Architecture Part 3

Although Arabia was the birthplace of the founder of Islam, there are few Saracenic buildings of importance in it. The so-called great Mosque at Mecca, which has been a goal of pilgrimage from all points of the Mahommedan world for so many centuries, has been since its foundation completely rebuilt, not a.s.suming its present form until the middle of the 16th century. It has little that can be called architectural style about it, consisting as it does of an arcaded enclosure in the centre of which is the Kaaba, a heathen shrine that existed long before the time of Mohammed, the whole surrounded by a wall with several gateways and minarets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Section of Mosque el Aksah at Jerusalem]

In Jerusalem various characteristic buildings bear witness to the prevalence of the Mahommedan faith in the Holy City of the Christians, including the 7th century Mosque el Aksah, originally a Christian church transformed into what it now is by Calif Omar, and the 8th century shrine erroneously named after him, also known as the Dome of the Rock, both of which rise from the site of the Jewish Temple. The latter is of octagonal plan, and, though its details are of a somewhat hybrid character, many of the columns having been filched from other buildings, whilst the decorations of the great dome and of the exterior were added in the 16th century, is of very singular charm on account of the symmetry of its proportions and the richness of its colouring, the walls being cased in Persian tiles and the windows filled with stained gla.s.s.

It appears to have been in Egypt that Saracenic architecture, strictly so-called, first attained to the structural dignity and appropriateness of ornamentation that were to distinguish it in Persia, Spain, and India. In the 7th century Mosque of Amru and that of Ibn Touloun, dating from the 9th century, both at Cairo, the earlier phases of the style can be studied, whilst the later development is ill.u.s.trated in the same city by the 13th century Mosque of Kalaoon, the 14th century Mosque of Sultan Ha.s.san, that has the rare feature in a Mahommedan building of a cruciform plan, the contemporaneous Mosque of Sultin Barkook, and the small 15th century Mosque of Kait-Bey, the last specially noteworthy on account of its beautiful internal decoration and its graceful minaret.

In Persia the finest mosques are the 13th century one at Tabrez known as the Blue, and that at Ispahan dating from the 16th century, which has a grand dome and n.o.ble gateways with pointed arches, whilst at Serbistan, Firanzabad, Ukheithar, Kasir-i-Shirin, and elsewhere in the same country are remains of palaces and other secular buildings, ranging in date from the 4th to the 9th century, that give proof of great structural and decorative skill on the part of the architects who worked for the fire-worshippers, who, though they required no temples in which to worship their G.o.ds, lavished vast sums on their own homes.

Beautiful as are the relics of Saracenic architecture in Egypt, Syria, and Persia, they are excelled by many remarkable buildings in Spain, where, after the conquest of the country by the Moors in the 8th century, the style reached its fullest development. The most remarkable examples of it are the Mosque at Cordova, begun in 786 by Abd-el-Rahman and added to from time to time by his successors, with the result that it affords an excellent ill.u.s.tration of the modification of details that took place as time went on; the 12th century Giralda or Tower at Seville, noteworthy for its fine proportions and effective surface decoration, the 13th century Alcazar or castle in the same town, and above all the Palace of the Alhambra, that dominates Granada from a lofty height above the city, which was begun in 1248 by the Moorish King, Ibn-l-Ahmar and added to by his successors. Of the original buildings that, when first completed, must have been one of the grandest and most finely situated groups in the world, all that now remain are the towers of the north wall, in one of which is the vast hall of the Amba.s.sadors, and various colonnaded rooms and porticoes ranged round two s.p.a.cious courts, one called that of the Fishpond, the other that of the Lions. The delicate grace of the columns and arches, with the richness of their decoration and of every inch of surface, has never been surpa.s.sed either in beauty of design or harmony of colour, whilst the effects of perspective from the doorways and other points of view are equally unrivalled. No single detail is superfluous or without its special meaning in relation to the whole, and even what to the uninitiated appear mere geometrical designs on the walls, lintels, &c., are quotations from the Koran and cla.s.sic Arabic poetry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Section of Mosque at Cordoba]

When through the breaking up of the power of the Moors in Spain, the architecture introduced by them seemed fated to share their decline, a kind of revival of it took place in Constantinople through the conquest of that city by the Turks in 1453. Unfortunately however the style made no real progress there, the mosques and other buildings erected by the new owners being rather Byzantine than Saracenic, even that known as the Suleimanyeh, built between 1550-1556, and the Ahmediyeh, dating from 1608-1614, greatly resembling St. Sophia.

