ARCHITECTURE - Karatunov.net

CH. xix] FRANCE 31It was 10 ft.longer than that at Clermont, though not Church oft r i i ., T * S* Martinquite so lofty; it had 52 windows, 120 columns, and at Tours8 doors, and seems to have been preceded by an atriumor cloistered forecourt. Sidonius celebrates this churchin an ode of which he sends a copy to Lucontius, endingwith a pun on the name of the founder,"Perpetuo durent culmina Perpetui 1 ."He writes to his friend Hesperius 2 an account of the Primitivededication of a church at Lyons built by Papa Patiens, at Lyonspope or bishop of that city,who like himself was a greatGallo-Roman noble, and had used his wealth liberally tohelp the poor in time of distress. On the walls of thechurch Sidonius at the bishop's request had inscribedwhat he calls a tumultuarium carmen, of which hesends Hesperiusa copy.The church was lofty,andwas orientated : the gilded ceiling vied with the sunshine;and though the descriptionisvery obscure we can makeout that it was lined and paved with various colouredmarbles, that the aisles were divided by columns ofAquitanian marble and that the glass of the windowsshed a greenish light on the interior. The concludinglines seem to suggest an atrium surrounded by a forestof pillars3.This church atLyons, of which unhappilyremain, probably preceded Justinian's buildingsno traceslittle laterat Constantinopleby some 50 years, and was verythan those of Galla Placidia at Ravenna. Beyond thesescanty details and the enumeration of columns, windows1Sid. Apoll. Ef.iv. xviii.2 Sid. II. x.Apoll. Ef.3 ... remotioraClaudunt atria portions secundae;Et campum medium procul locatasVestit saxea silva per columnas.