History of mediæval art . roduction of galleries in thenave impossible, but, on the other hand, admitted of triforiums andwindows in these aisles as well as in the nave. This arrangement pro-vided an exceptional number of apertures for lighting the grand in-terior,—the vaults of which are supported upon eighty-eight piers,—and, though somewhat at the expense of the nave, produced a har-mony of the whole not attained by the Cathedral of Paris with itsgloomy side aisles. The unity of style is slightly disturbed by the 584 THE EXTENSION OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Moorish cusped arches of the trifori
History of mediæval art . roduction of galleries in thenave impossible, but, on the other hand, admitted of triforiums andwindows in these aisles as well as in the nave. This arrangement pro-vided an exceptional number of apertures for lighting the grand in-terior,—the vaults of which are supported upon eighty-eight piers,—and, though somewhat at the expense of the nave, produced a har-mony of the whole not attained by the Cathedral of Paris with itsgloomy side aisles. The unity of style is slightly disturbed by the 584 THE EXTENSION OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Moorish cusped arches of the triforiums, which the architect mayhave introduced from a respect for the traditions of the ancienttown of the Moslems {Fig. 373). The irregularity of the ground andthe narrowness of the space impair, in some degree, the effect ofthe exterior, at least upon a nearer view, so that in this regard themuch smaller Cathedral of Burgos is more imposing as well as morepleasing. Its magnificent facade, with two towers, is one of the. Fig. 373.—View of the Choir of the Cathedral of Toledo. finest examples among the few works of the kind which have beencompleted. Although, after the death of Alphonso the Wise, son of Ferdi-nand III., A. D. 1284, the prosperity of Spain somewhat declined,the works begun during his reign and that of his father were contin-ued in the fourteenth century, and new constructions of importancewere undertaken even in the fifteenth. Foremost among the earlier SPAIN. 585 group is the Cathedral of Leon, the plan of which resembles theFrench models even more closely than do those of Burgos and To-ledo. A difference appears, however, in the disposition of the fa-cade, and throughout the building there is a certain lack of unity inthe design, the slender clustered supports and the elaborate win-dows of the nave dating from a comparatively late period. To thesame class belongs the fine Cathedral of Barcelona, begun in thethirteenth century and completed in the course of
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