Waterhouse, Percy Leslie: The story of architecture throughout the ages: an introduction to the study of the oldest of the arts for students and general readers (London: B. T. Batsford, 1924)

132 THE STORY OF ARCHITECTURE

that we are able to appreciate what the Gothic
principles did for their architecture, and the
extent to which they enlarged its scope.
To turn now to France. In the Romanesque
buildings of this country may be traced the
results of various influences. Many of the
southern churches possessed marked Byzantine

Fig. 44.—Capital in the
Abbey Church, Fecamp.


features, the out-
come of a very
considerable trade
which was carried
on between the
ports on the south
coast, Venice, and
the east. In the
church of S. Front
at Perigueux (a.d.
1047), the plan
strikingly resembles
that of S. Mark’s,
Venice ; the interior
is roofed over with

domes in a similar manner, but they are con-
structed externally in stone, instead of having
false wooden roofs as the domes of S. Mark’s. The
interior of the building is finished in stone, with
none of the rich interior decoration of the
Venetian church. At Cahors is a domed cathe-
dral of the same date, undoubtedly copied from
a church in Byzantium. In other parts of the
country the designs were influenced by the
examples of classic Roman buildings, such as
those found at Nimes, Arles, Avignon, etc. In