THE STYLE OB' THE EMPIRE. 



487 



458. PARIS : THE MADELEINE FROM SOUTH-WEST. 



exceeded in the case of about half a dozen ancient examples. The 

 columns, which are about 63 feet high, probably surpass those of all 

 Greek or Roman buildings, except the great temple of Baalbek. But 

 instead of standing in surroundings of natural beauty, or among rela- 

 tively small buildings, such as would enhance its scale, it is situated in 

 a comparatively insignificant square among many-storeyed houses. It 

 is the less able to hold its own under these conditions from the fact that 

 the columns are constructed, like solid towers, of courses of small 

 stones, and therefore lack something of the dignity and grace of those 

 formed of monoliths or large drums. Further, since they are less than 

 ten diameters in height, and spaced only two diameters apart, and since 

 undue prominence is given to the walls of the cella by a uniformly dis- 

 tributed rustication, the general effect is less graceful than is usual with 

 the Corinthian order. 



Interior. The interior consists of a shallow vestibule, an oblong 

 aisleless nave, and a semicircular apse. The vestibule has a barrel 

 vault and the apse a semi-dome. The nave is divided into five square 

 bays by columns standing free in front of square piers, and carrying 

 semicircular arches ; each bay is roofed by a circular saucer- dome on 

 pendentives. The great thickness of the walls permits of apses on each 

 side of the vestibule, shallow rectangular recesses at the side of the nave 

 connected together by a passage pierced through the piers, and a chapel 



