ARCHITECTURE - Karatunov.net

CH. xvm] GERMAN ROMANESQUE nthe great churches in Italy, France and England. The Defects ofcathedral of S. Stephen at VIENNA has a fine Roman- apsida?esque front with its " plangiant doorway," but as a rule theentrance to the great German churches is at the side,where there is often a porch of greater or less importance.This involves a considerable sacrifice of effect ;the firstview of a fine interior from the west end is not lightlyto be parted with. Nor does the exterior of the westernapse compensate for the loss of such a fa?ade as thosewhich delight us at Lucca and Toscanella, S. Gilles andPoitiers, Wells and Exeter. In the interior also themonotony of two similar apsidal ends is disappointing-.Lord Leighton, whose remarks on architecture were Lordalways valuable, said in one of his Presidential addressesto the Royal Academy, "externally the effect of thisdisposition is monotonous and perplexing, but it is inthe interior that it chiefly jars on our sense of artisticpropriety, and the jar is made more sensible by the factthat the choirs being built over crypts, are, by an arrangementin itself very dignified and impressive, raised to aconsiderable height above the floor of the nave, fromwhich they are approached either on the sides or in thecentre by broad flights of steps. The entrance to thesechurches is in the majority of cases at the side, and theeye of the spectator, controlled as he enters by nodominant object, is solicited simultaneously and distressinglyin two diametrically opposite directions eachindividual group of apse and dome suffers by rivalry withthe other 1 ."The typical plan of these double-apsidal churches Doubleincludes a transept at the west as well as at the east end,1Discourse delivered to the students of the Royal Academy on thedistribution of prizes, Dec. 9, 1893, by Sir Fredeiick Leighton, Bart., P.R.A.Ie