DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0568
532
BYZANTINE-LOMBARDIC ARCHITECTURE.
Paet II.
work, accorcling to M. Cattaneo, was afterwards carried out by a
Lombard sculptor, Mazulo, who designed the atrium and tower of the
abbey of Pomposa (about 30 miles from Venice), where the carving is
of the same character or style as that in St. Mark’s. Internally the
ehurch measures 200 ft. east and west, and 164 ft. across the transepts •
externally these dimensions are increased to 260x215, and the whole
area to about 46,000 square ft., so that although of respectable
dimensions it is by no means a large church. The central and western
dome are 42 ft. in diameter, the other three 33 ft. only. They are
carried on spherical pendentives resting on circular barrel vaults about
15 ft. wide ; a crypt 86 ft. x74 ft. extends under the eastern dome
414.
Capital in Apse, St. Mark’s, Vemce.
and apses, the vault being supported by fifty-six monolithic columns
5 ft. 6 in. high : the whole height from floor to the crown of the
arch being under 9 ft. The construction of this crypt probably
followed the erection of the church, which was not consecrated till
1111, when Ordelapo Faliero was Doge. Externally this apse is
polygonal, as in Byzantine churches, the upper storey being set
back to allow of a passage round. The narthex or vestibule in
front of the church, which extends also on north and south of the
nave aisles up to the transepts, and the rooms over the north narthex
and over part of the baptistery, must have followed the erection of the
church ; in fact, the principal front could not have been completed
without them.
Externally the original construction was in brick, with blind arcades,
niches, and a sirnple brick cornice such as is found in Lombardic
BYZANTINE-LOMBARDIC ARCHITECTURE.
Paet II.
work, accorcling to M. Cattaneo, was afterwards carried out by a
Lombard sculptor, Mazulo, who designed the atrium and tower of the
abbey of Pomposa (about 30 miles from Venice), where the carving is
of the same character or style as that in St. Mark’s. Internally the
ehurch measures 200 ft. east and west, and 164 ft. across the transepts •
externally these dimensions are increased to 260x215, and the whole
area to about 46,000 square ft., so that although of respectable
dimensions it is by no means a large church. The central and western
dome are 42 ft. in diameter, the other three 33 ft. only. They are
carried on spherical pendentives resting on circular barrel vaults about
15 ft. wide ; a crypt 86 ft. x74 ft. extends under the eastern dome
414.
Capital in Apse, St. Mark’s, Vemce.
and apses, the vault being supported by fifty-six monolithic columns
5 ft. 6 in. high : the whole height from floor to the crown of the
arch being under 9 ft. The construction of this crypt probably
followed the erection of the church, which was not consecrated till
1111, when Ordelapo Faliero was Doge. Externally this apse is
polygonal, as in Byzantine churches, the upper storey being set
back to allow of a passage round. The narthex or vestibule in
front of the church, which extends also on north and south of the
nave aisles up to the transepts, and the rooms over the north narthex
and over part of the baptistery, must have followed the erection of the
church ; in fact, the principal front could not have been completed
without them.
Externally the original construction was in brick, with blind arcades,
niches, and a sirnple brick cornice such as is found in Lombardic