Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/44

 26 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.ka. verse cut the spectator is supposed to face the end chamber (Fig. 13) ; he is turned towards the door in Fig. 14, whilst the longitu- dinal cut (Fig. 15) shows the recess to the right of the door- way facing the stairs. Niiraghs may have an upper, sometimes two upper storeys ; when this is the case, a corre- sponding second and third chamber, neces- sarily smaller than that on the ground floor, are found above it. A similar distribution is well seen in our en- gravings of the " Ni- eddu " Nuragh near Ploaghe; Fig. 16 repre- sents the lower storey, Fig. 1 7 the upper, Fig. 18 the elevation, and Fig. 19 the longitudinal section. The upper storey is reached by narrow stairs, which start either from the anteroom or entrance passage (Fig. 12), or from the central hall or chamber, winding round the body of the structure. The stair- way is sometimes re- placed by a steep in- cline. Quadrangular recesses, which may have served as repositories for weapons, pro- visions, etc., and as lamp-stands, are also found in the inner wall of the chambers (Fig. 9). Owing to the thickness of the walls no Figs. 16 and 17 — rian of ground floor (A B) and first storey (C D) of the Nieddu Nûragh. From Nissardi.