FIG. 93. ST SAUVEUR, AIX-EN-PROVENCE.
Aix-en-Provence, which is easily reached from Marseilles by a delightful railway route through the mountains, retains few marks of its distinction as the first settlement of the Romans in Gaul. A few Roman walls and pillars from the temple of Apollo, together with some fragments in the Museum, are all that Aix can shew of the original Aquæ Sextiæ. But the ancient church of St Sauveur and its octagonal baptistery exhibit the Roman influence, extending down to a comparatively late date. The baptistery is of the sixth century, but the upper portion has been restored in the style of the eighteenth century, and has thus completely lost its proper character. It is octagonal on plan, with eight monolithic granite columns taken from the ancient temple of Apollo set in the angles.
FIG. 94. ST SAUVEUR, AIX.
The church of St Sauveur was erected in 1103, and is supposed to have been built on part of the cella of the temple of Apollo. It now forms the south aisle of the enlarged cathedral erected in the fifteenth century. But
FIG. 95. CLOISTERS, ST SAUVEUR, AIX-EN-PROVENCE.
this old church (according to Mérimée) is itself a restoration of a still more ancient building, of which some remains are yet preserved in the western portal ([Fig. 93]), the architecture of which strongly recalls that of Notre Dame des Doms at Avignon. Here we have the same fluted Corinthian columns and cornice with Roman enrichments, and arched opening between. The small engaged columns with twisted and fluted shafts and straight arched lintel are, however, restorations of the twelfth century. To that date also belongs the interior ([Fig. 94]), with its pointed tunnel vault strengthened at intervals with transverse arches. The arches which carry the dome over the original central compartment are round. The dome itself is octagonal, the angles being filled with arched pendentives. The piers are simple pilasters, with small classic-like pillars introduced in the angles near the top, to carry the springing of the transverse arches. This was a common arrangement in Provençal churches, as, for instance, at St Trophime, Arles. The cloister of St Sauveur ([Fig. 95]) is a fine specimen of the twelfth century erections of that description, so numerous in this part of France. It is built in white marble, and enriched with a great variety of the Romanesque or Lombardic sculpture which distinguished the work of the Northern races. The shafts are particularly remarkable from the great variety of their forms and ornament. Some are octagonal, while others are twisted and fluted, and some are actually knotted together, and nearly all are covered with carved ornamentation. In these and similar works we have very palpable examples of the innovations on the older traditional forms for which the twelfth century is so much noted. Of the later church, the carved Gothic west doors (executed 1503), containing figures of theological virtues, prophets, &c., mingled with Gothic canopies and traceries, are worthy of careful inspection.