DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24719#0131
104
PAGAN TEMPLES CONVERTED INTO CHURCHES.
and colonies manifest itself so strongly as at this period. Seven towns of Asia contended before
the Senate for the honour of constructing 9, temple to Tiberius, and at the same epoch the
Gaulish communities united to raise an altar to Augustus at the confluence of the Rhone and
the Saone.
The temple of Yienne, as it exists in the present day, has lost a great deal of its former
beauty — surrounded by a mass of modern houses, it can only be seen from a near point of
view, so that its fine proportion, in which its beauty chiefly consists (for the details are coarsely
executed), is entirely lost upon the spectator.
It consists of a fagade of six fluted columns of the Corinthian order. The entablature and
the pediment which surmount it are preserved entire. The frieze is without ornament, but it
is pierced, as we have mentioned, by a line of holes which formerly served to hold an inscription
in bronze letters. And in the midst is another set of holes, which have certainly been used for
the purpose of securing a bronze eagle. The side of the peristyle has eight isolated columns;
the cellci was comprised in the width of a single intercolumniation; thus the plan of this
edifice differed from that of other known temples. The statue of the emperor placed at
the end of the cellci was always visible to the assembled people. The temple was hexastyle
and monopteral; it stands upon a continuous stylobate, which terminated in front in two piers,
between which are the steps leading up to the portico. Excavations made in the front brought
to light vaults which supported the steps. The lower moulding of the stylobate is composed
of a reversed cyma, as at the temple of Yerncgue.
The cellci has two fluted pilasters of the Corinthian order; the foliage of their capital
differs in style from that of the capitals of the columns. The wall of the posticum is rusticated.
The masonry generally is rudely executed, the beds not being equal, and the rustications not
following the lines of the joints.
The column is 3 ft. 3 in. in diameter at its base; its height is nine diameters and a half;
the capital is one diameter in height; the shaft has twenty-four flutes; the base, which is
half a diameter high, is Attic. The length of the cellci is 6S ft. 6 in., its width 66 ft. 6 in.
The entablature is of almost rustic simplicity; neither the soffits nor the mouldings are
ornamented with foliage, or with rosettes; it appears as though the building had never been
finished. Still wre have noticed that edifices of the time of Augustus, erected in Gaul, have but
little ornament. The pediment, the height of which is about 6 ft. 6 in., is well preserved at both
ends of the building. Time has scarcely at all injured this edifice; the slight damage it has
received has been produced by the hand of man.
When the edicts of Theodosius, rigorously enforced even to the confines of the Empire,
put an end to pagan ceremonies, the statue of Augustus was carried away and destroyed. The
temple, on account of the peculiarity of its construction, that is to say, on account of its
being all portico, was not immediately consecrated to Christian worship; but in the 9th
century Bishop Burcard caused the intercolumniations to be walled up, and converted it into
a church dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Yie.
In order to conform to the ecclesiastical prescriptions, the doorway of the new church was
pierced in the posticum, in order that the altar might be placed in the east; the flutes that
were visible on the inside of the wall were broken off, and the columns worked into pilasters.
At the end of the 11th century, when bells were in general use, a clock-turret was raised on
the fagade, and in later times pointed windows were cut in the side-walls. In the 16th
century the church again underwent an alteration; the entrance was placed on the side facing
east, where it is at present. Thus this old Homan temple, though it has experienced many
vicissitudes, has existed for ten centuries, owing to the protection afforded it by the presence
of the cross, which has preserved it from the attack of fanaticism and of barbarism.
In this short chapter we have only given such existing buildings as we have ourselves
seen and sketched; there are many others still existing in Greece and Italy, well worth the
attention of archaeologists.
We here wish to say a few words in contradiction to the widely-spread opinion that
Christianity was inimical to the arts of pagan times. It, on the contrary, adopted them; and
it is owing to the fact that Christianity protected them that so many temples have come down
to us.
PAGAN TEMPLES CONVERTED INTO CHURCHES.
and colonies manifest itself so strongly as at this period. Seven towns of Asia contended before
the Senate for the honour of constructing 9, temple to Tiberius, and at the same epoch the
Gaulish communities united to raise an altar to Augustus at the confluence of the Rhone and
the Saone.
The temple of Yienne, as it exists in the present day, has lost a great deal of its former
beauty — surrounded by a mass of modern houses, it can only be seen from a near point of
view, so that its fine proportion, in which its beauty chiefly consists (for the details are coarsely
executed), is entirely lost upon the spectator.
It consists of a fagade of six fluted columns of the Corinthian order. The entablature and
the pediment which surmount it are preserved entire. The frieze is without ornament, but it
is pierced, as we have mentioned, by a line of holes which formerly served to hold an inscription
in bronze letters. And in the midst is another set of holes, which have certainly been used for
the purpose of securing a bronze eagle. The side of the peristyle has eight isolated columns;
the cellci was comprised in the width of a single intercolumniation; thus the plan of this
edifice differed from that of other known temples. The statue of the emperor placed at
the end of the cellci was always visible to the assembled people. The temple was hexastyle
and monopteral; it stands upon a continuous stylobate, which terminated in front in two piers,
between which are the steps leading up to the portico. Excavations made in the front brought
to light vaults which supported the steps. The lower moulding of the stylobate is composed
of a reversed cyma, as at the temple of Yerncgue.
The cellci has two fluted pilasters of the Corinthian order; the foliage of their capital
differs in style from that of the capitals of the columns. The wall of the posticum is rusticated.
The masonry generally is rudely executed, the beds not being equal, and the rustications not
following the lines of the joints.
The column is 3 ft. 3 in. in diameter at its base; its height is nine diameters and a half;
the capital is one diameter in height; the shaft has twenty-four flutes; the base, which is
half a diameter high, is Attic. The length of the cellci is 6S ft. 6 in., its width 66 ft. 6 in.
The entablature is of almost rustic simplicity; neither the soffits nor the mouldings are
ornamented with foliage, or with rosettes; it appears as though the building had never been
finished. Still wre have noticed that edifices of the time of Augustus, erected in Gaul, have but
little ornament. The pediment, the height of which is about 6 ft. 6 in., is well preserved at both
ends of the building. Time has scarcely at all injured this edifice; the slight damage it has
received has been produced by the hand of man.
When the edicts of Theodosius, rigorously enforced even to the confines of the Empire,
put an end to pagan ceremonies, the statue of Augustus was carried away and destroyed. The
temple, on account of the peculiarity of its construction, that is to say, on account of its
being all portico, was not immediately consecrated to Christian worship; but in the 9th
century Bishop Burcard caused the intercolumniations to be walled up, and converted it into
a church dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Yie.
In order to conform to the ecclesiastical prescriptions, the doorway of the new church was
pierced in the posticum, in order that the altar might be placed in the east; the flutes that
were visible on the inside of the wall were broken off, and the columns worked into pilasters.
At the end of the 11th century, when bells were in general use, a clock-turret was raised on
the fagade, and in later times pointed windows were cut in the side-walls. In the 16th
century the church again underwent an alteration; the entrance was placed on the side facing
east, where it is at present. Thus this old Homan temple, though it has experienced many
vicissitudes, has existed for ten centuries, owing to the protection afforded it by the presence
of the cross, which has preserved it from the attack of fanaticism and of barbarism.
In this short chapter we have only given such existing buildings as we have ourselves
seen and sketched; there are many others still existing in Greece and Italy, well worth the
attention of archaeologists.
We here wish to say a few words in contradiction to the widely-spread opinion that
Christianity was inimical to the arts of pagan times. It, on the contrary, adopted them; and
it is owing to the fact that Christianity protected them that so many temples have come down
to us.