DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.785#0599
chap, xxvi.] GROTTA POLA, AND ITS PORTICO. 491
wood-bills, and to clear the foliage from the fa9ades ; and
I also reaped unequivocal benefit from their labours.
From the Sopraripa I perceived the cliffs on the opposite
side of the wide ravine to be full of tombs, and crossing
the stream by a bridge of some antiquity, I reached the
Grotta Pola,
one of the most singular monuments in this necropolis,
and the only one of the sepulchres of Etruria which bears
any resemblance to the celebrated temple-tombs of Norchia.
Here is Mr. Ainsley's description of it:—
" It has the form of the portico of a temple, cut out of
the solid tufo. One column only remains, supporting a
corner of the pediment, and behind it is a square pilaster,
attached to the surface of the rock, representing the body
of the temple. Both column and pilaster are fluted,
and adorned with corresponding capitals, which seem to
have been very similar to one that I have seen in Signor
Campanari's museum at Toscanella, having foliage running
round its base, and springing boldly up to the corners,
somewhat in the manner of the Corinthian, but with large
human heads placed in the middle of each face of the
capital, between the foliage. The effects of time are too
great to allow one to judge of the character of these
heads. It is apparent that the column, the pilaster, and
the face of the rock have been covered with stucco and
coloured; and this is most manifest in the latter, where a
broad fascia of the usual deep red colour has run along
the bottom. The portico seems to have consisted of four
columns, but not equally distant from one another, being
coupled at the two ends, so as to leave a wider space
between the two pairs than between each column and its
fellow. The pediment is too much injured to allow one to
wood-bills, and to clear the foliage from the fa9ades ; and
I also reaped unequivocal benefit from their labours.
From the Sopraripa I perceived the cliffs on the opposite
side of the wide ravine to be full of tombs, and crossing
the stream by a bridge of some antiquity, I reached the
Grotta Pola,
one of the most singular monuments in this necropolis,
and the only one of the sepulchres of Etruria which bears
any resemblance to the celebrated temple-tombs of Norchia.
Here is Mr. Ainsley's description of it:—
" It has the form of the portico of a temple, cut out of
the solid tufo. One column only remains, supporting a
corner of the pediment, and behind it is a square pilaster,
attached to the surface of the rock, representing the body
of the temple. Both column and pilaster are fluted,
and adorned with corresponding capitals, which seem to
have been very similar to one that I have seen in Signor
Campanari's museum at Toscanella, having foliage running
round its base, and springing boldly up to the corners,
somewhat in the manner of the Corinthian, but with large
human heads placed in the middle of each face of the
capital, between the foliage. The effects of time are too
great to allow one to judge of the character of these
heads. It is apparent that the column, the pilaster, and
the face of the rock have been covered with stucco and
coloured; and this is most manifest in the latter, where a
broad fascia of the usual deep red colour has run along
the bottom. The portico seems to have consisted of four
columns, but not equally distant from one another, being
coupled at the two ends, so as to leave a wider space
between the two pairs than between each column and its
fellow. The pediment is too much injured to allow one to