Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/70

[54] of Alcantara (Estremadura), with its triumphal arch in the centre and temple at one end, and the walls of Lugo. The localities in which the greater variety of Roman remains may be met with are: Tarragona, Murviedro (Valencia), Italica (Seville), and Merida. The student will also find much that will interest him at Antequera, Ronda, Leon, Jerez, Malaga, Elche, Cazlona, Clunia, Numancia, Talavera la Vieja, Yecla, &c.

The general structure of these monuments and their ornamentation are the same as those of ancient Rome: it is well known the Romans imposed their art on the countries which came under their dominion.

Two remarkable specimens exist of the Visigothic period: the church of San Roman de Hornija (near Toro), 646, and San Juan de Baños (near Venta de Baños), 661. Although these churches have suffered much from later additions, they still retain a great part of their construction and part of the primitive building. A great number of fragments remain in Spain of this period. They must be examined in order to judge this architecture. Some are capitals of columns in the cathedral of Cordova and some churches at Toledo, and different friezes and fragments which have been applied to different uses at Toledo and Merida. The votive crowns found at Guarrazar, now at Cluny (Paris) and armoury of Madrid, give an excellent idea of the ornamentation of the Visigoths. Several examples of architecture remain posterior to the Visigoths, and anterior to the Romanesque style of the 11th centy. The most important are the churches of Sta. Maria Naranco and St. Miguel de Lino, near Oviedo, Sta. Cristina de Lena (Asturias), a very remarkable specimen of Byzantine construction, and the churches of San Pedro and San Pablo, Barcelona.

The invasion of the Arabs in 711 caused their architecture to extend itself in the Peninsula. Its adaptation to churches and other buildings of the Christians created a new style, known as Mudejar. The finest specimen of Oriental architecture in Spain is the mosque at Cordova (9th centy.). Byzantine models were copied there in the same manner as at Jerusalem, Damascus, and Cairo. The small mosque at Toledo (Cristo de la Luz) is of the same period, and part of the church of Santiago de Peñalva (Vierzo), the only example which is known of a Christian church built in the Moorish style.

During the 11th and 12th centuries this architecture underwent radical modifications in Spain, in the same manner as in the East, and a new style arose which is very different to the earlier one. No writers on this subject have explained this transformation in the East in a satisfactory manner: it is not easy to study this transition in Spain, for it coincides with the time in which the Spanish Moors were not rich or powerful enough to build large constructions, as they did in the 13th centy., after the kings of Granada had settled there. At this period of their art the forms of capitals, which partook of a Byzantine and classical form, changed. Tiles are used to decorate the walls, which are covered with an ornamentation in relief in stucco, in which are introduced inscriptions in Cufic and African characters; the ceilings are decorated with inlaid woodwork and