Page:Travels & discoveries in the Levant (1865) Vol. 1.djvu/196

156 throughout this street is an interesting modification of the later Gothic. The escutcheons are generally set in a richly-sculptured ogee arch. Most of the windows are square-headed, with labels and upright mullions, while the pointed arch is constantly employed in the doorways. In the rich and fantastic ornaments we recognize the Flamboyant style so generally prevalent in Europe in the fifteenth century; but these ornaments are but sparingly introduced, so as not to disturb the noble simplicity of the general design. In all the edifices built by the Knights at Rhodes we see the same tendency to temper the stern and naked ruggedness of military masonry as far as possible with rich ornaments, such as we generally find associated with ecclesiastical architecture. No fitter symbol could have been adopted than this mixed style, to express the character of an order at once military and religious.

At the lower end of the Street of the Knights is the old church of St. Catherine, now a mosque ; in the windows a few coats of arms are still painted. The last building on the south side of the street is the Hospital of the Knights. This is a large square edifice, with a very simple external façade. The entrance is under a kind of vestibule facing the east. The original doors, which were of cypress-wood richly carved, were given to the Prince de Joinville on the occasion of his visit to Rhodes. On either side are large vaults now used as warehouses. The inside is a quadrangle, supported on vaults, above which are open arcades formed of round arches