ARCHITECTURE - Karatunov.net

CH. xix] FRANCE AQUITAINE 45entrusted to M. Mallay, who re-built the south transept, LePuywhichseems tohave been partly destroyed previously,repaired the north transept, re-constructed the centralcupola with its piers and the two domes of the nave nextto it, and re-built the lower part of the two western baysand the whole of the west front on new foundations, thispart of the building having settled and parted from theolder part eastward of it The cloister also was extensivelyrestored by him. The restoration has beenmuch blamed, and certainly there is a good deal of newwork that might have been avoided, but he seemsentitled to the credit of having saved the building fromruin 1 . No excuse however can be found for M. Mimet,1865, andwho destroyed the original apse of the choir insubstituted the present incongruous square chamber.The old semi-circular apse was enclosed in a squareexterior construction and did not show outside.I find no explanation of the disappearance of the15th century apse of the south choir aisle which I sawand sketched in 1864 (v.Plate CXXIII).The small church at POLIGNAC a few miles fromLe Puy has a polygonal quasi-dome on squinches carriedby pointed arches, and an apse with a stone semi-domeof a pointed form. Other examples of octagonal domeson squinchesin the west of France occur at Notre Dame,Poitiers, and the two churches at Chauvigny.But the most curious outcome of the tradition whichinspired the use of this kind of covering is the strangeiManuscrit de tarchitecte Mallay, ed. N. Thiollier, 1904. His editorsays "nous ne pourrons pas Pabsoudre de toutes les critiques dont il a etc1'objet mais nous ferons des maintenant remarquer que les reconstructions:qu'il a faites, ^talent gnralement rendues n^cessaires par I'&at prtoire danslequelse trouvait IMdifice. Cela resulte clairement d'un rapport de Violletle-Ducenvoyd a Puy a l^poque des travaux." etc.