14 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[January, 



the lateral faces of the eliiircli — an arrangement precisely similar to that 

 adopted in the church of St. Mark at Venice. In the interior, this vestibule, 

 or narthex, is decorated with a number of marble columns, which, from the 

 general form of tlieir shafts, and the sculpture of their capitals, seem to 



have been obtained from some ancient edillce A second uartbex, or ves- 



abule, surrounded on tliree sides by the one we have just described, com- 

 municates inunediately with the aisles of the church, from which it is sepa- 

 rated by a tliick wall, with three l.irge doorways in it. This second vestibule 

 i-eceives its liglit from the outer one by two arcades, and communicates with 

 it by a large door on the axis of the edifice. .According to the general usage 

 ^mong the Greek Christians, the three aisles of the church are traced in a 

 space exactly square, with four thick columns arranged symmetrically in the 

 centre, to support the roofs and the principal dome — a disposition resem- 

 bling the Corinthian allium of the ancients. The nave, much wider than 

 the side aisles, has two massive pillars at the end, which divide it from the 

 sanctuary, the first parr of which is square, but it terminates towards the 

 east in a semicircular apsis, with three windows separated by small columns 

 attached in piers. On each side of the sanctuary is a door leading into the 



sacristies, which are at the end of the side aisles The facade of the 



Theotocos is very regular; the floor of the narthex is raised to the level of 

 the church by a basement. The principal entrance is approached by two 

 lights of steps, under which there is a circular brick arch. The arched door- 

 way projects a little, and above it there is another arch divided into two 

 parts, and open, to give light to the vestibule. The sides of the far^ade are 

 each divided into two zones; the bottom ones are occupied by three arcades, 

 separated by short marble columns, whose capitals and bases, of the same 

 material (see fig. 3, pi. 3), have all the peculiar characteristics of the Byzan- 

 tine style. The arches are turned with stone and bricks alternately. Tablets 

 of white marble, ornamented with crosses and crowns, are placed between 

 the columns, and support narrow jambs, that reach as high as the capitals, 

 and appear to have supported lattice casements, or perhaps glazed windows, 

 to protect the narthex. Towards the corners of the facade, beyond the 

 open porches, there is, on each side, a semicircular niche of very elongated 

 proportions. The wall is composed of courses of stone and bricks of equal 

 thickness. Between the arches over the columns, the builder has introduced 

 lozenge-shaped bricks, separated by horizontal lines ; near the two niches 

 which occupy the extremities of the facade, the bricks are turned in arches 



concentric with those of the niches Above the whole rises the central 



cupola of the church. This cupola stands on a square basement, and con- 

 sists of twelve small columns, supporting arches under which are the same 

 number of windows, to light the dome. The spherical portion of the cupola 

 Is covered with sheet lead, and in the centre there is a very graceful little 

 ornament. East and west of the cupola we see the roofs of the church, of 

 the interior narthex, and the sanctuary. This last is lighted from above by a 

 'window in the vaulted roof.. . . . The apsis stands on a polygonal stylobate of 

 Ave equal sides. In the upper part there is the same number of arcades, 

 two of which are closed, and three open ; these last, which give light to the 

 sanctuary, and are probably intended, as in the church of St. Sophia, to be 

 an emblem of the Trinity, are supported by columns inserted in square 

 piers, and are repeated inside in exactly the same form and size. Their 

 bases, composed of a fillet and a torus, stand upon a stone that forms a 

 common plinth, and is of a pyramidal shape. Their capitals have a kind 

 of ornament composed of numerous bevilled mouldings, in the; Byzantine 

 style ; a thin ledge, which projects considerably outside, supports the ribs 

 formed by the junction of the polygonal faces of the apsis. In the square 

 pillars against which the columns are backed, there are a number of holes, 

 from which it is evident that these windows have been closed by iron 

 gratings. Above these arcades there is a row of arched niches, which have 

 been exactly copied in the cathedral of St. Mark, at Venice. The back of 

 the vaulted part is ornamented with brick zigzags. The roof of the apsis is 

 a demi-eupola, covered with lead, and hipped, to correspond with the five 

 sides of the vertical portion. On each side of the ap^is are the construc- 

 tions that form the eastern end of the side aisles and vestries ; in the centre 

 of each there is a polygonal apsis, not projecting, but merely cut in the 

 thickness of the walls." 



It would have been better to have devoted a larger portion of the work 

 to pure, and less to bastard, architecture. AVbat possible architectural 

 7alue, for instance, can there jiow be in the church of St. Etienne, at 

 Paris, a lamentable instance o( the sacrifice of a fine mediasval edifice 

 to the pseudo-classic mania? It were hard to find another Christian 

 church in which the original features have been so completely elTaced by 

 hideous imitations of Uoman details. The barbarous mutilations of the 

 church of St. Etienne exceed even those of the west front of M'estmiuster 

 Abbey. 



Raihcay Almanac, Directory, Year-Book qf Statistics and Digest of Rail- 

 u-iiy L(iw/or lSi6. London: Groorabridge, 8vo., pp. 132. 

