The Architecture of Provence and the RivieraMacGibbon, David
History
The Architecture of Provence and the Riviera
MacGibbon, David
Architecture -- France -- Provence; Architecture -- France -- Riviera
At St Pierre de Reddes, near Bedarieux, the ancient church consists of a
long nave with barrel vault, strengthened with transverse ribs, which
spring from a series of double columns, of which the arrangement is
evidently borrowed from the Antique (Fig. 102).
[Illustration: FIG. 102. ST PIERRE DE REDDES. (From _Révoil_).]
St Martin de Londres (Herault) may also be mentioned as having a
tri-apsal east end, while the exterior is ornamented with the arcaded
pattern so common on the Rhine and in Lombardy.
NARBONNE.--When the Romans, B.C. 118, became masters of Southern Gaul,
they established, under the leadership of an enthusiastic young
patrician called Licinius Crassus, a colony in the ancient Phœnician
port, dedicating it to Mars, and giving it the name of Narbo Martius. A
principal object of this colony was to secure the road into Spain. After
a time the first foundation became weak, and, B.C. 45, a new colony was
led out from Rome by Tiberius Claudius Nero. Narbo Martius was then
capital of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis, which extended from
the Alps to the Pyrenees.
Under the Empire, there arose in this favoured colony, on the banks of
the Atax or Aude, a complete image on a small scale of Imperial Rome,
with its curia, duumvirs, consuls, pretors, questors, etc., and it was
adorned with a Forum, Temples, Markets, Baths, and Amphitheatre.
Of these fine Roman edifices not one remains. Such of them as escaped
the devastations of the Goths and Saracens are said to have been
demolished by Richelieu, that the materials might be used in the
construction of the new fortifications of the town erected by him. The
engineer of these works seems to have had more reverence for ancient art
than his princely master, for he collected all the sculptured fragments,
and built them into the walls where they could easily be seen. The
fortifications thus formed a kind of open air museum of ancient
sculptures and inscriptions; but they have now, in their turn, been
removed to make room for the expansion of the town. The Roman monuments,
however, have been preserved, and are placed in the mediæval Episcopal
Palace, which has been partly converted into a museum.
The important architectural works which still exist are all concentrated
round the Cathedral of St Just (Fig. 103). As at Béziers, the Cathedral
formed part of the fortifications of the Archbishop’s Palace. It is one
of those designs in Northern Gothic which look as if transplanted into
Southern soil. The whole character of the buildings is Northern. Whether
we regard the steep roofs and gables, the sub-divided forms of the
vaulting, the sections of the mouldings, the character of the cloisters,
the shape of the windows, the dispositions of the plan, or the defensive
arrangements, the whole design appertains to the style of the Royal
Domain.
[Illustration: FIG. 103. CATHEDRAL OF ST JUST, NARBONNE.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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