Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/284

268 268 SPANISH ARCHITECTURE. Paut II. but for a congregational cliurch it is superior to most other designs of the Middle Ages. A third church, Sta. Maria del Pi (1329-1353), carries this principle one step farther — this time, however, evidently borrowed from such churches as those of Alby (Woodcut No. 384) or Toulouse (Woodcut No. 335). It has been carried out with the utmost simplicity. The clear internal length is nearly 200 ft., the clear width up- ^ ^ wards of 50 ft. Such " '"" a church would easily con- ■ tain 2000 worshippers seated where all could see an  — ■ hear all that was 2;oincr on. Though it may be deficient in some of those poetic ele- ments which charm so much ill our Northern churches, there is a simple grandeur in the design which compen- sates for the loss. The Church (Woodcut No. _ - . . 713. sta. Maria del Pi, 712. Sta. Maria del :Nrar, Bar- I 14) at Mauresa IS very Sim- Barcelona. (From celoiia. (From Street.) •, ., . ^ o, nr • Street.) Scale 100 Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. ilai' m design to bta. Maria it. to i in. del Mar, only carried a step farther, and in the wrong direction. From wall to wall it is 100 ft, wide, and 200 ft. long, and is thus so comparatively short that we miss the perspective which is the great charm in Northern cathedrals. Still if it were not that the central aisle is blocked up by the choir, as is usual in Spain, it would be a very noble church. Its central aisle, which possesses a clear width of 56 ft., would be a very noble place of assembly for a congregation. There is, at the same time, a sim- plicity and ])ropriety about its details and the arrangement of its apse which have seldom been surpassed, while, at the same time, they are characteristic of Spain. The Spaniards having once grasped the idea of these spacious vaulted lialls, and found out the means of constructing them, they carried t|he principle far beyond anything on this side of the Pyrenees. Their most successful effort in tliis direction was at Gerona. The choir of a church of the usual French pattern had been erected there in the beginning of the 14th century (1312?), but it had remained unfinished till 1416, when after much consultation it was determined to carry out the design of a certain Guillermo Boffiy, who proposed to add a nave without pillars, of the same breadth as the centre and side aisles of the choir. As will be seen from the plan, it consists of a