Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/247

 EARLY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE. 189 4. COMPARATIVE. A. Plan. — The early Christians adopted the BasiHcan model for their churches (Nos. 73 and 75), but in addition the halls, baths, dwelling-houses, and even the pagan temples were used for places of worship. An isolatedcircular church, used as a baptistery,^ was generally attached to the chief Basilica or cathedral. B. Walls. — These were still constructed according to the Roman methods, rubble or concrete walling being used, faced with plaster, brick, or stone. Mosaic was used internally, and sometimes externally on the west fagades for decorative purposes. c. Openings. — Doors, windows, and niches were generally spanned by a semicircular arch, the use of the lintel being dis- pensed with. The window openings were small (No. 78 d, f) ; those to the nave being in the clerestory high in the nave wall above the aisle roof, a feature which was developed in Gothic architecture (Nos. 73 a, 75 b, g). D. Roofs. — Wooden roofs (No. 75 b) covered the central nave, simple forms of construction such as King and Queen post trusses being employed. These roofs were ceiled in some orna- mental manner (No. 74), the decoration of a visible framework being of a later date, as at S. Miniato, Florence (No. 93). The side aisles in the churches were occasionally vaulted, and the apse was usually domed and lined with mosaic (Nos. 72 and 78 g, k). E. Columns (Nos. 72, 77 and 78). — They are often of different design and size, being mostly from earlier Roman buildings which had fallen into ruins or were purposely destroyed. It was natural that the early Christian builders, not being good craftsmen them- selves, should use in their buildings the materials and ornaments which had been left by the pagan Roman. A rich and grandiose effect was often obtained at the expense of fitness in the details of the design. Middleton states that all the fine marble columns 1 In later Romanesque and Gothic periods, these early baptisteries, iheiriselves founded on the Roman circular temples and tombs, were treated as follows in the different European countries : — In Italy, where the churches were not derived from a combination of a circular eastern church with a western rectangular nave, as in France, but were direct copies of the Roman basilica, the baptistery always stands alone. In France, circular churches were built to stand alone, and when it was necessary to enlarge them, the circular building was retained as the sanctuary or choir, and a straight lined nave was added for the use of the people. Thus from the circular church originated the apsidal choir of the Gothic period. In Germany, the earlier baptistery was joined to the square church and formed a western apse. The Germans also built circular churches, and then added choirs for tiie priests, that they might pray apart from the people (No. 83 E), In England, the Gothic builders generally preferred a square east end, except where French influence made itself felt, as at Westminster. Circular churches were erected, as the Temple Church, London, but they were few in number, and due to the Knights Templars (page 219), being built as copies of the Rotonda of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.