Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/493

 Bk. II. Ch. I. PROVENCE. 461 earlier examples, it perhaps surpasses them all in the excellence of its masonry, and the architectural propriety of all its parts. Besides these, there is an important church at Valence of the 11th century, which seems to he an almost expiring effort of the " cavern- like " style. In other respects it resenibles the Northern styles so much as almost to remove it from the Proven9al class. This is even more true of the cathedral at Vienne, which is nevertheless the largest and finest of the churches of Provence, but which approaches, both in style and locality, very closely to the Burgundian churches. Its plan is extremely simple, having no transept and no aisle trend- ing round the apse, as is the case with most of the Xorthern churches. It consists of three aisles, the central one 35 ft. wide between the piers, the others 14 ft. The buttresses are internalj as was usu.al in the Soutli, forming chapels, and making up the Avhole width exter- nally to 113 ft. by a length over all of 300, so that it covei's somewliere about 30,000 sq. ft. This is only half the di- mensions of some of the great Northern cathedrals, but the absence of transepts, and its generally judicious jiroportions, make this church look much larger than it really is. The west front and' the three Avestern bays are of the 16th century ; the next seven are of an early style of pointed architecture, Avith semi-Roman pilasters Avhicli will be described in speaking of Burgundian architecture, and which be- long probably to the lltli or beginning of the 12th century. The apse is ascribed to the year 952, but there are no drawings on which sufficient dependence can be placed to determine the date. Besides this, there is another church, St. Andre le Bas at Vienne, belonging to the 11th century, whose tower is one of the most pleasing instances of this kind of composition in the province, and though evidently a lineal descendant of the Roman and Italian campaniles, displays an amount of design seldom met with beyond the Alps. ,^l%5^-^-^^>^--^U 321. Cathedral, A'ieiiiie. (From AVic- beking.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 iu. Circular Churches. The round shape seems never to have been a favorite for sacred buildings in Provence, and consequently Avas never Avorked into the apses of the churches nor became an important adjunct to them. One