In India the mosques and palaces erected by the Mahommedan conquerors and their successors are even more beautiful and impressive than the Buddhist and Hindu buildings described in the section on Asiatic architecture. Their distinctive characteristics, as in Egypt, Persia, and Spain, are the skilful combination of the dome, the arch and the minaret, and the lavish surface decoration of the interior, with certain other peculiarities that were the outcome of local tradition. More attention was given, for instance, to external appearance, huge recessed gateways and colonnaded cloisters surmounted by rows of purely decorative domes on pilasters, being of frequent occurrence. At the same time, stalact.i.te vaulting was rarely employed, whilst horizontal courses of corbels or arches in which each stone projects slightly beyond that on which it rests, were used as supports for the domes instead of pendentives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Section of Taj Mahal, Agra]

Among the most noteworthy still-existing examples of Indo-Saracenic architecture are the early 15th century Jumna Musjid or Great Mosque at Ahmedabad, that has certain details recalling Hindu post and lintel structures; the late 15th century Adinah mosque at Gaur, which has 385 domes; the 16th century Jumna Musjid at Bij.a.pur, that has the singular feature of a central s.p.a.ce covered in by a dome upheld by intersecting arches, set in a number of squares with flat roofs; the Mosque built by Akbar in the second half of the 16th century at Futtehpore Sikhri, the gateways of which are specially characteristic; and the remarkable buildings at Delhi and Agra, erected in the 17th century under the enlightened Shah Jehan, including in the former city the Jumna Musjid and the fortified palace, and in the latter the Moti Musjid or Pearl Mosque, and the Taj Mahal, both exceptionally beautiful, in which the Saracenic style may justly be said to have reached its culmination, nothing that can be compared with them having been since produced either in India or elsewhere. The Taj Mahal, built by the Emperor as a tomb for himself and his favourite wife, is indeed of dream-like and ethereal charm, with its well-proportioned domes and minarets, cased, as is the rest of the exterior, in white marble, and its interior enriched with mosaics of precious stones.

CHAPTER VI

ROMANESQUE ARCHITECTURE

The term Romanesque is given to the period between the beginning of the 9th and the middle of the 12th century, but there was no real break in the continuity of the evolution of Christian architecture in Europe from the time when that art first freed itself from Pagan influence till it reached its n.o.blest development in the Gothic style.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Simple Intersecting Vaulting]

From first to last the keynote of structure was the use of the arch for vaulting and for the spanning of piers and columns, and its form is, as a general rule, indicative of the phase of development to which it belongs. Although, however, it may be said that the semicircular arch is characteristic of Romanesque buildings, the lintel is occasionally used simultaneously with it in interiors, and the chief entrances are in many cases spanned by horizontal beams or courses of stone that are, however, as a general rule surmounted by arches. Moreover in late Romanesque work the pointed arch is now and then introduced shadowing forth the approaching change.

