under the Doge Peter Orseolo. Its architects had the advantage of seeing St. Sophia in all its integrity and splen- dour, before it had been profaned by Mahomet II., in the year 1453." Under the five small domes at the sides of the structure, open up the seven porches of the facade, of which five lead into the central atrium, and two into the exterior side galleries. The depth of these portals is garnished with columns in cipolin and pentelic marbles, in jasper, and in other precious materials. " The central door, whose outline cuts the balustrade of marble that runs above the other arcade, is, as it should be, richer and more ornate than the others. Besides the mass of columns in antique marble which support it and give it importance, three tiers of sculptured ornaments exquisitely carved bring out into bold relief its outline by their projection. Above this porch are placed the celebrated horses of Lysippus, which for a time ornamented the Arc du Carrousel at Paris. Mosaics upon a gold ground shine on all the porches in the midst of enamels, and numberless figures of every kind." The Atrium, whose round vault presents in mosaics the history of the Old Testament, leads to the nave by three bronze gates ornamented with silver, which it is said belonged originally to St. Sophia. "Let us enter," says an observer, "into the interior. Nothing can compare with St. Mark's, neither Cologne, noi Strasbourg, nor Seville, nor even Cordova with its mosque. i 114 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Its effect is surprising and even magical. The first impres- sion conveyed is that of a cavern of gold encrusted with precious stones which are at once splendid and sombre, sparkling and mysterious. " Cupolas, vaults, architraves, and walls are covered with little cubes of gilt crystal of unique form, among which the rays of light sparkle like the scales of a fish. Where the gold ground terminates, at the height of the columns commences a clothing of the most precious and varied marbles. From the vault descends a great lamp in the shape of a cross of four branches, whose points are de- corated with lilies, and which hangs from a ball of gold filigree. The effect is marvellous when the lamp is illumi- nated. Six pillars of alabaster with capitals in bronze-gilt of Corinthian pattern support elegant arcades, around which runs a gallery the whole length of the church. " In the area is the choir with its altar upon a dais between four columns of Greek marble carved, like a piece of Chinese ivory-work, by the most patient industry. The altar-screen, which is called the Pala d'Oro, is quite a con- fusion of wonders It blazes with enamels, cameos, pearls, sapphires, silver and gold, while pictures in precious stones represent scenes in the life of St. Mark. It was made in Constantinople, in 976. Finally, in the circle behind the great altar is a colossal figure of the Redeemer." St. Front of Perigueux is a reproduction of St. Mark's, as St. Mark's is a reproduction of St. Sophia. It is executed upon the same plan minus the vestibule; and the dimen- sions of both are almost the same. But in this instance one looks in vain for the wealth and splendour of the model. St. Front is poor and naked. Under the sad stone- colour of its walls there are no mosaics. And yet the Cathedral of Angouldme. LATIN AND BYZANTINE SfYLES. Ii; edifice is grand in character. So much power is there in a simple arrangement conceived in a great spirit ! After the erection of St. Front, cupola-churches multi- plied themselves throughout France; but their architects abandoned in their construction the arrangement and style of the Byzantine works. Even at this early period a new character began to be manifest in the architecture o: the West. In St. Front itself we find that Byzantine traditions are departed from, and in its arches, instead of the round circle of the East, we begin to notice a tendency to point the arch. The pointed arch is the exclusive feature of the Gothic style, and from its introduction dates the era of French architecture. French architects in modifying their works, and adapting them to the colder climate of the West, changed the plan, aspect, and ornaments of their churches. Sculpture reassumed its place upon the capitals and the walls, instead of the many -coloured image -work of the mosaists. Churches, in short, became at the same time more severe and more ornate. The cathedral of Angouleme (1017 1120) is one of the most celebrated types of this transition between the Eastern or Byzantine and Romanesque order or Western style. To the former belong the three cupolas that cover the nave ; to the latter the general form of the building its Latin cross, its transepts and apses, its historic frieze, its crown of double arcades, and its corbelled cornice. As in St. Front, the arches that sustain the cupola are narrowed at the top. Moreover, there is no trace of the Byzantine school in the pillarettes flanked with columns, or in tie carving of the capitals, which consists of leaves and g,o- tesque figures of animals. The cupola placed at the crossing of the transept is Il8 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. the same in diameter as the cupolas of the other churches we have mentioned ; but raised as it is upon a drum which towers high above the roof, it looks larger than it is in reality. It is pierced with rich arcades of double columns, in four of which are openings for windows. The fagade is a great square wall covered with bassi-rilievi, and divided horizontally by three rows of false arcades. Although it is no more than 60 feet high, its great proportions give it a majestic and powerful appearance. On the left flank we admire numerous windows in the centre of a high tower, recently restored. Of all the square towers which the traveller sees between Poictiers and Bordeaux, this is one of the most beautiful and the best situated. From a distance it looks heavy, rising as it does by numerous storeys trom an irregular tumulus; but this effect vanishes when it is observed close at hand. The town, in fact, crowns an abrupt height above a smiling and verdant valley, wherein rich pasturages alternate with considerable manufactories. CHAPTER IX. ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE. I. ARAB STYLE. " THE art of the Arabs," says Lamennais, " is like a bright dream. It is a caprice of genius, worked in rich work of stone, in delicate filigrees, in light fringes, in flowing lines, in lace-work, amidst all which the eye loses itself in pur- suit of a symmetrical form which it is about to grasp, when the fair illusion changes into other beautiful complications of forms, escapes, and is dispelled. The various forms to be found in this species of architecture look like a strong vege- tation a vegetation luxuriant and also fantastic. Arab art is not nature ; it is a dream of nature." Still, if the Arabs rioted in fanciful decorations, they at the same time were careful to construct their edifices on the simplest and most natural plan. In dimensions and colours almost all their mosques are alike. Umbrageous courts of trees, refreshed by fountains surrounded by porticoes, stand in front of these sanctuaries which form halls square or round surmounted by cupolas. At the four corners rise beautiful minarets. The interiors are simple in structure, all the ornaments consisting in arabesque painted upon the wall, and in caligraphic inscrip- tions taken from the Koran. Lamps, ostrich- eggs, and bouquets of flowers hang in great numbers from the wires that stretch from one pillar to the other across the interiors. The flags of the flooring are concealed by rich carpets. " The effect," says Lamartine, " is simple and impressive 120 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. It is not a temple in which a god dwells ; it is a house of prayer and contemplation where men assemble to adore the one immortal God." One of the most ancient and celebrated religious edifices of the Arabs is the mosque raised by Omar in Jerusalem, within the wall of Solomon's Temple, and exactly upon the rock where they say Jehovah spoke to Jacob. It is called El-Sakhra, in memory of that event, and is octagonal in shape, each side being decorated with seven arcades of pointed arches. A second range of arcades, narrower and inclined inwards, supports a beautiful dome of copper, formerly gilt. The walls are covered with squares of blue enamel, and the gates, ornamented with beautiful columns, lead into the sanctuary, which is covered with white marble. Visitors walk upon a rich many-coloured pavement, between two circular ranges of pillars composed of grey marble, taken from Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulchre. In the seventeenth century, Mr. P. Roger counted in the mosque no less than 7,000 chandeliers carved in copper or in iron gilt. All round the mosque branch off twelve porticoes placed at the same distance the one from the other, and irregular, like the cloisters of the Alhambra. They are composed of three or four arcades, and sometimes these arcades support a second range. This notable edifice was founded in the seventeenth century, and was embellished by the Califs Abd-el-Malek and El Louid. After the Crusades it was converted into a church by the Christians, but some hundred years later, Saladin gave it back to Mahomet. In early times Moslem art extended into Africa. Cairo, a town entirely Arabic, contains very ancient and very rich mosques, that of Ebn-Touloun especially being deserving of attention. It dates from the ninth century (870). Ahmed- ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE. 121 Ben-Touloun, the founder of a brief dynasty, who caused it to be constructed and gave it its name, wished its porticoes to be sustained by 300 columns ; but the architect wai unable to construct such a great number. The mosque is built of brick, and stucco is used to conceal this material. The sanctuary is circular, and its dimensions are very limited, the court and the porticoes actually constituting the mosque. The enclosing wall is pierced with nine gates. Around the court, above the porticoes, runs a high and beautiful frieze, which crowns a highly ornamented cornice. The minaret and the cistern the usual accompaniments of every mosque are kept, in this case, outside the wall, opposite the sanctuary. We must not quit Cairo without visiting the Valley of the Califs, as the religious art of the Arabs shows itself alike in their temples and their tombs. In this Valley of the Califs, Mussulman dynasties repose in a marvellous necropolis at the foot of Mount Mokattam. Touloun and Biburs, Saladin and Malek-Adel, rest in a palace in which Oriental architecture has abandoned itself to the most delightful caprices. It is quite a Gothic town, with an air of extraordinary grace, and of devotion without gloom. The mosques are mingled with the tombs, and the minarets symbolical of hope rise from the midst of fune- real cupolas. Nowhere have the Arabs left greater proof of their architectural genius than in Spain, where their civilisation nourished for seven centuries. The Alhambra, which is perhaps one of their greatest architectural marvels, must at once occur to every reader. Specially worthy of admi- ration is the Court of Lions, belonging to this edifice a quadrangle 98 feet by 65 feet. This court is surrounded 122 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. by a peristyle of light columns, ornamented on two sides by advanced porticoes, like the bold portals of some Gothic churches ; and is carved with wonderful accuracy, skill, and elegance. In presence of innumerable vistas of courts and chambers, fantastic decorations of structures resembling the tents of the desert, and terminating in conical vaults, the spectator stands immovable and mute, and thinks himself transported to the entrance of one of those fairy palaces of which we read in Arabian tales. "Airy galleries," says Chateaubriand, "canals con- structed of white marble, and bordered by citrons and flowering orange-trees, fountains and solitary courts, present themselves on all sides before the eyes of the traveller, and across the long vaults of the porticoes he perceives other labyrinths and new enchantments. The beautiful azure of the heavens reveals itself between the columns that sustain a chain of Gothic arches. The walls, covered with ara- besques, seem to the view like those cloths of the East which are broidered in the leisure of the harem by the industrious hands of a female slave. Everything luxurious, religious, warlike, seems to breathe in this magnificent edifice. It is a sort of bower of love in a mysterious re- treat, in which the Moorish kings enjoyed all the pleasuers and forgot all the cares of life." The decorations of the Alhambra consist of varnished tiles of all colours yellow, red, black, green, and white forming mosaics which covered the walls with a kind of carpet-work in flowers, knots, zig-zags; and inscriptions, sculptured in low relief upon the stucco and plaster. No- thing, for instance, could be more charming than the walls of the Halls of the Ambassadors, inscribed with verses of A View in the Alhambra. ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE. 125 the Koran, and stanzas of poetry in the Arabic caligraphy ; while the ceiling of cedar-wood, a marvel of carpentry, presents an actual problem of geometric forms. If we except a number of columns, some flags, vases, basins, and little niches for placing Turkish slippers, there is not perhaps a single piece of marble employed in the interior decorations of the Alhambra. The same fact is to be observed respecting all the Arabic monuments of Cordova, Segovia, Seville, Valladolid, and Toledo. Stucco and plaster were found to suffice for all the Moorish ornamentation. The splendid and famous mosque of Cordova is com- posed of nineteen colonnades or porticoes in horse-shoe arcades. In front of the faQade is a court surrounded with galleries, commenced in 786. This edifice, which was as dear to the Arabs of Spain as St^ Sophia was to the Byzantines, and St. Peter's to the early Christians, was restored and enriched at different times. It received ex- tensions and additions as late as the tenth century. Its height is not extraordinary, being only 30 feet from its base to the woodwork at the roof ; but its horizontal dimensions are colossal. The mosque properly so called is 400 feet long by 366 broad. Isolated columns to the number of 646 support the arcade, exclusive of the engaged columns, or those that form the three porticoes of the court. Formerly they were much more numerous, before the mutilations which the building has from time to time suffered, took place. Exquisite is the characteristic of all Arab conceptions. While the walls of the old towns of the north of Spain are heavy and coarsely built, like the defences improvised by a people in extremities, the Moorish fortifications are light, graceful, and constructed with true artistic skill Foi 126 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. instance, the towers of the walls of Seville, embellished with brick lines, courses of white stone, and Arabic in- scriptions, were so carefully built, and with materials so well chosen, that their edges and ridges are still as sharp as when they were first constructed. The length of the walls is about six miles. Of their fifteen gates the most have been reconstructed and modified ; but the well-known " Gate of Cordova," among others, has preserved its high square fortress. In the neighbourhood of this gate there is an aqueduct of 400 arches, eighteen miles in length, which shows that the Arabs were equal to the Romans in the conveyance of water from place to place. It is in Spain that Mussulman art has displayed its boldest and most original invention. In the East it had often been inspired by Byzantine models; and it is not therefore astonishing that St. Sophia, that queen of mosques, was taken as the pattern for many of the lesser religious sanctuaries of Constantinople. The Turks brought with them lessons from Persia, which had some influence upon Byzantine architecture. The mosque of Achmet, of which Gautier gives us a pleasing picture, was entirely vaulted in semi-domes, which supported a central cupola. In front of it was a court, surrounded by a quadruple portico, sup- porting columns with black and white capitals, and with bases of bronze. " The style of all this architecture," says he, " is noble and pure, and recalls the best epochs of Arabic art, al- though its construction does not date further back than the seventeenth century. A gate of bronze gave access into the interior of the mosque. What struck us first were the four enormous pillars, or rather fluted towers, which bore the weight of the principal cupola. Fifteen men, it is said, Interior of the Mosque of Cordova. ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE. I2p could not embrace them. These pillars, with capitals carved in stalactites, were surrounded at middle height by a plain band covered with inscriptions in the Turkish character. They wore an air of robust majesty and indestructible power." The construction of the minarets, encircled with balconies wrought like bracelets, was the occasion of a curious debate between the Sultan and the Imam of the mosque. During the construction of the mosque the Imam cried out against the impiety and the sacrilegious pride of giving it the same number of minarets as St. Kaaba, and said that no other mosque should dare to rival the Holy Kaaba in splendour. The works were in consequence interrupted, the Sultan not knowing what to do. He wished to place six minarets on his own mosque, but he could not erect them because that was the number of the minarets of St. Kaaba, which it was sacrilege to rival. At length he fell on an ingenious plan to shut the Imam's mouth. He caused a seventh minaret to be built at Kaaba. a. INDIA. "Who does not know Puri? Puri, whose lofty temple serves as a landmark to navigators Puri, the grand ren- dezvous of the people, the ancient dwelling-place of the gods ! Come to Puri, come ; you will there see marvels without number!" With this proclamation the Brahmin missionaries travel to the remotest tribes of India. Puri is situated 100 leagues from Calcutta, upon the coast of Bengal. It stands in the midst of a sacred country, and in this sacred town is situated the famous Temple of Juggernaut, the very sight of which is said to bring a blessing upon the head of J 1.50 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. the spectator, to cure diseases, and ensure paradise to those that remain upon its sacred soil. Here twelve times a year devotees suspend themselves upon sharp hooks, throw themselves upon mattresses brist- ling with poignards, or have themselves crushed under the wheels of the great car which bears the Brahminic Trinity. Those who witness this immolation, gash themselves 120 times (the sacred number) with knives, or content themselves with piercing their tongues, out of pure ecstatic joy. In these ceremonies the proud Brahmins mingle humbly with the lower classes, whom they consider impure. So great is the majesty of Juggernaut that all are equal before him, and all social distinctions disappear in presence of his immensity. The Asiatic Society has presented the French Govern- ment with a model of the temple and the processional car of Juggernaut. This precious specimen of Indian art of the Middle Ages (1198) is placed in the Louvre at Paris. The temple, or rather temples (for there are more than fifty) are enclosed by a rampart forming a square of 6,500 feet. Each side is pierced by a large gate. Opposite the Gate of Lions, which is held in great veneration because it is supposed to serve as a passage for the gods, rises, in a street 130 feet wide, a fluted column of black basalt, 42 feet high, surmounted by a statue, and forming by its elegance a striking contrast to the stupendous enclosure. Above the entrance rises a square tower of five storeys. Upon its platform is a small pyramid fronted by a sort of terrace, guarded by two sculptured animals. At the side an opening allows us to perceive two hippopotami upon the summit of an interior edifice. In a second court rises a ORIENTAL ARCHITECTURE; 13 1 grand gilt post bearing a gilt clock, and a little circular temple with a dome supported by columns. Here is to be seen all the confusion and wealth of Ellora. Besides these, there are winged