C,,,M.. II.

POINTED ARCH. 110

dome. On tlie exterior are two orders of Corinthian columns engaged in tlie wall, wliich
sui)))ort semicircular arches. In the upper order the columns are more numerous, inas-
niiicli as each arch below bears two columns above it. Over every two arches of the iip])er
oriier is a sharp pediment, separated by a pinnacle from the adjoining ones; and above the
pediments a horizontal cornice encircles the buiUling. Al)ove the second story a division
in the com])artments occurs, which embraces three of the lower arches
;
the se])aratior.
being ertected by piers triangular on the plan, crowned by ])innacles. Between these ])iers.
semicircular headed small windows are introduced, over each of which is a small circular
window, and thereover sharp pediments. Above these the convex surface of the dome
springs up, and is divided by twelve ribs, truncated below the vertex, and ornamented with
crockets. Between these ribs are a species of dormer windows, one between every two ribs,
ornamented v/ith columns, and surmounted each by three small pointed jiediments. The
total height is about 170 ft. The cupola is covered with lead and tiles; the rest of tlie
edifice is marble.
SO.'?. The extraordinary campanile, or bell tower, near the cathedral at Pisa, was built
about 1 174. It is celebrated from the circumstance of its overhanging upwards of thirteen
feet, a peculiarity observable in many other Italian towers, but in none to so great an extent
as in this. There can be no doubt whatever tliat the defect has arisen from bad foundation
and that the failure exhibited itself long before the building was completed
;
because, on
one side, at a certain height, the columns are higher than on the other ; thus showing an en-
deavour on the part of the builders to bring back the upper part of the tower to as vertical
a direction as was ])racticable, and recover the situation of the centre of gravity. 'Ihe
tower is cylindrical, 50 ft. in diameter, and 180 ft. high. It consists of eight stories of
columns, in each of which they bear semicircular arches, forming open galleries round the
story. The roof is flat, and the ujiper story contains some bells. The last of the grou]) of
buildings in Pisa is the Campo Santo, which, from its style and date (l'i7), is only men-
tioned here out of its |)lace in order to leave this interesting spot without necessity for further
recurrence to it. It is the public burying place of the city, and, whetlier from the remains on
its walls of the earliest examples of Giotto, and Cimabue, the beauty of its jiroportions, or
the sculjiture that remains about, is unparalleled in interest to the artist. It is a quadrangle,
40.'3 ft. in lengtli, 1 17 ft. in width, and is surrounded by a corridor 32 ft. in breadth. This
corridor is roofed, forming a sort of cloister with semicircular-headed windows, which were
at first simple apertures extending down to the pavement, but they have been subse<juently
divided into smaller apertures by columns, which, from the springing of the arches, branch
out into tracery of elegant design. The interior part of the <iuadrangle is open to the sky.
Some of the arches above mentioned were completed as late as the year 14G4.
The style of the transition to pointed art will be noticed in the section on PoiNrEu
Akchitkctuke at the end of Book I.
Sect. XV.
(a) ORIGIN or THE POINTED AKCII.
294. About the end ot the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, a most singular
and important change took place in the architecture of Europe. The flat southern roof,
says Miiller, was su]ierseded by the high pitched northern covering of the ecclesiastical
edifices, and its introduction brought with it the use of the pointed arch, which was sub-
siuuted for the semicircular one : a necessary consequence, for the roo^' and vi-uits being
thus raised, the diameter of the whole could not lie jireserved without changing the entire
arrangement of the combination of forms. But we have great doubts on Holler's hypo-
thesis ;
it will, indeed, be hereafter seen we have a different belief on the origin of the pointed
arch.
'
Before we at all enter upon the edifices of the period, we think it will be better to
put the reader in possession of the different hypotheses in which various writers have in-
dulo-ed, relative to the introduction or invention of the pointed arch
;
and though we attach
very little importance to the discovery, if it could now be clearly established, we are, as our
work would be incomplete without the notice, compelled to submit them fjr the reader's
consideration.
295. 1. Some have derived this style frovi the hohj groves
of
the early Celts But we can
see no <round for this hypothesis, for it was only in the 14th and 15th centuries that ribs
between the groins (which have been compared to the small branches of trees) were intro-
duced ;
hence it is rather difficult to trace the similarity which its supporters contend for.
29fi. 2. That the stifle oriyinuted from htits made with twigs avd branches
of
trees intertwined.
An hvpothesis fancifully conceived and exhibited to the world by Sir James Hall, in
some very interesting plates attached to his work. ]\Ioller properly observes upon this
theory of twigs, that it is only in the buildings of the 15th and IGth centuries that the
supposed imitation of twigs appears.