HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. 



243 



the 8th century, and destroyed the kingdom of the 

 Goths. The Mussulman conquerors had, at that 

 time, almost exclusive possession of the arts and 

 sciences. Saracen architects rose in Greece, Italy, 

 Sicily, and other countries : after some time, many 

 Christians, particularly Greeks, joined them, and 

 formed together a fraternity, who kept secret the 

 rules of their art, and whose members recognised one 

 nnother by particular signs. (See Freemasons.) At 

 this period, three different styles of architecture pre- 

 vailed the Arabian, a peculiar style, formed after 

 Greek models; the Moorish, which originated in 

 Spain, out of the remains of Roman edifices ; and the 

 modern Gothic, which originated in the kingdom of 

 the Visigoths, in Spain, through the mixture of the 

 Arabian and Moorish architecture, and flourished from 

 the llth until the loth century. The two first styles 

 differ but little from each other : the Moorish style is 

 principally distinguished from the Arabian by arches 

 in tlie form of a horse-shoe. But the Gothic, or old 

 German, is very different. Swinburne mentions the 

 following marks of distinction ; The Gothic arches 

 are pointed, the Arabian, circular : the Gothic churches 

 have pclflted and straight towers ; the mosques ter- 

 minate in globes, and have here and there minarets, 

 covered with a ball or a cone : the Arabian walls are 

 adorned with Mosaic and stucco, which we find in no 

 ancient church in the Gothic style. The Gothic 

 columns often stand united in groups, over which is 

 placed a very low entablature, upon which arches are 

 erecled ; or the arches stand immediately upon the 

 capitals of the columns. The Arabian and Moorish 

 columns are single, and if, by chance, they are placed 

 close together, in order to support a very heavy part 

 of the building, they never touch one another ; but 

 the arches are supported by a stout and thick arch 

 below. If, in an Arabian building, four columns are 

 united, it is by a low, square wall at the bottom, be- 

 tween the columns. The Gothic churches are ex- 

 tremely light buildings : they have large windows, 

 often with variegated panes. In the Arabian mosques, 

 the ceiling is mostly low ; their windows are of less 

 height, and often covered with carvings ; so that the 

 light is received less through them than through the 

 cupola and the opened doors. The entrance of a 

 Gothic church is a deep arch, diminishing towards the 

 interior of the building, and adorned on the side- walls 

 with statues, columns, niches, and other ornaments ; 

 but those of the mosques, and of other Arabian, and 

 even Moorish buildings, are shallow, and made in the 

 same manner as doors are at present. Besides, Swin- 

 burne observes, that, among the different Arabian 

 capitals which he saw, he found none resembling, in 

 design and arrangement, those which we fiud in the 

 Gothic churches of England and France. The Moor- 

 ish architecture appears in all its splendour in the 

 ancient palace of the Mohammedan monarchs at 

 Grenada, which is called the Alhambra, or red-house, 

 and which resembles more a fairy palace than a work 

 of human hands. The character of the Arabian 

 architecture was lightness and splendour. Rich or- 

 naments, and lightness in the single parts, render it 

 agreeable to the eye. The modern Gothic architec- 

 ture, which originated in the attempts of Byzantine 

 artists to cover the coarseness and heaviness of the 

 old Gothic by an appearance of lightness, excites the 

 imagination by its richly adofned arches, its distant 

 perspective, and its religious dimness, produced by 

 its painted windows. It retained, from the old Gothic 

 architecture, the high, bold arches, the firm and 

 strong walls ; but it disguised them under volutes, 

 flowers, niches, little pierced towers, so that they 

 appear to be light and weak. Afterwards, the archi- 

 tects went still farther, and pierced the large, high 

 towi-rs, so that the stairs appear hanging in the air ; 



they gave to the windows an extraordinary height, 

 and adorned the building itself with statues. This 

 style, in which many churches, convents, and abbeys 

 were erected, was formed in Spain, and thence ex 

 tended over France, England, and Germany. The 

 Germans were unacquainted with architecture until 

 the time of Charlemagne. He introduced from Italy 

 to Germany the Byzantine style, then common. 

 Afterwards, the Arabian architecture had some in- 

 fluence upon that of the western nations ; for the Ger- 

 man art shows its characteristics in the pointed arches, 

 and the buttresses, &c. This was united with the 

 Byzantine style, to which, in general, they still ad- 

 hered, and thus originated a mixed style, which 

 maintained itself until the middle of the 13th cen- 

 tury. Then began the modern Gothic or German 

 style, which we may also call the romantic, since it 

 was formed by the romantic spirit of the middle ages. 

 Growing up in Germany, it obtained its perfection in 

 the towers of the minster of Strasburg (see Minster), 

 in the cathedral of Cologne, in the church of St 

 Stephen in Vienna, the cathedral of Erfurt, the 

 church of St Sebaldus in Nuremberg, the church of 

 St Elizabeth in Marburg, &c.,and extended itself from 

 thence to France, Britain, Spain, and Italy. The 

 German architecture shows also the influences of cli- 

 mate and religion, particularly in the churches. The 

 slender columns, always united in groups, rise to a 

 lofty height, resembling the giants of the grove, in 

 whose dark shade the ancient Teuton used to build 

 his altar. In the chia.ro oscuro of the dome, the soul, 

 divested of earthly thoughts, must collect itself, and 

 rise, like the dome, to its Maker. The decorations of 

 the ancient Christian churches are by no means an ac- 

 cidental ornament. They speak a figurative, religious 

 language ; and at the tabernacle, or ciborium, over 

 the altar, where the pyx is kept, the whole temple is 

 presented, in miniature, to the view of the beholder. 

 In these edifices, every one must admire the accurate 

 proportions, the bold yet regular construction, the 

 unwearied industry, the grandeur of the bold masses 

 on the exterior, and the severe dignity in the interior, 

 which excites feelings of devotion in every spectator. 

 We must, therefore, ascribe to the German architec- 

 ture more symbolical than hieroglyphic eloquence and 

 dignity. (See Constenoble " On old German Archi- 

 tecture and its Origin," Halle, 1812 ; Rumour's " Frag- 

 ments of a History of Architecture," in Schlegers 

 German Museum, 1813, March number, &c.) The 

 Italians disengaged themselves, by little and little, 

 from the Byzantine taste. Even in the llth century, 

 Byzantine architects built the cathedral of Pisa and 

 the church of St Mark in Venice. But, in the 12th 

 century, a German architect, named William. (Gugli- 

 elmo), and, in the 13th, Jacob, with the surname 

 Capo, who died in 1262, and his pupil or son, Arnolf, 

 are mentioned as having built churches and convents 

 in Florence. The modern Gothic style passed from 

 the churches and abbeys to the castles, palaces, 

 bridges, and city gates, many of which were built in 

 this manner ; e. g., in Milan, sixteen city gates of 

 marble, and several new palaces; in Padua, seven 

 bridges, and three new palaces ; in Genoa, two docks 

 and a splendid aqueduct ; and the town of Asti, in 

 1280, almost entirely. Architecture was continually 

 improving in Italy, particularly in the 14th century. 

 Galeazzo Visconti finished the great bridge at Pavia, 

 and built a palace which had not then its equal. 

 About the same time, the famous cathedral of Milan 

 was erected. The marquises of Este erected hand- 

 some edifices at Ferrara, and Albert the splendid 

 palace at Belsiore. In Bologna, the great church of 

 St Petronius was begun, and, in Florence, the famous 

 tower of the cathedral. The 15th century, in which 

 tlie study of ancient architecture was revived, was 

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