window over the apse, give the principal light in the church, which, like the other Southern churches vaulted on the same principle, has no clerestory. There is an alcove for a tomb in the exterior of the wall of the south aisle, but it is now empty. The interior ([Fig. 124]) presents, as it were, the bare skeleton of the other churches of Provence which we have already considered, without any of their ornamentation. The piers of the nave are simply portions of a side wall set on square slabs as a base, with a plain break to sustain the inner member of the nave arch. Above these rises the perfectly plain, pointed, barrel vault, strengthened with simple square-cut transverse arches, which spring from round attached vaulting shafts, resting on the plainest possible corbels, and having caps of a very simple form.
The vault of the central nave is buttressed by half vaults in the side aisles, which are of the same design.
The tiles of the roof, both of the central nave and the side aisles, rest directly on the outside of the vaults without any wooden construction. This, as we have seen, is the usual arrangement in the churches of Provence, such as Notre Dame des Doms, Avignon, and St Trophime, Arles.
The cloister, and some of the monastic buildings adjoining, are well preserved. A similar simplicity reigns throughout these. The cloister consists, as usual, of four arcades enclosing a garth on the north side of the church. The arcade next the nave is on a higher level than the other three, owing to the slope of the hill, and is only one story high, there being no rooms on this side for an upper gallery to give access to. The other three sides of the cloister had originally an upper floor, with open arches next the garth, and an open timber roof. These galleries gave access to the dormitory and other apartments on the upper floor. The arcades of the cloisters ([Fig. 125]) are of a very
FIG. 125. THORONET—CLOISTER.
