The architectural principles upon which St. Sophia was constructed were reproduced in all Byzantine buildings in Italy and France as well as in the Orient. In Turkey, indeed, the edifices subsequently erected are almost counterparts of the original structure, the mosque of Suleiman and that of Achmet, built as late as 1610, embodying almost identical features of construction. In Athens there are two or three small Byzantine churches, which, though differing greatly in point of size, are founded upon the plan of the mother church; and in Asia Minor generally and Armenia especially, there are a great number; notably the churches of Daghour and Pitzounda and the cathedral of Anim. The decoration of some of the latter differs from the usual Byzantine methods in the frequent revival of Classic forms, and in the use of thin pilasters, carrying blind arches on the exterior. This feature reappears in the buildings of Italy, influenced by the style, particularly at Pisa. In some later buildings a new manner of obtaining light was introduced, by raising the dome upon a cylindrical drum, supported by the four arches and pendentives of the older system. St. Nicodemus, of Athens, is one of the best examples of this. When the body of St. Mark was brought to Venice, having been stolen from Constantinople by means of a clever trick about the year 831, the Doge Partecipazio ordered a church to be built to his memory. The greater part of this building as it stands to-day dates, however, from the tenth century. It resembles St. Sophia in a great degree, the frequent intercourse of the Venetian maritime population with the Orient having enabled them to study the principles of Byzantine art, and to bring spoils from the buildings of the East to their native city. St. Mark’s has also much affinity with the church of Mone-tes-Koras, in Armenia, the principal façade, with its five large bays decorated with columns and arches framing the five doors which give access to the church, being identical in general conception. The interior of the building has the form of the Greek cross, the four arms of which and also the central compartment formed by their intersection, are roofed by domes supported on arches and pendentives. The style of ornament is very similar to that of its prototype, with its rich gold mosaics, frescos, and inlaid marble, some of the details being essentially Oriental in character. The constructors of the pendentives in St. Mark’s do not seem to have properly understood that they formed part of a sphere to the centre of which their joints should have converged, but filled up the spaces between the supporting arches by a series of small superposed arches.