It was not in the invention of new forms of vaulting but in the adaptation and improvement of those already in existence that Romanesque architects chiefly displayed their skill. The earliest Romanesque vaults were simple intersecting arches similar to those which had long been in use, but as time went on these were superseded by what is known as ribbed vaulting; that is to say by roofs divided into bays by a framework of diagonal ribs supporting fillings in of thin stone called severes, which in their turn gradually developed into the complex and ornate system of Gothic vaulting. To counteract the thrust of arched and ribbed vaulting the device of b.u.t.tresses was. .h.i.t upon. These b.u.t.tresses consisted at first of a series of supports introduced beneath the roof of the aisles and extending from the back of the nave to the aisle wall, which were later supplemented by the external b.u.t.tresses known as flying, that were to be so distinctive a feature of Gothic architecture.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ribbed Vaulting]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ribbed Vaulting]

Other characteristics of Romanesque architecture are the slenderness of the columns as compared with those of earlier buildings, the disuse of cla.s.sic capitals, and the subst.i.tution for them of what is known as the basket form, that is to say, semicircular mouldings enclosing floral designs, later replaced by a great variety of forms, such as flowers, leaves, human and animals' heads. The grouping of columns in cl.u.s.ters also came into use, the general tendency being towards the production of an effect of grace and lightness rather than of strength and solidity.

Arched cornices were introduced to relieve the monotony of the walls above the pillars of the nave, whilst an even more marked change took place in the windows, which, though small and few in early Renaissance buildings, gradually increased in number, in size, and in the beauty of their tracery. At the eastern end of churches several windows were in some cases grouped together, divided only by slender pilasters, and above the western entrance large circular windows known as the rose or wheel--according to certain peculiarities of their tracery--were introduced, whilst the walls were pierced by rows of complex windows, each with a number of different lights.

In Romanesque churches the beautiful colonnaded narthex of the early Christian basilica is replaced in Northern and occasionally in Southern Italy by a projecting, and elsewhere by a simple, porch; but to make up for the loss of what was a very effective feature, the whole of the western facade, including the recessed doorway giving access to the nave, is generally most richly decorated with sculpture and carving, figures in niches, grotesque animal forms of symbolic meaning, with floral and geometrical designs of great variety and beauty adorning every portion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cl.u.s.tered Column]

[Ill.u.s.tration: b.u.t.tress]

[Ill.u.s.tration: b.u.t.tress]

On either side of the west front of many Romanesque buildings, more rarely also from the point of junction of the transepts and nave, rise lofty square or octagonal towers, the earlier with flat, the later with more or less steeply pitched roofs, that gradually developed into the tapering spires so characteristic of the Gothic style. Occasionally the eastern apse is flanked by a turret or small tower, and in some cases, chiefly in Italy, a detached and lofty tower known as a Campanile or Bell Tower--though it only rarely contains bells, being sometimes merely a secular monument--rises close to the church or at a little distance from it, but connected with it by a cloister.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rose Window]

In S. Ambrogio, Milan, begun in the 9th and completed in the 12th century, the gradual change from the early Christian to the Romanesque style as developed in Italy can be studied. It has a nave of basilican type, a narthex surmounted by a gallery, a pediment-like gable at the western end, an octagonal cupola roofing over the eastern apse, with a circle of windows flooding the choir with light, a triforium or arcaded storey above the aisles, and most characteristic of all, an open external arcaded gallery, admitting air and light beneath the roof of the apse, such as was to become so effective a decorative feature of later buildings, and in some cases to be extended along the aisles and above the chief entrance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example of Arched Cornice]

S. Michele, Pavia, is a typical and very beautiful example of the Romanesque style of the twelfth century, specially noteworthy features being its cruciform plan, its two-storied aisles, and its external gallery with cl.u.s.tered pilasters; and the contemporary S. Zeno, Verona, though it has no triforium and is not vaulted, has n.o.ble cl.u.s.tered piers from which sprang arches--only one of which remains--spanning the nave, alternating with single columns.

Other fine Romanesque buildings in Italy are the Cathedral of Verona, which has a fine two-storied porch; the Cathedral of Novara, specially noteworthy for its beautiful atrium; S. Miniato, Florence, that is of basilican plan, and, though it is without transepts, has the distinctive Romanesque feature of transverse arches upheld by cl.u.s.tered piers spanning the nave and aisles; S. Antonio, Piacenza, with transepts at the western instead of the eastern end, fine intersecting vaults roofing in the whole building, and a tower rising from the junction of the nave and transepts; and the Cathedral of Pisa, the last a complex building with vaulted aisles, a dome above the intersection of the transepts and nave, a flat roof over the latter, and a lofty triforium gallery running round the entire church, the general effect being most pleasing and harmonious. Close to the cathedral are the 12th century circular Baptistery, that has considerably later additions, and the famous Leaning Tower, the three buildings forming one of the finest architectural groups in the world.

