Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/132

116 So great a favorite was this form, however, that it clung to the soil long after its meaning was lost, and we find it stretched into a tall octagonal spire in Liiderbro Church, but still serving as a nave to a small choir, the foundation of which is said to date as far back as 1086. The octagon as we now see it certainly belongs to the 13th or 14th century. Something of the same feeling may have led to the peculiar arrangement of Kallundborg Church (Woodcut No. 549), There four octagonal naves lead to as many choirs joined together in the centre. If we had more knowledge, perhaps, we could trace the affiliation of all these forms, and complete a little genealogy of the race. Wooden Churches. Curious as these circular edifices certainly are, there is a group of wooden churches still existing in Norway Avhich are as peculiar to the province and as interesting to the antiquary at least, if not to the architect, as anything found within its limits. They are not large, and, as might be expected from the nature of the materials with which they are constructed, they are fast disappearing, and in a few years not many probably will remain ; but if we may judge from such accounts as we have, they were at one time numerous, and indeed appear to have been the usual and common form of church in that country. Every- M^here we read of the wooden churches of Saxon and Norman times in our country, and of the contemporary periods on the Continent ; but these have almost all been either destroyed by fire or pulled down to make way for more solid and durable erections. That at Little Greenstead in Essex is almost the only specimen now remaining in this country. The largest of those now to be found in Norway is that of Hitterdal. It is 84 ft. long by 57 across. Its plan is that usual in churches of the age, except that it has a gallery all round on the outside. Its ex- ternal appearance (Woodcut No. 561) is very remarkable, and very unlike anything in stone architecture. It is more like a Chinese pagoda, or some strange creation of the South Sea islanders, than the sober production of the same people who built the bold and massive round Gothic edifices of the same age. Another of these churches, that at Burgund, is smaller, but even more fantastic in its design, and with strange carved pinnacles at its angles, which give it a vei-y Chinese aspect. LL-T 10 20 30 -40 I 1 i CO feet. 5C0. Plan of Church at Hitterdal.