DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29899#0076
56
FRENCH AROHITECTURE.
Part II.
contrast with the rude vigour—almost vulgarity—which characterised
the works of the Normans in the opposite corner of the land at the
same period.
Passing from the round-arched to the pointed moclifications of
this style, the church at Fontifroide, near Narbonne, shows it in its
completeness, perhaps better than any other example. There, not only
the roof is pointed, but all the constructive openings have assumed the
same forms. The windows and doorways, it is true, still retain their
circular heads, and did retain them as long as the native style flourished
—the pointed-headed opening being only introduced by the Franks
when they occupied this country in the time of Simon de Montfort.
The section across the nave (Woodcut 553) shows the form of the
central vault, which the longitudinal section shows to be a plain
tunnel-vault unbroken by any intersection throughout the whole
length of the nave. The side aisles are roofed with half vaults, form-
ing abutments to the central arches—the advantage of this construc-
tion being, as before explained, that the tiles or paving-stones of the
roof rest directly on the vault without the intervention of any car-
pentry. Internally also the building displays much elegant simplicity
and constructive propriety. Its chief defect is the darkness of the
vault from the absence of a clerestory, which though tolerable in the
bright sunshine of the South, could not be borne in the more gloomy
North. It was to correct this, as we shall afterwards perceive, that
in the North the roof of the aisles was first raised to the height of that
of the cent.ral nave, light. being admitted through a gallery. ISText
the upper roof the aisles was cut away, with the exception of mere
strips or ribs left as flying buttresses. Lastly, the central vault was
cut up by intersections, so as to obtain space for windows to the very
height of the ridge. It was this last expedient that necessitated the
adoption of the pointed-headed window. It might. never have been
FRENCH AROHITECTURE.
Part II.
contrast with the rude vigour—almost vulgarity—which characterised
the works of the Normans in the opposite corner of the land at the
same period.
Passing from the round-arched to the pointed moclifications of
this style, the church at Fontifroide, near Narbonne, shows it in its
completeness, perhaps better than any other example. There, not only
the roof is pointed, but all the constructive openings have assumed the
same forms. The windows and doorways, it is true, still retain their
circular heads, and did retain them as long as the native style flourished
—the pointed-headed opening being only introduced by the Franks
when they occupied this country in the time of Simon de Montfort.
The section across the nave (Woodcut 553) shows the form of the
central vault, which the longitudinal section shows to be a plain
tunnel-vault unbroken by any intersection throughout the whole
length of the nave. The side aisles are roofed with half vaults, form-
ing abutments to the central arches—the advantage of this construc-
tion being, as before explained, that the tiles or paving-stones of the
roof rest directly on the vault without the intervention of any car-
pentry. Internally also the building displays much elegant simplicity
and constructive propriety. Its chief defect is the darkness of the
vault from the absence of a clerestory, which though tolerable in the
bright sunshine of the South, could not be borne in the more gloomy
North. It was to correct this, as we shall afterwards perceive, that
in the North the roof of the aisles was first raised to the height of that
of the cent.ral nave, light. being admitted through a gallery. ISText
the upper roof the aisles was cut away, with the exception of mere
strips or ribs left as flying buttresses. Lastly, the central vault was
cut up by intersections, so as to obtain space for windows to the very
height of the ridge. It was this last expedient that necessitated the
adoption of the pointed-headed window. It might. never have been