Byzantine and Romanesque architecture . nave andaisles with wooden roofs that had no thrust; and—givena solid foundation, and a weathertight covering—thebuilding would stand as long as the materials lasted ofwhich it was made. Consequently, one basilican churchdiffers from another only in being larger or smaller, andmore or less decorated; and though greater skill mightbe gained in carving capitals and designing mosaic orpaintings, the architecture itself stood still. There wasnothing to push it onwards so long as the basilican typewas followed, and the nave of the duomo of Torcello,built earl
Byzantine and Romanesque architecture . nave andaisles with wooden roofs that had no thrust; and—givena solid foundation, and a weathertight covering—thebuilding would stand as long as the materials lasted ofwhich it was made. Consequently, one basilican churchdiffers from another only in being larger or smaller, andmore or less decorated; and though greater skill mightbe gained in carving capitals and designing mosaic orpaintings, the architecture itself stood still. There wasnothing to push it onwards so long as the basilican typewas followed, and the nave of the duomo of Torcello,built early in the nth century, is not one whit advancedin point of construction beyond those of Ravenna,Salonica, or Rome, which are earlier by five or sixcenturies. It is by the stone or brick vault, whether in simplegroining or in the dome, that the inspiration came whichled to most of the subsequent developments of architec-ture. It revolutionized the art at Constantinople andthroughout the East generally, whence the basilica Plale LIII. ^i^^ -*s^M^8e^^ M 1^ \ SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO -ROxME CH. xiii] ROME 207 practically disappeared in the 6th century, and was Disappear-succeeded by a new style based on a more ambitious and Sica inscientific form of construction. And though in western *^^ ^^^*Europe, in spite of the example of S. Vitale andS. Mark, the basilican plan held its own, the woodenroof gradually gave way to vaulting, first over the aislesas at Pisa, and Peterborough, and finally over the wholechurch, both nave and aisles, as at S. Ambrogio at Milan,V^zelay, and Canterbury. One characteristic and beautiful feature of the Roman Thechurches is the brick campanile. One finds these towers campanilein all parts of the city. They date from the 12th centuryfor the most part. That of SS. Giovanni e Paolo on theslope of the Celian hill is perhaps the most beautiful (PlateLI 11), and from its setting it has a quaint picturesque-ness. It stands on the top of a Roman building, of which
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjacksont, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
