Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/308

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
292
PORTUGUESE ARCHITECTURE.
Part II.

292 PORTUGUESE AECHITECTURE. Tart II. Southern jieople might be expected to be. Moreover, it is the work of men among whom the style arose, and who consequently Avere more at home in it than the Scotch builder could pretend to be ; but notwithstanding all these deductions, there is a similarity between the style of the two buildings so remarkable as to leave no doubt of their common origin. The other churches of Portugal, such as those of Braga, Guimar raens, etc., seem to have been of late flamboyant style, and generally are so much modernized that the little beauty they ever possessed is concealed or destroyed by modern details. Notwithstanding the late age of the principal examples and the apparent paucity of those of an earlier time, it is still possible that Portugal may contain much to interest the ai-chaeologist. But travelling has hitherto 1>een inconvenient and slow in that country, and it has not yet been visited, or at least described, l)y any one familiar with the peculiarities of Mediteval art. When properly explored, we may be surprised at the treasures it contains. On the other hand, it is by no means impossible that the " Handbook of Portugal " is correct when it asserts that " There is no European country which has less interesting ecclesiology than Portugal. There ai-e certainly not 150 old churches in the kingdom. The French in- vasion, the great earthquake, and the rage for rebuilding in the 18th century, have destroyed nearly all." Let us hope it may not be so, but at present we have little beyond the hope to rely on.