Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/279

 1863.] The Origin of the Pointed or Gothic Style. 235 Sugger, abbot of St. Denis, France, was one of the most intelligent and capable architects of the twelfth century. He caused the church of St. Denis to be rebuilt and enlarged, and himself took tne principal conduct of the work, which he began in A. D. 1140, and fin- ished in less than ten years, with extraor- dinary magnificence, as his own descrip- tions will witness. To him is proba- bly due the introduction of stained glass into sacred edifices, or at least the revival ©f a former rare practice. This was likely necessary rather than optional, when the more slender and open variety of Gothic was adopted, to obviate the inconvenience of too much light, from the number and size of the windows. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem, is universally acknowledged by the authorities to have often been taken as the model for Gothic cathedrals. Its plan, like that of the Duomo, at Milan, consists of two equilateral tri- angles, placed base to base for the length, and one placed base to side for the width. In the exquisite cathedral just named the height of the body of the church is the same as the width, without including the transepts, and the height of the finial of the spire of the central tower is twice the width of the nave of the church, including the side aisles. The piers, supporting the central tower, rise from a square whose side is one-third the width of the nave, including the side aisles. One side and a half of the square of these piers determines the distance of the transept walls, with two columns intermediate on each side, thus giving, in transverse section, the great arch of the central tower, with three arches of half its base on each side of it, or seven arches in all. There are three of these smaller arches, size as before, in the tribune, or head of the Latin cross of the ground-plan, in the same line with the nave. The nave itself counts four central tower squares and a half in length, and therefore has, longi- tudinal^, nine arches of half the base of those of the tower. The outer aisle of each pair is half the height of the body of the nave or that of the church itself. The vaulting of the tribune and the transept is of the same size and height as that of the nave. The central open space of the nave, tribune and transept in the ground-plan show very distinctly the form of the Latin Cross, the " Cross Passion" of heraldry, and the popular "Plain Cross," or " Church Cross;" that is, a long limb, with a shorter one crossing it at right angles, the projection of the shorter limb being- just the length of that portion of the longer limb running beyond the shorter This form is never so obvious on the outside of any such edifice. For the rest, many minor matters, and the demonstration of those here given, we must reserve for an article on Gothic Detail Measurements, with Diagrams, merely calling an instant's attention to another ancient pile, the Church of the Nativity and Manger, at Bethlehem, which Bernardino calls "the beautiful and venerable church erected by St. Helena, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary " This exactly corresponds with many Gothic edifices in several particu- lars, especially with the cathedral of Milan, in the number and distribution of the side aisles of the nave ; being also exactly two equilateral triangles in length and one in width. Wc see, then, that the claim of there having been An ample and adequate Set of Rules for the Proportions of Gothic Church Edifices, is fully borne out. Whether we shall ever entirely regain these rules is another matter ; but there is hope. At the same time, the position, That much Greater Scope for the Dis- play of Original Genius, in the Varieties of Expression, resides in the Gothic, than in the Classic, is also absolutely true. But the element of high cost — always attendant upon choice specimens of classic architectural beauty — is even more a necessary accompaniment of lofty Gothic art.