Fig. 164.—Church at Turmanin in Syria. 4th and 5th Century.
In ancient buildings of Syria the influence of both the Roman and the Byzantine models can be traced. No more characteristic specimens of Byzantine foliage can be desired than some to be found in Palestine, as for example the Golden Gate at Jerusalem, which we illustrate (Fig. [163]); but in the deserted cities of Central Syria a group of exceptional and most interesting buildings, both secular and sacred, exists, which, as described by De Vogüé, [33] seem to display a free and very original treatment based upon Roman more than Byzantine ideas. We illustrate the exterior of one of these, the church at Turmanin (Fig. [164]). This is a building divided into a nave and aisles and with a vestibule. Two low towers flank the central gable, and it will be noticed that openings of depressed proportion, mostly semicircular headed, and with the arches usually springing from square piers, mark the building; while the use made of columns strongly resembles the manner in which in later times they were introduced by the Gothic architects.
Fig. 165.—Tower of a Russian Church.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] I.e. the City of Constantine.
[30] “The edge of the world: the knot which links together East and West; the centre in which all extremes combine,” was the not overcharged description given of Constantinople by one of her own bishops.
[31] For an illustration see Fig. [187].
[32] ‘Lectures on Mediæval Architecture.’