DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0213
NORTHERN CENTRAL SYRIA
181
Apses of polygonal plan are not unknown, and a new scheme of exterior decoration
was invented for the whole east end. In many small churches and in a few large ones
the curved apse is dispensed with, and a rectangular sanctuary appears behind the
chancel arch between the side chambers, with a straight wall across the entire east end,
as in the older buildings.
The proportion in ground plan is found to be that of 4: 3 in most of the churches
with semicircular apses, while those with rectangular sanctuaries return to the old pro-
portion of 3:2, althoUgh the entire length of the nave, including the sanctuary, is
here taken into account. Occasionally the relation of 4 : 3 is found in churches without
apses; but I believe this to be only in cases where a new church has been built upon
old foundations, as at Bakirha (see page 209). These proportions are found to be based
no longer upon the cubit of .555 m., but upon a foot of .37 m., or two thirds of the old
cubit. 1
An innovation in the systern of the nave was introduced in four churches: the span
of the arcades is greatly increased and their number is correspondingly reduced, and
piers of rectangular or cruciform plan are substituted for columns. The portico or
narthex becomes an integral part of the larger churches, and new methods of deco-
ration are introduced for its adornment. Only one example of a church of central
construction was found in Northern Syria, that at Midjleyya. This may have been a
baptistery; it combines the polygonal plan of nave with the rectangular formation of
the ordinary east end in an interesting fashion.
The evolution of ornamental details is the most interesting development of the
architecture of the sixth century in Northern Syria. The latent possibilities of the
old style of ornament were brought out, and new decorative features were invented.
Moldings were the chief medium of ornamentation. Openings of all sizes, windows
and doorways in every class of building, were providcd with deep moldings, incised
or in relief; molded string-courses are used at every possible level, and base moldings
are introduced in many buildings. An interesting feature in the use of moldings is
to be seen in a number of monuments where the artist has changed the direction of a
molding from the horizontal to the perpendicular, or vice versa. 2 Instead of returning
the molding in miter form, he has simply curved it up or down, as the case may be,
thus regarding the molding not so much as a frame for an opening as in the light of
a festoon that may be draped gracefully from one member to another. But the most
curious development in the treatment of moldings, and one peculiar to the more north-
erly sections of the country, is the spiral loop 3in which moldings terminate at points
where they would otherwise end abruptly. This is employed upon the lower ends of
jamb moldings in doorways and windows, at the ends of string-courses that are not
to be carried around an angle, and sometimes at the ends of architrave moldings. It
suggests the knot at the end of a festoon or garland to prevent its unwinding. d his
1 See p. 36.
2 See Fig. n, p. 30.
^ Ibid.
181
Apses of polygonal plan are not unknown, and a new scheme of exterior decoration
was invented for the whole east end. In many small churches and in a few large ones
the curved apse is dispensed with, and a rectangular sanctuary appears behind the
chancel arch between the side chambers, with a straight wall across the entire east end,
as in the older buildings.
The proportion in ground plan is found to be that of 4: 3 in most of the churches
with semicircular apses, while those with rectangular sanctuaries return to the old pro-
portion of 3:2, althoUgh the entire length of the nave, including the sanctuary, is
here taken into account. Occasionally the relation of 4 : 3 is found in churches without
apses; but I believe this to be only in cases where a new church has been built upon
old foundations, as at Bakirha (see page 209). These proportions are found to be based
no longer upon the cubit of .555 m., but upon a foot of .37 m., or two thirds of the old
cubit. 1
An innovation in the systern of the nave was introduced in four churches: the span
of the arcades is greatly increased and their number is correspondingly reduced, and
piers of rectangular or cruciform plan are substituted for columns. The portico or
narthex becomes an integral part of the larger churches, and new methods of deco-
ration are introduced for its adornment. Only one example of a church of central
construction was found in Northern Syria, that at Midjleyya. This may have been a
baptistery; it combines the polygonal plan of nave with the rectangular formation of
the ordinary east end in an interesting fashion.
The evolution of ornamental details is the most interesting development of the
architecture of the sixth century in Northern Syria. The latent possibilities of the
old style of ornament were brought out, and new decorative features were invented.
Moldings were the chief medium of ornamentation. Openings of all sizes, windows
and doorways in every class of building, were providcd with deep moldings, incised
or in relief; molded string-courses are used at every possible level, and base moldings
are introduced in many buildings. An interesting feature in the use of moldings is
to be seen in a number of monuments where the artist has changed the direction of a
molding from the horizontal to the perpendicular, or vice versa. 2 Instead of returning
the molding in miter form, he has simply curved it up or down, as the case may be,
thus regarding the molding not so much as a frame for an opening as in the light of
a festoon that may be draped gracefully from one member to another. But the most
curious development in the treatment of moldings, and one peculiar to the more north-
erly sections of the country, is the spiral loop 3in which moldings terminate at points
where they would otherwise end abruptly. This is employed upon the lower ends of
jamb moldings in doorways and windows, at the ends of string-courses that are not
to be carried around an angle, and sometimes at the ends of architrave moldings. It
suggests the knot at the end of a festoon or garland to prevent its unwinding. d his
1 See p. 36.
2 See Fig. n, p. 30.
^ Ibid.