genii, gods, goddesses, and fantastic animals sculptured at the gates of the temples, upon the walls, or at the summits of the pyramids. Upon the flanks of the enclosing wall are other two towers. At the bottom there are superb square pyramidal structures of eleven storeys, rising to a height of 210 feet; with ground-floors 130 feet in extent. Columns, pilasters, and an infinite number of statues, ornament the walls and surmount the terraces; while in the interior are gal- leries and colonnades. It is in this temple that the great platform called the Throne of Jewels is found ; and here, exposed from age to age, are huge images of painted wood, representing Juggernaut, Balarama his brother, and Chou- boudra his sister. Juggernaut has great round eyes, a pointed nose, black visage, and a wide mouth of the colour of blood. It is he who, from the summit of a tower of 70 feet, presides over the immolation of the faithful. The Temple of Juggernaut is a perfect type of that mon- strous Indian imagination, which unfolds itself in strange beauties in the midst of blood and cruelty. The Afghan and Mongol invaders engrafted on the Hindu fecundity the elegance of the Mussulman. From the fifteenth century an art rivalling the Moorish art continued to enrich Bengal with palaces, tombs, and mosques, of which scarcely anything but the ruins are to be seen. We can only glance at Delhi, where three distinct architectural types may be seen that of ancient Hindu Delhi, which has almost entirely disappeared ; that of Afghan Delhi ; and that of modern Delhi, which is the work of the Mongols, or. in J 2 13* MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. other words, of the Tartar Turcomans, who are of the same stock as the Turks. Among the temples, palaces, fortresses, and tombs of Delhi, the forsaken remains of which cover the soil, we may notice here the pillar or minaret of Koutab, a word signifying the polar star of religion the name of the first Afghan sovereign. The base of this singular monument is almost 143 feet in circumference. Its height is said to have been 312 feel before it was struck with lightning. At the present time it is 208 feet It is constructed of stone, gradually diminish- ing in width from the base upwards, and divided into five storeys, crowned with galleries admirably carved and orna- mented with colossal Arabic inscriptions in relief. At a little distance shines the splendid dome of the col- on the capital stands a bold, spirited figure of Libertv. CLASSIC ART. 23 7 The Column du Palmier is circled with rings to represent the knots of the tree, and surrounded at its base with allegorical figures. The triumphal Arch d'Etoile belongs like the other columns to the first empire. Commenced in 1826 by Chalgrin, it was finished in 1836. Its inscription bears the words Aux Arm'ees Fran^aises. It is 142 feet wide, 150 feet high, and 7 2 feet broad. The grand arch of its facade mea- sures 84 feet by 45 feet It is the greatest structure of its kind. Nothing is more simple than its arrangement. It consists of four openings surmounted by a richly sculptured frieze, a very bold entablature, and a sloping roof, on which are thirty shields bearing the names of great French victories. Before quitting this part of our subject we must not forget to mention the aqueduct of Chaumont, which crosses a valley 1,950 feet wide. It is absolutely bare of orna- ments, and its high and light arcades, which reach a height of 165 feet from the valley, and the flanks of which are pierced with two galleries parallel with the upper way, are supported upon great piers. The New Opera House, at Paris, has been built by M. Gamier. The principal fagade, unhappily blocked from view by its situation, is composed of a basement of arcades, a Corinthian colonnade forming a gallery on the first storey and a very bold projecting entablature, with circular front Elegant cylindrical pavilions are applied to the lateral fagades. The New Opera is composed of eleven storeys, is 234 feet high, 332 feet wide, and 494 feet from front to back. It is in fact a cathedral. From the bottom of the boxes to the top of the stage is 260 feet It is in the roofs that the great originality of the building 238 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. consists. All the different divisions have been severely commented upon, but in the mixed character ol the roofs there is nothing, in our opinion, incompatible with beauty. Behind the peristyle, which comes before the green-room, is seen the cupola of the hall ; and behind it again, above the cupola, the grand triangular frontage, decorated with groups of colossal figures. CHAPTER XV. ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. THE history of architecture in England is simply the history of the social and material progress of the country. In proportion as the latter advanced the former flourished ; and the successive eras through which we have passed towards the attainment of our present pre-eminent position, mark but so many epochs in the perfection of the arts of civilisation, of which architecture may be said to be one of the best understood and most important. Like the whole of Western Europe, we were indebted for our first ideas in architecture to Greece and Rome ; and though our architects have not proved themselves creators of stylr in the sense that the master geniuses of the former country undoubtedly were, they have at least so modified and adapted what they borrowed, as to produce buildings eminently suitable to the character and traditions of the Anglo-Saxon race, and the climate and physical attributes of the country. The first rude dawnings of architectural science in Britain are to be traced back to the Roman period. Colonisers and proselytisers in the strictest acceptation of the term, the Romans ever sought to carry their civilisation in the track of their eagles. Wherever they settled, they left manifold traces of their settlement in the plans which they designed, and the works which they carried out Merely to conquer nations by force of arms, was with them 240 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. far from being an aim worthy of achievement. What the) strove after and desired, was to subdue them to the practice of the peaceful arts, and to the cultivation of those habits of industry and dignified ease which had made Rome the object of the fear and admiration of the world. Gifted with such feelings, and endowed with the insatiable desire to promote civilisation wherever they went, it is not to be wondered at that, even in so remote and barbarous an isle as was Great Britain when they first took possession of it, they should carry their traditions with them, and strive to impress upon its rude inhabitants the character of their own genius in the arts that elevate and humanise man- kind. Accordingly