Certain very marked characteristics distinguish the buildings of Sicily from those of contemporary date on the mainland of Italy, the Romanesque style, as is very clearly seen in the Cathedral of Monreale, having been there considerably modified alike by Saracenic and Norman influences.

The pointed arch was adopted long before it came into use elsewhere in Europe, having been, it is suggested, a modification of the horse-shoe form so characteristic of Moorish mosques.

In France, Romanesque ecclesiastical architecture followed, in the main, the same lines as in Italy, with, in many cases, one notable addition, that of the chevet, a circlet of chapels round the eastern apse, which gradually grew out of what was known as an ambulatory, that is to say, a s.p.a.ce in which perambulation was possible, obtained by the extension of the aisles behind the choir. In early examples of the ambulatory the circle was continuous, as in the church of S. Saturnin, Auvergne, but as time went on, small semicircular chapels were introduced, with windows between them, that gradually developed into the chevet, the chapels increasing in number and in size, and in some cases extending westwards along the aisles.

The churches and cathedrals of Southern France differ in several respects from those of the North, the aisleless basilica plan with barrel, intersecting, or domed vaulting being of frequent occurrence in the former, whilst in the latter the beautiful arcaded aisles and steeply pitched roof presage the approach of the Gothic style with its pointed arches, groined roofs, flying b.u.t.tresses, and tapering pinnacles.

The five-domed S. Front in Perigueux, though it has rudimentary aisles only, is a good example of an early French Romanesque building, in which Oriental influence is very perceptible, it being in some of its features a copy of S. Marco, Venice, whilst in the later Cathedral of Angouleme of cruciform plan with apsidal chapels, that of Le Puy with a triple entrance porch, the church of S. Hilaire, Poitiers, with its irregular domes, the uncompleted S. Ours, Loche, with its pyramidal octagonal spires, S. Saturnin, Toulouse, with its central many-storied tapering tower, the 12th century churches of Vezelay and Avallon; the cathedral and church of La Trinite at Angers, both combining pointed arches with domed vaulting, the gradual development of the southern branch of French Romanesque architecture can be very clearly studied.

In many of the n.o.ble churches and cathedrals of Northern France and elsewhere the Romanesque may justly be said to have melted into the Gothic style, some of them combining as they do the most beautiful features of both. To the cost of their erection ecclesiastics and laymen alike contributed with eager zeal, and amongst the architects and craftsmen employed on them, cla.s.s and professional rivalry were merged in one common enthusiasm to promote the glory of G.o.d, all desire for individual distinction being merged in an unselfish ambition to aid in producing a building worthy of His worship.

In Normandy was inaugurated the phase of Romanesque architecture which was to develop on such n.o.ble lines in England, the chief distinctions of which are the ma.s.siveness of the walls and pillars, the great length of the nave, the richness of the decoration alike of the shafts and capitals of the columns and of the round-headed arches they uphold. Very notable examples are the Abbaye aux Hommes, the Abbaye aux Dames, and the Church of S. Nicholas, all at Caen, the first with circular arched vaulting and western towers ending in spires, the second with a Gothic roof of intersecting pointed arches, the third with three apses, each with a steeply pitched roof, a porch with three arcades at the western end, and a low gabled tower rising from the point of intersection of the nave and transepts, the three buildings ill.u.s.trating well the transition from the simple basilica to the complex Gothic structure. With them may be named the Abbey of Jumieges, of which unfortunately but a few relics remain, which had beautiful cl.u.s.tered piers alternating with single columns upholding semicircular lateral arches, a flat roofed nave, and vaulted aisles.

