DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0470
454
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
All the buildings at Kelat Seman seem to have been
completed in the fifth century, and not to have been
touched or altered since they were deserted, apparently in
consequence of the Mahomedan irruption in the seventh
century.
In the same province we find also the earliest examples
of the use of pier arches in a church, to separate the
nave from the aisles. These seem to have been currently
used in Northern Syria in the sixth century, though not
found in the West for several centuries afterwards.1
Generally, three arches only were employed, and they con-
sequently left the church so open and free that it is very
questionable if in churches of limited dimensions the
introduction of a much larger number by the Gothic
architects was an improvement.
A considerable amount of perspective effect is obtained
by throwing two transverse arches across the nave,
dividing it into three compartments, each including four
windows in the clerestory, and the whole design is simple
and solid in a degree seldom surpassed in buildings of its
class.
It is very interesting, however, to find that as early as
the sixth century the Eastern architects were striving to
represent principles of design which centuries afterwards
enabled the Gothic architects to achieve their monu-
mental triumphs ! The introduction of four windows over
each great arch and a roofing shaft between each, to sup-
port the beams of the roof, was a happy thought, and it is
wonderful it was so completely lost sight of afterwards.
It is probable that the apse was originally adorned
with paintings or mosaics, or at least that it was intended
it should be so ornamented. But even as it is, the pro-
portions are so well adapted to the size of the church and
to its position, and it is so appropriately ornamented, that
it is better than most of those found in Boman Basilicas,
and, for a small church, is a more dignified receptacle for the
altar than either the French chevet or the English chancel.
Did our limits admit of it, it would not only be pleasant
1 Fergusson, Part ii., p. 298.
THE HISTORICAL PAST OF ITALY.
All the buildings at Kelat Seman seem to have been
completed in the fifth century, and not to have been
touched or altered since they were deserted, apparently in
consequence of the Mahomedan irruption in the seventh
century.
In the same province we find also the earliest examples
of the use of pier arches in a church, to separate the
nave from the aisles. These seem to have been currently
used in Northern Syria in the sixth century, though not
found in the West for several centuries afterwards.1
Generally, three arches only were employed, and they con-
sequently left the church so open and free that it is very
questionable if in churches of limited dimensions the
introduction of a much larger number by the Gothic
architects was an improvement.
A considerable amount of perspective effect is obtained
by throwing two transverse arches across the nave,
dividing it into three compartments, each including four
windows in the clerestory, and the whole design is simple
and solid in a degree seldom surpassed in buildings of its
class.
It is very interesting, however, to find that as early as
the sixth century the Eastern architects were striving to
represent principles of design which centuries afterwards
enabled the Gothic architects to achieve their monu-
mental triumphs ! The introduction of four windows over
each great arch and a roofing shaft between each, to sup-
port the beams of the roof, was a happy thought, and it is
wonderful it was so completely lost sight of afterwards.
It is probable that the apse was originally adorned
with paintings or mosaics, or at least that it was intended
it should be so ornamented. But even as it is, the pro-
portions are so well adapted to the size of the church and
to its position, and it is so appropriately ornamented, that
it is better than most of those found in Boman Basilicas,
and, for a small church, is a more dignified receptacle for the
altar than either the French chevet or the English chancel.
Did our limits admit of it, it would not only be pleasant
1 Fergusson, Part ii., p. 298.