FIG. 105. CATHEDRAL OF ST JEAN, PERPIGNAN.
is lightly and boldly spanned with pointed and groined vaulting.
The apse is similar in character to that at Béziers. The vaulting of this part was completed under Charles V., and indicates its late date by its interpenetrating ribs. There is almost no ornament, the architects of the time giving their attention chiefly to the scientific construction of their edifices. St Jean was founded by Sancho II., King of Majorca, in 1324. This was long before Roussillon came under the direct influence of France, which only took place under Louis XI. The style of the building is thus not affected by the importation of the style of the North, as at Narbonne, except as regards the vaulting, which is of a much later period. Some relics of a more ancient Church of St Jean (le Vieux) adjoin the cathedral, and contain some interesting Romanesque work. St Jacques (thirteenth century) has a remarkable tower, and the ruins of the Dominican convent and church contain good cloisters, two sides being Romanesque, and the others fourteenth century work, with caps bearing shields, etc.
The citadel, which occupies the site of the castle of the kings of Minorca is now a powerful fortress, a la Vauban. It contains the ruins of an ancient church with a doorway, the voussoirs of which are large, and composed of alternate red and white stone in the style of Catalonia.
A very interesting and agreeable excursion may be made from Perpignan to Elne, a few miles further south.
Elne, in Roussillon, stands on a height in the midst of the great plain which extends to the base of the Pyrenees near the frontier of Spain, and is a town of great antiquity. It was in ancient times a seaport, but is now separated from the sea by a wide and level expanse of country.
Elne, or as it was anciently called, Illiberris, was a Celtic city before it was frequented by the Phœnicians as one of their ports. The first Phœnician colony was destroyed before we have any detailed history of the country. It was rebuilt by the Illiberians, and again ruined. Once more restored by Constantine the Great, it continued, so long as its connection with the sea lasted, an opulent and populous place. But when, through the silting up of the water-way, it ceased to be a seaport, its prosperity departed, and the town has gradually declined, till it is now reduced to a mere village perched on the top of a rock. Constantine gave it the title of Castrum Helenæ, whence its present name is derived.