SOUTH ARM OF TRANSEPT.
See the exterior, p. [29.]
South Arm of the Transept.
The bombardments have spared the south arm of the transept, a marvel of grace and simplicity, built about 1175, by Bishop Nivelon of Chérisy. It is the oldest and also the least elevated portion of the cathedral.
The arm of the transept ends in a semi-circle (a peculiarity which it shares with those of the old Cathedral of Noyon and numerous Rhenish churches) and is surrounded by an ambulatory.
In style it differs distinctly from that of the rest of the building, and presents the distinguishing features of primitive Gothic.
The triforium—which elsewhere consists only of a narrow gallery—is here double. It comprises a story of high, wide, arched tribunes, grouped three and three, surmounted by a narrow passage with graceful colonnettes.
The main vault is supported by six pointed ribs which intersect in a central key-stone ornamented with six angels.
The south arm of the transept is lighted by three series of windows. Small semi-circular bays are cut in the wall of the ambulatory. The galleries are lighted—except on the right, which is ornamented with rose-windows—by tierce-point windows in groups of three. There is a final row of high tierce-point windows, also in groups of three, above the triforium.
Some of the capitals are masterpieces of ornamental sculpture. Their decoration consists either of the foliage characteristic of Romanesque capitals (acanthus leaves) or of projecting crockets,—one of the earliest examples of this distinctive ornament of Gothic capitals.
On the east side of the south arm of the transept there is a two-storied polygonal chapel (C on plan, p. [18]) of the same period. The key-stone of the vault of the lower chapel represents two angels carrying the Agnus Dei on a cloth. The upper chapel, in which the Treasure was formerly kept, communicates with the galleries.