Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/426

410 410 ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE. Part II. not completed before 1169, show the progress the new style was then making. All the constructive arches in this part of the building are pointed — but the decorative portions still retain the circular form. Owing to its situation and its being so much encumbered by other buildings, the only part of the exterior which makes any pretension to architectural magnificence is the southern double portal, erected appa- rently between the years 1140 and 1160. This is a rich and elegant example of the style of ornamentation prevalent in Sicily and South- ern Italy in the 12th century, but its most elaborate decoration is sup- plied by two rich cornices of classical date, built in unsymmetrically as string- courses, amongst details be- longing to the time of the Crusades. From their style these cornices undoubtedly belong to the age of Con- stantine, and are probably fragments of his basilica, which had been destroyed in the beo-inninaf of the 11th century by ElHakem, and the ruins of which must have been lying about at the time this church was in course of erection. At an earlier age such fragments would probably have been more extensively used up ; but in the l'2th century the architects had acquired con- fidence in tlicmselves and their own style, and de- spised classical arrangements both in plan and in detail. The sepulchre itself seems to have been rebuilt, about the year 1555,* or at least so thoroughly repaired that it is difticult to sny what its exact original form may have been. Probably it did not differ materially from that shown in the woodcut, smce that resembles the style of the 12th mncli more than that of the 16th century. In any case, it furnishes a curious exemplification of the uncritical simplicity of the age. The walls were marble, inside and out, and in some places 1 8 inches or less than 2 feet in thickness, so that it is im- possible that there could be any live rock between the marble slabs. Tff XO s-s~ ^q/i 836. Holy Sepulchre — Plan and Elevation as it ex- isted before the fire in 1808. (From Ber- nardino A.mico.) Quaresimus, " Elucidatio," ii. p. 386.