DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0585
Bk. II. Ch. III.
ST. YITALE.
549
being constructecl in an ingenious manner with hollow pots fitted the
encl of one into the mouth of the other; the lightness of this vault
has enabled the builclers to dispense with the immense arches ancl
buttresses founcl in St. Sergius ancl in Sta. Sophia. Similar con-
struction with pots hacl been employed in the East for clomes ancl
roofs,1 ancl they form as permanent a methocl as stone itself, in addition
to the stability, facility of construction, ancl lightness which sucli an
expedient affords.
4 31. Capital in St. Yitale, Ravenna.
Internally a good deal has been clone in moclern times to destroy
the simplicity of the original effect of the building; but still there is a
pleasing result jmoducecl by alternating the piers with circular columns,
and a lightness and elegance about the whole design that rencler it
unrivalled in the Western world among churches of its class. This
seems to have been admittecl by its contemporaries as much as it is
1 The vaults over the outer aisle of St.
Stefano Rotondo were built with hollow
pots, the remains of which can still be
traced in the outer walls of the 2ncl aisle.
Prof. Middleton points out also the
existence of rings of eartlien pots in the
vault of the tomb of Sta. Helena (Wood-
cut No. 227), and also in the vaults of
the Circus of Maxentius, on the Yia
Appia.—Ed.
ST. YITALE.
549
being constructecl in an ingenious manner with hollow pots fitted the
encl of one into the mouth of the other; the lightness of this vault
has enabled the builclers to dispense with the immense arches ancl
buttresses founcl in St. Sergius ancl in Sta. Sophia. Similar con-
struction with pots hacl been employed in the East for clomes ancl
roofs,1 ancl they form as permanent a methocl as stone itself, in addition
to the stability, facility of construction, ancl lightness which sucli an
expedient affords.
4 31. Capital in St. Yitale, Ravenna.
Internally a good deal has been clone in moclern times to destroy
the simplicity of the original effect of the building; but still there is a
pleasing result jmoducecl by alternating the piers with circular columns,
and a lightness and elegance about the whole design that rencler it
unrivalled in the Western world among churches of its class. This
seems to have been admittecl by its contemporaries as much as it is
1 The vaults over the outer aisle of St.
Stefano Rotondo were built with hollow
pots, the remains of which can still be
traced in the outer walls of the 2ncl aisle.
Prof. Middleton points out also the
existence of rings of eartlien pots in the
vault of the tomb of Sta. Helena (Wood-
cut No. 227), and also in the vaults of
the Circus of Maxentius, on the Yia
Appia.—Ed.