History of art . n the hands of themonks, the purest architectural expression of organizedChristianity. II The church built on the plan of a cross evolved fromthe old basilicas; stiff and thick-set, it has to make aneffort to lift up toward heaven its two burly towers,vibrating with their bells, but unshaken by the the heavy arch that weighed on the central navedid not crush down its supports, it was because theother naves were loaded with lengthwise vaults sup-ported by enormous walls which suppressed the emptyspaces where the openings for windows would havebeen. The farther the nave
History of art . n the hands of themonks, the purest architectural expression of organizedChristianity. II The church built on the plan of a cross evolved fromthe old basilicas; stiff and thick-set, it has to make aneffort to lift up toward heaven its two burly towers,vibrating with their bells, but unshaken by the the heavy arch that weighed on the central navedid not crush down its supports, it was because theother naves were loaded with lengthwise vaults sup-ported by enormous walls which suppressed the emptyspaces where the openings for windows would havebeen. The farther the nave was extended, the thickerthe walls became, and the deeper became the darknessin the sanctuary, daubed with red and with blue. The 270 MEDIEVAL ART short painted pillars there, with their capitals cut intoby crude forms, seemed to bear the formidable weightof a sky filled with eyes that judge and with gates thatclose on paradises seen but for a brief moment. Theedifice was like a crouching monster whose over-heavy. MoissAC (xii Century). Detail from the western door. spine bore down on its thick paws. In the center ofthe silent cloisters, which cut out a square of shade inthe light of the south, the soil might crack with drought,but there was cold under the vaults. From thesegathered forms, from these clear-cut façades, wherethe firm semicircle of the arch opened between massivecolumns, there radiated a naked strength which affirmedthe elegance—austere, brutal, and categorical—of acaste in possession of undisputed power. It is theexact image of a fixed Catholicism—the authority ofthe Councils seated on rock. No outlook on life is
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectart, bookyear1921
