DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68796#0237
chap, i ‘ Natural Symbolism' of Stone 217
size, and small structures can attain through this device
to architectural sublimity. A standard illustration is the
tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna, from the sixth century of
our era, which though of modest dimensions recalls by its
massiveness the megalithic structures of primeval days ;
the cupola crowning it is hollowed out of a single vast
block of stone more than thirty feet in diameter. No
people appear to have had so keen a sense of the value of
this element of architectural effect as the Phoenicians, who
employed the vastest stones ever used in building opera-
tions. The huge blocks forming the substructures of the
temple platform at Jerusalem are prominent examples, while
at Baalbec in Syria there are stones more than sixty feet in
length. It is noteworthy that the other great stone-build-
ing peoples of antiquity, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans,
used their materials in blocks of moderate dimensions,
though the former, in their monolithic obelisks and gigantic
rock-hewn statues, showed that they understood to the full
this aid to a sublime effect. Monolithic columns, like those
on the portal of Robert Adam’s University buildings at
Edinburgh, are far grander than those composed of small
pieces, and the Egyptians by plastering over their built-up
columns, and the Greeks by fitting the drums of theirs so
closely that the joints almost disappeared, were aiming at a
monolithic effect. On the contrary at the Madeleine at
Paris the smallness of the stones of which the columns are
constructed is made painfully apparent by conspicuous
joints, and the effect of them is hopelessly impoverished.
The artistic function of big materials is thus summed up
by Mr. Fergusson :—
‘ It is the expression of giant power and the apparent
eternity of duration which they convey; and in whatever
form that may be presented to the human mind, it always
produces a sentiment tending toward sublimity, which is
size, and small structures can attain through this device
to architectural sublimity. A standard illustration is the
tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna, from the sixth century of
our era, which though of modest dimensions recalls by its
massiveness the megalithic structures of primeval days ;
the cupola crowning it is hollowed out of a single vast
block of stone more than thirty feet in diameter. No
people appear to have had so keen a sense of the value of
this element of architectural effect as the Phoenicians, who
employed the vastest stones ever used in building opera-
tions. The huge blocks forming the substructures of the
temple platform at Jerusalem are prominent examples, while
at Baalbec in Syria there are stones more than sixty feet in
length. It is noteworthy that the other great stone-build-
ing peoples of antiquity, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans,
used their materials in blocks of moderate dimensions,
though the former, in their monolithic obelisks and gigantic
rock-hewn statues, showed that they understood to the full
this aid to a sublime effect. Monolithic columns, like those
on the portal of Robert Adam’s University buildings at
Edinburgh, are far grander than those composed of small
pieces, and the Egyptians by plastering over their built-up
columns, and the Greeks by fitting the drums of theirs so
closely that the joints almost disappeared, were aiming at a
monolithic effect. On the contrary at the Madeleine at
Paris the smallness of the stones of which the columns are
constructed is made painfully apparent by conspicuous
joints, and the effect of them is hopelessly impoverished.
The artistic function of big materials is thus summed up
by Mr. Fergusson :—
‘ It is the expression of giant power and the apparent
eternity of duration which they convey; and in whatever
form that may be presented to the human mind, it always
produces a sentiment tending toward sublimity, which is