It consists of a series of seventy-two scenes, or pictures, done about the time of William's accession. It was probably intended to decorate the cathedral of Bayeux, in Normandy, France, where it was originally placed. Some have supposed it to be the work of his Queen, Matilda. The entire length is two hundred and fourteen feet and the width about twenty inches. It represents events in English history from the last of Edward the Confessor's reign to the battle of Hastings. As a guide to a knowledge of the armor, weapons, and costume of the period, it is of very great value. The tapestry is preserved at Bayeux. 156. Architecture. Under the Norman sovereigns there was neither painting, statuary, nor poetry worthy of mention. The spirit that creats these arts found expression in architecture introduced from the Continent. The castle, cathedral, and minster, with here and there an exceptional structure like the Tower of London, London Bridge, and the Great Hall at Westminster, built by William Rufus, were some well-known Norman buildings which mark the time. All were of stone, a material which the Normans generally preferred to any other. Aside from Westminster Abbey, which, although the work of Edward the Confessor, was really Norman, a fortress or two, like Coningsborough in Yorkshire, and a few churches, like that at Bradford-on-Avon, the Saxons had erected little of note. The characteristics of the Norman style of architecture was its massive grandeur. The churches were built in the form of a cross, with a square, central tower, the main entrance being at the west. The interior was divided into a nave, or central portion, with an aisle on each side for the passage of religious processions. The windows were narrow, and rounded at the top. The roof rested on round arches supported by heavy columns. The cathedrals of Peterborough, Ely, Durham, Norwich, the church of St. Bartholomew, London, and St. John's Chapel in the Tower of London are fine examples of Norman work. The castles consisted of a square keep, or citadel, with walls of immense thickness, having a few slitlike windows in the lower story and somewhat larger ones above. In these buildings everything was made subordinate to strength and security. They were surrounded by a high stone wall and deep ditch, generally filled with water. The entrance to them was over a drawbridge through an archway protected by an iron grating, or portcullis, which could be raised and lowered at pleasure. The Tower of London, Rochester Castle, Norwich Castle, Castle Rising, Richmond Castle, Carisbrooke Keep, New Castle on the Tyne, and Tintagel Hold were built by William or his Norman successors.