Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/315

Rh Bk. VII [. Ch. II. PIACENZA. 299 it. This is one proof, among many, how early that feature was introduced which afterwards became the formative principle of the whole Gothic style, and Avas as essentially its characteristic as the pillars and entablatures of the five orders were the characteristics of the classical styles of Greece and Rome. As before remarked, it is this necessity for a stone roof that was the problem to be solved by the architects, and to accomplish which the style took almost all those forms which are so much admired in it. From this example of the Carlovingian era we are obliged to pass to the 11th and V2th centuries, the first great building age of the Gothic nations. It is true that there is scarcely a single important church in Pavia, in Verona, or indeed in any of the cities of Lom- bardy, the original foundation of which cannot be traced back to a much earlier period. Before the canons of architectural criticism were properly understood, antiquaries were inclined to believe that in the buildings now existing they saw the identical edifices erected during the period of the Lombard sway. Either, however, in consequence of the rude construction of the earlier buildings, or because they were too small or too poor for the increased population and wealth of the cities at a later period, every one of the original churches has disappeared and been replaced by a larger and better-constructed edifice, adorned with all the improvements which the experience of centuries had in- troduced into the construction of religious edifices. Judging from the rudeness of the ear- liest churches, which we know to have been erected in the 11th century, it is evident that the progress made, up to that period, was by no means eqnal to what was accom- plished during the next two centuries. This will appear from the plan and sec- tion of San Antonio at Piacenza (Woodcuts Nos. 735 and 736), built in the first years of the lltli century, and dedicated in 1014 by the bishop Siegfried. Its arrangement is somewhat peculiar ; the transepts are near the west end, and the octagonal tower rising from the intersection is sup- ported on eight pillars, the square being completed by four polygonal piers. The principal point, however, to observe is, how completely the style has emancipated itself from all Roman tradition. A new style has grown up as essentially different from the Romanesque as the style 35. Plan of Sau Antonio, Pia- cenza. (From Osten.i) Scale 100 feet to 1 in.- 1 Frederick von Osten, " Bauwerke in der Lonibardei." Damistadt, 18.52. ^ By an oversight of the engraver, the vault of the nave, which ought to be made hexapartite, is drawn as quad- ripartite.