DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0148
IfO
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. III.
it was supported by marble pillars and covered
with gilt copper. But whatsoever may have
been its former glory, it has long since yielded to
the depredations of age or barbarism, and sunk
into dust without leaving even a trace to ascertain
its former existence. The road is now unfre-
quented, and the church itself with the adjoining
abbey belonging to the Benedictine monks, is al-
most abandoned during the summer months on
account of the real or imaginary unwholesome-
ness of the air.
The exterior of this edifice, like that of the
Pantheon, being of ancient brick looks dismal
and ruinous. The portico is supported by twelve
pillars, and forms a gallery or vestibulum lofty
and spacious. The principal door is of bronze;
the nave and double aisles are supported by four
rows of Corinthian pillars, amounting in all to the
number of eighty. Of these columns, four-and-
twenty of that beautiful marble called pavonazzo
(because w hite tinged with a delicate purple) and
the most exquisite workmanship and proportions,
were taken from the tomb of Adrian (Castel S.
Angelo.) The transept or rather the walls and
arches of the sanctuary rest upon ten other co-
lumns, and thirty more are employed in the deco-
ration of the tomb of the Apostle and of the al-
tars. These pillars are in general of porphyry,
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. III.
it was supported by marble pillars and covered
with gilt copper. But whatsoever may have
been its former glory, it has long since yielded to
the depredations of age or barbarism, and sunk
into dust without leaving even a trace to ascertain
its former existence. The road is now unfre-
quented, and the church itself with the adjoining
abbey belonging to the Benedictine monks, is al-
most abandoned during the summer months on
account of the real or imaginary unwholesome-
ness of the air.
The exterior of this edifice, like that of the
Pantheon, being of ancient brick looks dismal
and ruinous. The portico is supported by twelve
pillars, and forms a gallery or vestibulum lofty
and spacious. The principal door is of bronze;
the nave and double aisles are supported by four
rows of Corinthian pillars, amounting in all to the
number of eighty. Of these columns, four-and-
twenty of that beautiful marble called pavonazzo
(because w hite tinged with a delicate purple) and
the most exquisite workmanship and proportions,
were taken from the tomb of Adrian (Castel S.
Angelo.) The transept or rather the walls and
arches of the sanctuary rest upon ten other co-
lumns, and thirty more are employed in the deco-
ration of the tomb of the Apostle and of the al-
tars. These pillars are in general of porphyry,