248 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



simple tau. These singular edifices are divitled not by one transept 

 Init 1)V two. The first cuts the lungitii-linal nave in half; the western 

 or inferior end forms the nave properly speaking, and tlie eastern end 

 forms the apsis of the church; this apsis itself is divided by a second 

 transept, usually shorter than the first. On this side, viz., from the 

 first to the second transept, is the choir; on the other, viz., from the 

 second transept to the bottom of the church, is the sanetuiry. The 

 calhedr.ils at Salisbuiy, Lincoln, Beverley, Rochester, and Worcester 

 are of this character. Let a figure be drawn of the Cross of Christ, 

 with a long and wide label attached to it bearing the inscription 

 "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This libel, as it were, is 

 adopted in English churches, and forms the eastern transept, that 

 which divides the top of the Cross into two parts; then comes the 

 usual cross aisle or transept, on which the arms of Christ were ex- 

 tended. This is derived from the Cross of Lorraine, tiie Cross of the 

 Knights Hospitallers, and from that which denotes at present the 

 archiepiscopul dignity, it is the double Cross ; it seems to be borrowed 

 from Greecp, for we meet with it frequently in Attica, in the Morea, 

 and at Mount Athos. 



The designs for churches in the form of a Cross were often revealed 

 in visions. In the night an angel appeared to a sleeping saint, perhaps 

 to a bishop, and made known to him the form of a monument which 

 was to be erected by the command of God ; immediately the work 

 was put in hand according to the model seen in the dream. Some- 

 times bright lines were observed in the sky, tracing on the clouds the 

 form of tlie church to be erected. In this way Constanline caused his 

 Labarum to be executed in the form of that which he had seen traced 

 in lines of fire in the sky, and according to which luminous design the 

 edifice was erected. Sometimes the plan and form of a basilica might 

 be discovered traced with drops of dew on the dry ground ; at another 

 time it was the snow which indicated the spot and marked the form 

 in which the walls should rise. Thus the French abbey and church of 

 St. Michael in the department de la Manche, and the Italian chuich 

 St. Michael at Gargano were traced upon the earth by the steps of a 

 bull. 



Since, as we have seen, even the severe science of architecture 

 accommodates its plans and designs to the varied forms and details of 

 the Cross, it is not surprising that the arts of sculpture and painting 

 should employ it in all its varieties, numerous and capricious as these 

 varieties often are. Thus, not only do they employ the Cross with 

 one or lico transverse beams, but the number is often increased to Ihrte ; 

 this Cross has eight arms, each transept dividing it into two, which 

 makes six, to which the shaft adds two others, viz., the foot and the 

 apex. These Crosses with one, two, or three transverse arms denote 

 degrees of r.mk, in the same way as the tiara, the hat, and the mitre. 

 The pope alone was entitled to the triple Cross, the archbishop and 

 cardinal to the double Cross, the simple Cross remaii ing for the 

 bishop. The capitals of columns, sarcophagi with their covers, 

 mosaics and frescoes, windows and wainscotings, are adorned with 

 innumerable Crosses, and their variety is equal to their number. 

 These Crosses are sometimes simple, sometimes interlaced with other 

 emblems. 



When the Cross is simple and without other attributes or ornaments 

 it must be divided into two classes — the Cross of the Passion and the 

 Cross of the Resurrection. The Cross of the Passion, the real Cross 

 on which Christ was crucified, is the square unhewn tree, composed 

 of the trunk and transverse beam; it is this which is generally placed 

 in the arms of the Father with the Christ nailed thereon; U is this 

 which is planted in our fields, in our highways. The Cross of the 

 Resurrection is the emblun of the real Cross ; it was with this that 

 Jesus rose from the tomb and ascended to Heaven. A banner, a flame, 

 usually floats around the Cross of the Resurrection, it is indeed a 

 standard, the top of which tetniinates in a Cross rather than in a point. 

 The Cross which the Paschal Lamb bears on its foot, and the Cross 

 which precedes religious processions, are the Crosses of the Resur- 

 rection and of the Ascension ; in these cases it is no longer a tree, as 

 in the Cross of the Passion, but a staff. 



Sometimes, Christ in Heaven is represented as seated near to the 

 Father and to the Holy Ghost, bearing the Cross of the Resurrection 

 rather than that of the Passion. The Cross of the Passion, the true 

 Cross, is a sufiVring one,— the Cross of the Resurrection is a trium- 

 phant one ; the last has the same general form as the former one, but 

 it is spiritualized — it is the Cross transfigured. These two Crosses 

 are historical, because they were employed at the Crucifixion and 

 Resurrection of Jesus Clirist; but the number of those which are 

 purely emblematical is infinitely greater. Heraldry adopts many of 

 these, to which it assigns names which characterizes their nature 

 and form. When the Cross is interlaced or accompanied by orna- 

 ments or emblems, the variety is so great that it is impossible to de- 

 scribe all, we must therefore select some examples. 



In Greece, the representations 

 of the Cross usually bear this in- 

 scription "Jesus Christ the Con- 

 queror," The following is an ex- 

 ample of the double Cross, which 

 we call the Cross of Lorraine, 

 which furnishes also the plan of 

 the Englishchurchesalreadv men- 

 tioned, as well as that of the 

 three French churches. The foot 

 of this Cross is divided into two 

 forks or branches, and expands 

 itself in leaves of the acanthus. 

 The inscription surrounds the up- 

 per Cross only. Sometimes this 

 inscription is divided into two 

 parts ; the first portion is en- 

 graved above a Cross and is 

 placed on the left, and the second 

 p(Ttion above another Cross 

 placed on the right. Beneath 

 the first inscriptionare two pea- 

 cocks, which appear to be alle- 

 gorical, since a manuscript and a fabulary stone in the Museum at 

 Narbonne represent them crowned with a nimbus, like saints. Be- 

 neath the second and within medallions there is an eagle with its 

 wings folded, and a falcon with its wings likewise folded; the falcon 

 wears ihe collar, the leash, and the little bell. The foot of the first 

 Cross is clawed, that of the second \s perronne ; both out by the double 

 transverse. The Cross with the peacocks is formed of bands intnr- 

 laced, that with the eagle and falcon is tvfisted in narrower bands. 



These two Crosses ornament the western door of a church at Athens, 

 and are sculptured in slabs of white marble. We have given the 

 Cress with the eagle and falcon, it seems as well therefore to make 

 this example complete by giving also the Cross with the peacocks, 

 for this is to the left and furnishes the first part of the inscription. 



In Greece, at the base of the sculptured and painted Cross which 

 ornament the churches, we almost always find animals facing each 

 other, who seem to gaze with love or fear on the emblem, beneath 

 which they appear to humble theinselvis. The lion, the eagle, the 

 peacock and the falcon are the animals we generally find. The pea- 

 cock and the eagle are the emblems of pride, the falcon and the lion 

 which betoken violence and cruelty, may well signify that these evil 



