But we must not pass over unmentioned certain buildings famous for boldness of construction and magnificence of decoration, if not for purity of style. The following are perhaps the most important:--In France the tower of St. Pierre at Caen, which shows strong traces of that analogy, or family likeness, so to speak, uniting Norman edifices; and the tower of St. Michel at Bordeaux, the spire of which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1768, and has lately been restored to its primitive height of 365 feet; in Austria the tower of St. Stephen, one of the most important of such buildings in that country, finished in 1433; the tower of the Cathedral of Freiburg-im-Breisgau (grand-duchy of Baden), one of the most beautiful and important examples. It was mainly constructed towards the close of the fourteenth century, but the openwork spire was added about the middle of the following century. [Illustration: 91. CHURCH OF ST. MICHEL AT BORDEAUX. TOWER] The Cathedral of Antwerp in Belgium was begun in the middle of the fourteenth century; the nave and the four side aisles were not completed till a century later. The façade is said to have been begun in 1406 by a Boulognese master-mason, one Pierre Amel; but of the two belfry towers only that on the north was completed in 1518. Its principal merit lies in its boldness of construction and its unusual height of 410 feet, rather than in purity of style or beauty of detail, the latter being a conglomerate made up from every period of Gothic. [Illustration: 92. CATHEDRAL OF FREIBURG-IM-BREISGAU (GRAND-DUCHY OF BADEN). TOWER] _Choirs._--In Christian churches the choir[31] proper was an institution long before the chapels.[32] [31] _L'Architecture Romane_, by Ed. Corroyer; Paris, Maison Quantin, 1888. [32] _Encyclopédie de l'Architecture et de la Construction_, article "Chœur-Chapelle," by Ed. Corroyer. [Illustration: 93. ANTWERP CATHEDRAL] At the extremity of the basilica, in the centre of the chalcidium or transept which gave to the basilican plan the form of a T or Tau--a figure venerated by the Christians as symbolising the Cross--were placed the altar, the sanctuary, and the precincts occupied by the deacons and sub-deacons. The altar stood in the midst, between the hemicycle or apse and the nave arch. The hemicycle or apse which formed the Pagan tribunal was by the Christians reserved for ordained priests, hence its name, _presbyterium_. A semi-circular bench (_consistorium_), interrupted in the middle by a seat higher than the rest, on either side of which sat the inferior clergy, surrounded the apse, the raised seat (_suggestus_) being the throne of the bishop or his representative.