Dalmatia, the Quarnero and Istria, with Cettigne in Montenegro and the island of Grado . , that we at last stoodbefore the patriarchal basilica, after more wTongturns and mistakes than might have been thoughtpossible in so tiny a city. The exterior as usualhas little to recommend it. The walls are briUiantwith whitewash and quite devoid of architecturalfeatures. The west front (vid. Fig. 125) is pre-ceded by an open porch which probably onceextended across the whole width, but is now cur-tailed by the campanile which is built against theend of the south aisle. The porch consists of amere rude
Dalmatia, the Quarnero and Istria, with Cettigne in Montenegro and the island of Grado . , that we at last stoodbefore the patriarchal basilica, after more wTongturns and mistakes than might have been thoughtpossible in so tiny a city. The exterior as usualhas little to recommend it. The walls are briUiantwith whitewash and quite devoid of architecturalfeatures. The west front (vid. Fig. 125) is pre-ceded by an open porch which probably onceextended across the whole width, but is now cur-tailed by the campanile which is built against theend of the south aisle. The porch consists of amere rude arcade of four plastered arches, of whichthe middle pair are divided by a column with anill-fitting Byzantine capital, and the others by plainpiers. I think it extremely probable that therewas once an atrium further to the west, of which theexisting porch formed the eastern walk^ Exter- ^ The body of Doge Pietro Candiano, who fell at Puntamica in887, was conveyed to Grado and buried ^ in atrio Ecchsiae Gra-densis. Dandolo, lib. viii. c. vii. pars 2. Ch. XXXVI.] Grado : the Duomo. 413. Figr. 12.:;. nally the church is naught; but, the threshold oncepassed, the interior bursts on the view Mith sur- 414 Grado: the Dtwmo. [Ch. xxxvi. prising effect. The wide nave with closely-set ranksof marble columns on either hand carrying narrowsemicircular arches, and the apse which bounds theview eastward, proclaim the church a basilica of thesame class with S. Apollinare nuovo at Ravenna,and the Euphrasiana at Parenzo. Here it is truethere are no glittering mosaics on the walls, but thisis compensated by the surpassing splendour of thecolumns of bianco e nero marble, and the beauty ofthe mosaic pavements which cover the nave is there anything in either of the other churchesso surprising as the strange pulpit at Grado, raisedon lofty pillars, with rudely sculptured emblems onits embowed sides, and surmounted by a paintedcanopy or dome so oriental in its appearance that itwould not s
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectart, bookyear1887