 We are somewhat late in our notice of this work ; still, as almanacs are 

 seldom purchased till the beginning of the year, our recommendation will 

 appear about the right time. In addition to the ordinary information, the 

 Calendar contains the dates when the existing railways were opened, the 

 periods when the dividends of each company are payable, &c. 'Jhe 



Railway Law Digest (written by Mr. Shaw, of Furnival's Inn) is the 

 most perspicuous explanation of a very difficult subject which we have 

 met with. Wc have read it through carefully, and can pronounce it well 

 worthy of the labour of perusal. The Directory contains the names of the 

 directors and officers of all the completed and projected railways ; it give 

 also the lists of the members of the Stock-Exchange of London and the 

 chief commercial towns. The vrork is very well printed, and in the ar- 

 rangement of it great care has evidently been taken to secure facility of 

 reference. 



Jabez Hare's Illustrated Engineers' Almanac for 1846. Simpkio and 



Marshall. 



This is a large sheet Almanac. In addition to the calendar, it contains 

 wood engravings of several mechanical inventions, such as the railway- 

 excavator, the steam hammer, and screw propellers, of which also brief 

 letter-press descriptions are given. There are also tables of areas of 

 circles, of specific gravities, and the pitch of toothed wheels, &c. Mr. 

 Hare evidently far exceeds Lord Chesterfield in his admiration of pro- 

 verbs : the Almanac is garnished by a double belt of them. 



First Steps to Anatomy. By J. L. Drummond, RI.D., Professor of Ana- 

 tomy and Physiology in the Royal Belfast Institution. London : Van 

 Voorst, 1845. 12mo. pp. 210. 12 lithograph plates. 

 It would be somewhat travelling out of the record to give a critical notice 

 of this book, even if we laid claim to the editorial omniscience which 

 alone would warrant us in undertaking the task. The work is a digest of 

 lectures to the " first-year students " in the Royal Belfast Institution, and 

 is written in a very pleasing and perspicuous style. 



NEW MODELS OF THE PARTHENON 



Jn the British Museum. 



The trustees of the British Museum have recently made a most valuable 

 addition to the collection of antiquities of two large models of the Parthe- 

 non, made by Mr. Lucas, the sculptor. We are unavoidably compelled to 

 postpone till next month a critical description of these admirable works of 

 art ; the following notice of them, however, which is extracted from the 

 AtheniEum, will he read with interest. 



Mr. Lucas, the sculptor— of whom we have heretofore had occasion to 

 make honourable mention, — has been for some time engaged on a work, 

 which, while it is at once very interesting in itself and honourable to the 

 artist who planned and performed it, comes usefully as a sculpture-lessoo 

 in this time of awakened attention and improving prospects for the Art. 

 His object has been to achieve two models of that most perfect of temples, 

 (he Parthenon — one of which shall represent it as it appeared in its dila- 

 pidated stale in the seventeenth century, and its other being, in the sculp- 

 IBr's words, " an attempt to restore it to the fulness of its original beautj 

 and splendour." The scheme is one, especially in its latter portion, which 

 demanded for its successful execution a rare combination of sobriety and 

 enthusiasm. Any merely conjectural re-construction could have satisfied 

 none of the serious demands of the subject; while it would have been aa 

 unpardonable assumption, that affected to clothe the fancy of the artist 

 with the sanctions of the highest authority known to art. Luckily, the 

 material and other documents yet exist in sufficient distinctness and abun- 

 dance to furnish certain evidence, for the conscientious student, as to the 

 general plan and many of the details of this great temple, — and, for the 

 sound and accomplished artist, reasonable inferences as to the rest. Mr. 

 Lucas has carefully consulted the iiuthorities on the subject — both those 

 of fact and speculation — remains and drawings of remains, with the 

 opinions of scholars as to the interpretation of these where their language 

 is obscure : and where, all these failing him, it has been necessary to con- 

 nect the known by the unknown, he has taken the principles upon which 

 Phidias wrought for bis guide, and sought only in what is expressed for 

 what is meant. In this species of questioning he has shown great judg- 

 ment — generally winning the assent of the critic to the testimony which 

 he makes ths monument bear of itself. A passionate worshipper at that 

 shrine of Art which he has chosen, he is, nevertheless, careful that his 

 worhip shall approve itself as a reasonable service ; his undisguised en- 

 thusiasm for his task is not imported into it from without, — but born 

 legitimately of the embodied principles before him, and appealing to 

 their quilities of fitness and beauty for its justification. Better disci- 

 pline, teaching more sure and sublime than this, the sculptor could not 

 propose to himself; aud, amid that visible want of earnest thought — that 

 general defect of spirituality — which may ha»e some excuse in the long 

 tendeucies of public patronage amongst us, but by which the school is held 

 back from the high destinies awaiting it, we see with more than ordinary 

 pleasure this patient and zealous search into the fouctains of the true ia 



