Vol.I - The Coptic Orthodox Church

8 Ancient Coptic Churches. [CH. i.
three apsidal figures. Each division has its own
dome, and the roof is upheld at Al 'Adra by six
piers, at Mari Girgis by pillars. The terms aisle and
nave can scarcely be applied in strictness at either
church : and were it not for the absence of a cruciform
groundplan, and perhaps the presence of the
triple apse, these little churches might be regarded
as typical Byzantine structures. With them may be
classed the two churches in Dair Tadrus at Old
Cairo, which are of quite the same style though
less regular in design, and the upper church in
the Harat-az-Zuailah. These then are the cases in
which the architecture is of decidedly non-basilican
order. But I must not omit to notice that among
the Cairo churches there is one solitary example of
the central dome, namely K. Burbarah ; and this is
the only church with anything like a cruciform plan,
though generally its details are basilican. The
central dome was the most characteristic feature of
the Byzantine style, and after the time of Justinian
'
became universal in all towns of the eastern
empire V Egypt however makes a striking exception
to this rule. The Coptic dome further differs
from the Byzantine in showing externally either plain
brick or a surface of white plaster, and in having no
regular windows, still less anything like the beautiful
arcading of Mone Tes Koras at Constantinople, the
Katholikon in Athens, and the monastery of Daphni
towards Eleusis, or like the extremely rich decoration
of the domes on the church of the Holy Apostles at
Thessalonica. Further, that which is the rule in the
Coptic churches is at least the exception
1
Texier and Pullan, p. 21.
in all other