Other fine Romanesque churches of Northern France, all of which differ somewhat in general appearance from those of Normandy, are the Cathedrals of Noyon and Soissons, the church of S. Pierre at Lisieux, all of which combine pointed with semicircular arches, and above all the Cathedral of Le Mans, which has a very characteristic Romanesque nave flanked by round-headed arches and roofed over with an equally characteristic groined Gothic vault, whilst the choir, added in the early 13th century, is encircled by a beautiful chevet, the exterior of which with its many b.u.t.tresses and pinnacles presents a most impressive appearance.

One of the finest Romanesque buildings in Europe is the Cathedral of Tournai, Belgium, which has a flat-roofed nave of exceptional length, picturesque lateral storied galleries, a central tower with a lofty spire, and two supplementary towers, also with spires, flanking the northern and southern apses. Elsewhere in Belgium are several flat-roofed churches of basilican plan, some with ambulatories in the French style but no apsidal chapels. In Spain, on the other hand, the chevet is rarely absent from ecclesiastical buildings, whilst a distinctive local feature is a low central dome or tower known as the cimborio, which is in many cases scarcely more than a swelling of the roof at the point of intersection of nave and transept.

Germany is especially rich in Romanesque churches, which, like those of Belgium, are of basilican plan with flat roofs. In the Cathedral of Trier can be studied the gradual growth of the Teutonic form of the Romanesque style, for it was originally an early Christian Church of the Roman type, which was converted into one of a more distinctive style in the 11th century by additions, including a western apse, whilst the n.o.ble vaulting of the nave dates from the 12th and the choir from the 13th century. As time went on the multiplication of apses became characteristic of German churches, it being usual to add one at the western end, and more rarely also on the northern and southern sides, the beautiful tapering columns dividing them from the aisles, with the small chapels beyond them, producing very fine effects of perspective.

Other peculiarities of German Romanesque buildings are their great height and the n.o.ble proportions of the interiors, with the finely balanced grouping of the cupolas, towers, and turrets of the exterior; to which must be added the absence of the great Western doorway that lends such distinction to French, Italian, and Belgian churches.

Very fine examples of the style in Germany are the churches of S. Maria in Capitolo Cologne, S. Quirin in Neuss, and the cathedrals of Nuremberg and Bamberg, but it was in those of Speier, Mainz, and Worms that it achieved its greatest triumphs. The first, it is true, has no western apse, but this is atoned for by a fine narthex, and in the other two the western extension is as conspicuous as the eastern. Dignified simplicity and sense of s.p.a.ce are the chief characteristics of all three buildings, ma.s.sive columns upholding the arcading flanking the naves, whilst the walls of the aisles are unbroken by triforia, the piers at Speier and Worms being carried right up to the clerestory windows, whilst at Mainz two arches are placed one above the other, the vaulting of the nave springing from the upper tier.

CHAPTER VII

ANGLO-SAXON AND ANGLO-NORMAN ARCHITECTURE

In Great Britain, even more than on the Continent, the architecture of the past reflects national character, its distinctive peculiarities having been the outcome of local conditions differing widely from those that obtained elsewhere, which largely modified the styles introduced from without. On the arrival of the Romans in the first century of the Christian era, there were, with the exception of the monoliths on Salisbury plain known as Stonehenge and other prehistoric relics, the origin of which has never yet been discovered, no buildings of greater pretension than mud huts or circular stone or wooden houses with a hole in the tapering roof through which air was admitted and smoke dispersed.

The houses, palaces, and churches erected by the invaders were, as proved by the remains at Silchester, Wroxeter, and elsewhere, of the type of those of Imperial Rome, and on them many British masons were employed, who thus acquired a knowledge of the principles of construction that stood their successors in good stead. Those successors, however, showed no desire to perpetuate the style introduced by the conquerors, and when the latter withdrew in the 5th century the buildings they left behind them were allowed to fall into rapid decay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Example of Saxon Arcading]