A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volumes 1 and 2, 3rd ed. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day

this has enabled the editor to bring the description of St. Mark’s, Venice, into the first chapter under Italy, to which chronologically it belongs, instead of placing it after...

DEFINITION OF ARCHITECTURE.—IV. MASS.—V. STABILITY.—VI. DURABILITY.—VII. MATERIALS.—VIII. CONSTRUCTION.—IX. FORMS.—X. PROPORTION.—XI. CARVED ORNAMENT.—XII. DECORATIVE COLOUR.—XI...

II. HELLENIC GREECE—HISTORY OF THE ORDERS—Doric Temples in Greece— 251 Doric Temples in Sicily—Ionic Temples—Corinthian Temples— Dimensions of Greek Temples—Doric order—Ionic or...

V. TRIUMPHAL ARCHES, TOMBS, AND OTHER BUILDINGS—Arches at Rome; in 347 France—Arches at Trèves—Pillars of Victory—Tombs—Minerva Medica— Provincial tombs—Eastern tombs—Domestic A...

III. CIRCULAR OR DOMICAL BUILDINGS—Circular churches with wooden 432 roofs and with true domes in Syria and Thessalonica—Churches of SS. Sergius and Bacchus and Sta. Sophia, Con...

IV. LOMBARD AND ROUND-ARCHED GOTHIC—Chapel at Friuli—Churches at 558 Piacenza, Asti, and Novara—St. Michele, Pavia—St. Ambrogio, Milan— Cathedral, Piacenza—Churches at Verona—Ch...

Like every other object of human inquiry, Architecture may be studied from two distinct points of view. Either it may be regarded statically, and described scientifically as a t...

Ethnology, though one of the youngest, is perhaps neither the least beautiful nor the least attractive of that fair sisterhood of sciences whose birth has rewarded the patient i...

So long as the geographer confines himself to mapping out the different countries of the world, or smaller portions of the earth’s surface, he finds no difficulty in making a pr...

In any consecutive narrative of the architectural undertakings of mankind the description of what was done in Egypt necessarily commences the series, not only because the record...

Leaving these speculations to be developed more fully in the sequel, let us now turn to the pyramids—the oldest, largest, and most mysterious of all the monuments of man’s art n...

B.C. 2528? Sankhkara reigned 46 years. Amenemhat reigned 38 years. Osirtasen reigned 48 years. Amenemhat III. (Lampares) reigned 8 years. (Builder of Labyrinth.) His successors...

Amenhotep I. reigned 25 years. Thothmes I. reigned 13 years. Amenhotep II. reigned 20 years. Hatshepsu (Queen) reigned 21 years. Thothmes II. reigned 12 years. Thothmes III. rei...

From the time of the 19th dynasty, with a slight revival under the Bubastite kings of the 22nd dynasty, Egypt sank through a long period of decay, till her misfortunes were cons...

It was long a question with the learned whether civilisation ascended or descended the Nile—whether it was a fact, as the Greeks evidently believed, that Meroë was the parent St...

It is by no means impossible that the rich alluvial plain of Shinar may have been inhabited by man as early as the Valley of the Nile; but if this were so, it is certain that th...

DATES. Nimrod B.C. 2234 ? Urukh. Bowariyeh, Wurka 2093 Ilgi 2070 Chedorlaomer 1976 Ismi Dagon 1850 Shamas Vul. Kaleh Sherghat 1800 Sin Shada. Wuswus? 1700 Sur Sin 1660 Purna Pur...

DATES. Shalmaneser I. founded Nimroud B.C. 1290 Tiglathi Nin, his son (Ninus?) 1270 Tiglath Pileser 1150 Asshur-bani-pal (north-west palace, Nimroud) 886 Shalmaneser II. (centra...

DATES. Cyrus founds Pasargadæ B.C. 560 Cambyses’ buildings at ditto 525 Darius builds palace at Persepolis 521 Xerxes builds halls at Persepolis and Susa 485 Artaxerxes Longiman...

