Churches with Stone Roofs.

All the buildings above described—with the exception of the chapel at Babouda—have wooden roofs, as was the case generally with the basilicas and the temples of the classical age. The Romans, however, had built temples with aisles and vaulted them as early as the age of Augustus, as at Nîmes, for instance (Woodcut No. [189]), and they had roofed their largest basilicas and baths with intersecting vaults. We should not therefore feel surprised if the Christians sometimes attempted the same thing in their rectangular churches, more especially as the dome was always a favourite mode of roofing circular buildings; and the problem which the Byzantine architects of the day set themselves to solve was—as we shall presently see—how to fit a circular dome of masonry to a rectangular building.

One of the earliest examples of a stone-roofed church is that at Tafkha in the Hauran. It is probably of the age of Constantine, though as likely to be before his time as after it. Its date, however, is not of very great importance, as its existence does not prove that the form was adopted from choice by the Christians: the truth being that, in the country where it is found, wood was never used as a building material. All the buildings, both domestic and public, are composed wholly of stone—the only available material for the purpose which the country afforded. In consequence of this, when that tide of commercial prosperity which rose under the Roman rule flowed across the country from the Euphrates valley to the Mediterranean, the inhabitants had recourse to a new mode of construction, which was practically a new style of architecture. This consisted in the employment of arches instead of beams. These were placed so near one another that flat stones could be laid side by side from arch to arch. Over these a layer of concrete was spread, and a roof was thus formed so indestructible that whole towns remain perfect to the present day, as originally constructed in the first centuries of the Christian era.[[222]]

289. Section on A B, Tafkha. (From De Vogüé.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

290. Plan, Tafkha. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

291. Section on C D, Tafkha.

292. Half Front Elevation, Tafkha. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

One example must suffice to explain this curious mode of construction. The church at Tafkha is 50 ft. square, exclusive of the apse. It is spanned by four arches, 7 ft. 6 in. apart. On each side are galleries of flat slabs resting on brackets, as shown in Woodcuts Nos. [289], [291], which again are supported by smaller transverse arches. At one side is a tower, but this is roofed wholly by bracketing, as if the architect feared the thrust of the arch even at that height.

The defect of this arrangement as an architectural expedient is the extreme frequency of the piers, 8 or 10 ft. being the greatest distance practicable; but as a mechanical expedient it is singularly ingenious. More internal space is obtained with a less expenditure of material and danger from thrust than from any mode of construction—wholly of stone—that we are acquainted with; and with a little practice it might no doubt be much improved upon. The Indian architects, as we shall presently see, attempted the same thing, but set about it in a diametrically opposite way. They absolutely refused to employ the arch under any circumstances, but bracketed forward till the space to be covered was so limited that a single stone would reach across. By this means they were enabled to roof spaces 20 or 25 ft. span without arches, which is about the interval covered with their aid at Tafkha.[[223]]

293. Great Church at Hierapolis. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. (E. Falkener del.)

294. Church at Hierapolis. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. (E. F. del.)

Another circumstance which renders these Hauran examples interesting to the architectural student is that they contain no trace or reminiscence of wooden construction or adornment, so apparent in almost every other style. In Lycia it is absurdly so. In Egypt, in Greece, in India, in Persia—everywhere, in fact—we can trace back the principal form of decoration to a wooden original; here alone all is lithic, and it is probably the only example of the sort that the whole history of architecture affords.

If there are any churches in the Byzantine province of the age of which we are treating, whose naves are roofed by intersecting vaults, they have not yet been described in any accessible work; but great tunnel-vaults have been introduced into several with effect. One such is found at Hierapolis, on the borders of Phrygia (Woodcut No. [293]). It is divided by a bold range of piers into three aisles, the centre one having a clear width of 45 ft. 6 in. The internal dimensions of the church are 177 ft. by 115. There are three great piers in the length, which carry bold transverse ribs so as to break the monotony of the vault, and have between them secondary arches, to carry the galleries.

295. Section of Church at Hierapolis. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. With monogram found on its walls. (From a Drawing by E. Falkener.)

There is another church at the same place, the roof of which is of a somewhat more complicated form. The internal length, 140 ft., is divided into three by transverse arches; but its great peculiarity is that the vault is cut into by semi-circular lunettes above the screen side-walls, and through these the light is introduced. This arrangement will be understood from the section (Woodcut No. [295]). Taken altogether, there is probably no other church of its age and class in which the vault is so pleasingly and artistically arranged, and in which the mode of introducing the light is so judicious and effective.

The age of these two last churches is not very well ascertained. They probably belong to the 5th, and are certainly not later than the 6th, century; but, before we can speak with certainty on the subject, more examples must be brought to light and examined. From our present knowledge it can hardly be doubted that a sufficient number do exist to complete the chapter; and it is to be hoped they will be published, since a history of vaults in the East, independent of domes, is still a desideratum.

CHAPTER III.
CIRCULAR OR DOMICAL BUILDINGS.

CONTENTS.

Circular Churches with wooden roofs and with true domes in Syria and Thessalonica—Churches of St. Sergius and Bacchus and Sta. Sophia, Constantinople—Domestic Architecture—Tombs.

At the time of the erection of the churches described in the last chapter, a circular domical style was being simultaneously elaborated in the East, which not only gave a different character to the whole style, but eventually entirely superseded the western basilican form, and became an original and truly Byzantine art.

Constantine is said to have erected a church at Antioch which, from the description given by Eusebius, was octagonal in plan.

On Mount Gerizim, on or near the site of the Samaritan temple, Justinian built an octagonal church showing in its multifold chapels a considerable advance towards Christian arrangements; it has, however been so completely destroyed that only its foundation can now be traced, from which the plan (Woodcut No. [296]) was measured and worked out by Sir Charles Wilson.

296. Church on Mount Gerizim.

297. Cathedral at Bosra. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

At Bosra in the Hauran there is a church of perfectly well-ascertained date—A.D. 512—which, when more completely illustrated, will throw considerable light on the steps by which a Pagan temple was transformed into a Christian church. It is a building externally square, but internally circular (Woodcut No. [297]). The central space is 91 ft. in diameter, and was evidently covered with a wooden roof, according to M. de Vogüé, supported on eight piers. The interest of the plan consists in its showing the progress made in adapting this form to Christian purposes, and it is to be hoped that further investigation may enable us to supply all the steps by which the transformation took place. De Vogüé is of opinion that there was a central dome carried on piers and columns similar to the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople, with aisles round and gallery over them, the latter covered with a timber roof, the holes in which the rafters were fixed being still visible. Owing to want of lateral support the dome fell down, and at a later period a small basilica church was erected within the enclosure in front of the apse; the proximity of the piers of this church suggests that it was covered with stone slabs according to the custom of the country. The inscription over the principal entrance door states that the church was dedicated to SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and was completed in the 400th year of Bosra (511-512 A.D.). Another example exists at Kalat Sema’n, in Northern Syria, and presents a combination of an octagonal with a rectangular church very common in Armenia and Georgia. As is generally the case there, they are very small in dimensions, the whole group only measuring 120 ft. by 73. Their actual destination is not known, but M. de Vogüé suggests that the triapsal arrangement in the octagonal building points to its having been erected as a baptistery. This group is situated about 200 yards from the main buildings illustrated in Woodcut (No. [280]).

298. Section of Double Church at Kalat Sema’n. (From De Vogüé.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

299. Plan, Kalat Sema’n. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.