Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/546

 ^u FRENCH ARCHITECTURE. Paut IL districts of France for the origin of the Norman style — indeed, all the arrangements of this chnrch are more like those of the Rhenish basilicas, that of Spires for example, than any of those churches we have hitherto found within the limits of France itself. This is more remarkable at Jumieges than even here. None of them, however, has two apses, nor are lateral entrances at all in use ; on the contrary, the western end, or that opposite the altar, is always^ as in the true basilica, the principal entrance. In Normandy we generally find this flanked by two towers, which give it a dignity and importance not found in any of those styles we have been examining. These western towers became afterwards in France the most important features of the ex- ternal architecture of churches, though it is by no means clear whence they were derived. They are certainly of neither Italian nor German de- rivation, nor do they belong to any of those St vies of the Southern prov- inces of France which we have been desci-ibing. The churches of Au- vergne are those which ]>erhaps show the nearest approach to them. On the whole it appears most probable that the western fronts of the Norman churches were taken from the facades of Germany, and the towers added to give dionitv to thon. As will be seen from the view (Woodcut No. 379) in St. Stephen's at Caen the feature is well marked and defined ; for though the spires Avere ap- parently added at the same, time as the chevet, the toners which support them evidently belong to the original design. They may be regarded as the prototype of the facades of nearly all the Gothic cathedrals of France. These western toAvers eventually superseded the attempt made to raise the principal external feature of tlic churcjies on the intersection of the nave with the transepts, as had been done in the South, and they made the western front the most important ]>art, not only in decoration, but in actual height. Here and throughout the North of France, with the exception of the churches at Rouen, the Fig. 1. Original Eastern Termination. 37?. Plan of the Cliurch of St. Stephen, Caen. (From Kani6e, '•Ilistoire de FAreliitecture.") Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.