DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29899#0516
496
SPANISH ARCHITECTUEE.
Paet II.
Among the examples at Toledo the two best interiors seem to be
the church of Sta. Maria la Bianca and that of Nuestra Senora del
Transito, both originally built as synagogues, though afterwards
appropriated to Christian purposes. The first is said to have been
erected in the 12th century, and was appropriated by the Christians in
1405. As will be seen by the plan, it is an irregular quadrangle, about
87 ft. by 65 ft. in width across the centre, and divided into five aisles
by octagonal piers supporting horse-shoe arches. Above these now
958. Sta. Maria la Bianca. (From Villa Amil.)
runs what may be called a blind clerestory, though it appears as if
light were originally admitted through piercings in it. The objects
are so dissimilar that it is difïïcult to institute a very distinct
comparison between the synagogue and a contemporary Gothic church
of the same dimensions ; but it may safely be said that if the
ISTorthern style is grander in conception, this is far more elegant in
detail : the essential difference lying in the fact that the Gothic style
always had, or aimed at having, a vault, and consequently forced the
architects to work and think—the very difficulty of the task being
thus the cause of its success. The Saracens in Spain, on the contrary,
SPANISH ARCHITECTUEE.
Paet II.
Among the examples at Toledo the two best interiors seem to be
the church of Sta. Maria la Bianca and that of Nuestra Senora del
Transito, both originally built as synagogues, though afterwards
appropriated to Christian purposes. The first is said to have been
erected in the 12th century, and was appropriated by the Christians in
1405. As will be seen by the plan, it is an irregular quadrangle, about
87 ft. by 65 ft. in width across the centre, and divided into five aisles
by octagonal piers supporting horse-shoe arches. Above these now
958. Sta. Maria la Bianca. (From Villa Amil.)
runs what may be called a blind clerestory, though it appears as if
light were originally admitted through piercings in it. The objects
are so dissimilar that it is difïïcult to institute a very distinct
comparison between the synagogue and a contemporary Gothic church
of the same dimensions ; but it may safely be said that if the
ISTorthern style is grander in conception, this is far more elegant in
detail : the essential difference lying in the fact that the Gothic style
always had, or aimed at having, a vault, and consequently forced the
architects to work and think—the very difficulty of the task being
thus the cause of its success. The Saracens in Spain, on the contrary,