Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/332

316 316 Part II. ITALIAN ARCHITECTUEE. 4' The tower of St. Apollinare in Classe, above referred to, the most perfect of those of Ravenna, is a simple brick tower (see Woodcut No. 289), nine stories in height, the lower windows being narrow single openings ; above these are two, and the three upper stories adorned with four windows of three lights each. In Rome, as far as we know, the first tower attached to a church was that built by Pope Adrian I. in front of the atrium of St. Peter's ; but they soon became common, and we now find them attached to the churches of S. Lorenzo Avithout the walls, S. Croce in Geru- salemme, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, S. Clemente, S. Giorgio in Velabro, and others. All these are square in plan and extremely similar in design, no improvement and scarcely any change having taken place between the first and the last, as if the form were an old and established one when Ave find it first adopted. That attached to Sta. Maria in Cosmedin (Woodcut No. 753) is per- haps one of the best and most complete. Its dimensions are small, its breadth being little more than 15 ft., and its height only 110; but notwithstanding this there is great dignity in the design, and, in a city where buildings are not generally tall, its height is sufiicient to give it prominence without overpowering other objects, — a characteristic which renders these Roman towers not only beautiful structures in them- selves, but appropriate ornaments to the build- ings to which they are attached. The chief interest of these towers is derived from the numerous progeny to which they gave birth : for though there is scarcely an instance of a square Romanesque tower beyond the walls of Rome during the period in which this style flourished, the form was seized upon with avidity by the Gothic architects in all the countries of Europe ; and whether as a detached campanile (as in Italy) or as an integral part of the building (as we soon find it employed on this side of the Alps), it forms the most prominent, and perhaps also the most beautiful, feature in the aspiring architecture of the Middle Ages. There is certainly no architectural feature which the Gothic archi- tects can so justly call their own as the towers and spires which in the Middle Ages were so favorite, so indispensable a part of their p^'-'. -i.jm^^'rir' nm 1 ■ Y ^ ms"^- -1^ Z. -1. - 753. Towers of Sta. :sraria in Cosmedin. (From Gutensohn and Ivnapp.)