Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/268

 210 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. The external fa9ade (No. 85) has five entrances, enriched with shafts of many-colored marbles brought from Alexandria and the ruined cities of the East, forming a rich and beautiful portal. Mosaic panels also serve to enrich with color the spandrels of the arches. It must be remembered that this and the external domes are a later casing upon the original exterior of the usual Byzantine type (No. 84 a). The effects of S. Mark have been described by Ruskin, who says that they depend not only upon the most delicate sculpture in every part, but also on the most subtle, variable, inexpressible color produced by transparent alabaster, polished marble, and lustrous gold. The Byzantine style spread over Greece, Russia, and other parts, and has been the accepted style of the Greek church to the present day. In Greece the buildings are small but exquisitely executed, as may be seen in the little Mctropole Cathedral (No. 87), the Church of the Kapnikarea, and other churches at Athens ; the Church oj Daphni, near Athens, and the Monastery of S. Luke of Stiris, on the north of the Gulf of Corinth. At Thessalonica(Salonica), in Macedonia, S. George (a.d. 400) is an early example of a domed church, and 5. Demetrius (a.d. 500- 550) an example of a five-aisled basilica with transepts (not showing externally), and galleries. In Russia among the best known examples are the Cathedrals of Moscow, Kieff, and Novgorod, all of which have a decided Eastern aspect, due totheuse of bulbous-shaped domes and unusual details. In Armenia are also interesting examples with local charac- teristics, such as the Church of 5. Sophia, Trehizond. 4. COMPARATIVE. A. Plans. — Byzantine churches are all distinguished by a great central square space covered with a dome, supported by means of pendentives, shown in No. 79 j, k. On each side extend short arms, forming a Greek cross, which with the narthex and side galleries make the plan nearly square (Nos. 80, 84). The narthex was placed within the main walls. The essential difference in plan between a Byzantine church and an Early Christian basilican church are as follows : — The leading thought in a By/:aii- The leading idea in an Early tinechurch is vertical, by the group- Christian basilica is horizontal, by ing of domes round a principal means of the long perspective of central one, towards which the eye columns, which direct the eye is drawn, towards the apsidal termination.