Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/487

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
Bk. IX. Ch. V.
471

ilK. IX. Ch. v. ANI. 471 earlier than the 13th century. This peculiarity is, however, confined to the constructive parts of the interior. The plan is that of Pit- zounda or Bedochwinta, modified only by the superior constructive arrano;ement which the pointed arch enabled the architects to intro- duce T and externally tiie only ])ointed arch anywhere to be detected is in the transept, where the arch of the vault is simulated to pass thruuL!;h to the exterior. In the plan and elevation of the building will be observed a peculiarity which was afterwards almost universal in the style. It is 924. Side Elevation of Cathedral at Aiii. Enlarged scale. the angular recess which marks the form of the apses outside without breaking the main lines of the building. In the lateral elevation of this cathedral (Woodcut No. 924) they are introduced on each side of the portal, where the construction did not require them, in order to match those at the east end. But in the Cathedral at Samthawis (Woodcut No. 925) they are seen in their proper places on each side of the central apse. Though this church was erected between the years 1050-1079, we find these niches adorned with a foliation (Woodcut No. 926) very like what we are accustomed to consider the invention of the 14th century in Europe, though even more elegant tlinn anything of its class used by the Gothic architects.