It is generally supposed that the Egyptians were ignorant of the true principles of the arch, and only employed two stones meeting one another at a certain angle in the centre w...

The Jews, like the other Semitic races, were not a building people, and never aspired to monumental magnificence as a mode of perpetuating the memory of their greatness. The pal...

It is now perhaps in vain to expect that any monuments of the most ancient times, of great extent or of great architectural importance, remain to be discovered in Asia Minor; st...

Historical notice—Pelasgic art—Tomb of Atreus—Other remains—Hellenic Greece—History of the orders—Doric order—the Parthenon—Ionic order— Corinthian order—Caryatides—Forms of tem...

The culminating period of the Pelasgic civilisation of Greece was at the time of the war with Troy—the last great military event of that age, and the one which seems to have clo...

The ethnographical history of art in Italy is in all its essential features similar to that of Greece, though arriving at widely different results from causes the influence of w...

In the earlier part of her career Rome was an Etruscan city under Etruscan kings and institutions. After she had emancipated herself from their yoke, Etruria long remained her e...

We now approach the last revolution that completed and closed the great cycle of the arts and civilisation of the ancient world. We have seen Art spring Minerva-like, perfect fr...

The earliest inhabitants of Rome were an Aryan or, as they used to be called, Indo-Germanic race, who established themselves in a country previously occupied by Pelasgians. Thei...

We have already seen that in size and magnificence the temples of Rome were among the least remarkable of her public buildings. It may be doubted whether in any respect, in the...

Triumphal Arches were among the most peculiar of the various forms of art which the Romans borrowed from those around them, and used with that strange mixture of splendour and b...

Parthians subject to Persia B.C. 554 Seleucus Nicator 301 Arsaces 250 Mithridates 163-140 Mithridates II 124-89 Palace of Al Hadhr built (about) A.D. 200 End of Parthian Empire...

If a line were drawn north and south from Memel on the shores of the Baltic to Spalato on the Adriatic, it would divide Europe into nearly equal halves. All that part lying to t...

DATES. Constantine founds Constantinople A.D. 324 First Council of Nice 325 Julian the Apostate 361 Theodosius the Great 379 Theodosius II. 408 Marcian 450 Fall of Western Empir...

Basilicas may be subdivided into two classes—that in which the nave is divided from the side-aisles by pillars, carrying either entablatures or arches, as the most purely Romane...

At the time of the erection of the churches described in the last chapter, a circular domical style was being simultaneously elaborated in the East, which not only gave a differ...

Santa Sophia at Constantinople was not only the grandest and most perfect creation of the old school of Byzantine art, but it was also the last. It seems as if the creative powe...

Dates. Tiridates converted to Christianity by Gregory II. A.D. 276 St. Gregory confirmed as Pontiff by Pope Sylvester 319 Christianity proscribed and persecuted by the Persians...

Intermediate between the Armenian province which has just been described and the Russian, which comes next in the series, lies a territory of more than usual interest to the arc...

DATES. Rurik the Varangian at Novogorod A.D. 850 Olga baptized at Constantinople 955 St. Vladimir the Great 981-1015 Yaroslaf died 1054 Sack of Kief 1168 Tartar invasion under G...

If a historian were to propose to himself the task of writing a tolerably consecutive narrative of the events which occurred in Italy during the Middle Ages, he would probably f...

DATES. Honorius A.D. 395 Valentinian 425-435 Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths 493-525 Justinian 527 Alboin Longimanus, King of Lombardy 568 Gregory I. 590 Charlemagne 768 Conra...

In addition to the Pagan basilicas and temples, from which the arrangements of so many of the Christian edifices were obtained, the tombs of the Romans formed a third type, from...

When, in the early centuries of the Christian era, the great mass of Gothic barbarism moved up the Valley of the Danube towards the west, one great division followed that river...

Cathedrals of Naples—San Miniato, Florence—Cathedrals of Pisa and Zara— Cathedrals of Troja, Bari, and Bittonto—San Nicolo, Bari—Cloisters of St. John Lateran—Baptistery of Mont...

