Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/333

Rh bk. vir church the extt the bull It h ui we^e first ^. v v^nte*- Ohristian churches — not the earliest examj. their origin — at least i not impossible that a ch light. They certainly a^ anything that can well be name of Romanesque be cc may be compelled to use it they occur. Those of which wc have , — campaniles or bell-towers att. distinction by no means applies of St. Mark at Venice, for instance evidently civic monuments, like th*. — symbols of communal power whoi. their proximity to which seems only to ji all the principal buildings being grouped toget,. certainly the case with a large class of very ugly buildings in Italy, such as those attached to the town-halls of Florence and Siena, or the famous Asinelli and Garisenda towers at Bologna. They are merely tall square brick towers, with a raachicolated balcony at the top, but possessing no more architectural design than the chimney of a cotton factory. Originally, when lower, they may have been towers of defence, but afterwards became mere symbols of power. A third class, and by far the most numerous, of these buildings are undoubtedly ecclesiastical erections ; they are either actually attached to the churches, or so placed with regard to them as to leave no doubt on the matter. There is not, however, I believe, in all Italy a single example of a tower or towers forming, as on this side of the Alps, an integral part of the design. Sometimes they stand detached, but more generally are connected with some angle of the building, the favorite position being the western angle of the southern transept. Occasionally we find one tower placed at the angle of the fagade, but this is seldom the case when the tower and the church are of the same age. It is so in the cathedral at Lucca, and San Ambrogio at Milan ; in the latter of which a second tower has been added more recently to balance the older one. It does also happen, as in the instance of Novara, before quoted (Woodcut Xo. 739), that two towers are actually parts of the original design ; this, however, is certainly the exception, not the rule.