Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/623

Rh 439. View of West End of Church at Nivelles. (From a Sketch by the Author.)

original form, though the central tower was rebuilt in the 15th century. This church was built in the earliest years of the 11th century, and was dedicated in 1045, the Emperor Henry IV. assisting at the ceremony. It is a first- class church with two transepts, and remains externally in all essential particulars as then built. The interior was entirely destroyed in the middle of the last century, which is a very great loss, although the new arrangement which has replaced it is in itself remarkably well designed.

Passing over some minor examples, we come to the cathedral of Tournay, to the architect and artist the most interesting of the province. It is a first-class cathedral, more than 400 ft. in length internally, and covering with its dependencies an area of 62,525 ft. It consists of a nave, dedicated in 1066 ; of a transept, built about the year 1146; the choir, which formed part of this arrangement, was dedicated in 1213, but gave place about a century afterwards to that now standing, which was dedicated in 1338, so that within itself it contains a complete history of the style; and though there is no doubt considerable incongruity in the three specimens here brought together, as they are the best of their respective classes in Belgium, the effect is not unpleasing, and their arrangement fortunate, inasmuch as, entering by the western door, you pass first through the massive architecture of the 11th to the bolder and more expanded features of the 12th century, a fitting vestibule to the exaggerated forms which prevailed during the 14th. In the woodcut (No. 441) the three styles are represented as they stand ; but it would require far more elaborate illustration to do justice to the beauty of the deeply galleried nave, which surpasses any specimen of Norman architecture, but which is here eclipsed by the two remaining apses of the transept. These, notwithstanding a certain rudeness of detail, are certainly the finest productions of their age, and are as magnificent pieces of architecture as can be conceived. The choir is the