Fresco paintings—Churches at Vercelli, Asti, Verona, and Lucca—Cathedral at Siena—Sta. Maria, Florence—Church at Chiaravalle—St. Petronio, Bologna—Cathedral at Milan—Certosa, ne...

II. Basilicas—Plan of St. Gall—Church at Reichenau— 213 Romain-Motier—Granson—Church at Gernrode—Trèves— Hildesheim—Cathedrals of Worms and Spires—Churches at Cologne—Other Chur...

III. ENGLISH MEDIÆVAL ARCHITECTURE—Plans of English 345 Cathedral Churches—Vaults—Pier Arches—Window tracery— External Proportions—Diversity of Style—Situation— Chapter-Houses—C...

II. Romanesque Churches at Naranco, Roda, and Leon—Early 464 Spanish Gothic: Churches at Santiago, Zamora, Toro, Avila, Salamanca, and Tarragona—Middle Pointed style: Churches a...

III. SPAIN—Introductory Remarks—Mosque at Cordoba—Palace at 542 Zahra—Churches at Sta. Maria and Cristo de la Luz at Toledo—Giralda at Seville—Palace of the Alcazar—The Alhambra...

THERE are very few specimens in Italy of circular or polygonal buildings of any class belonging to the Gothic age. As churches, none are to be expected. Baptisteries had passed...

THERE are few chapters of architectural history—at least among the shorter ones—more interesting, in various ways, than that which treats of the introduction of the pointed-arch...

DATES. Jerusalem taken by the Crusaders A.D. 1099 Baudouin I. 1100 Baudouin II. 1118 Foulques, Count of Anjou 1131 Saladin retakes Jerusalem 1187 Third Crusade. Richard II. 1192...

DATES. Charlemagne A.D. 768-813 Rollo, first Duke of Normandy 911 Hugh Capet 987 William II. of Normandy, or the Conqueror 1055-1086 Henry I. of France 1031 Philip I., or l’Amou...

THE moment you pass the hills forming the watershed between the rivers flowing to the Mediterranean and those which debouch into the Bay of Biscay, you become aware of having le...

THE architectural province of Anjou cannot perhaps be so distinctly defined as the two already described. On the north, indeed, it is separated by the clearest line both from No...

THE last of the Southern provinces which requires to be distinguished is that of Auvergne, one of the most beautiful as well as one of the most complete of the round Gothic styl...

THE province of Burgundy was architecturally one of the most important in France during the Middle Ages, but one the limits of which it is difficult to define. This is partly ow...

THE architecture of the Northern division of France is certainly the most interesting subject in the whole history of the Mediæval styles, inasmuch as it comprehends the origin...

WITH one or two slight exceptions, the whole history of the Round-arched Norman Gothic is comprehended within a period of less than a century. No building in this style is known...

THE architectural history of the Central or Frankish province is widely different from that of any of those we have yet examined. At the end of the 5th century the whole of the...

THE great difficulty in attempting to describe the architecture of France during the glorious period of the 13th century is really the _embarras de richesse_. There are even now...

ALTHOUGH in the preceding pages, in describing the principal churches of France, mention has been made of the various changes of detail which took place from the time of the int...

THE little kingdom of Belgium forms an architectural province as distinct and in many respects as interesting as any in Europe. Its style does not, it is true, possess that simp...

WHATEVER opinion we may form as to her ecclesiastical edifices, the real architectural pre-eminence of Belgium consists in her civil, or rather her municipal buildings, which su...

THE moment we pass the boundary line which separates Belgium from Holland, we feel that we have stepped at once into a new architectural province. At last we have got among a pe...

A.D. Charlemagne (Karl der Grosze) 768 to 814 Conrad I. of Franconia 911 Henry the Fowler Saxon 919 Otho I. Saxon 936 Otho II. Saxon 973 Otho III. Saxon 983 Henry II. 1002 Conra...

Plan of St. Gall—Church at Mittelzell in island of Reichenau— Romain-Motier— Granson—Church at Gernrode—Trèves—Hildesheim—Cathedrals of Worms and Spires—Churches at Cologne—Othe...

