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132 ARCHITECTURE. 
Roman, and joined in the Grecian manner, by semi-cylinders placed on the 
joint ridges, but the e-shaped tiles are also met with overlapping each 
other, and therefore without the peculiar Grecian semi-cylinders. The 
domes are frequently covered with lead plates. The gallery usually found 
in the first story of Byzantine churches is indicated exteriorly by a row of 
windows, or by small arcades. This arrangement was also adopted in 
the pointed-arch style of architecture when it superseded the Byzantine. 
The Byzantine semicircular arches over the windows are either entirely of 
brick, or of brick and freestone in alternate wedges. The doors are usually 
set in thin stone or marble frames with cornices. Arches constructed over 
the lintels serve to relieve the latter of the weight of the upper wall. 
They are sometimes of horse-shoe form instead of semicircular. The mould- 
ings of the lintel cornice are peculiar, consisting of a socle of considerable 
projection over a projecting quirked moulding (apothesis), followed by an 
astragal with two very narrow socles, and finally a broad stripe. Below 
this is a rectangular deep recess with an astragal running round the door 
opening. 1. 30, fig. 16, exhibits this bold profile, which was the prototype 
of the similar one applied in the pointed arch style. 
The side fronts of the Byzantine churches are almost exactly like those of 
the Romanesque. Projecting entrances frequently mark the extremities 
of the transepts, as in St. Nicodemus’ church in Athens (fig. 13). The rear 
wall, which is horizontally closed above, is interrupted by one or three 
sanctuaries which are either round or quadrangular, and have one or two rows 
of niches, in newer buildings superseded by windows. The latter are either 
simple or coupled, when they are called twin windows. The window arches 
rest on small columns placed at the salient angles of the window recesses, 
as in the choir of St. Theotokus in Constantinople (jig. 14). The vestibule 
in Byzantine buildings is always arched, sometimes with a dome as indicated 
in the ground plan (jg. 12), and framework is never visible in the ceiling. 
The vestibule is not very deep, but occupies the full width of the church, 
and is usually decorated with paintings or mosaic work. One or more doors 
of similar construction with the main entrance lead into the church proper. 
The rear wall of the vestibule has sometimes, besides these doors, windows, 
placed there for the better airing of the church, with window-sills formed 
of highly sculptured marble slabs. The interior has one or more domes 
decorated with paintings and mosaic. The principal one is over the point 
of intersection of the main nave and transept, and isnever wanting. If 
there are more than one, the second and third, of smaller size, are placed 
over the arms of the transept, the fourth over the sanctuary, and the fifth 
over the front part of the main nave. The parts of the church that are left 
without cupolas receive cross-vault ceilings instead. The weight of the 
cupola is sustained by four corner pillars, being divided between them 
by ribs of vaults ascending from their cornices to the pendentive or lower 
circumference of the dome, which they support. This construction was 
invented by the Byzantians. It is either simple, forming a warped 
surface of twofold curvature; or hollow, like the upper part of a niche, the 
curve being that of a cone; or finally, complicated, being composed of a 
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