DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0322
294
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. VIII.
all nations; while, if report does not deceive us,
our plunderers have ransacked the temples of
Greece, to sell their booty to the highest bidder,
or, at best, to piece the walls of some obscure
old mansion, with fragments of Parian marble,
and of Attic sculpture.
The triumphal arch has only one gateway, is
ornamented with four half columns on each front,
one at each side of the gateway, and one at each
angle. The marble, particularly in the front
towards the sea, retains its shining white ; the
capitals of the pillars have suffered much, and
lost the prominent parts of the acanthus; how-
ever, on the whole, this arch may be considered
in high preservation.
The greatest part of the mole still remains, a
solid compact wall, formed of huge stones bound
together by iron, and rising to a considerable
height above the level of the sea. Close to it,
but much lower, is the modern mole, adorned in
like munner with a triumphal arch of the Tuscan
order, in itself not beautiful, and when compared
with the Corinthian arch that stands almost im-
mediately over it, extremely cumbersome. The
architect was Vanvitelli, a name of considerable
repute in the architectural annals of the last cen-
tury ; and if we may judge from the solidity of
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. VIII.
all nations; while, if report does not deceive us,
our plunderers have ransacked the temples of
Greece, to sell their booty to the highest bidder,
or, at best, to piece the walls of some obscure
old mansion, with fragments of Parian marble,
and of Attic sculpture.
The triumphal arch has only one gateway, is
ornamented with four half columns on each front,
one at each side of the gateway, and one at each
angle. The marble, particularly in the front
towards the sea, retains its shining white ; the
capitals of the pillars have suffered much, and
lost the prominent parts of the acanthus; how-
ever, on the whole, this arch may be considered
in high preservation.
The greatest part of the mole still remains, a
solid compact wall, formed of huge stones bound
together by iron, and rising to a considerable
height above the level of the sea. Close to it,
but much lower, is the modern mole, adorned in
like munner with a triumphal arch of the Tuscan
order, in itself not beautiful, and when compared
with the Corinthian arch that stands almost im-
mediately over it, extremely cumbersome. The
architect was Vanvitelli, a name of considerable
repute in the architectural annals of the last cen-
tury ; and if we may judge from the solidity of