172 ARCHITECTURE. 
stands an octagonal tower in the old German style, surrounded with pyra- 
midal pillars. The western fagade has on each side a tower 300 feet high, 
with perforated spires. These spires are formed by 8 ridges meeting under 
the balls, which are ornamented by crowning flowers, and they are bound 
together by 24 horizontal ribs, at various distances from each other. In 
respect of construction, these pyramids are most like the towers in Freyburg, _ 
in Baden, and those of the church of St. Mary in Esslingen, but they are very 
inferior in composition and elaboration. In the panels formed by these ribs 
stone cross-joints are introduced. The portal is perspectively arranged, and 
there is a round window over it, under a pointed arch. A round window 
is introduced below the spires on éach side of the towers, which resembles 
the windows of some of the old Rhenish churches, the Baad cathedral for 
instance. These towers were built soon after 1442 by the architect John 
of Cologne and his son Simon, whom the bishop had taken with him from 
their native country. Under Charles V. the transept of the church was 
repaired. The same two German architects built the charter-house Mira- 
flores near Burgos. 
15. Taz Minster at York. After the modern St. Paul’s churchin London, 
of which we shall presently speak, York Minster is the largest of English 
churches. Pl. 38, fig. 20, gives a view of its western front. With its three 
aisles and the transept divided into as many, it forms a Grecian cross. 
The exterior length from west to east is 578 feet. The central nave is 
43 feet, 6 inches wide, between the clustered columns, which are 7 feet, 
3 inches thick, and 27 feet high, and stand at distances of 20 feet. The side 
aisles are 20 feet, 6 inches wide. The cylinders of the two clustered 
columns supporting the towers, are 9 feet, 6 inches thick. The four great 
piers bearing the middle tower, which are surrounded by 27 half and 
three quarter columns, are 21 feet, 7 inches thick, and stand in the transept 
at distances of 27 feet. This transept is 45 feet wide, and its side aisles 
20 feet. The choir is 44 feet, 6 inches wide between the piers, which 
are 7 feet, 9 inches thick. The thickness of the side walls is 4 feet, 9 
inches, and the buttresses project from 6 to 9 feet long, and are 4 to 5 feet 
broad. The height of the nave is 92 feet, 6 inches, that of the side aisles 
48 feet. The middle tower over the cross is 198 feet high from the church 
floor, and its walls are 6 feet, 9 inches thick. The light falls through its 
windows into the centre of the transept. The front towers, or the two 
westerly ones, are 172 feet high from the church floor to the highest 
gallery. The pyramidal pillars upon them, eight upon each tower, are 24 
feet high. The great buttresses of the towers project 10 feet before the 
walls, and are 79 feet high. The walls are 8 feet thick. The point of 
the gable over the door is 35 feet, that of the front chief gable 100 feet, 
and the pyramids upon it 119 feet over the floor of the church. The main 
portal is 24 feet high, and 13 feet, 6 inches wide. The whole church 
is built of freestone and quarry-stone. A gallery extends quite round 
the church on the upper part of the side aisles and another around the 
eaves. 
Beneath the choir is a crypt 40 feet long and 385 feet wide, divided 
172 
