St. Irene, Constantinople—Church of San Vitale, the type, three centuries later, of Charlemagne’s Church at Aix-la-Chapelle—Two influences at work leading to the introduction and adoption of the dome into Italy—From thence into the south-west of France—Baptisteries at Florence and Parma—Cathedral at Sienna—St. Mark’s, Venice—Santa Fosca near Venice—Domes having pointed arches for their support—St. Front and La Cité, Perigueux—Angoulême—Fontevrault—Auvergne—Ainay near Lyons—Pendentives in many French churches give place to corbels—The modern type of dome—Cathedral at Florence—St. Peter’s, Rome, and St. Paul’s, London.
IN my last lecture, after bringing down our consideration of domical construction to the period of the perfecting by the Byzantine architects of the system of what are known as “Pendentive Domes,” I was proceeding to describe a few of its most marked productions, but was stopped short when I had given a rapid sketch of the most wonderful of its creations—the Church of St. Sophia at Constantinople.
I will now proceed with my subject. After the Church of the Holy Wisdom, all subsequent domed churches of the Byzantine class seemed to shrink from a hopeless competition, and to content themselves with moderate dimensions.
Among those remaining at Constantinople, that of St. Irene ([Fig. 426]) perhaps comes next in date. Its central dome, like that of St. Sophia ([Fig. 427]), is flanked by arcaded aisles, which, however, do not extend to the vaulting, but simply carry galleries. These wings, therefore, as well as the eastward extension, are covered by barrel vaults, the latter being terminated by a semi-domical apse—while westward is a second dome, like the central one in plan, excepting that, being less in dimension east and west, its base is an ellipse instead of a circle. The actual domes, however, differ much more widely; for, while the western one is a flat disc continuing the surface of its pendentives, the central dome is raised above them on a high drum pierced like a clerestory with many windows.
Fig. 426.—St. Irene.
Fig. 427.—St. Sophia.