IF we are fortunate in having the St. Gall plan and Reichenau cathedral with which to begin our history of the basilican-formed churches in Germany, we are equally lucky in havi...

AS might be expected, the remains of domestic architecture are few and insignificant as compared with those of the great monumental churches, which in that age were the building...

IT is scarcely necessary to repeat—what has been already perhaps sufficiently insisted upon—that the Germans borrowed their pointed style from the French at a period when it had...

IN adopting the pointed style, the Germans almost wholly abandoned their old favourite circular form; the Liebfrauen Church at Trèves (Woodcut No. 695) being almost the only rea...

ALONG the whole of the southern shores of the Baltic extends a vast series of sandy plains, now composing the greater part of the kingdom of Prussia, with Hanover and Mecklenbur...

NO one who has listened to all that was said and written in Germany before the late war about “Schleswig-Holstein Stamm verwandt,” can very well doubt that when he passes the Ey...

IT is perhaps not too much to assert that during the Middle Ages Architecture was practised in England with even greater success than among any of the contemporary nations. In b...

SO few and indistinct are the traces of architectural art in England before the Norman Conquest, that for a long time it was a moot point among antiquaries whether or not any su...

AN entirely new state of affairs was inaugurated in 1066 by the Norman Conquest of England. A new aristocracy, new laws, and a new language infused new life and energy into ever...

DATES. Malcolm Canmore. Accession A.D. 1057 David I. 1124 William the Lion 1165 John Baliol 1292 Robert Bruce 1306 David II. 1329 Robert II., Stuart 1371 James I. 1406 Mary Quee...

THE history of architecture in Ireland forms as distinct a contrast to that of Scotland as it is possible to conceive. At a very early period the Irish showed themselves not onl...

Gothic Conquest—Athulf A.D. 411 Moorish conquest 711 Kingdoms of Navarre and Arragon established, about 760 Sancho I., King of Castille 1005 Alphonso VI. unites all Northern Spa...

Romanesque: Churches at Naranco, Roda, and Leon—Early Spanish Gothic: Churches at Santiago, Zamora, Toro, Avila, Salamanca, and Tarragona— Middle Pointed style: Churches at Tole...

AS already mentioned, to most of the great churches described above there were attached monastic establishments on a scale commensurate with them in dignity, and ornamented in a...

SO little attention has been paid to the subject of Gothic architecture in Portugal, that it is by no means clear whether it contains any churches of interest belonging to that...

NOTE.—In consequence of the re-arrangement of the work, as explained above, by which all the Indian chapters are taken out of it and put together in a separate volume by themsel...

AS before mentioned, the earliest mosque of which we have any record was that built by Mahomet himself at Medina. As, however, it contained apartments for his wives, and other r...

OWING probably to its position, the forms which the Saracenic style assumed in Spain are somewhat different from those which we find elsewhere. As a style it is inferior to many...

DATES. Conquest of Constantinople by Mahomet II. A.D. 1443 Bajazet II. 1481 Selim I. 1512 Suleiman II., the Magnificent 1520 Selim II. 1566 Amurath III. 1574 Mahomet III. 1595 A...

OWING to a curious concatenation of circumstances, partly local, partly ethnological, the architectural history of Persia is nearly a blank for the first six centuries of the He...

DATES. Toltecs arrived in Anahuac A.D. 648 Toltecs abandoned the country 1051 Chichemecas arrived 1170 Acolhuans arrived about 1200 Aztecs reached Tula 1196 City of Mexico found...

THE Valley of Mexico, in which the first group of buildings we have to describe is situated, is a small tract in the centre of the table-land of Anahuac. Though not larger than...

PERU is situated geographically so near to Mexico, and the inhabitants of both countries had reached so nearly to the same grade of civilisation at the time when the Spaniards f...

For a complete description of the same, see ‘The Architectural History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem,’ by Prof. Willis, 1849, the publications of the Palestin...