Externally, the west front had neither the flanking towers of the Norman church, nor the frontispiece usual in Germany, but terminated in a gable the height of the wooden roof of the nave. The original church was triapsal, and a large square tower adorned the intersection of the nave and transept, which was originally surrounded by six tall square towers, two belonging to each of the apses. Four of these still exist, and with the remaining part of the central tower form as noble a group as is to be found in any church of this province. In its triapsal state, its superior dimensions and the greater height of its towers must have rendered it a more striking building than even the Apostles’ Church at Cologne, or indeed any other church of its age. Besides the churches already described, there are a considerable number in Belgium belonging to the 11th century, such as St. Bartholomew at Liège; St. Servin’s, Maestricht; the church at Ruremonde (almost an exact counterpart of the Apostles’ Church at Cologne), and others of more or less importance scattered over the country. They almost all possess the peculiarity of having no entrance in their west fronts, but have instead a massive screen or frontispiece surmounted by two or three towers. This was the arrangement of the old church of St. Jacques at Liège. The church of Notre Dame de Maestricht presents a somewhat exaggerated example of this description of front (Woodcut No. 677). It is difficult to explain the origin of this feature, nor have we any reason to regret its abandonment. There can be no doubt that the proper place for the principal entrance to a church is the end opposite the altar, where this screen prevented its being placed. [Illustration: 676. Section of Central Portion of Church at Tournay, looking South. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.] [Illustration: 677. West Front of Notre Dame de Maestricht. (From Schayes’ ‘Belgium.’)] Among the smaller antiquities of this age, none are perhaps more interesting than the little chapel of St. Sang, at Bruges, built by Thierry of Alsace, on his return from the Holy Land, A.D. 1150; it is a small double chapel, of a form very common in Germany, but less ornate than these generally were. At one angle of it are two spires, represented in Woodcut No. 678; the more slender of these would not excite remark if found in Cairo or Aleppo, so exactly does it take the Eastern form; the other, on the contrary, seems to belong to the 16th or 17th century: it is only one, however, of the numerous instances that go to prove how completely art returned, at the period called the Renaissance, to the point from which it started some four or five centuries earlier. It returned with something more of purity of detail and better construction, but unfortunately without that propriety of design and grandeur of conception which mark even the rude buildings of the first _naissance_ of Gothic art.