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262

IIISTOIIY
OF
ARCHITECTURE.
15c
CATUEPKAL AT SULAN
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621
The
cntliedral (Jii.
'-'74,) is constructed of wliite marble. The
phin is a Latin
OSS the
transcMits
extending but little beyond the walls of the church. From west to east
its lenjitli is 4P0
ft and its extreme
breadth 295 ft. The length of the tive-
ai.sled nave is 279 ft. and its width
1 97 ft. The tninsepts are three-aisled.
'I he ea'-tern end of the church is ter-
ni mated by three sides of a nonagon,
i lie arcliitecture
of the doors and
w indows of the western front is of
the Italian or Roman style, ai;d was
executed about 1658. for the first
three bays of the nave were an addi-
tion in front of tlie original facade,
and were not vaulted
until 1651-69,
About 17 90 the wardens deter-
mined to make the front Gothic,
keeping the doors and windows by
Ricchini, from designs by Pellegrini,
on account of the richness of their
workmanship ;
its apex is 170 ft.
from the pavement.
Hie central but-
ti esses are 195 ft high. The central
tower. 1762-72,
iiy F. Croce, rises
to the h.;ight of 400 ft, being in
general form similar to those which appear in the western fafade.
All the turrets, but-
tresses, and pinnacles are surmounted with statues. The root' is covered entirely with
__ ____.
blocks of marble fitted together with great
exactness.
622. The only town in Italy which has
l)reserved so many as twelve of the me-
dia'val domestic towers of greiit height, is
San Gimignano ;
it possesse.s, also, several
houses that were erected in the IStii and
Hth centuries. The casa
Buonaccorsi,
with a single opening on the ground-floor,
is a corner house and is attributed to tlie
earlier |)eriod ;
the casa Boni is next to it,
and belongs t:) the liter time
;
tliey are
shown in
Jig.
275,
which is too small to
express the bandings of red and white
brickwork, and tlie stucco border to the
extrados of each arch ;
the penthouse roofs,
here restored, were suppressed in the Hth
century. The village of Coccaglio,
between
Bergamo and Brescia, is said to contain
some valuable remains of domestic
architec-
ture. The Venetian pal.ices of this and the
folbwing century have been so efficiently
illustrated of late years, that it becomes
unnecessary to describe their
appearance.
623. Many architects have been engaged
upon the marble cathedral at Como
;
from
1396, when L. de' Spazi was employed, down to the last century. The cupola or dome was
completed about 1732, by Juvara. The three doors are in the richest Lombard style, and
iience the rest of the facade
{,Pff.
276.) has been called early Italian Gothic; but it was
designed, HeO, by Lucchino da IVIilano, and completed between 1487 and 1526 by T.
Rodario, of Maroggio, whose design for other parts was altered, perhaps not improved, by
C. Solaro. The other sides of the exterior are renaissance work by Rodario, who added
the canopies for the statues of the two Pliiiys, in the west front. The transepts and choir
internally are renaissance ; but the nave and aisles are Italian Gothic.
624 Amongst the structures produced in the 15th century, may be named the church it
Sta. Rlaria della Grazie, 1399-1406, about six miles from Rlantua; tlie beautiful cathedr;il,
1
4.t0. at Prat;)
; the equally fine church of Sta. Anastasia. at Verona, which has l>eeii called
the noblest of the distinctively Italian pointed churches in the north of Italy ;
that of Sau
Bernardino, 1452, also at Verona; and the cathedral, 1467, at Vicenza. The church o(
San Agostino, at Bergamo
: the highly interesting, because perfectly untouched, castle at
Fig. 275. ELEVATION OF UOCSE, SA.\ OIJIK;)

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