1840. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



921 



Sergius and Bacchus at Constantinople. Sancta Sophia, in the same 

 city, has a large central dome, and two semi-cupolas which cover the 

 two curved portions situated to the east and west of the nave. These 

 primitive domes ;u"e generally very heavy and cumbrous in form, 

 dilTering from those which were erected later and elevated on tam- 

 bours. A great number of small arched windows, very near each 

 other, are cut througli the base of the domes, and serve to light the 

 interior. The effect of the light is so brilliant, that the cupola seems 

 as it were isolated from the building. The cupola of Sancta Sophia, 

 upwards of 120 feet in diameter, not being properly poised over the 

 four main piers, in consequence of gathering the spandrils into too 

 small a compass, exhibited, in less than 25 years, symptoms of ap- 

 proaching downfall, and the piers were accordingly strengthened on 

 the outside. 



Eusebius, Paul the Silent, and other authors, agree in describing the 

 dome of the Church of the Apostles as being covered with dazzling 

 gilt bronze, to keep off the rain. 



Fig. 11.— Church of Monetes Koras at Constantinople. 



Another system of decoration succeeded this, and was much copied 

 in Europe, as may be seen in St. Mark, at Venice, begun in 996. In 

 this system the horizontal line, as bounding the front, was entirely 

 given up, and was replaced by an arched line marking the extrados of 

 the vaults. In the Cireek islands are to be commonly seen, little 

 chapels with a cradle-like roof covering the only nave, and secured 

 vvith cement or sheet-lead. Where the building consists of several 

 aisles, as most of the large Byzantine edifices at Constantinople, the 

 roof has a festoon-like appearance, like so many round-covered trunks 

 placed side by side. 



Thus the exterior shows, as it were, the skeleton of the Iniilding, 

 every series of arches in the building having the extrados delineated 

 outside. So in the church of Mojie tea Koras, (the House of the Vir- 

 gni,) at Constantinople, represented above ; the front consists of five 

 great arches, and as another lateral series of arches runs across to 

 form the narthex, this portion of the edifice is terminated at each end 

 by one of these arches. 



The domes which were erected at this period were more hemis- 

 pherical, and the windows instead of being in the base of the cupola 

 are formed in a tambour or cylindrical base, on which it rests. At this 

 period too the domes began to increase in number and be added to 

 tlie grand one forming the centre of the cross. In the church of the 

 Pantocrator they crown the transepts and the anterior part of the nave, 

 in that of St. Theodosia, now the mosque of the Rose, in the Fanar, 

 the port of Constantinople, four secondary cupolas of the same form 

 as the central one, but smaller, are raised at the four corners of the 

 building. In some a dome is raised on the narthex as in the churches 

 ot the Pantocrator and Mone tes Koras. That of the Theotocos, near 

 bohmanieh, has three placed symmetrically, one in the centre, and one 

 at each end. The capitals of the columns in the Greek churches 

 were p aced on round shafts, and were little more than square blocks, 

 tapered downwards, and adorned with foliage or basket work. 



About the time of the Venetian Conquests began a union of Byzan- 

 tine and Roman architecture, which is not one of the least curious 

 lorms of the style. Here is again restored the influence of the west, 

 and pediments indicate the inclination of the roof, although the Greeks 

 never used carpentry in their ancient churches. One of the finest 

 examples of this period is the Ecs Miazin, a Christian temple of 



Erivan, published by Chardin, and more recently bv M. Dubois. Of 

 this style is also the building which down to 1S27 was used as the 

 cathedral of Athens. 



Fig. 12.— Cathedral of Athens. 



The figure above although partaking largely of the Roman, yet 

 shows to what an extent the influence of the Byzantine school was felt, 

 though in this case the interior presents much more points of resem- 

 blance than the outside. Our engraving, it must be observed, repre- 

 sents Notre Dame at Poitiers, not as it now is, but as it was before the 

 gallery was broken through to enlarge the great window. This gallery 

 although a type of the Gyneceum, is so far from being spacious, that 

 in very few cases in the west of Europe, is there any communication 

 through it. At Toscanella in the Roman States, and in the cathedral 

 of Pisa, the original form is however preserved. 

 ( To be continued.) 



