The parapet is crenellated, and, from the beam holes still visible in the walls, we may infer that it was provided with wooden hoardings for defence.
The church in the village at the base of the hill ([Fig. 45]) has also some points of special interest. It is of early twelfth century design, and has a vaulted subterranean crypt with numerous sculptured caps. The upper church has a square tower at the west end, and a transept with three circular apses opening out of it to the east,—the central apse forming the choir, and the side apses lateral chapels. Over the crossing rises an octagonal lantern, containing a dome crowned with a smaller circular lantern. The
FIG. 45. CHURCH AT CRUAS.
whole composition and style of ornamentation strongly recall the architecture of the Rhineland and Lombardy. The thin strips of pilasters on the apses and lantern, with small arcade-enrichment between, together with the general form of the lantern, strikingly recall the churches of Bonn and Cologne. The western tower again is similar to those we have left behind at Vienne and Lyons. This church, like many others we shall encounter, illustrates what has above been stated as to the universality of the one style which prevailed over the “Empire,” before it was broken up into separate nationalities.
Soon after leaving Montélimar with its frowning citadel, in which there are some ancient Romanesque details, and a great tower of the fourteenth century called the “Tour de Narbonne,” we observe on the opposite side of the Rhone the picturesque town of Viviers, clustering on a pyramidal rock, and appropriately crowned with the cathedral and spire. The church is of the fourteenth century, a single nave without aisles. It is said that the crowded and narrow streets contain some old houses, but the place is apparently more picturesque than architectural.
We now approach the country in which the peculiar elements of the Provençal style become distinctly apparent. About four miles north-east from Pierrelatte, the ancient town of Garde Adhémar may be seen towering aloft on the crest of a bold promontory about 500 feet high. This town contains a Romanesque church with an eastern and western apse, after the German fashion, a rather remarkable feature here, but showing, like the ornaments already referred to, an influence from the Rhine. The side aisles are vaulted with quarter-circle arches, and the exterior is finished with a small belfry and steeple.
About six miles to the south-east of Pierrelatte lies the village of St Paul-trois-châteaux, where another very remarkable church is found. The town was of some importance from Roman times downward, and retained its bishop’s see till the Revolution. Several fine Roman sculptures have been found in the locality, and are preserved in the Calvet museum at Avignon; and a few remains of Roman structures and columns are still to be seen. But the most interesting edifice in the town is the ancient cathedral of the twelfth century. As this is the first building we have met with which is characteristically Provençal in style, so it is also one which preserves in a very distinct and marked manner the traditional Roman