DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0584
548
BYZANTINE-LOMBARDIC ARCHITECTURE.
Paet II.
singularly elegant and pleasing. Its design is somewhat like that o£
the temple at Spaiato, but with arcades substituted everywhere for
horizontal architraves ; the century that elapsed between these two
epochs having sufficed to complete the
transition between the two styles.
Far more interesting than this is the
great church of St. Yitale, the most
complicated, and at the same time, per-
haps, the most beautiful, of the circular
churches of that age. In design it is
nearly identical with the church of St.
Sergius at Constantinople (see Woodcut
No. 311), from which it was undoubtedly
copied, and probably by Greek artists
from that town. It was built in the
reign of Justinian by St. Ecclesius,
archbishop of the see, and was conse-
crated in 547, eight years after the taking of Ravenna by Justinian’s
generals. The principal difference o£ the plan lies in its being
enclosed within an octagon instead of a square, as in St. Sergius,
probably to mask the irregularity of the main entrance from a street
which did not run in the direction of any o£ the cardinal points.
The recesses are loftier in proportion than those of St. Sergius, and
in the lower storey arcades take the place of beams. The aisles being
covered with timber roofs, it was necessary to raise the walls of the
octagon higher than those of St. Sergius, and small arches take the
429. Plan of St. Vitale, Ravenna.
(Frorn Isabelle.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
430. Section of St. Vitale, Ravenna. (Frora Isabelle.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
place of the usual pendentives : the springing of the dome, which is
50 ft. in diameter, is on the level of the sill of the windows the
arches of which therefore form penetrations into the dome.
The church is built in bricks with thick mortar joints, the dome
BYZANTINE-LOMBARDIC ARCHITECTURE.
Paet II.
singularly elegant and pleasing. Its design is somewhat like that o£
the temple at Spaiato, but with arcades substituted everywhere for
horizontal architraves ; the century that elapsed between these two
epochs having sufficed to complete the
transition between the two styles.
Far more interesting than this is the
great church of St. Yitale, the most
complicated, and at the same time, per-
haps, the most beautiful, of the circular
churches of that age. In design it is
nearly identical with the church of St.
Sergius at Constantinople (see Woodcut
No. 311), from which it was undoubtedly
copied, and probably by Greek artists
from that town. It was built in the
reign of Justinian by St. Ecclesius,
archbishop of the see, and was conse-
crated in 547, eight years after the taking of Ravenna by Justinian’s
generals. The principal difference o£ the plan lies in its being
enclosed within an octagon instead of a square, as in St. Sergius,
probably to mask the irregularity of the main entrance from a street
which did not run in the direction of any o£ the cardinal points.
The recesses are loftier in proportion than those of St. Sergius, and
in the lower storey arcades take the place of beams. The aisles being
covered with timber roofs, it was necessary to raise the walls of the
octagon higher than those of St. Sergius, and small arches take the
429. Plan of St. Vitale, Ravenna.
(Frorn Isabelle.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
430. Section of St. Vitale, Ravenna. (Frora Isabelle.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
place of the usual pendentives : the springing of the dome, which is
50 ft. in diameter, is on the level of the sill of the windows the
arches of which therefore form penetrations into the dome.
The church is built in bricks with thick mortar joints, the dome