DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0018
8
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. I.
and St. Paul’s ; in the interior elevation it yields
to both; in exterior it exceeds both; in fret-
work, carving', and statues, it goes beyond all
churches in the world, St. Peter’s itself not ex-
cepted. Its double aisles, its clustered pillars,
its lofty arches ; the lustre of its walls; its num-
berless niches all filled with marble figures, give
it an appearance novel even in Italy, and sin-
gularly majestic. Such, at least, it must appear
to those who admire the Gothic manner called by
the Italians Teclesca, so uncommon in Italy in
its purity, as most of the edifices that bear that
appellation are, as I have before observed, a
mixed style formed of a degradation of Roman
architecture dressed up in moresco ornaments.
The admirer of English Gothic will observe one
peculiarity, which is, that in the cathedral of
Milan, there is no screen, and that the chancel
is entirely open, and separated from the nave
only by its elevation. In the front of the chancel,
and almost immediately above the steps, rises
on four additional steps the altar, and behind it,
in a semicircular form, the choir. Thus the altar
stands as in the Roman Basilica, and indeed in
all ancient churches, between the clergy and the
people.
Two circumstances are particularly observable
in this church; the one is, that there are no
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. I.
and St. Paul’s ; in the interior elevation it yields
to both; in exterior it exceeds both; in fret-
work, carving', and statues, it goes beyond all
churches in the world, St. Peter’s itself not ex-
cepted. Its double aisles, its clustered pillars,
its lofty arches ; the lustre of its walls; its num-
berless niches all filled with marble figures, give
it an appearance novel even in Italy, and sin-
gularly majestic. Such, at least, it must appear
to those who admire the Gothic manner called by
the Italians Teclesca, so uncommon in Italy in
its purity, as most of the edifices that bear that
appellation are, as I have before observed, a
mixed style formed of a degradation of Roman
architecture dressed up in moresco ornaments.
The admirer of English Gothic will observe one
peculiarity, which is, that in the cathedral of
Milan, there is no screen, and that the chancel
is entirely open, and separated from the nave
only by its elevation. In the front of the chancel,
and almost immediately above the steps, rises
on four additional steps the altar, and behind it,
in a semicircular form, the choir. Thus the altar
stands as in the Roman Basilica, and indeed in
all ancient churches, between the clergy and the
people.
Two circumstances are particularly observable
in this church; the one is, that there are no