we find that, during the occupation of the Romans, many small towns and forts were erected, and a variety of structures raised, some of which, in the shape of the celebrated walls, are still reckoned amongst our architectural marvels by antiquarians and men of science. Evidences exist to prove that considerable edifices were built during this period, which, after the religion of the country was changed, were devoted to the purposes of Christian worship ; but the style of these buildings, their number, and the sites which they occupied, have alike perished from recollection. Thus much is certain, however, that they were, both in dimensions and execution, of a character sufficient to sow, as it were, the seeds of architec- tural art in England. Had circumstances been favourable, there can be no doubt that the Britons would very materially and immediately have profited by the structures bequeathed to them by the Romans, after the latter ceased from their occupation ; but their attention was drawn off from these by the peculiarity of their own position. Subject to ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. 243 frequent incursions of enemies, compelled to wage ceaseless ~*Ar to maintain their own existence, they had neither the l : ne nor the inclination to devote themselves to the cul- tivation of those arts of civilisation into which they had been initiated by their Italian conquerors. Architecture lan- guished in consequence, and little or no progress was made for a very considerable time afterwards. The conversion of the Saxons to Christianity, however, towards the close of the sixth century, had among its other great and lasting results, the effect of giving quite an extraordinary impulse to building ; and in the necessity that arose for providing religious houses for the celebration of the rites of the ' new religion, sprang up a zeal for building and ornamentation which led to general attention being directed to architecture- True, the structures that were then raised were composed almost entirely of wood; but the construction of these rude dwellings gradually familiarised the minds of the people with edifices for the purposes of religious worship, which led about a century later to the introduction of the art of working in stone ; and this in its turn was not long in developing into noble monasteries, abbeys, and cathedrals. As we have seen, the first rude dawn ings of architectural science arose out of the Druidical custom of placing huge stone pillars upon end, and uniting these at the top by means of a third horizontal slab. France, as we have aheady described, possesses abundance of these ancient remains, and England is also rich in them. Stonehenge is perhaps the most celebrated specimen -:'. such monuments that exists in the world, and has for centuries been the object of the admiration and inspection of archaeologists, historians, and travellers. Some idea of what its aspect must have been in the olden time may be gleaned from Q 2 244 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. the illustration which we append, representing it after ai* ideal restoration The Roman influence would seem to have be?:i '2\? first to weaken the veneration with which these Dmidical remains were regarded by the simple and ignorant inhabi- tants ; and the introduction of Christianity completed tLe great work which was thus so auspiciously commenced. Following these two came the Norman conquest, which introduced a new era and exerted an influence upon archi- tecture which was more wide-spread and more immediately direct. Great improvements were introduced into the art of building by the latter event, and the Norman taste soon began to prevail. Architecture made great strides, and from the year 1066 to that of 1154, many structures were erected, the design and ornamentation of which were richer than anything which had previously appeared. Numerous castles and castellated mansions of the nobility took their rise during this period ; and more than one-half of the English cathedrals show traces to this day of the influence of the Norman style of workmanship and design. Those countries which received their religion from Rome, and which did not contain imposing pagan temples like that nation, capable of being transformed into edifices for Christian worship, constructed churches in imitation of those that were to be found in the then capital of the world. Hence arose the Gothic style of architecture, which sprang into ascendency during the Middle Ages, and in no country, perhaps, took such deep root and developed so largely and magnificently as in England. This style is also widely known as the Pointed style of architecture, and is very largely to be found in the Saxon and Norman edifices of this country. What is known as Guild Hall. ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. 247 the Corinthian order of Pointed architecture is, indeed, almost peculiar to England ; neither France nor Germany in both of which countries Gothic architecture was eagerly accepted being able to produce anything equal in their several styles to St. George's Chapel at Windsor, King's College Chapel at Cambridge, and Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster. Though the Gothic and Pointed styles are often con- founded, there is considerable distinction between them. In Gothic, the general running lines are horizontal, as in entablatures and single cornices; in Pointed, the general running lines are vertical. Arches are not necessary in the former, whilst in the latter they are essential The Pointed style began to assume prominence during the reign of Henry II. ; but perhaps the most correct epithet to apply to the Gothic buildings which sprang up in England after its first introduction in such profusion, is Anglo-Gothic. Impressive grandeur is perhaps the per- vading character of this style a grandeur arising at once from the simplicity and massiveness of its proportions. The interiors of Norwich, Durham, Chichester, Canter- bury, and numerous other cathedrals, are fine specimens of the beauties of this particular style, exemplifications of the excellencies of which are also to be found in the ruins of abbeys, monasteries, priories, and churches of various descriptions which are scattered more or less over every part of the United Kingdom. Pointed architecture has very properly been divided into three particular styles, each instituted at a different period, and each of which possesses distinct peculiarities and excellencies. The first took its rise with the invention of the pointed arch, towards the latter part of the twelfth .148 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. century, the second towards the beginning of the fourteenth and the third towards the close of the same century. The chief characteristics of the first