ARCHITECTURE. 159 
indication of one in a profusion of sculpture. The greatest splendor of 
decoration prevails in the portals of the pointed-arch churches, as may be 
seen in the views of entire churches represented on pls. 34-39 and 41, of 
which we shall presently examine the details. The character of the sculp- 
tures found in and on the churches of this period will be described in that 
division of this work which is devoted to the Fine Arts. 
As in the Romanesque style the apsis was the characteristic part of the 
church more or less decorated (pl. 40, jigs. 29, 30), so in the pointed-arch 
style are the bell towers or spires. Their lower portion is usually a square 
elongated vertical building, or tower proper, which at a certain height 
passes into a circular or polygonal form, thence tapering off to a point, and 
forming a spire or steeple. In the absence of the tapering part they are 
called towers, otherwise spires or steeples. The bells are usually hung at 
the upper extremity of the tower below the commencement of the pyramidal 
part, and their position is exteriorly marked by the belfry window or other 
aperture for the escape of the sound. One of the oldest structures of this 
kind is the spire of St. Ainay’s church in Lyons (pl. 40, jig. 31). A beauti- 
ful example of towers proper is afforded in the cathedral of York (pl. 38, 
jig. 20). Among the spires various kinds are distinguished according to 
their shape. Among them are the pyramdal, whose reduction to a point 
is step-wise, as in the Minster of Strasburg (pl. 36, jig. 42); the arrow- 
headed, whose reduction is in straight lines from the substructure to the 
point (pl. 34, fig. 39; and pl. 40, fig. 33); the needle-shaped, whose square 
substructure abruptly contracts into an octagon, the spire rising thence like 
the arrow-headed (pl. 40, jig. 35); the dome-shaped, whose corners are con- 
vex lines (fig. 34). Gable towers have no steeples, but framework roofs with 
two or four gables, and covered with tiles or slate (jig. 36). In conclusion 
we mention the arch towers which occur frequently on village churches. 
They are solid structures with several arched perforations in one of which the 
bell is hung (fig. 37). 
The decoration of the towers in the 11th and 12th centuries consisted 
mostly of arcades arranged in different tiers above each other, and exhibit- 
ing principally the round arch. If the width of the arches was very great 
it was subdivided by subordinate arcades. The ornaments of the arches 
and their imposts, columns, consoles, archivolts, &c., were often exceedingly 
rich and always remarkable for unity of style to the minutest details. In 
the thirteenth century the round arches gave way for the pointed, and the 
towers had only one tier of arcades of great height, with deep perspective 
archivolts decorated with columns. In this century we find the first pyra- 
midal stone roofs on towers, multifariously perforated with rosettes and 
foils. In the fourteenth century the mullions of the belfry windows are 
reduced to one, and the spaces filled out with sound-boards (pl. 40, jig. 32). 
On the other hand new decorations are introduced on the columns, arches, 
and gutter-spouts, giving the towers a much richer appearance. In the 15th 
century towers commence to be built of several stories of gradually reduced 
circumference, and richly decorated with buttresses, ascending arches, 
crowning flowers, &c., and harmonizing in surpassing splendor with the 
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