Altogether this building presents in the choir and transepts a singular mixture of the styles of Upper Burgundy, with those of the Rhine on the East, and Auvergne on the West; while the nave is an example of a transplanted design of Nothern Gothic. In descending the Rhone the valley soon narrows, and we pass into the gorges amongst the mountains. On one of the rocky heights which jut out into the valley, the ancient spires of Vienne, and the summit of Mont Pipet, crowned with its Roman citadel, stand boldly out against the sky. The town occupies a strong position and commands the pass, hence it was occupied as a fortress by the Allobroges from early times. Afterwards an important city under the Romans (as already mentioned in Part IV.), it continued so during the Middle Ages. But it suffered severely from the attacks of invaders, being first ravaged by the Lombards, and afterwards by the Saracens. In the ninth century Boson, King of Burgundy and Provence, made Vienne his capital. After the fall of that kingdom, the city declined, and became the possession of the Dukes of Albon, who governed under the title of Dauphins of Viennois, till 1349, when Humbert II. ceded the country to the King of France. [Illustration: FIG. 37. ST ANDRÉ-LE-BAS, VIENNE.] The towers of the two most ancient churches, viz., St André-le-bas and St Pierre (Figs. 37 and 38), are very fine examples of the campanile-like designs of the South, and strikingly resemble that of the Ainay at Lyons. The former is ornamented with the arcading so characteristic of the churches of the Rhine and Lombardy, some of the miniature arches resting on corbels carved with grotesque heads. The tower of St Pierre has the large trilobed arch, also common in the region to the eastward. St Pierre is very ancient and shews masonry constructed somewhat after the Roman manner, with courses of brickwork dividing the rubble. The west entrance is preceded by a porch or narthex in an early style. St André-le-bas was the chapel of the Duke of Burgundy. This church has a single nave (in the style of the south-west provinces), with groined vaulting and heavy buttresses, but the interior has been completely restored. An inscription fixes its date as 1142. There are also some remains of a fine cloister adjoining. [Illustration: FIG. 38. ST PIERRE, VIENNE.] The cathedral of St Maurice is, like that of Lyons, a mixture of different styles, and has few of the merits of any. It was begun in the eleventh century, and not completed till the sixteenth. The plan is that of a basilica with an apse at the east end of the choir. There are a central nave and side aisles, but the latter stop at their eastern extremity with square ends, and are not continued round the central apse. The eight eastmost pillars of the nave belong to the twelfth century, and are partly decorated with fluted pilasters in the style of Upper Burgundy. The caps are “historied,” or carved with [Illustration: FIG. 39. ST MAURICE, VIENNE.]