style are : pointed arches. long narrow windows without mullions, and a peculiar orna- ment resembling the teeth of sharks. Salisbury Cathedral is the most perfect specimen of this style. A large por- tion of the venerable Westminster Abbey, the transepts of York Minster, the fronts of several of the southern cathe- drals, and numberless monastic edifices, also belong to this style. Westminster Abbey is so familiar and so well known, that any detailed description of it is needless. Even those who have not had the privilege of seeing it and it has perhaps received within its walls as many pilgrims from all parts of the world as any ecclesiastical building in Great Britain are well acquainted with it through the medium of prints and pictures, and know its towers and multi- tudinous buttresses as well as the spire of their own village church. Apart altogether from its architectural pretensions, it has to the people of every civilised nation a charm and attraction peculiar to itself, and which no other building in the world perhaps shares with it to an equal degree. The dust of England's most celebrated warriors, statesmen, philosophers, poets, and men of intellect, reposes within its sanctuary, and lends a lustre and dignity to its fame. The second style of Pointed Gothic architecture differs materially from the first. It has large windows and pointed arches, divided by mullions and flowing lines of tracery forming circles, and it is very rich in ornamentation. Un- like the first order, the second does not possess a single complete ecclesiastical edifice as a specimen of its style \ but nearly all our pointed buildings display rich evidences ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. 251 of its prevalence and influence. Perhaps the best existing specimens are to be found in St. Giles's Cathedral at Edin- burgh, and in Melrose Abbey. The latter edifice is, taking it all in all, perhaps the chief architectural pride and boast of Scotland. No other ancient structure in the northern part of the kingdom is better known, or attracts such hosts of tourists and admirers. This popularity is undoubtedly due primarily to its wonderful architectural details, its history, its beautiful proportions, and its minute sculptural achievements; but it is also in a large measure attribut- able to the charm which the genius of Sir Walter Scott has thrown around the structure. The wonderful fancy of the great Wizard of the North invested it with even more than its ancient attractions, and has caused many who are familiar with his prose and verse to reconstruct it mentally with more than its original splendour. Situated in a lovely country, within easy reach of the classic Tweed, it has long been the pride of the natives and the object of the admira- tion of visitors. Descriptions of its pointed arches, roses, buttresses, entablatures, architraves, mullions, and spires, would fail to give the reader so correct and vivid an idea of the ruin as the accompanying illustration, which repre- sents it with singular fidelity. Sir Walter Scott, who loved it well, says " If you would see fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by the pale moonlight. " But whether seen under the mellow influence of the moon or the richer radiance and more searching splendour of the sun, it is alike beautiful, striking, and impressive. The third style of Pointed architecture is known as the Florid Gothic. This style is very distinct from the others. 25* MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. The mullions of the windows and the ornamental panellings run in perpendicular lines. Its chief characteristics are : increased expansion of the windows; gorgeous, fan-like tracery of the vaultings ; heraldic elements in the enrich- ments, the horizontal lines of the doorways, the embattled transoms of the windows ; and the enrichment of the flat surfaces. Briefly, the difference between this and the other styles may be said to lie in the form of the arches, the arrangement of the tracery, and the mode of enrichment. Bath possesses the only entire specimen of this style, though many cathedrals display portions of it. The quaint front of Westminster Hall, for instance, is a good specimen, as also the west fronts of Gloucester, Winchester, and Chester Cathedrals. Illustrations of this style are also to be found in St. George's Chapel at Windsor, Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster, and King's College Chapel at Cambridge. Pointed architecture prevailed, and increased in popu- larity, up till the time of Henry VIII., and during the time it held the ascendency numbers of ecclesiastical edifices, that have since been the admiration alike of the ignorant and the learned, were erected. During the reign of that monarch, however, this style collapsed, and although it did not immediately fall out of fashion, it was so seldom employed thereafter that it may be said to have gone out of existence so far as its national character is concerned. About this time the Italian architects were beginning to make their influence be visibly felt, and the decay of the Pointed style gave rise to a composite order, in which the vagaries of the Italian school had full scope to display them- selves. Accordingly, during the reign of Elizabeth there sprang up a new style, which was a singular admixture of the Italian and Pointed schools, and which has since ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. 253 become widely known after the name of that monarch. Some writers have declared that the introduction of this style into England was owing to the influence of the Reformation ; but it is with greater show of reason to be traced to the reform in architecture which took place in Italy about that time. Whatever the merits of the Pontefract Castle. Elizabethan school may have been supposed to be, it certainly displayed qualities and attributes that were both original and admirable compared with that which imme- diately followed. Colourless alike in politics as in art, the reign of James I. may almost be passed over without comment, for it produced nothing in architecture worthy either of the national character or of the traditions which MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. previous generations had handed down. All that was achieved was executed by the celebrated Inigo Jones, who, having graduated deeply in the Italian school, and having been taken into the royal favour, exerted himself to trans- Norwich Castle. mogrify architectural art as it then existed in England. He introduced the Italian Pointed style into many of the then religious edifices, executed the well-known banquetting house at Whitehall, and designed the church of St. Paul in Covent Garden. The period from the accession of Charles I. to the Restoration was too troublous and momentous in a ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. 