Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/434

418 418 BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. Pakt II. CHAPTER II. BASILICAS. ' CONTENTS. Churches at Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Thessalonica — Rectangular Churches in Syria and Asia Minor, with wooden roofs and stone vaults. BASILICAS may be subdivided into two classes — that in which the nave is divided from the side-aisles by pillars, carrying either entab- latures or arches, as the most purely Romanesque — and that which has piers supporting arches only, and is transitional between the first style and the more original forms which were elaboi-ated out of it. Of the former class one of the most authentic and periect is that erected at Bethlehem by Helena, the mother of Constantine, in front of the cave of the Nativity. The nave seems to be a nearly unaltered example of this age, with the ad- vantage over the con- temporary churches at Rome, that all its ])illars and their ca])i- tals were made for the places they occupy, whereby the whole possesses a complete- ness and justness of proportion not found in the metropolis. Its dimensions, though sufficient for effect, are not large, being internally 103 ft. across, by 215 ft. east and west. The choir with its three apses does not seem to l)e part of the original arrangement,, but to have been added by Justinian when he renovated — Eutycliius says rebuilt — the church. My impression is that a detached circular building, external to the basilica, originally contained the entrance 842. Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. (Prom Ber- nardino Amico.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.