257 political sense, to allow of much time being devoted to those arts of which architecture forms one of the most distinguished. When the merry monarch ascended the throne, however, attention again began to be seriously directed towards them, and amongst those who then rose into prominence the name of Sir Christopher Wren stands out unique and pre-eminent. He it was who prevented English architecture from being depraved by French taste, and who executed works which to the present day remain the monuments of his genius and perseverance. The great fire of London, which happened in 1666, sweeping away so vast a portion of the metropolis, afforded to his genius an almost unexampled field for the display of original gifts of construction. Fired by the prospect which it opened to his invention, he drew out plans for the restoration of the city on a scale worthy of his great fame. These were not adopted ; but, although he was baulked in the execution of his great enterprise, sufficient scope was given him to enable him to design works that have since been the admiration of the educated. His labours lay chiefly in the field of eccle- siastical architecture, and here he achieved triumphs that have not since been surpassed. He may be said to have been the inventor of the tapering steeple, which now forms so prominent a characteristic of our churches, and in the originality and elegance of which he is still unrivalled. Bow Church, and St. Bride's, Fleet Street, in London, may be cited as among his best specimens. The masterpiece of this distinguished architect, however that by which he is best known, and which may be called one of the crowning glories of English architecture is St. Paul's Cathedral, which so appropriately occupies the ascent of Ludgate Hill, and attracts so large a share of attention R 258 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. from all visitors to the metropolis. St. Paul's, as it at present stands, is not the building which was originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren, several material altera- tions having been made upon his plan, which were contrary alike to his judgment and determination. Even in its present proportions, however, it is sufficiently bold, impos. ing, and original to attract the gaze of every beholder, and elicit the admiration of all who love massiveness, symmetry of design, and imposing effects. The first stone of the building was laid in 1675, anc * tne edifice was completed in thirty-five years, the last stone being placed in its position in the year 1710, by a son of Sir Christopher himself. Taken altogether, St. Paul's is a really glorious archi- tectural effort, its cupola especially being of surpassing beauty. Sir John Vanbrugh may be said to have succeeded Wren as the custodian of the national architecture, and he introduced an Italian school that was characterised by great massiveness, which was largely employed in the con- struction of noblemen's mansions. So far as architectural effort is concerned, there is nothing to note during the latter half of the eighteenth century. Sir William Chambers and Sir Robert Taylor were among our most prominent architects, and their style was based upon the Roman, or rather the Italian. Some- what later, however, something of a revolution was effected by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who, by means of drawings and illustrations, familiarised the public mind with the great architectural masterpieces of Greece. This caused the Greek style of architecture to come into fashion in England, grow in popular esteem, and ultimately, to a considerable degree, revolutionise our taste in public build- ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. f6l ings. The beauties of the Greek style being once recog- nised, our architects came also in time to give due promi- nence to the excellencies of the Gothic and Pointed styles, and many specimens of all these styles of architecture are now to be found in our chief cities. The new Houses of Parliament at Westminster form by far the largest and most important pile which has been erected in this country for centuries. The old building was destroyed by fire in 1834, and the first stone of the present edifice was laid in April, 1840. Fully twenty years were occupied in its completion, if a structure can be said to be complete which is still receiving wings and additions. In a country like England, where the feudal system so long prevailed, where border feuds and family strifes were constantly taking place, and where the superiority of the chief or baron was so constantly and so forcibly asserted, it was to be expected that there should be many remains of old castles and castellated mansions. Almost every county can show some ruin more or less celebrated, more or less complete, which in former times was the stronghold of rival garrisons, or the home of the local potentate whose power was universally acknowledged within the district over which he held sway. Such castles were of all sizes, and of every style of architecture, and played a part more or less pro- minent in the history of the country. Perhaps one of the most extensive and massive of those that remain is Ponte- fract Castle, which is remarkable, among other things, for the number and disposition of its towers. Curiously opposed to this in style, dimensions, and design, is Norwich Castle, which belongs to the plain, square, monotonous school of strongholds, that prevailed to to considerable an extent upon the Borders. 26l MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. Holyrood Palace, which has played so important a part in the history of Scotland, and which forms an object of such interest to all tourists and visitors to the northern metro- polis, may be said to belong to the baronial or castellated style of edifices. Situated at the foot of the old classical Canongate of Edinburgh, under the shadow of picturesque Arthur's Seat, it forms a pleasing feature in the landscape, and awakens strange thoughts in the mind of the observer by reason of the historical associations connected with its name. Most of the stormy scenes, during the stormiest period of Scottish history, are connected either directly or indirectly with old Holyrood, which has been graphic- ally described by Sir Walter Scott in his "Marmion." Popularly, however, it is chiefly known from its connection with Mary Queen of Scots, and the scenes with which the life of that beautiful but unfortunate princess was mixed up. Here the notorious Rizzio was murdered, and here are yet to be seen some of the veritable furniture which formed part of the decorations of the palace in those ancient and troublous times. Recently the palace has been inhabited by Queen Victoria, on her way northwards to her Highland residence at Balmoral, but the building now is merely used as the dwelling-place of certain officials connected with the Royal household. Among the other features of English architecture worthy of note, are the interiors of certain of the halls which belong to the metropolis and the other great cities of the empire. Those of Westminster and the Guildhall are especially worthy of admiration on account of the loftiness of the roofs, the graceful arches of the rafters, the richness of the oaken decorations, and the solidity and variety of the carving. ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. 263 As regards domestic architecture, England has made great progress of late years a progress which is most observable in the dwellings of the middle and lower classes. The country seats of the nobility are for the most part edifices that have been raised in former generations, and not a few date back to periods of historic interest The growing wealth of the country having recently greatly increased the number of the wealthy middle classes, has made them a great social power in the state, and caused them to imitate the pomp and luxury of their superiors. Mansions of almost palatial stateliness have accordingly been raised by them, which, in addition to exterior architectural pretensions, are fitted up inside with great splendour. And while the rich have thus been improving and ex- tending their dwellings, a corresponding improvement has taken place in those of the working classes. Private enterprise, joint-stock companies, and public associations have all aided in the good work of pulling down the rotten, ill-ventilated, and inconvenient old houses that have so long been the reproach of our large cities, and erecting in their stead buildings suitable in every way for the wants of human beings. Great alterations in this respect have been made in most of our centres of population ; and although very much yet remains to be done, the lower classes of to-day are, as regards wholesome house accommodation, immeasurably better off than were the generations imme- diately preceding them. Public enterprise and capital have done much towards the achievement of this object, but private benevolence has done much more. Mr. Peabody, Miss Burdett Coutts, and other noble-minded ladies and gentlemen, have given enormous sums of monfcy towards 264 MARVELS OF ARCHITECTURE. the erection of workmen's dwellings ; and the success they have achieved in this direction cannot be over-estimated The good they have done will live after them, and their names will long be held in remembrance by a benefited and grateful people. Well may these eminent philan- thropists say to others who have the means "Go do likewise l w A NEW AND REVISED ISSUE OF THE ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF WONDERS. THE WONDERS OF MAN AND NATURE, IN EIGHT VOLUMES. THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE, IN EIGHT VOLUMES. THE WONDERS OF ART AND ARCH/EOLOGY, IN EIGHT VOLUMES. Twenty-four volumes, containing over a Thousand Valuable Illustrations. EACH VOLUME I2mo, COMPLETE IN ITSELF. Sold Separately at $I.OO per Volume. Messrs. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS have now begun the publishing of a new and revised edition of a series of books the success of which has been most extraordinary and lasting. THE WONDER LIBRARY brings within popular comprehension the various operations and procedures in Science and the Arts, the phenomena and laws of nature, curious and striking facts ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF WONDERS. in natural history, remarkable exploits, archaeological discoveries, and a historical account of the progress of the fine arts. The volumes are written by a number of French scientists and specialists of the highest rank, and translated and adapted for English readers by competent hands. The subjects treated are of universal interest, and they are discussed in the popular and entertaining manner in which the French excel, and which is peculiarly adapted to interest the young, and develop their taste for studies of this character, as well as to instruct older readers. The illustrations are so- numerous that they present every phase of science with accuracy and completeness; they add materially to the attractiveness and value of the series, which is by far the most thorough, interesting and valuable of the kind ever produced. The new edition, published at a low price, has been prepared to supply the continuous and large demand which has always existed for these books. The great advance whkh of late years has been made in the Natural Sciences has offered the opportunity to greatly enrich several of the volumes, by presenting to the reader the result of the latest researches, written by experienced pens. The numerous additions have made the volumes more valuable than they ever were before ; and in the cheap but substantial form in which they are now issued, they are sure of a new and increased popularity. *** For Sale by all booksellers, or tvill be sent, post-paid, on receipt of price, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 743-745 Broadway, New York. ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY OF WONDERS. THE WONDERS OF MAN AND NATURE. THE INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS. MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES. BODILY STRENGTH AND SKILL. WONDERFUL ESCAPES. THUNDER AND LIGHTNING. ADVENTURES ON THE GREAT HUNTING GROUNDS. WONDERS OF THE HUMAN BODY. THK SUBLIME IN NATURE. THE WONDERS OF SCIENCE. WONDERS OF HEAT. WONDERS OF THE HEAVENS. WONDERS OF OPTICS. THE SUN. WONDERS OF ACOUSTICS. WONDERS OF WATER. WONDERS OF THE MOON. WONDERS OF ELECTRICITY. THE WONDERS OF ART ANDARCH/EOLOGY. EGYPT 3300 YEAKS AGO. WONDERS OF SCULPTURE. WONDERS OF GLASS MAKING. WONDERS OF EUROPEAN ART. POMPEII AND THE POMPEIIANS. WONDERS OF ARCHITECTURE. WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART. WONDERS OF ENGRAVING. A volume in each of the three series will be issued monthly, until the entire library is completed in this new edition. PRICE, PER VOLUME, $1.00. NOW READY. WONDERS OF MAN AND NATURE. INTELLIGENCE OF ANIMALS, with Illustrative Anecdotes. From the French of ERNEST MENAUT. With 54 Illustrations. 12mo. 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With 62 Illustrations. 12mo. WONDERS OF GLASS MAKING. Its Description and History, from the Earliest Times to the Present. By A. SAUZAY. With 63 Illustrations. 12mo. WONDERS OF EUROPEAN ART. Translated from the French of Louis VIARDOT. With 11 Illustrations. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $I.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. OCT "19 1932! FEB 6 1939 LD 21-50m-8,'32 of_arohiflciira 3CT-19 1932] UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY YC133801